I can't believe no one has talked about the superbowl yet

[snoopy]

So, about ten minutes before kickoff, who's it gonna be?

[CDN_Merlin]

Vancouver Canucks

[AceCombat]

gah!!

super bowl

[Vindicator]

Bleh, dont care. Though I was channel surfing and landed on the commercials a few times... I LOL'd at Shaq all broken up over Desperate Housewives

[JMEaT]

GF and I are rootin' for the Seahawks!

[Ferno]

STEELERS!

[Burlyman]

Steelers won! I knew it. ^_~

[Avder]

Vancouver Canucks

Merlin youre a dork. Vancouver sucks anyway.

Anyhoo, The Bus deserved to go out a champion.

[Gooberman]

How come ever sence the Janet fiasco they have out sourced the half time show-music to other countries? The superbowl is more American then the 4th of July.

[CDN_Merlin]

Vancouver Canucks

Merlin youre a dork. Vancouver sucks anyway.

Anyhoo, The Bus deserved to go out a champion.

My team is actually the Ottawa Senators or the Montreal Canadiens. I just picked Vancouver to spice it up.

[Duper]

some horrible Refing going on in that game.

[CUDA]

some horrible Refing going on in that game.

cmon Dup I only counted 4 obviously bad calls
1.offensive pass interference against Seattle, cost a TD. 4 point swing
2. Rothliesberger TD didnt get in. possible 4 point swing
3. Personal foul on Hasselbeck when he made a tackle atfer the interception 15 yards WTF was that?!?!?!
4. holding call against Seattle, cost them 1st and goal at the 1, probable 7 point swing.

and Madden and Michaels disagreed with the refs on all 4 of these calls.

did it swing the game? who knows. doesnt matter anyways score more points. congrats Steelers

[Darktalyn1]

I was in an office pool for the game but didn't win anything.

On checking the grid, it looks like my Manager made 800 bucks though.

I don't actually watch football - I'm an NBA man, myself..

[Avder]

I don't actually watch football - I'm an NBA man, myself..

Ooooh, I pity you.

[Tyranny]

It really isn't that exciting to watch anymore. The commercials, though moderately entertaining this year, still fell short from previous years. More importantly the damn NFL hints as to who is going to win the damn thing anyways.

I've called the winner the last 3 or 4 years now just based on how much they promote one team over the other in the weeks leading up to and then during the superbowl.


I'm just glad there is still a little less then half of an NBA seasons left. Atleast in a game swamped with crappy officials it doesn't dictate the outcome of the game as much as it would a football game. Then of course we get two servings of the classic American pastime with the World Baseball Classic and the MLB season on the way.

Be nice to watch sportcenter again and actually get news on what is happening instead of watching \"speculative news\" all week for a sport that only has a game a week.

Anywho, congrats to the steelers. Anybody but the friggin Pats

[Will Robinson]

some horrible Refing going on in that game.

cmon Dup I only counted 4 obviously bad calls
1.offensive pass interference against Seattle, cost a TD. 4 point swing
2. Rothliesberger TD didnt get in. possible 4 point swing
3. Personal foul on Hasselbeck when he made a tackle atfer the interception 15 yards WTF was that?!?!?!
4. holding call against Seattle, cost them 1st and goal at the 1, probable 7 point swing.

I think Madden needs to get his eyes checked, the holding was about as blatent as it gets. I've got the whole game on a high definition recorder and am watching it on 52 glorius inches of high definition screen!

As to the offensive interference, definitely a good call. If you watch the replay the reciever gets seperation from the defender only because he pushes off....at the very moment the defender would have been moving with the reciever (he was clearly on the reciever and well within reach of breaking up the catch) he instead is rocked back onto his heels and unable to close the gap because the reciever has just pushed him away!!!

Watch it on slow motion in high definition and you can almost feel the effect of the push to the defenders upper torso and you can see from the defenders body language he goes from being in the play, on his toes about to swat the ball, to having his balance rocked back on his heels and taken out of the play! You don't have to lay a guy out on the ground to be guilty of interfering with his right to go for the ball. The rules clearly say the reciever (or a defender) can't do that...case closed.

[Darktalyn1]

Don't pity me for being an NBA fan, pity me for being an Orlando Magic fan.

Doesn't get much worse than that...

[Topher]

I think the Seahawks got robbed. The first call to offensive interference cost them a touchdown. Then they gave that first touch down to the Steelers which I disagreed with.

That and the game was just sloppy. How many interceptions and sacks were there against the Seahawks? Arg.

Oh well, it looked good on my 50\" plasma.

[Duper]

did it swing the game? who knows. doesnt matter anyways score more points. congrats Steelers

I think so. It gave Steelers a touch down and took one away from Seattle.

Different game right there.

[Vertigo 99]

terrible super bowl. the party we threw for it wasn't that bad tho, we all had a good time.

