Does Superbowl XL deserve an asterisk ?

[BlackJesus]

THE FANS

Click Here ----> A Petition with over 26,000 signatures of fans who think it is tainted .....

THE NATION & WORLD

Click Here ----> Results of a Worldwide Poll from ESPN on the effect of Officiating to the Games outcome

- Well it seems that 63% of the United States

- 48 of the 50 states

- And the rest of the Entire World combined

all believe that the Steelers won because of the Officials ....

THE PRESS

Writers who have written about the Refs .....

Click Here ----> Jason Whitlock - Throw a flag on the Referees

Click Here ----> Kevin Hench - Refs were far from super on this one

Click Here ----> Micheal Smith - Game was upstaged by Refs

Click Here ----> How the Refs handed Pittsburg the Superbowl - By Robert Weintraub

Click Here ----> Skip Bayless - Steeling one the Hawks got robbed

Click Here ----> Kevin Hench - Seahawks Won everything but the Game

Click Here ----> Doug Harris - Superbowl officials were super bad

... ?

[BlackJesus]

For my money ....

[BlackJesus]

I'm suprised only 3 Steeler fans have made it to the library to vote in the poll

[Stripes]

I voted no. But I was in a library at the time...

[Dan2330]

Bad calls happen all the time in all games, it just happens that these bad calls happened during the Super Bowl. I don't recall seeing anyone yapping after the Pats/Broncos game when I personally counted at least three bad calls by the refs that cost some major yardage.

I hate the Steelers as much as the next Bengals fan but what kind of uproar could the Steelers have created in the Division Playoff Game if Vanderjerk wouldn't of shanked the field goal and Indy would of won in overtime or if Nick 'Knifed' Harper would of run that Buttis fumble back all the way- Does everyone remember Polyfools interception that they overturned desipte the fact it was a pick?

[Ox]

Gee I wonder.

[cincy90]

Definately. The refs negated more game-changing Seahawk plays than the Steelers made in order to win the game. They won the game because of 3 plays. 3 PLAYS! I've never seen that before... ever.

[bengalboomer7]

Money, guys, Money

How much more money do you think the NFL is making by selling Steeler Super Bowl memorabilia, than Seahawk memorialbila

I heard the NFL was even selling terrible towels at the game.

[Dan2330]

Money, guys, Money

How much more money do you think the NFL is making by selling Steeler Super Bowl memorabilia, than Seahawk memorialbila

I heard the NFL was even selling terrible towels at the game.

So were the vendors outside PBS when they had the Wild Card game in Cincy..

[CT Stiller]

Hi guys. Long time, huh? It's good to see not much has changed. TDB has a hot chick in his sig and is talking sense as usual, the rest of you hating on my Steelers. That's ok. Anyway, since Black hey-suse listed those links to those articles, maybe you guys would like to see these as well? (notice how I didn't include a Skip Bayless or the head writer of the worst show on Comedy Central (Kevin Hench) article because that would ruin all credibility right off the bat).

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/sto...gene&id=2322300

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs05/c...john&id=2320668

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/story/9212635

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar.../602070353/1027

http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../602080334/1006

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/13809137.htm

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/13820417.htm

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sport...ll/13801341.htm

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/seah...0_voices08.html

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=60124

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/02/07/180902.php

http://www.richmond.com/sports/output.aspx...er=1&position=6

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/wilbur/s...?p1=MEWell_Pos5

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/n...orts-columnists

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/apps/pb.../602090312/1006

http://www.hibbingmn.com/dailytribune/inde...story_id=208172

http://www.cushingdaily.com/opinion/cnhins...eyword=topstory

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/02/12/...1sleeper001.cfm

[BengalszoneBilly]

Hi guys. Long time, huh? It's good to see not much has changed. TDB has a hot chick in his sig and is talking sense as usual, the rest of you hating on my Steelers. That's ok. Anyway, since Black hey-suse listed those links to those articles, maybe you guys would like to see these as well?

C'mon CT. You know your teams argument has hit rock bottom when the reason they won the Super Bowl ends up on a freakin' Bang Cartoon!. That site monitors the feelings of all the fans of the NFL!

They were right on T.O., they were right on Winlsow, and they're right that the refs BLOW! Sorry dude. Asterick! 22.6 rated QB's don't win superbowls without major help. Even f**king Trent Dilfer with the Ravens in 2000 didn't need that much help! This Super Bowl will be forever looked at down the collective nose of the NFL, and you are welcome to it.

