Having witnessed another big moment in sports riddled with controversy, I can't help but rant a little bit about the impact that referees have on sports today. First, let me say that the Steelers were the better team, there's no doubting that, and probably deserved to win that Super Bowl. However, admitting in full that my opinion may be biased due to my hatred for the Steelers, there were just too many things left up to the officials that seemed "swayed" in some way
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How did James Harrison not get thrown out of the game for his near felony against Ben Fransisco? How on earth can you call roughing the holder? How is there no flag for excessive celebration on Santonio Holmes when "Using the ball as a prop" is an automatic 15 yard penalty? How can you call roughing the passer on Karlos Dansby on a play where he hit Roethlisberger legally right after he released the ball? How can you not review the last play of the game? Those are way too many legitimate questions to be asking after a game of this magnitude.
I get it, it's nearly impossible to correctly referee NFL & NBA games, but first we have an NBA ref get caught cheating, and now we've had countless controversial mistakes made by referees this season in the NFL. It wasn't bad enough that the Heat won a title based solely on poor officiating (And a Mavericks team that seemed like they were paid to lose), but now we've got two Steelers titles that supposedly have asterisks by them. It's getting to the point where in another year or two we may have every single play reviewed from a booth upstairs, and we'll be watching 6 hour long games, with even more terrible commercials. It's unfair to the fans to have games decided by the inadequacies of 65-75 year old men.
With all of that nonsense being stated, I'm not blaming this game on the referees. If Kurt Warner doesn't throw that pick in the end zone Arizona wins, end of story. Well, actually if you take away the ridiculous penalties, Arizona wins the game as well, so maybe I am blaming it on them. The Steelers are the champions of their second Penalty Bowl...congratulations!
How did James Harrison not get thrown out of the game for his near felony against Ben Fransisco? How on earth can you call roughing the holder? How is there no flag for excessive celebration on Santonio Holmes when "Using the ball as a prop" is an automatic 15 yard penalty? How can you call roughing the passer on Karlos Dansby on a play where he hit Roethlisberger legally right after he released the ball? How can you not review the last play of the game? Those are way too many legitimate questions to be asking after a game of this magnitude.
I get it, it's nearly impossible to correctly referee NFL & NBA games, but first we have an NBA ref get caught cheating, and now we've had countless controversial mistakes made by referees this season in the NFL. It wasn't bad enough that the Heat won a title based solely on poor officiating (And a Mavericks team that seemed like they were paid to lose), but now we've got two Steelers titles that supposedly have asterisks by them. It's getting to the point where in another year or two we may have every single play reviewed from a booth upstairs, and we'll be watching 6 hour long games, with even more terrible commercials. It's unfair to the fans to have games decided by the inadequacies of 65-75 year old men.
With all of that nonsense being stated, I'm not blaming this game on the referees. If Kurt Warner doesn't throw that pick in the end zone Arizona wins, end of story. Well, actually if you take away the ridiculous penalties, Arizona wins the game as well, so maybe I am blaming it on them. The Steelers are the champions of their second Penalty Bowl...congratulations!
4 comments:
you failed to mention that the referee for this game was the one and only Terry McCauley. The man who decided to review Tim Couch's completed pass to Quincy Morgan against the Jaguars in 2001 after the Browns had run another play. I know it was eight years ago, but I can't believe they let this guy ref a superbowl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_McAulay
Another rigged Super Bowl win for the very average Pittsburgh Steelers...by the way I hate this new "comments" layout
"Near felony"? Are you serious? He jammed him in the shoulder pad with an open hand, then shoved him in the chest and knocked him over. All of which was during the play. That's called a block.
Also, please tell me why the roughing the holder penalty shouldn't have been called. I am amazed that people are even questioning that call. There is a rule against running into the holder during a field goal attempt.
The guy that ran into him didn't do it intentionally, he was stubling into him to be more accurate. He clearly lost his footing. So what's the big travesty there?
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