I'm ready to go!!
GO STEELERS!!
Posted on 02/05/2006 3:30:39 AM PST by beyond the sea
Super Bowl quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Hasselbeck are worried about using the new balls that will be used for every play in the first half of Sunday's Super Bowl XL per the NFL.
The main headache for passers is that the league never did a competent job of rubbing off the slick surface covering every football, ones they plan to donate to charity and give to the Hall of Fame and to the coaches and players in the game as souvenirs.
Unlike baseball, the league's officials have never been diligent in rubbing off the slippery surface covering every football. Big Ben will be wearing gloves due to a right thumb injury, and he believes he should be able to grip the new footballs.
"My only concern is how the receivers and guys like Jerome Bettis deal with the slippery new footballs," Roethlisberger said. "I understand the reason for putting so many footballs into play for this game, but I do know how difficult it is for my teammates to catch them."
Hasselbeck didn't know about the league's system of using a new football for every single play in the first half of the championship game.
"I don't like the new footballs, but I'm sure I will be able to deal with them," Hasselbeck said. "It's part of the deal, and every player on the field has to handle this situation. Most of the new footballs will be given to charity and that's a good thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
Or the team that doesn't make the big mistake.
Yeah, it's lucky for the Steelers that they're the better team! ;^)
Yes, the players will find some way to deal with the new footballs and minimize the number of errors just as they would find a way to make due if the NFL required every player to play barefoot on wet grass during the first half.
However, by introducing this unnecessary gimmick into the game, the NFL is diluting the quality of the product that they are selling to the paying customers who are the fans in the stands and the corporations that are paying hundreds of millions of dollars for advertising and broadcast rights. Super Bowl commercial slot prices hit $2.4 million this year.
Professional football is a business and, with the amount of money the NFL is charging for its product, the NFL needs to be putting product quality and customer satisfaction, not gimmicks, at the top of their of priority list.
Good idea. That would be fine with me, even start on the 50 yard line.
Anything but the really horrible NFL format. It is blatantly unfair.
It's remarkable that we haven't had an overtime Super Bowl. Heck we've only come close a few times and couple of those were recently. Heck there's only been two conference title games that went to overtime.
I seriously doubt that a "couple lucky breaks" are going to win this game.... and I certainly hope not too!
You have permission to "shut up".
LOL...................... I think you are very right on that.
Will we see another surprise onside kick? It worked against Dallas ten years ago.
I'm ready to go!!
GO STEELERS!!
It must be nice to live in Hawaii and only have to wait a few hours to kickoff.
Right on!
If they feel the need to have this great number of commemorative balls, why didn't they just go hog wild and put a new ball in the game on every single play of the entire game?
******
post # 23 ............... Check this out. ;-)
http://sport.monstersandcritics.com/football/article_1094245.php/Super_Bowl_footballs_authenticated
DETROIT, MI, United States (UPI) -- Footballs for this year`s Super Bowl will be authenticated with a drop of synthetic DNA to deter the sale of 'game-used' counterfeits.
The real ones can be determined by exposing them to a specific laser frequency when the DNA will glow to a bright green, reports The Los Angeles Times.
'The ball can change hands a thousand-plus times, but it will never lose that DNA,' said Joe Orlando, head of the California company which marked the Super Bowl footballs. 'The chance of replicating this exact DNA sequence is one in 33 trillion, so it`s virtually impossible.'
The NFL has prepared 120 Wilson footballs for Sunday`s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks and plans to use a new one on every play of the first half, before going to a 12-ball rotation after halftime, The Times reported. Some of the footballs are donated to charities, while others are set aside for players, coaches and officials. Some players feel changing the balls so often could pose problems as new balls tend to be slippery.
I don't think he would do that again, and I don't think he'll be behind....... but who knows.
LOL
that's what I'm saying.
I gotta be honest. I couldn't take the heavy duty, heart pounding drama again this week. The past weeks' games were just too hard to take......... almost killed a lot of us. So I had a solution.
About 9:00 a.m. this morning, I called my buddy in Sydney, Australia. It was 1:00 a.m. Monday there. He already knew how the game came out, read it in the newspapers ................he told me already.
Who wants to know what happened?
:-)
God, I hope not!
LOL! Hurry up! I still have time to call my bookie and bet my life savings!
Well Sports Fans,
Time to get going.
Terps/N.C. State at 2:00.
Got my Ravens hat on, wait, they didn't make it.
Got my Panthers hat...Damn.
Got my Budweiser Football hat on (know that one will be there.) and I'm ready to go.
Good luck all.
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