[CT Stiller]

They were right on T.O., they were right on Winlsow, and they're right that the refs BLOW! Sorry dude. Asterick! 22.6 rated QB's don't win superbowls without major help. Even f**king Trent Dilfer with the Ravens in 2000 didn't need that much help! This Super Bowl will be forever looked at down the collective nose of the NFL, and you are welcome to it.

Look at BJ's list of writers. Two articles from Kevin Hench (not even a real sports writer, actually the head comedy writer from a show with a brilliant host that will be canceled soon) one from Skip Bayless (I don't need to make any comments on him, do I?) and one from Jason Whitlock (see "Skip Bayless"). Would any of you really take their opinions seriously if you guys weren't so anti-Steelers?

And it doesn't matter what Ben's numbers were, he made two big plays and the rest of the offense did the rest. The Steelers had 181 yards rushing. They held Alexander out of the endzone and to a quiet 95 yards. If you believe a QB rating is going to have any reflection on the outcome of a game, that's kind of an empty argument, don't you think?

In a month no one will care that most Steelers haters don't "accept" the Super Bowl victory. Hell, I've never cared about them, it just shows how little the average fan knows about the rules. It started out as the refs being wrong on the calls. Then when they were proven to be the right calls (all except 1), everyone questioned them because most went against the Seahawks, and they felt the Steelers should have been penalized as much. Then, everyone realized that the Steelers weren't committing as many penalties, and that's why they weren't penalized as much, so everyone moved to the thought of "well, they shouldn't have called them when they did, because it negated some of their plays". Oh, so, they should pick up the flags on obvious penalties because they want to keep the game close? It's just moving from something that can be argued to something that can't be arued because of the nature of the argument. They're subjective. Now it will just die out like every other controversy.

You guys should take a cue from TBD, he's an objective fan of the game. He doesn't blame something else because he hates the Steelers, he calls it as he sees it.

[HoosierCat]

Look at BJ's list of writers.

Why? Neither his writers nor yours are the point.

In a month no one will care that most Steelers haters don't "accept" the Super Bowl victory.

No one ever cared what "Steelers haters" thought. It's not about them, either. It's about all those average fans you dismiss as ignorant. Whether that's true or not, there's quite a lot of them, and all the pundits in the world aren't going to change their minds. As yahoo's Larry Biel noted in his column last Friday:

The NFL wants you to know that everything is OK.

You didn't really see what you thought you saw in Super Bowl XL, even if you were watching that new 52-inch, widescreen HD and set your TiVo to super slo-mo.

After thousands of fans expressed their outrage over the numerous botched calls, the league issued a statement, saying, "the game was properly officiated, including, as in most NFL games, some tight plays that produced disagreement about the calls made by the officials." Ya think?

I haven't seen a comment that ridiculous since, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." That's it. Maybe FEMA is in charge of NFL officiating.

Had the Super Bowl come after a well-officiated set of playoff games, that might have been one thing. Instead, it was seen as the culmination of a series of horribly officiated games. Beil nails it: the issue is competence. For better or worse, this game is now seen as one given to the Steelers thanks to a bunch of screwup in stripes. And I don't think that's going to change, no matter how much time passes.

And yeah...being one of those aforementioned Steelers haters...it couldn't happen to a nicer team.

[BengalszoneBilly]

You guys should take a cue from TBD

I did that once, but after the inflammation from the awful chaffing went away, I swore no matter what TDB said about chicks thinking they looked hot, I'd never wear a thong again!

In a month no one will care that most Steelers haters don't "accept" the Super Bowl victory.

And in a month, you'll still be wrong. Stop living in denial. This was the worst Super Bowl in a long, long, time. America know's it, and you're biased in your opinion.

[Stripes]

You guys should take a cue from TDB

I did that once, but after the inflammation from the awful chaffing went away, I swore no matter what TDB said about chicks thinking they looked hot, I'd never wear a thong again!

Looks like TDB has become a hot topic in this thread! Not only is a Steelers fan pimping me hard, but I am being mentioned in the same billybroome post as the phrase "I'd never wear a thong again!"

[BengalszoneBilly]

Looks like TDB has become a hot topic in this thread! Not only is a Steelers fan pimping me hard, but I am being mentioned in the same billybroome post as the phrase "I'd never wear a thong again!"

I'd worry more about the former than the latter.

[CT Stiller]

And in a month, you'll still be wrong. Stop living in denial. This was the worst Super Bowl in a long, long, time. America know's it, and you're biased in your opinion.

America knows it? You think the above internet polls are 1) reliable and 2) not swaying in the other direction now that people have seen the truth about those "wrong" or "one-sided" calls?

Come on dude, if anyone's biased it's the same person who dedicated his sig to making an attempt at calling attention to the poor play of the WINNING QUARTERBACK of the Super Bowl.

