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Sion · 02-10-2006, 08:15 PM

So, NFL fans worldwide, aside from those who count themselves a part of the vast Steeler Nation, are outraged at the apparent bias shown by the referees in the Super Bowl? Pardon me for saying so, but... big fucking fat hairy deal. I could not possibly care less. Why? I'm glad you asked.

First of all, let's deal with the penalties.

1. The offensive pass interference that nullified a touchdown. Let's face facts here folks, Darrel Jackson DID push off. Was it enough to gain a competitive advantage on that play? I don't know, nor do I care. What I DO know is that he did it right IN FRONT of an official. Regardless of how slight the push was, when you do it 2 yards away from a ref, he's going to call it EVERY FUCKING TIME. Deal with it. Oh, and for the record, the ref did NOT hesitate. He reached for his flag immediately. The flag, however, slipped from his grasp and he had to grab for it a second time before finally being able to throw it.

2. The holding call on Sean Locklear was legitimate. By the very definition of the rule, what he did was holding. Always was, always will be. Do they always call it? No. Should they? Absolutely.

3. The low-block on penalty on Hasselbeck was, at best, iffy, and at worst, a wrong call. So what. The extra 15 yards the Steelers got because of that were inconsequential. Without it, Randle El's touchdown pass to Hines Ward would have been good for 58 yards instead of 43. He was THAT wide open. There, does that make Seattle's fans (all 15 of them) feel better?

But, just for the sake of argument, let's say that all three of these penalties (and the 4 others) were blatantly and obviously wrong. Do I, as a Steeler fan, give half of a shit? Nope. Not because I favor a win all costs, cheat if necessary philosophy, but rather because as far as I'm concerned, this was payback. Payback for all the shitty calls that have gone against the Steelers over the years, from the Thanksgiving Day coin-toss fiasco in Detroit to the overturning of Troy Polamalu's interception of Manning just 3 weeks ago. From the phantom 12 men on the field call (leading to the subsequent stuffing of the picture in the refs pocket by Bill Cowher) to the missed interference against Antwaan Randle El in that same Indy game just a few weekends back. I'm sure someone can tell me the exact figure, but personally, I've lost track of how many official "letters of apology" that we've received from the league over the years. So, to all you Seattle fans out there who feel cheated, I have just this to say: "Welcome to my world."

----------

Now, about Ben Roethlisberger's touchdown. Ok, I'll grant you that I may be a bit biased, being a Steeler fan and all, but it looked to me like the ball broke the plane of the goal. And that's all it has to do. But, and this is critical, the call on the field was a touchdown. In order for the replay official to overturn the play, there has to be CONCLUSIVE visual evidence that the ball didn't break the plane. Sorry, folks, but NOT ONE of the replay angles showed CONCLUSIVE evidence that the ball was kept out of the endzone. Therefore, the play stands as called, and rightly so. Conversely, it works the same the other way. If the line-judge had ruled Ben down at the 3 inch line, replay would not have overturned that call either.

Oh, and for those who question the line-judge's hesitation to signal a td, remember that he had to verify that Big Ben retained possession of the ball. Once he did, the signal went up immediately.

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Let's move on now to the whole, ridiculous conspiracy theory. I have to wonder how many of the fans and/or media who are espousing this bullshit called Joey Porter a fucking lunatic moron for his comments following the game in Indianapolis. My guess is somewhere between 98 and 100%. But aside from that, let's consider this: that weekend featured some of the absolute worst officiating I've ever seen in my 30+ years of watching the NFL, not just in the Steeler game, but the 3 others as well. And the bad calls in those games were so much more obvious than any of the disputed calls in the Super Bowl. By a factor of 1000. For a frame of reference, consider the Super Bowl calls a Matchbox car and those in the Divisional games a Hummer, military style.

Now, as a result of that weekend, attention was focused on the officiating for this Super Bowl like never before in the history of the game. And yet, Seattle's fans and their apologists in the media would have you believe that, despite this atomic microscope level of scrutiny on the officiating, the league (or Dan Rooney, take your pick) exercised some kind of influence on the refs who worked the Super Bowl. Come on people, how stupid would that be? As stupid as pushing off to make a TD catch just 2 yards directly in front of an official? As stupid as screwing the pooch on time management at the end of BOTH halves of the Super Bowl?

