Posted on 02/07/2006 6:24:19 AM PST by bikepacker67
So the Super Bowl wasn't so super. The team that played the best didn't win, although use of the word "best" must be considered relative when you consider how poorly both teams played.
On the other hand, the NFL got the ending it wanted, which was another Super Bowl championship for the Rooney family and a fairy tale send-off for Detroit native Jerome Bettis.
It is amazing how often the NFL gets what it wants out of these Super Bowls, isn't it? And given the very questionable calls by NFL officials that all seemed to go in favor of the Steelers, it almost makes you wonder if the Steelers' Joey Porter didn't touch a nerve when, after Pittsburgh knocked out the heavily favored Colts in round two, he complained the officials were trying to take the game away from Pittsburgh.
To suggest the game was fixed would be improper. But a friend of mine who played in the league for years believes he can tell you who is going to win the Super Bowl by who gets the break on the first questionable call of the game, including Sunday, when Seattle's first touchdown was nullified by an offensive pass interference penalty on Darrell Jackson. It's amazing how often that's true.
"That's how it is when you're going against the world," Jackson said afterward. "It just seems all our big plays like that somehow, some way, got overturned or called back."
Last year, NFL-licensed products reportedly exceeded $3.4 billion, the profit from which all teams share. It won't hurt those numbers that Pittsburgh came out victorious. The Steelers are the third-most followed NFL team in terms of merchandise sales, while Seattle ranks 21st.
Pittsburgh's Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger rank in the top 10 in individual merchandise sales, while the Seahawks' Shaun Alexander managed to hit No. 10 in jersey sales only because the sale of Seattle merchandise jumped 62 percent during the Seahawks' playoff run.
Everyone in the NFL - Seattle included - will benefit financially from a Pittsburgh victory.
Still, as the Steelers demonstrated in overcoming questionable calls that didn't go their way in Pittsburgh's victory over Indianapolis and NFL-marketing favorite Peyton Manning, the game comes down to players making plays.
The judgment of the officiating crew does not affect the ability to catch passes or kick field goals or manage the clock at the end of the first half. Seattle had its chances and blew it.
On the other hand, with all the money the NFL makes, why does the league still rely on part-time but incredibly well-paid officials? The NFL is a huge business, with the livelihoods of players and coaches resting on the outcome of these weekend games.
Don't they deserve to have the rules of the game interpreted by full-time, paid professionals instead of butchers and bakers, lawyers and candlestick makers who work NFL games on the weekends?
Don't fans deserve to know the game is being managed by professionals, not left in the hands of some neighborhood insurance agent?
The NFL got what it wanted from the Super Bowl.
Can the same be said for the rest of us?
What size is your tin hat?
Oh, Heavens to Betsy. I am soooo bummed now. Non-Steeler fans will never give us "respect". Woe, woe, woe is us. Whatever will we do now? Life isn't worth living without the "respect" of non-Steeler fans.
Oh, wait, your opinions don't matter. Carry on, then.
Ok, I'm a Packer fan so I don't have a dog in this fight. However, the Steelers won the game - period.
I also give them the respect for winning the championship. Remember, they beat the AFC 3, 1, and 2 seeds to GET to the Super Bowl. To be perfectly honest, Seattle would have been no better than a 4 seed in the AFC.
The Steelers won, Seattle lost. Get over it.
"..."That's how it is when you're going against the world," Jackson said afterward...."
Hey, Darrel, try playing for Dallas. If you want to know the meaning of "us against the world" have Jerry Jones sign you up. Then you'd know.
12 days, 3 hours and 53 minutes...
I'm a Giants fan, and I give the Steelers credit for winning.
I think Seattle fans have embarrassed themselves by becoming the biggest bunch of sore losers since Al Gore rescinded his concession to George Bush.
"On the other hand, with all the money the NFL makes, why does the league still rely on part-time but incredibly well-paid officials? The NFL is a huge business, with the livelihoods of players and coaches resting on the outcome of these weekend games.
"Don't they deserve to have the rules of the game interpreted by full-time, paid professionals instead of butchers and bakers, lawyers and candlestick makers who work NFL games on the weekends?
"Don't fans deserve to know the game is being managed by professionals, not left in the hands of some neighborhood insurance agent?"
Oh please! Yeah, that's right, make refs honchos of the NFL totally dependent on them for their livelihoods. That'll get rid of bad calls - and rigged calls. NOT.
Sounds like a liberal - "let's make every job a government job".
2006, the year of the sore loser.
Your obsession with this topic borders on the frightening.
$20 to FR says Bob Lobel (a sportscaster in Boston) refers to "Pennant Fever" and the Red Sox before the end of his first report.
"I think Seattle fans have embarrassed themselves by becoming the biggest bunch of sore losers since Al Gore rescinded his concession to George Bush."
I completely agree!!!
You know, I watched the game not really caring who won. However, after watching the way the CryHawks fans have acted I don't care if they ever win another game.
i coach football. anyone who has ever been around the game knows that it is high speed and these calls are being made in a fraction of a second. no referees are out there deliberately making bad calls. it easy to second guess them when the tape is slowed down and shown from 20 different angles.
seattle didn't play well enough to win. they sound like losers for making excuses. we tell our high school kids - yes sir, no sir, no excuses. i'm sure that the seahawks have heard this somewhere along the way.
i do agree that the nfl needs to stop treating this like it's still the 1950's when all the players had other part time jobs. it's big business. hire full time refs like every other professional sport. make sure that they are young and can run.
And now in the on-deck circle, Barry Bonds.
I stopped rooting for any one team in particular after Bum was sent packing (and back then I hated the Steelers). I thought both teams and the half-time show sucked this year. The Steelers sucked less.
There are only two officials that, IMHO, calls a fair game. Ed Hochuli and Johnny Grier. I didn't see Greir at all this past seasin but I did see Hochuli. I have no problem with them. Most of the head refs are high school pricipals, CEO's, or other white collar types. Hochuli is a blue collar longshoreman. I do miss Ben Drieth. He made an offsides call sound like a national emergency. He was fun to watch.
At least the team org seemed to be pretty classy about this. And actually, it's probably not so much Seattle fans, as Steeler-haters.
Amazing how games that are not the equivalent of a WWF smackdown "suck"....the refs didn't make Seattle's kicker miss two field goal attempts, nor did they make Seattle drop several sure touchdown/touchdown setup passes....they BLEW every chance Pittsburgh gave them to run away with the game....
I won't go that far, but I'm glad to see more people coming to the party. It's been apparent for several years that officiating is horrible in the NFL. I think it's as much the fault of convoluted rules and definitions as it is the officials, althogh the officials certainly have their share of the fault. For the life of me, I have no clue what actually consititues pass interference or offensive holding. I can watch three different games on the same day and see both penalties called differently in each game. In some games it's not unusual to see a receiver and cornerback pushing and grabbing each other all the way down the field with no flags. Other games, the slightest intentional contact by either after five yards draws an instant flags. It many games as long as an O lineman doesn't grab a defenders jersey and throw him down, he can wrap his arms around the defender all he wants. In other games this type of "hugging" draws a a flag. There should be some consistency. You shouldn't have to coach your team differently each week, depending on who is going to be officiating.
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