Out of curiosity, did any of you watch the season finale of Inside the NFL?

[CT Stiller]

As yahoo's Larry Biel noted in his column last Friday:

The NFL wants you to know that everything is OK.

You didn't really see what you thought you saw in Super Bowl XL, even if you were watching that new 52-inch, widescreen HD and set your TiVo to super slo-mo.

After thousands of fans expressed their outrage over the numerous botched calls, the league issued a statement, saying, "the game was properly officiated, including, as in most NFL games, some tight plays that produced disagreement about the calls made by the officials." Ya think?

I haven't seen a comment that ridiculous since, "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job." That's it. Maybe FEMA is in charge of NFL officiating.

Funny, you dismiss the articles I posted as "not being the point" and yet you post another article supporting your stance on the subject. And actually it was a decent article, although the guy is obviously not up on the NFL:

Upon further review, let's go out to Murphy's Saloon, where Pete and his bowling buddies are looking at the replay. Pete, was that a touchdown by Darrell Jackson or offensive pass interference?"

"Al, four out of five of us think it's a touchdown and Bobby didn't see it 'cause he's in the can. So we're saying touchdown."

"Thanks Pete, we'll let you get back to your hot wings."

Not sure if he knows that type of play is not reviewable, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt since he's attempting to be humorous.

Had the Super Bowl come after a well-officiated set of playoff games, that might have been one thing. Instead, it was seen as the culmination of a series of horribly officiated games. Beil nails it: the issue is competence. For better or worse, this game is now seen as one given to the Steelers thanks to a bunch of screwup in stripes. And I don't think that's going to change, no matter how much time passes.

And yeah...being one of those aforementioned Steelers haters...it couldn't happen to a nicer team.

The issue of competence is only applicable to certain rules, like Polamalu's overturned INT that shouldn't have been. That was a blatant misinterpretation of the rule and is inexcusable. The calls in question in XL were all judgment calls, and all except one were correct. You can't call a ref incompetent when, six feet in front of him, a receiver pushes off on a defender, extending his arm and getting obvious leverage from him. That's a judgment call and a correct one by the rule book. Is it called all the time? Not when the ref isn't six feet away and doesn't see it, no. Locklear was getting beat and holding ALL GAME. Even footballoutsiders.com said they counted 14 holds on him in this game alone. He was called for two of those, one was declined. They're not exactly pro-Steelers over there either.

Judging from some of the new sigs on here, it seems as though the Seahawks fans are the ONLY ones who have moved on and accepted defeat. Even your boy Chris Collinsworth agreed, he only saw two bad calls all game go against the Seahawks, and was somewhat torn about the hold by Locklear.

[HoosierCat]

Funny, you dismiss the articles I posted as "not being the point" and yet you post another article supporting your stance on the subject.

I wasn't seeking support, I just thought Beil put the problem in the right light. You various links deal with whether the calls were good or bad. That isn't my point. The vast majority of folks who watched the Super Bowl aren't wasting their lives on message boards like this or pouring over the internet columns of various sports pundits and would-be sports pundits. They just watched a game, concluded that the officiating was crappy and one-sided during the game, and now are going on with their lives with that notion throughly imbedded in their skulls. And assertions by the NFL about how the officiating was just peachy only make them shake their heads and chuckle

That's why I commented a few days ago that there was no point in your arguing about the calls because the argument is already over. People formed their opinions about the officiating before SBXL was even over. Maybe you're right, maybe a year from now no one will remember the calls. However, I think it far more likely that no one will remember all these postgame "the calls were OK" articles, just that they watched the game and "Pitt got it handed to them by the refs."

[BengalszoneBilly]

Come on dude, if anyone's biased it's the same person who dedicated his sig to making an attempt at calling attention to the poor play of the WINNING QUARTERBACK of the Super Bowl.

I'm biased with the majority of the rest of the teams fans of the NFL who feel the Super Bowl was lacking in fair officiating. You're biased with Pittsburgh. By the way, glad to see you coming clean on the undeniable FACT that Ben Roethlisbergers play in the Super Bowl was poor. Piss (burgh) poor.

Hang it up CT. I 'm not going to change my mind, nor are you.

[CT Stiller]

I'm biased with the majority of the rest of the teams fans of the NFL who feel the Super Bowl was lacking in fair officiating. You're biased with Pittsburgh. By the way, glad to see you coming clean on the undeniable FACT that Ben Roethlisbergers play in the Super Bowl was poor. Piss (burgh) poor.

Hang it up CT. I 'm not going to change my mind, nor are you.

