Game's third team upstaged Steelers, Hawks

ESPN ^ | 2/6/06 | Michael Smith

[camle]

as far as I could tell, there were imperfect calls that affected both sides.

[camle]

exactly. whatever hapenned to sportsmanship? you know "we lost because they were better". nowadays we try to find culprits to rationalize the loss rather than accepting the result. it's never a far game - it's always someone's fault, but never ever the team.

[camle]

only two? I heard she wanted recounts until she got the results she wanted.

[rintense]

This has been another subpar year for the zebras in the NFL. Any Lions fan will tell you that. ;) I was very impressed by the college crew that did the National Championship Game. They let teams play.

BTW, that illegal block call on Hasselback was ludicrous.

[USS Alaska]

Hasselbeck hit Darrell Jackson with an apparent 16-yard scoring pass in the first quarter, but the play came back when Jackson was called for offensive pass interference. It was a touch foul. Jackson extended his arm, yes, but both players were fighting for position, and he didn't create any separation by doing so. It was like a referee calling a hand-check in a key moment of Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Yup, couldn't believe that call.

Several weeks ago, the Bus scored a touchdown but the REFEREES called a penalty. The Steelers quit and cried foul and walked off the field. Wrong? OH, Ben then threw a TOUCHDOWN pass on the next play. Great teams overcome adversity. Losers bitch and moan. HAVE A LITTLE:

[frogjerk]

whatever hapenned to sportsmanship?

"That's the way [the officials] called them," Hasselbeck continued. "The Steelers played well enough to win tonight, and we didn't. They should get credit. It's disappointing, it's hard, but what are you going to do?"

[Moonman62]

I didn't mean that kind of clip. Look up the rule.

[sinkspur]

Amen to that. I've got the Center Ice package and I can't believe some of what I'm seeing every night. There isn't a referee in the NHL that has any idea what hooking is - and that's just one example.

The game is supposedly simplified, after the strike. But the year layoff left the officials clueless about such things as goalie interference. Marty Turco got mugged Saturday THREE TIMES by Blues' defenders before one was finally called when Turco was actually pushed into the goal net.

[camle]

oh I saw the replays last night, too. and that ball sure looks like it broke the plane. even if by a half inch - that's all it takes.

it is incumbent upon the challenge to prove tha call wrong, not to prove that it might have been wrong. the ref doesn't have to defent his call. the challenger has to show that it was wrong.

[frogjerk]

I didn't mean that kind of clip. Look up the rule.

Again... The only man Hasselback touched was the man with the ball.

[camle]

thank you, maybe some of the fans can learn from his class and decorum.

[dfwgator]

Did the refs make Josh Brown miss those two FGs.

Were the refs responsible for Seattle's atrocious clock management at the end of both halves?

Were the refs responsible for giving up the longest TD run in SB history?

Were the refs responsbile for Steven's drops?

[highlander_UW]

Listen, I've responded to you in another thread on these same questions. If somehow you fail to have noticed how badly the officiating was during the game that is your problem. The majority of Americans did notice it, apparently.

[smith288]

Agreed. The no-call on the clip on Roethlisberger during the run back of the interception and the interception that was clearly a reception and a fumble by Seattle were screwups by the zebras as well...

Clip - Throwing the body across the back of an opponent’s leg or hitting him from the back below the waist while moving up from behind unless the opponent is a runner or the action is in close line play.

Sounds like a good no call to me.

[Eva]

This is what I was saying during the game. It was a kind of affirmative action for the Steelers, but I didn't understand what it was all about. I'm not sure that I do, now.

[dead]

Yes, that game had an abundance of mind-boggling bad calls (like when Indy's defensive line crashed into Pitt's line before the snap, and there was no foul on anybody? That's not even possible!), plus the one you mentioned.

Yesterday's game mostly featured calls (like Rothlisberger's touchdown or the offensive interference call) that could have gone either way, without being obviously wrong. But man, the whiners are out in force.

[Colonel_Flagg]

They're trying to increase scoring, obviously, but what they're making is a game of special teams. Goaltender interference has always been a sore point in the NHL but with players crashing the net as hard as they do nowadays I agree with you that something should be done.

I saw a "goal" allowed in a Minnesota game earlier this year where the net was lifted up from the back and the puck slid in from behind the goal line. And last Saturday in Phoenix the Wild were getting called for a delayed penalty and controlled the puck three times without a whistle before Phoenix scored on a scramble. It's been brutal.

[Defiant]

Seattle is right to whine about the pass interference, the holding and the cut-block calls. I think they did change the outcome of the game, and I was rooting for Pittsburgh.

However, because Pittsburgh won, everyone forgets that a Seattle receiver fumbled the ball early in the game, but it was called an incomplete pass and the refs blew the play dead. They also picked up a flag on a helmet to helmet hit, when another ref said it was a shoulder. There were a few bad calls, but I think it was just bad luck. In one big game, they sometimes don't even out.

[BlueNgold]

Exactly ... I'm not a fan of either team, dont care who wo really, but all this whining is sickening.

I think Holmgren's complaining going into half-time said WORLDS about the mindset of the team and their readiness for the big game. They were ready to play, and played pretty well, but they weren't ready to WIN as evidenced by their collapses at the end of both halves.

[Supernatural]

Many of the whiners are saying, "I'm not a Seahawks fan, but..."

They sure aren't Steeler fans either.

Where is the trophy for Super Bowl XL? In Pittsburgh, where it belongs. All the whining in the world won't change that.

You would think people would be saying, "Pittsburgh won the game, 21-10. Congratulations, Pittsburgh fans". But no, they want to piss on the Steelers victory instead. Never seen such poor "sportsmanship" in my life.