What game did you watch?

Congratulations to all the Steelers fans.


Don Cardi

I was only off by 4 points in my prediction! Hey T.G. try not to get too drunk eh brother?! Congratulations to Bill Cowher, Hines Ward, the 2006 Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers and their fans! Spring Training is right around the corner...Are you ready for some Baseball?!

YES!

Oh...sorry. I'm just gonna..you know, step out of here. Must've gotten lost. Don't know how I found my way into this thread. Um, yeah...my apologies.

What game did you watch? [/b][/quote]1. They took away a Seahawks touchdown for offensive pass interference when even Al and John said there was none.
2. They called an illegal block on Hasselback when he was going for the tackle after he threw a pick.
3. They gave a touchdown to Ben when the ball clearly never made it to the goal line.
4. They tried saying that Hasselback fumbled it when it was clear that he was pushed down, but luckily it was challenged by Holmgreen.

And don't get smart with me. K thanks.

Fooking give it up Pat and check out the 2006 Superbowl winners. Pittsburgh baby.

1, Sure I'll agree the pass interference was weak. Hardly any contact was made (and contact is allowed to be made) but the mechanics of the defender made it look like he was pushed off.
2, N/A
3, I struggled over this. The concensus in my place agreed enough had crossed the line.
4, Diving forward always proves a risk it doesn't have the safe guarantee that sliding does. The call in the end was right.

I don't give a fuck though. Steelers won and nothing can be taken away. I've got to go to work tomorrow.

Not to mention that Jerome Bettis has basically said that he's officially retired. I can pencil him for election to the Hall of Fame in 2010...

This is probably the only time I'll ever agree with you on something.

But if it weren't for all the bad calls against the Seahawks, they still f***ed themselves by the penalty's that were good calls.

As Gina said, OH YES! I can't wait to see my Yanks win their 27th World Series title (sorry man, it's still not Toronto's year). They picked up some good players but I think they'll finish 3rd in the division at best (behind boston and the AL East Champ New York Yankees)

I disagree, while I hope that my Blue Jays win the American League East you're probably right that it isn't our year yet. However, I do think we're gonna turn some heads and we will wind up winning the A.L. Wild Card. I even told some people at my work who don't really follow Baseball all that much that if the Jays do not win at least the wildcard this year I will come to work butt naked for one week! Upon hearing this they went straight to a Mosque and started praying that the Blue Jays win the A.L. Wild Card!

Seriously though, I think we have the pitching, the bats, the defense and the confindence to win at least the Wild Card this year. The Yankees will probably win the division but we will win the wild card..

This is usually around the time that Turi shows up (unless he's still sleeping off his hangover because the "Big Game" was on at like 2:00 in the morning over there), so I'll take this opportunity to congratulate him on his Steelers win.



It's always nice when a real fan -- not some Johnny-Come-Lately Bandwagon Jumper-Onner -- gets to bask in his team's glory, like when the Red Sox won the World Series for SC

Let's be fair here, goombah.

I don't follow football as closely as I do baseball or basketball so please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a playoff game a few years ago when they took a Tom Brady fumble recovery away from the Steelers on a call that looked so ridiculous on the replay that they wound up changing the rule?

And didn't New England go on to win it all that year?

As far as this year's Pittsburgh run goes, didn't the referees do everything in their power to give the Colts their game against the Steelers?

I'll be the last person in the world to be surprised if some day in the future there's a big scandal involving the officials betting on games, or the NFL telling the refs which team to favor on the close calls, and yeah, Seattle was the victim of a few bad ones last night, but it sure looked to me like the Steelers were the better team out on the field.

Yes Plaw, many thanks. I'm so bloody hungover today. There's cars outside so at least my buddies didn't drive home. Apparantly I came online last night too

Lets see if I can handle another beer. (Few moments later) Oh god that's quite harsh.

I think you're on about the tuck rule controversy anyway, against the Raiders wasn't it? I get Goombah's frustrations, he's a proper sports and Cleveland fan and it's only natural for him to hate the Steelers. Man if Joey Porter wasn't Black and Gold I'd hate the guy but I love him because he is.

Plawrence
You are correct. That NE "tuck rule" was in 2001 vs. the Raiders. That is the last time there has been such controversy regarding officiating in the NFL playoffs. Until last night's Super Bowl that is. That's what pisses me off - officials being involved in the outcome of the game. Even the schills on ESPN this morning were talking equally about the bad officiating as they were the outcome and that should not be.

The officials didn't give the game to Pittsburgh, but they still made some unbelievably bad calls. Why I am so upset is that this is supposed to the best officials of the bunch and this is the biggest game of the year.

First bad call: The so called push-off by Darrell Jackson was the worst of the calls b/c it took away a TD and Seattle ended up getting a FG. Let's be honest, this was the equivalent of a defender putting his hands on a ball handler in basketball. The Pittsburgh defender didn't even move from the so called push off. It should have been a TD - no question.

