Steelers win--with an asterisk

[Bill V]

STEELERS WIN!



I love the fact that they won--both because I like Cowher, and I like Bettis, and they both deserve a championship! (And because I'm a Packers fan, and therefore like to see Holmgren go down. )



However, ahead of any of that, I'm a football fan--and I hate to have seen this one go down the way they did. LOTS of bad calls, all one sided. This game will always have an asterisk in my mind, and I'm sure it will in the eyes of many other football fans. Roethlisberger did not score on that first half "touchdown". There was no holding on the third quarter play where the Seahawks got to the 1 yard line. Hasselbeck did not commit a personal foul on that block.



And without those calls, I don't think the Steelers are lifting the trophy right now.



Just like the Patriots first championship, which will always have an asterisk because of the incorrectly called "tuck rule", this one, too, will always be remembered by many as being a bit questionable. As a fan of the NFL, I hate to see it. Hopefully, the Steelers will come back next year and win one definitively, like the Patriots did.

 

[Frank Marano]

i am not a fan of either team. i didnt many bad calls

 

[Rich Stern]

Agreed. Very disappointing officiating.



They really need to stop the "all star" officiating, and just use the best crew from the regular season. I believe the calls would be better/more consistent.

 

[Todd Z]

and???

 

[Johnny O]

Ball has to be on the goal line to cross the plane, which it was. I agree, upon further review the penalty on Hasslebeck was a bad call. Seahawks shot themselves in the foot a couple times with legit penalties though and you can't win a Super Bowl that way.

 

[Travis Munday]

Yes, there was some bad calls from the Seattle coaching staff, but wouldn't you be a little out of sorts yourself when you obviously have the better team, you're beating the odds, but everytime you get soemthing going your way, an official butts in and makes an ass out of himself? I know I'd have a tough time even finding words to talk, much less the right words in the right order to get decent plays out.



At least there were some funny commercials.

 

[Johnny O]

None of the commercials really impressed me though. I expected better. Shoot, the last time the Stillers won a Super Bowl my dad was younger than I am now. I feel old but it feels reeeeeeeally good right now.

 

[David j]

They should just start calling it the Pro football championship. I haven't seen anything "super" about it since it started.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

I actually liked the Budweiser commercials. Especially the one with the sheared sheep that was "streaking". The one with the Clydesdale colt "pulling" the beer wagon was cute too.

 

[A K]

I rarely hear anyone put an asterisc next to the Pat's first Super Bowl victory. Officiating is part of the game. I hate to admit it, but it is as much as the I formation or the shotgun.



I'm a Penn State fan and alum. Ask me about Lloyd Carr's two magical seconds.



Unfortunately, it's part of the game...

 

[Bill V]

JohnnyO, the ball has to "break" the plane of the goal. Not just touch it, or approach it, but actually break it. That clearly did not happen. As much as I hate to admit it, as the call went in favor of the team I was cheering for, it was a badly blown call.



Adam, yes, it's part of the game--that's why they don't take away championships because of blown calls. But that doesn't mean that games aren't remembered for them, as being the key definining moment of a game/season. And I'm concerned that that will be the prevailing memory of this game, like the tuck rule from four years ago.

 

[Brian Teitell]

the ball jusr has to get any part of the goaline to be a touchdown and it did, not the whole ball but just the tip,

 

[Bill V]

pimped, as I said, any part of the ball has to BREAK the plane of the front of the goal line. Not just reach it or touch it, but actually BREAK it. That didn't happen.



Even still, that call in and of itself wouldn't have been enough to garner an asterisk. But combine it with so many of the other calls, and you now have a game remembered more for the questionable officiating than the play on the field.

 

[Gavin Allan]

I don't give a rat's butt who won the Super Bowl, but I agree that there were some pretty bad calls in the game. The commercials were not all that they were hyped up to be. I love the Rolling Stones, but man--they were really flat, both Mick's singing, and the guitar. I'll take a wardrobe malfunction any day.

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

I only got to catch the last few minutes of the 4th (I was at church most of the night). I did get to see the blown call on the "chop block".... sheesh.



Glad to see my beloved St Louis Rams aren't the only ones that the NFL refs hate.



Oh well.

 

[Mark Grumpy]

LOTS of bad calls, all one sided.

Nah! That can't be - Dallas wasn't playing. That's the only time that happens.



grump

 

[Bill V]

Grump--



Ask most people from this part of the country (Minnesota), and they'll agree with you--they only happen when Dallas is playing. And they all go in the Cowboys' favor!

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I dunno how anyone can, with 100% certainty claim that any part of the ball did or did not break the plane made by the front edge of goal line.



I watched it a bizzillion times, even paused it with DVR, and I couldn't tell. The bodies, the hand around the ball, the angle of the closeup, the very brief aspect of the player flying through the air all to be pushed back before hitting the ground....



...it all left me with only two conclusions:



1) I just can't tell.



2) I am glad I don't have to make the call.



And, upon review, unless the reviewing ref can tell with 100% certainty, he can't reverse the original call.



TJR

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Some of you all are sounding like Colts fans to me!!!! Way to go Stillers!!!!!!



IMO, there are "questionable" calls in EVERY game of the season. As long as there are HUMAN ref's, there will be mistakes. Until they make a robot that can make the correct call every time then there will be these types of calls. They could have just as easily called them on the Steelers, but thats not the way it went.



As for the Big Ben touchdown, I agree it may not have crossed the line, but it was called a touchdown. There had to be enough eveidence to OVERTURN the call. Being that the ball could not clearly be seen, the Ref made the right call by NOT overturning it since there was no conclusive evidence.



Anyway, my Steelers won and I won't be putting an "*" by it.

 

[Johnny O]

pimped, as I said, any part of the ball has to BREAK the plane of the front of the goal line. Not just reach it or touch it, but actually BREAK it. That didn't happen.

I'm not being a homer about it, but I think it did. Same with the officials reviewing it upstairs (although I saw a lousy reversal on review for the interception in the Indy game)

No matter, when the Stiller D forces you into a pair of 50 yard field goals it means you're not having a good day against them.

Although again, I'll be the first one to say that the Seahawks shot themselves in the foot a few times with penalties. And they were legit ones.