Football Fans

[Aku]

My gut feeling is the Steelers will be in Hasselbeck's face a lot and will force a couple of turnovers that will be the difference.

[Glockstar]

I can see 3 possible results to the Super Bowl:

1) The Seahawks win. I don't know how, but if they do I'll bet it's on the arm of Matt Hasselbeck. Shawn Alexander is going nowhere. (No matter what the scenario). The Seahawks receivers are awesome too - D-Jax and Joe Ju - I can see them lighting up the Steelers secondary. The biggest reason for calling the Seahwks to win tho', is because I can see Mike Holmgren going down in the annals as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. He'd be the only coach to win the SuperBowl with two different teams... and he's got a real shot here. In this scenario, I can see the score being: SEA 27-23.

2) The Steelers spank 'em. Like I said, Alexander isn't going anywhere this game. And neither is Maurice Morris, or any of the Seahawks 'backs. Not by hand-off, nor by screen. Nothing; no how. Which leaves the offense in the hands of Hasselbeck - who's plenty capable, but who can sometimes be a little flighty. (And I don't mean with his passes - or with his feet.) Polamalu will take care of the running game while the other 10 defenders and the coordinators come up with a way to stop the passing game. On the other side of the ball - it's hard to see those two rookie Seahawk linebackers having a great game in their first-ever SuperBowl - in their first ever season. I see steady doses of the speedster Willie Parker running down their throat. And in storybook fashion, I can see The Bus capping off three drives with three TDs! While all the other Steelers offensive guys just play solid - like they always do. Vision 2 calls for: PIT 37-14.

3) The Steelers win in a close one. Close like where the Steeler nation sweats bullets at the end. This game here would be be like a culmination of the first two scenarios. Where the Seahawk receivers do very well, but so does the Steelers running game. This one sees lots of offense. And it sees the Steelers hang on for the win - but doesn't see how. PIT 33-31.

I have no idea what's going to happen here guys. The Steelers really do look like a team of destiny. But for some reason I've got a bad feeling about it; I'm rooting for the Steelers all the way! But there's no way I'm not betting on it. I just want to enjoy it.

And here's hoping that refs don't #@$% it up.

[Glockstar]

PS - Anybody "ask" their copy of Madden '06 to see what the score would be? ;)

[Glockstar]

Okay here it is, final answer...

Going with a Case 3 type scenario... PIT 31-24.

[Aku]

Really frustrating game to watch. The Seahawks were the better team, but kept killing themselves with stupid mistakes. Every time they got on Pittsburgh's side of the field they screwed up. Bad penalties, bad clock management. Hasselbeck looked like Montana in the first quarter, then was inconsistent the rest of the game. The Steelers were totally anemic in the first half. Roethlisberger played like crap most of the game. Their first touchdown was thanks to third-and-long garbage play straight off the playground, followed by one of the worst replay non-reversals I've ever seen. It was just an ugly game to watch. With this matchup, I really thought there was a chance for a great Superbowl, and it looked all the time like there was a great game getting ready to break out of this stinker. But it was not to be. Four wasted Sunday hours. Well, the option touchdown pass was fun to watch. I'll give them that. God, the Stones played better than these guys. LOL.

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

First off, I would like to say the best things I saw on ABC were: A couple of funny commercials (2 from Ameriquest and the Bud Light (?) Magic refrigerator), the Houston vs New York NBA game, the Jimmy Kimmel bit in pre-game, and Grey's Anatomy (which I had to record since I was sleepy). Everything else associated with the Super Bowl was either boring, lame, or just uninteresting. I didn't have high expectations of the game, but overall both teams didn't play well. Seattle looked like they were going to run up the score during the first drive, but I know better than to rate a game based on the first drive. The refs, well, they did botch up some calls, though I thought Big Ben did get the TD right before OLB D.D. Lewis hit him and knocked the ball back behind the goalline. I thought the pass interference on WR Darrell Jackson was a botched call as well. Yeah, he touched FS Chris Hope, but it wasn't a pushoff, IMO and I believe Hope touched him first so if anything, it could have been pass interference. BTW, where was Darrell Jackson after his 5th catch in the late 1st quarter?

If I was in charge of Super Bowl Sunday, I would put a doubleheader NBA or NCAA basketball game on, and started the pre-game at 5:30pm. No celebs, just Xs and Os from Bill Belicheck, Andy Reid and John Fox, give predictions, and let Toni Braxton or Carrie Underwood belt out another great National Anthem.

[Aku]

Yeah, the opening scene from Grey's Anatomy was way better than the Super Bowl. :D

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

Yeah, the opening scene from Grey's Anatomy was way better than the Super Bowl. :D

You got that right, though I would have kicked the so called "main character" out of there. She's very annoying.

[Aku]

You got that right, though I would have kicked the so called "main character" out of there. She's very annoying.

She wasn't annoying in that scene though, she was hot!

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

She wasn't annoying in that scene though, she was hot!

I thought the blonde was hotter.