And that brings me to my next point, the Seahawks themselves. Despite all the calls by the officials that went against Seattle, they STILL had a chance to do what the Steelers did against the Colts: overcome and win the game anyway. Consider, the Hasslebeck penatly was the LAST one called in that game. After the Steelers scored few plays later, the Seahawks got the ball back with 8:48 remaining on the clock. Nearly 9 freakin' minutes! Sorry to have to burst your bubble, 'Hawks fans, but if you can't get closer to a score that the Pittsburgh 23 on two possessions and with better than 8 minutes on the clock, then maybe you just don't deserve win the big game. If Hasselbeck really was even half as good as you say, then why couldn't get at least a touchdown to close the gap to 3-5 points (depending on the outcome of the inevitable 2 point conversion)?

As I said, Seattle, despite the officials, still had every chance in the world to get it done and failed miserably. And they've got no one but themselves to blame for that.

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Finally, I'd like to address the "outrage" that's being expressed by "true NFL fans" around the world at the perceived injustice of the officiating on Super Bowl Sunday. I respond with just these three simple words: Go Fuck Yourselves. Where was your outrage over the Indy game? Where was your outrage over any one of dozens of bad calls throughout the year that went against the Steelers? Where was your outrage over the any one of hundreds/thousands of bad calls that have happened over the years to any and every team in the league? Where were the calls for federal investigations, where was the questioning of the leagues integrity, where were the conspiracy theories then? Oh that's right, you only care when it's the Steelers who benefit from a potentially questionable call. Because no team in the history of the game has generated more hatred and jealousy throughout this land than the Steelers. Not the Packers, not the Cowboys, not the 49ers, not even the Patriots.

Why, all of a sudden, are all these "true fans" so outraged? Because, to a man, woman and child, every last one of them knows a Steeler fan or three (or three hundred) who's been walking around with a big stupid grin on his/her face these past couple of days. And more than anything else, more than the officiating, more than Terrell Owens and his tantrums, more than Al Davis' lawsuits and machinations, more than Baltimore's criminal Lewises, more than anything in the entire football world, what these "true fans" hate is seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers back where they belong, as World Champions, because Steeler Nation, the most widespread and devoted fanbase the game has ever seen will NOT let them soon forget it.