There's really no disputing the FACT that Roethlisberger played poorly in the Super Bowl. No objective person would say otherwise. Although I have to say, he DID run for a TD, which is ignored by the passer rating formula. And give him a foot of air under one of his interceptions and he's got a WR wide open in the endzone. Not that those things matter. He sucked for the most part.

It's the Super Bowl, he's 23 years old, he's nervous. He won. Women are like fish. They're attracted to shiny things, like trophies and rings. He'll now get better looking girls than in those pictures.

You're right, I don't know why I'm defending my team to Bengals fans anyway. Maybe I just think you guys are cool.

That's why I commented a few days ago that there was no point in your arguing about the calls because the argument is already over. People formed their opinions about the officiating before SBXL was even over. Maybe you're right, maybe a year from now no one will remember the calls. However, I think it far more likely that no one will remember all these postgame "the calls were OK" articles, just that they watched the game and "Pitt got it handed to them by the refs."

You're absolutely right, and that's the sad part for us decent Steelers fans. John Madden and Steve Young give their opinions and it's taken as gospel to the average viewer. Thank you for giving me perspective. But the first person to aim the words "tainted", "refs" and/or "Seahawks got robbed" at me when I'm wearing my Steelers gear gets a black eye. I don't care how big she is. Or her mom.

[BengalBillyBob]

I watched the head of NFL officials review tapes of that game last night. He went over the rules and the calls with a fined toothed comb. If the refs hadnt made the calls they did, they would have been given a bad grade. All of those calls were correct with the exception of the low block penalty on Hassleback and the fumble / non fumble that Stevens had.

I don't understand why people have a hard time with that. Every NFL game ever has at least 1 missed call, its part of the game. If you cant overcome one call you dont deserve to win. Like it or not Pittsburgh won fair and square and they are the champs. Instead of crying and babying about it we should be happy with our first division title in forever and hope we improve for the future. All of this crying makes me feel like Im living in a damn day care around here. Grow some balls men, and let it go. Next year starts with the draft in April.

Just be glad that an AFC North team won the SB, and we were good enough to beat a team that was a SB winner. When is the last time we could say that????

[indybengalsfan72]

I watched the head of NFL officials review tapes of that game last night. He went over the rules and the calls with a fined toothed comb. If the refs hadnt made the calls they did, they would have been given a bad grade. All of those calls were correct with the exception of the low block penalty on Hassleback and the fumble / non fumble that Stevens had.

I don't understand why people have a hard time with that. Every NFL game ever has at least 1 missed call, its part of the game. If you cant overcome one call you dont deserve to win. Like it or not Pittsburgh won fair and square and they are the champs. Instead of crying and babying about it we should be happy with our first division title in forever and hope we improve for the future. All of this crying makes me feel like Im living in a damn day care around here. Grow some balls men, and let it go. Next year starts with the draft in April.

Just be glad that an AFC North team won the SB, and we were good enough to beat a team that was a SB winner. When is the last time we could say that????

Okay...where did you happen to watch the officials review the tapes and go over the rules? I hate to say this, but after reading some of your posts, you sound like a Steelers fan. I could be wrong, but you sound very much like a Steelers fan who has been trolling this board for a good time, and its very interesting that you registered yesterday, and he hasn't been around. Like I said, I could be wrong, and I hope I'm wrong.

[CT Stiller]

Okay...where did you happen to watch the officials review the tapes and go over the rules? I hate to say this, but after reading some of your posts, you sound like a Steelers fan. I could be wrong, but you sound very much like a Steelers fan who has been trolling this board for a good time, and its very interesting that you registered yesterday, and he hasn't been around. Like I said, I could be wrong, and I hope I'm wrong.

It was on NFL Network's Total Access. Rich Eisen questioned Perreira (head of officiating) about all of the questionable calls in the Super Bowl. He said the holding call was very close but he was dragged down by Locklear's hold. Also said that Ben's TD was as close a call as there is, and had it been ruled down and not a TD it would have stood. He said the push-off in the end zone was a no-brainer and he would have been upset if it weren't called.

He admitted the low block on Hasselbeck was a terrible penalty and should never have been called.

They did the same thing on HBO's Inside the NFL. They mostly agreed that the only really bad call was the low block. Collinsworth and Carter thought the hold was iffy "because it happens 10 times in a game".

Maybe this guy is just an objective Bengals fan. Just because he thought the calls were good you assume he's a Steelers fan in disguise?

[Stripes]

Maybe this guy is just an objective Bengals fan. Just because he thought the calls were good you assume he's a Steelers fan in disguise?

No chance. http://forums.bengalszone.com/index.php?showtopic=10024

He's a phony alright.