[Glockstar]

Like Hunter, I really wasn't expecting much out of the game - these things are rarely good. I was just looking/hoping for three things: 1) a Steelers victory; 2) that the refs wouldn't foul the game up; and that 3) we'd see a good game - as in, one that's not boring. Well... 1 out of 3; not good.

I REALLY wanted the Steelers to win - twice as much as the other stuff - so that almost makes it 2 of 4. Except here I am two days later, and I'm not feeling as big and proud and happy as I should be. In fact, I almost feel a little bad.

A game that sets two new game records should be viewed as a pretty good game. You'd think. But it wasn't. And that's indicative of how bad the officiating was.

If I was Seattle, I'd be pissed. I mean, really pissed. They probably should've won that game. But the refs totally effed 'em. I'm trying to stay away from saying the "F" word, but I'm really wondering about that game. (No, not the f-word that rhymes with duck, the one that rhymes with mix.)

First was the WEAK push-off call against D-Jacks in the endzone that wiped out a Seahawk TD. Then came the Roethlisberger TD call. Those calls were HUGE! But somehow, later, the refs got even more ridiculous, totall making up *bleep*! The holding call, nullifying the first-down pass from Hasslebeck to Stevens, that would have given them first-and-goal... and then the block-in-the-back call against Hasselbeck when he was trying to make a tackle after he threw that interception! Wtf?! Then the... who was it, Randle El?... fumble that they missed; and finally the delay-of-game call that they didn't make against the Steelers at the end. It was just awful!

Rooting hard for the Steelers as I was, I overlooked, or excused, or just plain old turned my back on a few of the calls. But, well, like I said, here I am two days later and I'm feeling sorry for Seattle more than anything. And it wasn't just the refs either. The kicker just barely missed two field goals; D-Jacks just missed making a long catch along the sidelines, that would have had them down inside the 5... The Seahawks could have had 9 more points on the board - easily. Plus, take away the 4-7 that the refs gave the Steelers on the Roethlisberger TD...

They should replay that game. Some of that stuff - like the missed FG's - that's just football; I can get over that. But the officiating? No! Yep, do it over; the refs mucked the game up that bad.

And fire those morons! The whole stinking lot of them!

[Rogue Bounty Hunter]

And fire those morons! The whole stinking lot of them!

Question, how does the NFL pick the SB refs? Do they really go by the so called "best" team of refs? If so, they need to stop that immediately. They need to pick the best by position, Side Judge, Ref, Umpire, Back Judge, etc. I can only name 2 refs that have been pretty good, I think: Mike Carey and Ed Hochuli (sp?), you know, the swolled up ref that could sign a 1 game contract and play strong safety for any team. NFL really needs to get the best officials, and let the practice during the 2 weeks before the SB, getting them used to working together, even calling a practice or two for each team. Something needs to be done, because not only did the Super Bowl have bad calls, this seemed to be a season of them. Even college football has had some bad calls this season, more than usual.

Good thing they can't screw up any Madden/NCAA games.

[Aku]

An observation of the NFL's sickening bias in this game. From another non-football board:

I did expect this to a pro Steelers crowd for the general proximity of the two cities, and that Detroit was The Bus's home town. But the extreme lopsidedness of it was simply ridiculous. And since only a max of 10k tickets were avilalbe to the public (shared by both team's cities) there was no reason for the ridiculous 10:1 or 25:1 ratios being reported for Steelers:Seahawks in the stands.

What happened, is being reported now, is that in the stands, every program bought included a free Terrible Towel. A Seattlite asked, "where are the Seahawk towels?" The vendors working said, "the NFL didn't send us any." In other words, the NFL was pushing for folks to cheer for the Steelers. I also heard that the NFL gear shops were primarily stocked with Steeler stuff, and there was hardly any Seahawk gear to be had at the game. A last report I heard is that ushers/bleacher vendors would actually walk through the stadium and hand out Terrible Towels.

So about 75% of the crowd, which was neutral and "corporate ticket holders", were given or sold Steeler gear and encouraged to cheer for the Steelers. And that also lead to the extreme ratios between Steeler/Seahawk supporters (or atleast appearance of supporters) during the game.

the first two were confirmed by multiople reports on the radio ~ the last one I only heard once so can't confirm for sure.

[The Prince of Darkness]

Imagine my dismay here guys. I lost a fifty on that crap, and I had six points. I mean that is just criminal that the Seahawks were not at least within six lousy points in that game. The really weird part is that the guy that I bet is someone that is definately the type to call and brag after a win, but his call has been suspiciously absent. I am purposely waiting to see how long it takes him to call me back because I would bet that he feels a little bad about taking my money.

I guess to summarize how I felt about the game is really not necessary because you guys called it all the way. The only call that went Seattles way was that reversal on the Hasselbeck fumble, and that should have never been called a fumble in the first place. So...does that one even count? It was really a shame, but was anyone really surprised that the refs helped determine that game? That is how the officiating was all year. Hell, they should really go back to a time when there was no replay because it just does not work, and it just wastes time. I am beginning to think that football was better back in the days when the NFC kicked the crap out of the AFC every year in the SuperBowl. At least the best team always won!