2nd bad call: 2 plays in a row in the 2nd half Pittsburgh jumped offsides and nothing was called. On the 2nd play, the end result was Hasselback throwing the INT (I'm not implying the offside lead to the INT), and then having an even more horrible call - a chop block by the QB. Are you freaking kidding me? He dove at and tackled the guy who made the INT. It was the same f'ing thing that Roethlisberger did at the end of the Indy playoff game - namely, the QB trying to prevent the defender from trying to score.

3rd bad call: In the 4th quarter, Pittsburgh's play clock ran to zero very clearly, yet the officials still allowed Pitt to call a timeout after the clock ran out. That would have made it 3rd and long instead of 3rd and 2 or 3.

I'm not even mentioning the replay of the Roethlisberger TD b/c it was inconclusive on the replay. I don't think he got it in b/c the official's first reaction was to signal 4th down but then a second later the ref signals TD after Ben puts the ball over the line while having both knees on the ground. Having said that, I'd even let that slide b/c it was close.

The other 3 calls that I described were downright terrible. But Seattle wasted opportunities especially at the end of the first half. I expected more out of a coach who had already been to the Super Bowl twice before this game. And Holmgren had the best RB in the league and only gave it to Alexander 20 times and always took him out on 3rd down. There was no excuse for Seattle giving up those 2 big plays that resulted in TD's.

There was another call in the first half - I swear I already forgot which team - that they called an incomplete pass after they had clearly caught the ball, turned, and started to run with it and then fumbled when he got hit.

I forgot about that one. That was another one where Seattle got hosed - they fumbled it out of bounds.

Yeah, but I remember as it was rolling out of bounds the whistle had already blown and the defender had stopped going for the ball.

Yep I ruled that one a fumble too but once seeing it go out of bounds i'm glad the call was incomplete. Over here in soccer we have a paradigm that throughout the season calls for and against, mostly penalties, are balanced. I'm going to continue to believe that.

Gil Brandt (who I don't like) rightly points out that the key play in the first quarter was the reversed Jackson TD. I was one of the first to admit the pass interference call was weak and still believe it was. I don't think there was any push, eyes were on the ball and there's no rule against feeling where your defender is. The body mechanics of the defender meant he wasn't in the right motion to follow the ball. It's a harsh call.

Sundays aren't the same from now on. I usually tape the probowl and watch it the next day. You'll know I'm getting desperate when I join a fantasy B Ball game. At least the AFL has started. Can't we set up a game for that? Go Rattlers!

I gotta disagree with you. As much as I hate to say it and as much as I would love to see Toronto win the Wild Card, Boston will. They have a better rotation and better hitters with Ortiz, Ramirez, Nixon, etc. Plus, AJ Burnett still has to prove himself in the AL like Pavano still does and I wouldn't be surprised if both he and BJ Ryan are complete busts.

Im a Seattle native, and I can say that we lost the game with dropped passes and some bad coaching at the end. Keep in mind through this post, I said we lost it for our selves.

NOW TO THE FUCKING REFS

first of all, I think its ridiculous to have a 5 year offical as the head ref for the superbowl

As a Seahawks fan Ive seen us lose TWO regular season games in the last 3 years on COMPLETELY STUPID errors. Not judgement calls (pass interference, etc), but stupid errors. In the first, Baltimore was given a 4th timeout when we couldve taken a knee to win a big road game, cost us a first round bye week. That shouldve been remedied. On the second, Keyshawn Johnson had a Touchdown for a win when he had a foot out by about 10 inches, and we couldnt challenge, bc it was supposed to go to the booth. ALSO LETS NOT FORGET THAT VINNIE TESTAVERTE GETTING A TD WHEN HE WAS A FUCKING YARD SHORT WAS THE PLAY USED AS THE BIG ARGUEMENT FOR COACHES CHALLENGES IN GAMES. That shit kept us out of the playoffs that year, and cost Dennis Erickson his job.


I love instant replay, and with the exception of Polemalus pick in the Colts game, Ive never seen a HORRIBLE call after its been challenged, but I think SOMETHING needs to be changed

SOLUTION 1
Penalties should be challangeable, and likewise you should be able to challenge obvious blunders. Also, not that we wouldve won last night, but the Steelers SHOULD NOT have gotten that fucking timeout that he called an obvious second off the clock. I dont wanna bitch about the judgement calls, but that was complete fucking ignorance to whats going on by the crew.
If these rules applied too, we also couldve challenged Hasselbecks interception 1) where he "blocked" someone beneath the shins on a tackle 2) and the OBVIOUS offsides on the Steelers on that play that wasnt called

It wont ruin the flow of the game to fucking let coaches challenge on other plays, because theyd still have the same number of challenges


or

SOLUTION 2
Let the coach throw the flag more times (perhaps 5 or 7 times), and the booth can determine if the game is worth stopping to challenge it, then normal timeout/challenge rules apply.


