Posted on 02/05/2006 3:30:39 AM PST by beyond the sea
Super Bowl quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Hasselbeck are worried about using the new balls that will be used for every play in the first half of Sunday's Super Bowl XL per the NFL.
The main headache for passers is that the league never did a competent job of rubbing off the slick surface covering every football, ones they plan to donate to charity and give to the Hall of Fame and to the coaches and players in the game as souvenirs.
Unlike baseball, the league's officials have never been diligent in rubbing off the slippery surface covering every football. Big Ben will be wearing gloves due to a right thumb injury, and he believes he should be able to grip the new footballs.
"My only concern is how the receivers and guys like Jerome Bettis deal with the slippery new footballs," Roethlisberger said. "I understand the reason for putting so many footballs into play for this game, but I do know how difficult it is for my teammates to catch them."
Hasselbeck didn't know about the league's system of using a new football for every single play in the first half of the championship game.
"I don't like the new footballs, but I'm sure I will be able to deal with them," Hasselbeck said. "It's part of the deal, and every player on the field has to handle this situation. Most of the new footballs will be given to charity and that's a good thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
This is pure idiocy possibly altering the outcome of the game of the season because of such an insignificant and trivial reason.
Here's hoping these slippery balls hurt neither team. May the game be won with skill and effort and not be effected by something like this.
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http://www.baseballrubbingmud.com/main.htm
Oh.... for something like ........ New Jersey mud right about now.
For nearly fifty years, a special variety of Jersey muck, Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, has been removing the sheen from baseballs for just about every professional baseball team in the country.
LOL............
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Aug. 3, 1987: (Joe) Niekro's on the mound in Anaheim, pitching for the Twins against the Angels. He throws a slider that breaks the laws of physics. When plate umpire Tim Tschida visits the mound to have a look, an emery board flies out of Niekro's pocket. Niekro's also carrying a small piece of sandpaper "contoured to fit a finger," according to second base ump Steve Palermo.
Niekro's ejected and suspended for 10 days. "The guy was so blatant," said Palermo. "It was like a guy walking down the street carrying a bottle of booze during Prohibition." Niekro denied any wrongdoing, arguing that as a knuckleballer, he needed the emery board to file his fingernails. And the sandpaper? "Sometimes I sweat a lot, and the emery board gets wet," he explained. "And I'll also use the paper for small blisters."
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LOL
"This is pure idiocy possibly altering the outcome of the game of the season because of such an insignificant and trivial reason."
Agree completely. I hate everything that increases the role of luck and cancels out the role of ability.
Next: A football cleaner machine for every new ball...
They run the league so well most of the time ......... this seems real STUPID!
I even heard on a radio talk show the other day that they have put extra printing on the ball that makes it even more slippery also. To me, this is just plain ifnorant!
Thank you for saying that and feeling that way. You are a REAL sport.
The less luck the better. May the better team win. This is going to be something to watch on handoffs, pass receptions and on catching punts especially.
NFL ignorant Superbowl move ............... ping
When talking about a "game", isn't everything "insignificant and trivial".
I think your concerns probably focus more on the finances that surround the game, both legal and illegal. When talking about money, things suddenly become very important.
There are flags run up a flagpole on the Capitol every day so a Congressman can give them to a constituent and say it flew at the Capitol. It did for about 30 seconds.
When the President signs a bill he use 10 or 12 pens and hands them to supporters of the bill as souvenirs.
I am sure this isnt the first time new balls have been used in the first half of a Super Bowl.
I have heard dirt track motorcycle racers complain that the track is too slippery or too rough, but they all have to race on the same track and there is always a winner.
Let the best team win.
That's exactly what I'm thinking, but I'm almost 60 and have seen a lot happen in football games. Let's hope the better team prevails.
Here are some remarks from the past on slippery balls at the opening of Heinz Field.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2001/10/09/power_rankings/
Here's a weird one. The Heinz Field opener was marked by continuing complaints from both QBs about slippery footballs that weren't properly rubbed up or something, which accounted for the rather modest passing yardage.
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http://www.cincypost.com/bengals/2001/bengnt100801.html
SLIPPERY FOOTBALLS?--Both quarterbacks complained of slippery footballs. The Steelers had a fresh batch brought in for the game to commemorate the opening of new Heinz Field.
Kitna found it tough to grip the new balls and said it was part of the reason why he missed an open Marco Battaglia on one pass route and an open Peter Warrick on another.
''I guess they had 60 footballs for the inaugural game and they didn't rub any of them down,'' Kitna said. ''It looked like they just came out of the bag. I don't know if you guys have ever felt one of those, but they tend to be pretty slick.''
Steelers head coach Bill Cowher agreed.
You can try to high-mindedly make that asinine point, but you are stone-*ss wrong.
Some of us think this "game" is very important because of all the difficult, lifelong effort these men on both teams have put into their seasons and their careers! Your remarks are just plain ignorant and uninformed, imo.
If you ever played a "game" at a very high (professional) level you might know something of which you speak.
This is about a lifetime of effort by these men and organizations, it is not a trivial game as you foolishly and arrogantly suggest.
Go see 'Humpback Mounting' when the game's on tonight, if you think it's so unimportant.
I appreciate your comments, but they mostly do not apply and are completely irrelevant, except perhaps the motorcycle racers complaints.
Signing pens and Capitol flags...... give me a break.
There is no reason to introduce luck into this important game if it can be avoided.
These men have invested too much effort and sacrifice to needlessly introduce silly, fortuitous luck (slippery balls) into the equation of their tasks.
Plain and simple.
brilliant (sarcasm off)
In college, before particularly big home games, we would practice with new balls all week. For the games, new balls again. We would be prepared, the other team wouldn't be.
These people are professionals and know what's coming.
Big deal over nothing.
"Big deal over nothing" --Yeh right. (sarcasm off)
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From a while back:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/news/2001/10/09/power_rankings/
Here's a weird one. The Heinz Field opener was marked by continuing complaints from both QBs about slippery footballs that weren't properly rubbed up or something, which accounted for the rather modest passing yardage.
******
http://www.cincypost.com/bengals/2001/bengnt100801.html
SLIPPERY FOOTBALLS?--Both quarterbacks complained of slippery footballs. The Steelers had a fresh batch brought in for the game to commemorate the opening of new Heinz Field.
Kitna found it tough to grip the new balls and said it was part of the reason why he missed an open Marco Battaglia on one pass route and an open Peter Warrick on another.
''I guess they had 60 footballs for the inaugural game and they didn't rub any of them down,'' Kitna said. ''It looked like they just came out of the bag. I don't know if you guys have ever felt one of those, but they tend to be pretty slick.''
Steelers head coach Bill Cowher agreed.
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Seems like it IS a big deal, eh?
Just because the balls are slippery for both teams does not mean that they should be slippery in the first place if it can be avoided! It's just plain STUPID!
"I appreciate your comments, but they mostly do not apply and are completely irrelevant, except perhaps the motorcycle racers complaints."
Agree with you here, pens and flags are bad analogies.
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