[JMEaT]

some horrible Refing going on in that game.

++

[CUDA]

some horrible Refing going on in that game.

cmon Dup I only counted 4 obviously bad calls
1.offensive pass interference against Seattle, cost a TD. 4 point swing
2. Rothliesberger TD didnt get in. possible 4 point swing
3. Personal foul on Hasselbeck when he made a tackle atfer the interception 15 yards WTF was that?!?!?!
4. holding call against Seattle, cost them 1st and goal at the 1, probable 7 point swing.

I think Madden needs to get his eyes checked, the holding was about as blatent as it gets. I've got the whole game on a high definition recorder and am watching it on 52 glorius inches of high definition screen!

As to the offensive interference, definitely a good call. If you watch the replay the reciever gets seperation from the defender only because he pushes off....at the very moment the defender would have been moving with the reciever (he was clearly on the reciever and well within reach of breaking up the catch) he instead is rocked back onto his heels and unable to close the gap because the reciever has just pushed him away!!!

Watch it on slow motion in high definition and you can almost feel the effect of the push to the defenders upper torso and you can see from the defenders body language he goes from being in the play, on his toes about to swat the ball, to having his balance rocked back on his heels and taken out of the play! You don't have to lay a guy out on the ground to be guilty of interfering with his right to go for the ball. The rules clearly say the reciever (or a defender) can't do that...case closed.

I guess you missed the part where the defender had hold of his arm before the "supposed" push. uhm thats called Illegal contact and should have been a spot foul at the 1. thos are the kind of calls you DONT MAKE especially in the Bowl, I also see you dont disagree with my other two choices for bad calls, the PF for the illegal block on Hasselbeck and the Roethlisberger TD. and if memory serves there were no questionable calls against Pittsburg. I'm not making excuses, as I said score more points.

P.S.heh it seems that the sports sites agree with the badd officiating angle.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5310192

I've been shrieking hysterically about the terrible officiating in the NFL and warning that some day the brutal calls were going to affect the outcome of the Super Bowl.

That some day was Sunday.

Every single questionable, marginal or outright bad call went against the Seahawks.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/st ... ess/060205

The first-quarter offensive pass interference called on Darrell Jackson that turned a touchdown into a field goal was robbery enough. But the fourth-quarter holding call on Sean Locklear made you wonder whether the refs had even less of Aretha's r-e-s-p-E-c-t for your Seahawks than I do.

But on this night, the Steelers had their own version of your 12th Man. He wore a striped shirt and a whistle. He threw a flag.

[Will Robinson]

I guess you missed the part where the defender had hold of his arm before the "supposed" push. uhm thats called Illegal contact and should have been a spot foul at the 1. thos are the kind of calls you DONT MAKE especially in the Bowl, I also see you dont disagree with my other two choices for bad calls, the PF for the illegal block on Hasselbeck and the Roethlisberger TD. and if memory serves there were no questionable calls against Pittsburg. I'm not making excuses, as I said score more points.

I didn't mean to avoid the other points, just don't have much time right now.
I think the call on Hasselback was BS because he can make a low hit in that situation, the Ref just didn't see it right or got confused on the rule, he can hit a ball carrier low but not a blocker, I believe he hit the ball carrier so it shouldn't have been called that way.

As far as Big Bens touchdown: Just go to this video and remember the plane that indicates where the endzone starts is where the white paint meets the grass. He doesn't have to get the ball across the white stripe only has to have any part of the ball break the plane. Look at how he's holding the ball and imagine where the front of the ball is and where the plane is....clearly he gets the ball that far before he's pushed back.

I'll watch the offensive interference footage again later but if memory serves me what I saw was the kind of back and forth that shouldn't be called while they were both arriving at the spot where they both anticipated the ball to arrive. Then the reciever gave the defender a shove in the chest timed to give him seperation at the right moment so that the defender would be recovering from the push when he should be swatting the ball away. that kind of thing is done all the time, it's also illegal and he got called on it. If he hadn't given the defender the shove the defender was in perfect position to break up the pass.
Just because other calls weren't made doesn't change the reality that he did push off and he did get called for it on that play. I agree that the officiating was inconsistant but there's no way I'll say the reciever should have been allowed to take the defender out of the play so he could catch the ball.

