Pittsburg STEALers

I've been accused of being a salty sore looser for complaining about the way the Seahawks lost the Superbowl last Sunday. Well, my answer is "you bet your ass I'm salty and sore!". I've been playing and watching this game for over 2 decades now. I've won AND lost games by the hundreds. However, this is the first time, EVER, that I actually started entertaining the notion that the refs were bought off.

Why? Well, the questionable calls are bad enough. But what makes it worse is the manner in which the calls came about. If you look at the 3 holding calls (the touchdown, the punt return, and the catch on the one) the flags didn't come out until the end of the play. You'd swear the refs were just saving their flags for the big plays. That right there is potentially 21 points they robbed the Hawks from.

What's really surprising about the "block-below-the-waist" call on Hasslebeck as he was making the tackle wasn't the fact that some ref threw that flag. It's the fact that no other refs actually pulled him over and told him to get off the pipe. They let it stand and went along with their bloated pockets.

Also, the catch at the end of the first half when the Hawks receiver got one foot in and hit the pylon with the other (which should have been ruled a touchdown) never got reviewed. Why? With 2 minutes left in the half, Holmgren couldn't challenge the play. So the refs got away with that one too.

Another lame ass call was giving the touchdown to B-Roth when he clearly didn't make the goal line. He even confessed to his coach that he didn't think he made it. Now some of you might say "hey it was only 3rd down, the Bus would have punched it in anyway." Well, if you were watching you'd know that the Bus had just got stuffed like crab cakes the last 2 plays. Cower would not have risked not putting points on the board with 2 minutes left and going in at halftime with a big goose egg.

Overall the refs accounted for at least a 28 point differential. Anyway, credit the Steelers for hanging in there 'til the refs pulled out the life savers. They're actually a good team with likeable personalities. But the Hawks kicked their ass. Everyone knows it. It's a shame, the refs not only robbed the Hawks of a champoinship, but the robbed all football fans (except the STEALers I suppose) of a chance to watch a close, untainted game.