I don’t care if they’re going to get creamed. GO SEATTLE! FEEL MY LOVE BEAMING TOWARD DETROIT READY TO RAIN DOWN ON YOU AT KICKOFF!
If your loyalties lie elsewhere, we are not friends today.

Amen

oops! hope we can be friends tomorrow.

Well, the Invisible Hand of the NFL came down on the side of the Story of the Holy Bettis of Detroit.  No surprise there...

I strongly suggest you seek solace by spending more than just a single day in your beloved Portland.  We're gettin' a little moldy up here with all the rain and could use a little of your heat!

Call it sour grapes if you will (I was rooting for Seattle) but I think that was one of the worst officiated Superbowl games I have ever seen.  But then again, this year's entire NFL post season was poorly officiated.  My examples...

-Big Ben did not cross the goal line on 3rd down and it was clear in the replay, yet the play stood.
-Replay showed there was no holding on the catch made by Stevens which would have put the Seahawks at the 3 yard line... yet it was called back.
-It was a very "ticky-tack" call for offensive pass interference which wiped out Seattle's first TD.
-You can't flag a guy for a chop block when he does it on the ball carrier... Hasselback was tackling the guy who picked him off and got 15 yards because of it... unheard of.

So lets tally this up... Steelers minus one TD from Big Ben (give credit for FG instead)... 4 point difference.

Seahawks add 2 TDs... 14 point difference.  Final score 24-17 in Favor of Seahawks.

The game was over when the ref made the BS holding call on Stevens catch at the 2 yard line. Even Madden said he didn't see a hold. Seattle would have had 4 shots to get in in from there and take the lead.

I defeinitely need some cheering up while I'm in Chicago today and tomorrow (Tues).  email me at jennifersteele69@hotmail,com or call BM...xoxo   Jenn

Hey, I'm a STEELEr fan, surely there's nothing wrong with that, right???  Wish I was in Chi-town to console you...

"Sour Grapes!"  And, I wasn't rooting for either team.

It wasn't "clear" on the replay one way or another, but it looked liked Big Ben had the front of the ball over the vertical plane of the goal line (all you need for the TD) before he was hit backwards.  If you want to see "clear" evidence of that type of play getting wrongly called, review the tapes of Tampa Bay's Mike Alstot's two point conversion against the Redskins back in late October/earlyNovember (His arm containing the ball was CLEARLY down shy of the goal line).

While I didn't see holding either on the replays that would've put the ball at the 3 yard line, it doesn't mean there wasn't any.  Perhaps the ref saw something that occured before the replay footage.  Perhaps he blew the call.  It happens.  You still can't say that Seattle scores and doesn't turn the ball over later on the possession.

The pass interference call that wiped out Seattle's first TD was not "ticky tack".  It was a clear push-off with both hands to get separation from the defender.  The very definiton of pass interference.  He might not have needed to do it, perhaps he could've been more subtle and used only his forearm.  But he didn't.  Good call.  Btw, Seattle got a FG on this possession, so even with your "logic" they only get to add 4 points.

I agree that the flag on Hasselback's tackle was a bad call.

Still, I'm amazed at how much heat the officials are getting.  Especially, about the pass interference call, which was unfortunate for the Seahawks, but absolutely the CORRECT CALL.  Bottom line, neither team played very well. But Pittsburgh did do a better job of minimizing their mistakes. Seattle should be blaming themselves AND their coaches and not the refs!

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couldn't agree with you more jj. thought i was the only one that saw that alstott play in the fall. and as far as the interference in the end zone you are 100% correct. in that kind of situation the ref's hands are tied, the mintue the receiver extends his hands the ref has to call it. it's like a defensice back  not looking back at the ball on a pass play.

the refs go around at the beginning of the season to training camps and explain the new rules and go over the constraints of other rules, and the extension of hands is one that receivers are reminded of again and again. if you want to blame anybody blame the receiver because he knows the rule, or you could blame michael irvin because he made a living out of pushing off and offensive interference became more of an issue because of him.

finally let's remember we get to see things on replay but a ref has to see things in an instant and on calls like holding it can be the flash of a pulled jersey or a closed hand that gets his attention.

i'm not defending the refs because they made some ridiculous calls in the playoffs, but you just have to play with it. and somebody like holgrem should have more class than to cry about the calls. i'm sure he's gotten his share of them his way over the years.

Great observation about Michael Irvin.  As great as he was, he was the KING of pushing off and getting away with it.  So many gripes went to the league's office that they had to crack down on it.

Whatever you think. If those calls had gone against the Steelers instead of the Seahawks and Seattle had won the game there would be a huge outcry about the officiating. In the end...the team that everyone wanted to win..won. End of story.

I didn't care in the least who won the game.  Certainly, there were more Steelers' fans in attendance, but it wasn't exactly a "home game" for them.  Refs are used to having to make calls that upset the "home fans", so they wouldn't have been intimidated.  I think the reason there is a lot of grumbling, is because both teams played poorly for most of the game.  Certainly, the outcome of these calls had a large effect on the game, but the pass interference-TD-negating call was a GOOD call and so was Big Ben's TD.

So I win!  Yay vibrator!  This is what happens before I come out of my room to check the boards and find you guys bitching at each other about a bunch of dudes throwing a ball.  Well, Chicago sucked this week, so I came home early to So Florida.  Vibrator's plugged in again already, 420's in the  other room, and who needs you anyway....weeeeeee!  xoxo  Jenn

I *really* wanted Seattle to win and I didn't like some of the calls (and noncalls).  But in boxing they say if you don't want to go to the score cards knock the sucka out.  I think the same is true in football.  Don't leave it up to the refs.  Put 'em away in the first half.
 The Seahawks got what they deserved by failing to land a K.O. the many times they had the chance.

You are right about one thing...BOTH teams played like shit. About Rothlisberger's TD though, he admitted on David Letterman that it wasn't a TD. I wasn't going to post anything else on this but, Christ I just had to...sorry.