[CUDA]

I would agree with you except for 1 point. where the ball was thrown the defender was never in the play. the defender was 2 steps to his right, the ball was 2 steps to his left and he had to reach to catch it, the defender would never have been able to make a play on the ball. the Roethlisberger TD was a could go either way call. what really bugged me about it was, if you watch the replay the official was going to call him down by contact, he was pointing at the ground, then Ben moved the ball forward and the official changed his mind to TD. I think that if had not been called a TD and challenged that the replay as in this case would not have been conclusive to overturn it. again I am not making excuses for the loss Seattle boned themselves. but whn a team has more yardage, more time of possesion, more first downs, and fewer turnovers. they dont usually lose a game. I truly feel that the better team lost yesterday. with the 3 exceptions. a broken play at the 2 yard line, a 75 yard run, and a Gadget play. Seattle was the MUCH better team. but the better team doesnt always win

[Will Robinson]

I would agree with you except for 1 point. where the ball was thrown the defender was never in the play. the defender was 2 steps to his right, the ball was 2 steps to his left and he had to reach to catch it, the defender would never have been able to make a play on the ball. the Roethlisberger TD was a could go either way call. what really bugged me about it was, if you watch the replay the official was going to call him down by contact, he was pointing at the ground, then Ben moved the ball forward and the official changed his mind to TD. I think that if had not been called a TD and challenged that the replay as in this case would not have been conclusive to overturn it. again I am not making excuses for the loss Seattle boned themselves. but whn a team has more yardage, more time of possesion, more first downs, and fewer turnovers. they dont usually lose a game. I truly feel that the better team lost yesterday. with the 3 exceptions. a broken play at the 2 yard line, a 75 yard run, and a Gadget play. Seattle was the MUCH better team. but the better team doesnt always win

Well on the interference call, you can't say they shouldn't call a penalty for a push off that did happen because it looks like the defender might not make the play....so while we disagree on what the defender would have done we apparently agree on what the reciever did do, and what he did do is the only thing in the referee should rule on.

As to the overall game:
It was ugly on offense for both teams. The Seattle style of play doesn't give you big plays and against the Steelers you won't finish most drives without being able to go long.
The Seahawks were the highest scoring team in the whole league this year, scoring an average of 28.3 points per game and yet the Steelers held them to 10 points last night. That's why the Seahawks lost.

The Steelers are a total package, not a total package of superstars like the '49ers were once or like the '79 Steeler team was, but they are a total package of raw talent and skill so even when parts of the game plan or certain players do poorly they still have lots of tools to get something done.

[Ferno]

here's something i've learned in the past: never let a bunch of eggheads debate sports. they're worse than the athletes.

[Top Wop]

Screw that man. I was watching the second annual Puppy Bowl!

[Duper]

As far as Big Bens touchdown: Just go to this video and remember the plane that indicates where the endzone starts is where the white paint meets the grass. He doesn't have to get the ball across the white stripe only has to have any part of the ball break the plane. Look at how he's holding the ball and imagine where the front of the ball is and where the plane is....clearly he gets the ball that far before he's pushed back.

Clearly?? That's a stretch. You can't see squat in that vid. It's too dark and blurred. It was close, but my personal impression is that it did not break the plane.


oh well..

[Will Robinson]

Still trying to get my video onto the PC so I can make some clips but I think I found something much better.

Check out this thread in a forum for actual referees! This one guy has broken down the three supposedly bad calls and supports his position with still photo's, video, and best of all, what seems to be a clear, unbiased review of the calls based on the evidence and the actual rules! Go here and see what you think after reading this thread.

[World War Woodi]

I would agree with you except for 1 point. where the ball was thrown the defender was never in the play. the defender was 2 steps to his right, the ball was 2 steps to his left and he had to reach to catch it, the defender would never have been able to make a play on the ball. the Roethlisberger TD was a could go either way call. what really bugged me about it was, if you watch the replay the official was going to call him down by contact, he was pointing at the ground, then Ben moved the ball forward and the official changed his mind to TD. I think that if had not been called a TD and challenged that the replay as in this case would not have been conclusive to overturn it. again I am not making excuses for the loss Seattle boned themselves. but whn a team has more yardage, more time of possesion, more first downs, and fewer turnovers. they dont usually lose a game. I truly feel that the better team lost yesterday. with the 3 exceptions. a broken play at the 2 yard line, a 75 yard run, and a Gadget play. Seattle was the MUCH better team. but the better team doesnt always win

As a DIE HARD Seahawks fan, I almost agree.

I had to give a couple of days, cause we totally got boned by the refs, and I was PO'd to no end.

Now I hear Roth said on David Letterman he knew and told his coach right after the play he didnt get it in. That one doesn't really matter though cause it was damn close.

I also heard usa today reported that two of the refs were born and raised in Pittsberg, to that I say WTF?

On the push off, more than pushing off it looked like he had his hand on him to feel where the defender was then ran two steps over, I see no push. *[edit] Okay I yield to that after watching the video over an over, UGH !

Still we blew a couple of plays that couldve broke it wide open also, 2 missed fieldgoals and two dropped passes.

Only damn call that went our way was the Hasselback fumble that was challenged.

It didnt seem the same Seahawks team I've been watchin just destroy teams showed up that day which is a shame.