02-10-2006, 08:15 PM	#24 (permalink)
Sion Dumb all over...a little ugly on the side Location: In the room where the giant fire puffer works, and the torture never stops.	So, NFL fans worldwide, aside from those who count themselves a part of the vast Steeler Nation, are outraged at the apparent bias shown by the referees in the Super Bowl? Pardon me for saying so, but... big fucking fat hairy deal. I could not possibly care less. Why? I'm glad you asked. First of all, let's deal with the penalties. 1. The offensive pass interference that nullified a touchdown. Let's face facts here folks, Darrel Jackson DID push off. Was it enough to gain a competitive advantage on that play? I don't know, nor do I care. What I DO know is that he did it right IN FRONT of an official. Regardless of how slight the push was, when you do it 2 yards away from a ref, he's going to call it EVERY FUCKING TIME. Deal with it. Oh, and for the record, the ref did NOT hesitate. He reached for his flag immediately. The flag, however, slipped from his grasp and he had to grab for it a second time before finally being able to throw it. 2. The holding call on Sean Locklear was legitimate. By the very definition of the rule, what he did was holding. Always was, always will be. Do they always call it? No. Should they? Absolutely. 3. The low-block on penalty on Hasselbeck was, at best, iffy, and at worst, a wrong call. So what. The extra 15 yards the Steelers got because of that were inconsequential. Without it, Randle El's touchdown pass to Hines Ward would have been good for 58 yards instead of 43. He was THAT wide open. There, does that make Seattle's fans (all 15 of them) feel better? But, just for the sake of argument, let's say that all three of these penalties (and the 4 others) were blatantly and obviously wrong. Do I, as a Steeler fan, give half of a shit? Nope. Not because I favor a win all costs, cheat if necessary philosophy, but rather because as far as I'm concerned, this was payback. Payback for all the shitty calls that have gone against the Steelers over the years, from the Thanksgiving Day coin-toss fiasco in Detroit to the overturning of Troy Polamalu's interception of Manning just 3 weeks ago. From the phantom 12 men on the field call (leading to the subsequent stuffing of the picture in the refs pocket by Bill Cowher) to the missed interference against Antwaan Randle El in that same Indy game just a few weekends back. I'm sure someone can tell me the exact figure, but personally, I've lost track of how many official "letters of apology" that we've received from the league over the years. So, to all you Seattle fans out there who feel cheated, I have just this to say: "Welcome to my world." ---------- Now, about Ben Roethlisberger's touchdown. Ok, I'll grant you that I may be a bit biased, being a Steeler fan and all, but it looked to me like the ball broke the plane of the goal. And that's all it has to do. But, and this is critical, the call on the field was a touchdown. In order for the replay official to overturn the play, there has to be CONCLUSIVE visual evidence that the ball didn't break the plane. Sorry, folks, but NOT ONE of the replay angles showed CONCLUSIVE evidence that the ball was kept out of the endzone. Therefore, the play stands as called, and rightly so. Conversely, it works the same the other way. If the line-judge had ruled Ben down at the 3 inch line, replay would not have overturned that call either. Oh, and for those who question the line-judge's hesitation to signal a td, remember that he had to verify that Big Ben retained possession of the ball. Once he did, the signal went up immediately. ---------- Let's move on now to the whole, ridiculous conspiracy theory. I have to wonder how many of the fans and/or media who are espousing this bullshit called Joey Porter a fucking lunatic moron for his comments following the game in Indianapolis. My guess is somewhere between 98 and 100%. But aside from that, let's consider this: that weekend featured some of the absolute worst officiating I've ever seen in my 30+ years of watching the NFL, not just in the Steeler game, but the 3 others as well. And the bad calls in those games were so much more obvious than any of the disputed calls in the Super Bowl. By a factor of 1000. For a frame of reference, consider the Super Bowl calls a Matchbox car and those in the Divisional games a Hummer, military style. Now, as a result of that weekend, attention was focused on the officiating for this Super Bowl like never before in the history of the game. And yet, Seattle's fans and their apologists in the media would have you believe that, despite this atomic microscope level of scrutiny on the officiating, the league (or Dan Rooney, take your pick) exercised some kind of influence on the refs who worked the Super Bowl. Come on people, how stupid would that be? As stupid as pushing off to make a TD catch just 2 yards directly in front of an official? As stupid as screwing the pooch on time management at the end of BOTH halves of the Super Bowl? And that brings me to my next point, the Seahawks themselves. Despite all the calls by the officials that went against Seattle, they STILL had a chance to do what the Steelers did against the Colts: overcome and win the game anyway. Consider, the Hasslebeck penatly was the LAST one called in that game. After the Steelers scored few plays later, the Seahawks got the ball back with 8:48 remaining on the clock. Nearly 9 freakin' minutes! Sorry to have to burst your bubble, 'Hawks fans, but if you can't get closer to a score that the Pittsburgh 23 on two possessions and with better than 8 minutes on the clock, then maybe you just don't deserve win the big game. If Hasselbeck really was even half as good as you say, then why couldn't get at least a touchdown to close the gap to 3-5 points (depending on the outcome of the inevitable 2 point conversion)? As I said, Seattle, despite the officials, still had every chance in the world to get it done and failed miserably. And they've got no one but themselves to blame for that. ---------- Finally, I'd like to address the "outrage" that's being expressed by "true NFL fans" around the world at the perceived injustice of the officiating on Super Bowl Sunday. I respond with just these three simple words: Go Fuck Yourselves. Where was your outrage over the Indy game? Where was your outrage over any one of dozens of bad calls throughout the year that went against the Steelers? Where was your outrage over the any one of hundreds/thousands of bad calls that have happened over the years to any and every team in the league? Where were the calls for federal investigations, where was the questioning of the leagues integrity, where were the conspiracy theories then? Oh that's right, you only care when it's the Steelers who benefit from a potentially questionable call. Because no team in the history of the game has generated more hatred and jealousy throughout this land than the Steelers. Not the Packers, not the Cowboys, not the 49ers, not even the Patriots. Why, all of a sudden, are all these "true fans" so outraged? Because, to a man, woman and child, every last one of them knows a Steeler fan or three (or three hundred) who's been walking around with a big stupid grin on his/her face these past couple of days. And more than anything else, more than the officiating, more than Terrell Owens and his tantrums, more than Al Davis' lawsuits and machinations, more than Baltimore's criminal Lewises, more than anything in the entire football world, what these "true fans" hate is seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers back where they belong, as World Champions, because Steeler Nation, the most widespread and devoted fanbase the game has ever seen will NOT let them soon forget it. __________________ He's the best, of course, of all the worst. Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...