The rules have gotten way too fucking complex, which isnt a problem, as long as you use equally complex technology to keep it in line. I think everyone agrees that challenges are a good thing, and there should be more of it when necessary

Silvio

You echoed my sentiments except that I don't have a rooting interest for Seattle but do have a loathing for Pittsburgh.

Your point about the Testerverde non TD a few years ago is understood. But all the other bad calls over the past 15 years all have the same thing in common: none were in the Super Bowl. And this wasn't a single bad call in the Super Bowl, it was several bad calls or no-calls. There is NO excuse to have such 2nd rate officiating in a game that 50+ million people watch.

I'm sorry, but I heard some Pittsburgh defenders say "well look what we went through with the officiating in Indy." I don't buy that logic at all b/c two wrongs don't make a right. Pittsburgh still won the Indy game, but it was 1 bad call in that game that went against Pittsburgh. There were some other non-calls that went in Pitt's favor vs. Indy. If the shoe were on the other foot, Pittsburgh would still be crying on camera about the officiating.

I respect Holmgren for not publicly lashing out at the refs today. What I don't understand is how and why he kept quiet on the sidelines during the actual game. I would have been going ballistic if I was the head coach in a title game.
*************************

I'm looking back at past Super Bowl winners since 1980. I don't see a weaker winner over the past 26 years than this year's Steelers. And I'm not old enough to have seen every Super Bowl, but they may rank the worst of all 40, I just can't say for sure.

Every winner since then had at least 1 undeniable, amazing attribute about the team during the game - the defense of Chicago, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay. The offensive prowess of San Francisco, Dallas, Green Bay, and St. Louis. There were teams that won in the last minute or on the last play - St. Louis, SF, New England (twice), and the NYG. This year's Steelers had nothing special about its play in the Super Bowl except a gadget play.

I know, flaws in the regular season could be big flaws in the Super Bowl however. I dont feel like the reason the officials sucked was because this was a more important game, I think they just sucked. We have more then enough technology to account for horseshit like we saw yesterday, and the fact that a coach can only use it twice at risk of a timeout when the REFS are the ones fucking up is absurd.

Coaches Challenges are a great thing, and there are several other places they should be useable, namely on penalties, and obvious no calls (like Pitt being well offsides on Hasselbecks pick and the fucking missed false start near the end) that should have been made. Let the coaches challenge most/all the complete fuck ups, not just a few of them.

I hate complaining about officails. I really do. But its just really necessary in the NFL. Between the Super Bowl, Polemalus pick taken away, and Steve Smiths td punt return against the Hawks where flags were picked up for no apperent reason (when they WERE thrown for an obvious reason....maybe the NFL just wanted their beloved overrated Delhome in the big one again) Im fucking fed up. The NFL needs to fix their ways. What a terrible month of playoff football

Irish, yes we will have to disagree here but I don't believe that A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan will be busts, I realize that you didn't say that they necessarily will be busts but I am almost certain that they won't. The only thing I fear though, is that there are now enormous expectations that are being placed on the shoulders of these two young men. It's almost as if if Burnett does not win 25 games and strike out 300 batters and Ryan does not get 50 saves and have an E.R.A under 1.25 they will be considered failures. What adds to the expectations up here is the fact that we have not reached the Playoffs since 1993 (our second and last World Series year) and Torontonians are starting to get a bit antsy..

Although I think that you're desire to see the Blue Jays in the Playoffs and the RedSox out stems more from your hatred of the BoSox than your admiration for the Jays I'll take it. In any case a Blue Jay vs. Yankee Playoff series would be extremely exciting and might set attendence records for a non World Series series.

Check out what ESPN poll results thought of the officiating in the Super Bowl.

That says it, considering that about 65-70% told Sportsnation they were ROOTING for the Steelers awhile back

The discovery that the ref who made the call against Darrel Jackson was born and raised in Pittsburgh didnt make me any happier either. What a crock of shit

There is absolutely no redemption either. Mariners, Sonics, Seahawks have all have good teams no and then, but no rings since the year before Magic Johnson got drafted into the NBA. So long. One now couldve justified all the waiting.

Its really unbearable. Id watch tv a few years back and see Red Sox fans crying about their team. Boo fucking hoo you guys had a basketball dynasty there, and were right in the middle of a football one.

I havent seen my city win anything (and dont say WNBA, id rather find a $5 dollar bill on the ground, thats how little I care about that leauge) in my whole fucking life

When the Sonics made it in 1996, that was just bad luck. 72-10 Bulls, what can you do. We played them well, perhaps gave the best effort of any of the 5 teams they beat in the Finals. I was disappointed, but what I am feeling now is NOWHERE near that.

We could have beaten them. Not saying it WOULD have turned out that way, but the refs sure made it impossible.

Fuck this