One for the THUMB and ICE on the way!

[bladebait]

You gotta love this week.Steelers are Super Bowl XL champs and cold weather on the way!The Steelers helped keep our mind off of ice fishing temporarily but hopefully we will be talking about our victory on the ice by the weekend.I'm pumped!

[C.C.]

I'm with ya on the ice thing. First time in a week that the fish pond in the front yard has been frozen. As for the steelers, good thing that they had the zebra's on their side. If you watched the game it looked like the seahawk's kicked the snot out of them and every time they made a good play the ref's would call a foul. That was one of the most boring super bowl game's that I have seen in a while.
      Jim

[bassman79]

i dont think the zebras threw that pass for a td on that trick play the hawks got duped on that play a gutsy call by cower if the hawks would have won then their fans would have told how exciting the game was i like it cuz the underdog won im actually a bills fan!! bassman79

[bassman79]

oh yeah i forgot longest run in any super bowl longest interception return in any super bowl first td thrown by a reciever in any super bowl i guess thats boring!!! not bassman79

[Swedish__Pimple]

Like John Madden said:"The worse Super Bowl in 10 years,but somebodys gotta win"Bottomline

[beerthirty]

Me being a middle man on this game i would have to say the FIX was in for this one! The TD by the Seahawks was not a TD Come on TD by Rothliesberger? Never and i mean never crossed the goal line Everytime the Seahawks got a big play there was a penalty FIXED AWFULLY FIXED

[tomg]

What about the quick whistles by the refs preventing the steelers from getting a couple of fumble recoveries. And the so called in completes catches then fumbles by the seahawks.  They were clearly catches.

The refs are part of the game and you must overcome their mistakes against you. Look at the Colt game. The steelers overcame a bad call in that game.

[Dizzy]

Me being a middle man on this game i would have to say the FIX was in for this one! The TD by the Seahawks was not a TD Come on TD by Rothliesberger? Never and i mean never crossed the goal line Everytime the Seahawks got a big play there was a penalty FIXED AWFULLY FIXED

Offensive pass interference is defined as; The offensive player is not allowed to use any part of the body to gain separation from a defender while the ball is in the air. Examples of this would be lowering of the shoulder, straight-arming, and/or pushing off of a would-be defender.

If you don’t think Darrell Jackson did exactly that, then you are probably not as “middle man” as you would like to believe. You may not have liked the call, but it was accurate.

[beerthirty]

So not accurate at all....He did not even push him one bit and you know that! Clearly on the replay he did not touch him...I guess Rothliesberger had the ball over the plain to right?

[beerthirty]

You call that a push off? WOW Sorry but you are a biased Steeler fan...I take nothing away from the Steelers and what they accomplished! But the whole thing was scripted for the BUS to end his wonderful career as a champion! Even if the Steelers did not win he was always a champion and true hall of famer in my book! The guy is nothing but a classy guy!

[Dizzy]

Like I said... you say “middle man” but clearly you are not (and that’s fine by the way).

D-Jax used his right arm as a brace against Ike Taylor’s chest to break on the ball as Hasselbeck threw it. It’s and old basketball move perfected by Michael Irvan back in the early 90’s which prompted the rule change. He doesn’t have to “push off” for it to be interference.

And if you can honestly say that you could CLEARLY see whether or not the ball passed over the PLANE of the goal line judging by those replays... then I think you’re full of Seahawk poop. At best it was inconclusive, which means the play stands as called on the field.

The fact is the Seahawks had their chances and blew it. It is not the fault of the referees that Seattle features a tight end that plays like his hands are on the wrong arms, or that their MVP runningback is of no use in the passing game, or that their best WR doesn’t have any foot control near the sidelines, or that the entire right side of their O-line can’t pass protect without a hand-full of jersey, or that their punter can’t keep from booming everything into the end zone, or that their coach/QB combo can’t manage the clock to close out halves... I’m afraid if the FIX was on (as you suggest), it may have been the Seahawks that fixed it.

[nepa]

The worst call was on Matt Hasselback for blocking below the waist when he tackled the guy returning the interception in the 3rd quarter.

[Dizzy]

The worst call was on Matt Hasselback for blocking below the waist when he tackled the guy returning the interception in the 3rd quarter.

I second that.

I understand why the rule is in place (to deter “wedge-busting” injuries on kick returns)... but you have to treat QB’s differently. They don’t even wear real pads. Look what happened to Marc Bulger when he tried to make a “legal” tackle on an INT return this year... boom, out for the season.

[Van_Cleaver]

Well, I think that about covers the Super? Bowl. Time to look towards Canada for that welcome cold blast. Anything with halfway decent ice should be good and tight by the weekend, and the call was for even colder air to droop down from the artic after that........brrrrrrrr. I can almost smell those gills and perch in the skillet! Might even get a shot at some of the smaller lakes or coves here in the Southeast. Of couse that is assuming the wind lays down, usually not consistant with a clipper. We could fish first ice into last ice; might be really good! Oh, congrats to the Steelers, their name is on the trophy, and in the end that is all anyone will remember.

[bogeyjoker]

Me being a middle man on this game i would have to say the FIX was in for this one! The TD by the Seahawks was not a TD Come on TD by Rothliesberger? Never and i mean never crossed the goal line Everytime the Seahawks got a big play there was a penalty FIXED AWFULLY FIXED

Oh really?  Did you watch the same game I did?  Yes, I'm a Steeler's fan, but I call them as I see them, not as I want them to be.  Ben did clearly cross the plane of the goalline (see below).  The long play that was called back for holding was holding (see below).  And the offensive pass interference call was pass interference (see link below).  Now, I personally don't think that if this wasn't the Superbowl, then they would have let that call go, but he certainly did push off in the endzone and technically a good call.



hmm...looks like it crossed the plane to me...



This may not be a hold to Seahawks fans, but it sure looks like a hold to me...

http://www.stillustronic.com/PushOff.mov

[Dizzy]

This may not be a hold to Seahawks fans, but it sure looks like a hold to me...

I was on a FF website Monday, and one of the posters on there (a TiVo owner) claimed that the the "phantom holding call" was actually a combo blunder by the referee and John Madden. Apparently the ref "announced" the incorrect number (the center's) when explaining the call. The correct jersey number should have been the right tackle... whom—this guy claimed—was clearly hoding.

I didn't think much of it at the time... but your picture clearly shows a hold on the right end of the O-line.

Interesting.

[bogeyjoker]

I TiVo'd the game too and looked at all the "bad calls" frame by frame in slow motion.  The only bad call against Seattle that I saw was the one against Hasselback for the block.  I can see why the refs called it because at first it did look like he hit the blocker not the ball carrier, but it was definately a bad call when you look at it in slow motion.