ESPN Poll: Do you think the officating mistakes affected the outcome of the superbowl.

ESPN ^ | 2/6/2006 | ESPN

[Proud_USA_Republican]

Question Polled: Do you think the officating mistakes affected the outcome of the superbowl?

Over 28,000 thousand votes with results broken down state by state. So far, the average is 60% saying yes, the refs affected the outcome with their mistakes.

Only three states voted over 50% that the refs mistakes didn't affect the outcome.

Pennsylvania West Virginia Wyoming.

Most states voting over 60% saying refs annointed the superbowl to Bettis and the Steelers.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

What a lame superbowl. What a lame way for Seattle to lose the superbowl considering they have never got there in the history of the franchise.

[Inspector Kemp]

NO!

[thoughtomator]

The refs were Pittsburgh's 12th man this postseason. The NFL's integrity took a huge hit.

[van_erwin]

Hell yes the refs tilted the game. Here's a great analysis:

http://www.slate.com/id/2135435/nav/tap1/

"A rinky-dink offensive pass interference flag wiped out an early touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck to Darrell Jackson, forcing Seattle to settle for three instead of seven. When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lunged for the goal line near the end of the first half, replays indicated a close play but a clear stop by the Seahawks. Nope—touchdown, Steelers..."

[frogjerk]

Seattle could have gone up big in the first half if they had only taken advantage of the fact that the Steelers did not show up for the game until the 3rd Quarter.

[sionnsar]

Evergreen State ping

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.

Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[weegee]

Or do you agree with DUSPN and believe that Karl Rove FIXED the game?

DUmmie FUnnies 02-06-06 ("Is Karl Rove Planning a Terror Attack on the Super Bowl?")

"The Seahawks got robbed and it wouldn't surprise me if Rove had something to do with the afficiaiting...Nice libreal town like Seattle and all."

[frogjerk]

When Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lunged for the goal line near the end of the first half, replays indicated a close play but a clear stop by the Seahawks.

The tip of the ball broke the plane of the goal line. This person needs glasses.

[petercooper]

piss poor coaching, 2 missed field goals and stevens dropping almost every friggin pass lost it for the seahawks

[slowhand520]

I don't think so. I have a question. Did Holmgren congratulate Cowher? If not that guy is classless.

[right right]

I dislike both teams and would only have been satisfied if both teams lost. This time the league lost. Sorry officiating. Sorry commercials. Sorry commentary. It is a visual medium, we can see, and we saw bad calls, no calls, and heard poor responses to what we saw.

[TheForceOfOne]

Two costly calls, causing a 14 point swing in Pittsburgh's favor. But that's life.

[Redbob]

Shoot, I think most of the really bad calls went against the Steelers!

[BlueNgold]

So my question is - did Holmgren ever go shake Cowher's hand?
I never saw him meet Bill out at midfield, and he was mouthing the words "Where's Mike?"

[Arkinsaw]

Apparently 60% of ESPN viewers around the nation are all disappointed crybaby Seahawks fans. I had no idea that the Seahawks had such a widespread fan base. Pretty much everywhere except Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Wow. </sarcasm>

[johnny7]

Starhawks... Seabucks...

[frogjerk]

Shoot, I think most of the really bad calls went against the Steelers!

Like the clip of Roethlisberger on the interception by Seattle?

[r9etb]

Hard to say, actually. I think the Seahawks were their own worst enemies at crucial times, so the Steelers would probably have won regardless.

However, the officiating was pretty awful. They flagged the Seahawks for piddly things on several crucial plays (and probably didn't flag the Steelers for the same thing), and didn't flag a flagrant Steelers offsides on a crucial play.

The NFL officials had an absolutely awful post-season this year, and it carried over to the Super Bowl.

[pollyannaish]

After reflecting on this over night, I actually feel as bad for the Steelers as I do for the Seahawks.

Poor officiating stole a clean, clear win from the Steelers. They very well could have won on mistakes by the Hawks, because plenty were made. It did not help them any that they were overwhelmingly predicted to win. That combination set them up poorly. There will always be a funny asterisk in people's minds.

All in all, football fans and the NFL lost yesterday. And the Steelers were robbed as fundamentally as the Seahawks. Really, really too bad.

[Redbob]

"The tip of the ball broke the plane of the goal line."

Yep.
Question is, when;

After he hit, then he pushed the ball across the line, then he looked around to see if anyone saw him do it.

"Nice try, Ben.