Rant\\off

[Will Robinson]

Now I hear Roth said on David Letterman he knew and told his coach right after the play he didnt get it in.

He said he 'didn't think he got it in'....after watching the film later during an interview he said it looks like he did barely get it in. Regardless of what he thought at the time it's what the refs see that counts.

It didnt seem the same Seahawks team I've been watchin just destroy teams showed up that day which is a shame.

Rant\\off

I know the feeling because the same Steeler team I'd been watching all year didn't show up either...but at least they brought enough to weather the storm and pull out a win.

[Will Robinson]

I don't know if this will help how Seattle fans feel about the loss but it might help them at least accept the call as legitimate. First, just for a point of reference on exactly where the ball is being held as he dives in for the score look at this shot of him at this point he's almost in...


Then look at the freeze frame of the point where the defender has just started to push his arm and the ball back. You can see the blur of his arm band moving back...


For me anyway this proof that he did get part of the ball beyond the plane.

[Duper]

Will, I really don't think that's the ball. the ball sedems to me to be just off the upper right \"corner\" of the circle over layed. What is circled imo is a combo of the seattle guys left arm and the offensive guy's helmet that is under the ball carrier. ut, its really hard to tell for all the fuzz.

That pic above that is an awesome still-shot!

[Will Robinson]

The white thing in the circle is the arm band he wears just below his elbow, the dark object to the upper right of the circle (outside the 2 o'clock area) is the back of his gloved hand.

Look at the first picture again and see where the ball would be relative to those two things then look back at the second picture and see where the ball would be at that moment.
When you rotate your imagined spot to allow for the different camera angle between the two pictures it seems like he either got the tip of the ball closest to his elbow beyond the plane of the goal or he's not holding the ball at all. Since the video reveals he didn't lose the ball until after this frame I'd have to conclude that part of the ball had to cross the plane just before it was knocked out...

Certainly though, since the original call was a touchdown and the refs had this video to work with then there seems no way they should overrule the call made on the field since the rule requires undisputable evidence before a call is overruled.

Since Pittsburgh has a record of 100% success on fourth and goal situations I'd say the next play was going to be a touchdown even if they overturned it and spotted the ball on the one inch line. While they reviewed it the coach was already telling Ben to run it again if it was overruled so I think the call was a non factor in the final outcome of the game.
Of course I'm a hardcore Steeler fan since 1973 so my opinion is....well...it's the correct one

[MD-2389]

Screw that man. I was watching the second annual Puppy Bowl!

Beware the wrath of the poodle!

[Top Gun]

Even if that OPI call was technically correct, I think it's bull that it's in the rulebooks in the first place. The same goes for most holding calls (everything other than flagrant, throw-'em-to-the-ground affairs). Calling minor crap like that is what makes basketball so unbearably unwatchable for me. In any situation, but the Superbowl most of all, you have to let them play a little. Calling little technicalities like that is what gets millions of football fans completely pissed off at league.

(Let the record stat that I'm a die-hard Eagles fan who thinks that Pittsburgh barely belongs in this state, much less in the Superbowl. )

[Will Robinson]

Even if that OPI call was technically correct, I think it's bull that it's in the rulebooks in the first place.

If the rule wasn't in the books it would be easy for the receiver to run a route and just push off right before the ball arrived and then catch the ball everytime! It would ruin the game. As it is many recievers have mastered the art of hiding the pushoff as you saw in this case only he did it literally right in front of an official!
If they didn't call that in the superbowl when it was used to steal a touchdown right in front of a Ref then it would have been a crime!!

[Duper]

I've circled some cooresponding bodyparts in the two pics with corresponding color.





The league would do well to invest in some HD, high speed cameras for moments like these.

[Top Gun]

Even if that OPI call was technically correct, I think it's bull that it's in the rulebooks in the first place.

If the rule wasn't in the books it would be easy for the receiver to run a route and just push off right before the ball arrived and then catch the ball everytime! It would ruin the game. As it is many recievers have mastered the art of hiding the pushoff as you saw in this case only he did it literally right in front of an official!
If they didn't call that in the superbowl when it was used to steal a touchdown right in front of a Ref then it would have been a crime!!

If a defender can't handle a little nudge like that, maybe they don't deserve to be in the league.

[World War Woodi]

High speed cameras, or some low tech electronics that would sense if the football crossed the line, c'mon that would be so easy.

I mean if fox tv can paint a hockey puck so you can easily follow it on the screen, well how hard could it be?

Will, I dont think he got it in, but I do think on a second try from the 1 inch line he wouldve so, Im dun.

I feel and will always feel for the end of time that those refs were jaded against seattle and were looking to make any call they could against us, thats my story and Im stickin to it! I dont care and I dont wanna hear it!!!

WE WILL SEE YOU NEXT YEAR DAWG!!!!