Posted on 02/08/2006 3:54:24 PM PST by bikepacker67
SEATTLE - And now a word about the officiating in Super Bowl XL. Two words actually.
It stunk.
The interference call, a push-off on Darrell Jackson that cost the Seahawks a first-quarter touchdown, was hideous.
If former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin hadn't been allowed to use his arm to get separation the innocent way Jackson did in Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, Irvin would have caught maybe 20 balls in his career.
And the fourth-quarter holding call on right tackle Sean Locklear that nullified a spectacular catch by tight end Jerramy Stevens at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line was equally egregious.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Tommy Maddox has become the most hated player in Pittsburgh at the moment. His children are being teased at school and trash is being thrown on his home lawn. Now I knew the Pittsburgh Steelers have extremely emotional - and for a lack of better words - hard core fans, but this is ridiculous. ...Ever since Maddox lost the job to Roethlisberger, people have brutally hated Maddox, but do they forget what he did for us? He was our starting QB for two years, and was a lot better in those two years then Kordell Stewart was for most of his quarterbacking career... I find myself saying "Why did they do that" many times while watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play, it is extremely frustrating. Out of all the people I would ever blame for a game, Bill Cowher would be the last, but guess what? I blame the loss to the Colts on Bill Cowher. I blame the loss to the Ravens on Bill Cowher (in combination with the offensive line of course). Wow I never thought I would blame the godly Bill Cowher for somethingOr this one from three weeks ago:We all can sit here and say "Maddox is a bum" but he is in the NFL. He is in no way a bum. He may be out of football next year, but either way, in my mind Maddox was a temporary hero to the Steelers, and I will never hate him. Pittsburgh Steelers fans are frustrated right now, we are losing games that we shouldn't, but don't put all the blame on people like Tommy Maddox.
FL referee Pete Morelli is having a rough week.I guess writing editorials is much worse than harassing a player's kids at school, vandalizing his house, or throwing bricks through a referee's window.On Sunday, Morelli made one of the more controversial calls in NFL history, overturning what appeared to be an interception by the Steelers' Troy Polamalu. On Monday, his Stockton, Calif. home was vandalized, according to police reports.
Lieutenant Thomas Wells of the Stockton Police Department told FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer that a police report was filed after a rock was thrown through Morelli's living room window late Monday night after Morelli and his wife had gone to bed. Lt. Wells emphasized that police had no suspect and no motive in the case and could not say with any degree of certainty whether the act of vandalism was related to Sunday's call.
"We are aware of the situation and we're cooperating with police in any way we can," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
On Monday, the NFL admitted that Morelli had erred when he used instant replay to overturn the interception. Mike Pereira, the league's VP of officiating, said in a statement that the call on the field should have stood.
"He maintained possession long enough to establish a catch," Pereira said. "Therefore, the replay review should have upheld the call on the field that it was a catch and fumble."
Fortunately for Morelli — and the Steelers — while the botched call allowed the Colts to eventually pull within a field goal, it ultimately did not play any role in the outcome of the game, which Pittsburgh won, 21-18.
Oh, Goody.
The Murky Nuz has finally decided to weigh in.
Now I know what *not* to think.
What hayseeds. "Turkey in the Straw" is the background music in perpetual loop in that newsroom.
What a novelty!!! A Steeler bashing thread here on FR!!! Please, let it go...the whining is AlGoresque...find closure...its a good thing.
Yes, and through the miracle of the broad brush and guilt by association, we're all to blame for that.
What do I know? Only been watching the Steelers since Bobby Layne to Buddy Dial. Big Daddy Lipscomb (sp?) was pretty good too.
What do I know? I've been a soccer coach for 45 years.
What are you doing bothering the "World Champs*" with facts???
I think Seattle is the city that has a more recent history of riots. The last "riot" of any note in Pittsburgh was in 1860 after Lincoln was elected and a staunchly Southern fellow named Floyd, who happened to be President Buchannan's Secretary of War, issued a midnight order to clean out the local Army arsenal and ship all the big guns and ammo down south.
The local folks took "offense" to that order and made sure it wasn't carried out.
Let's put it this way. As a rough estimate without checking the records, the City of Seattle has at the minimum of 15 years to go before they can experience as many NFL playoff losses as the the City of Pittsburgh has experienced and I sure don't recall any "riots" in Pittsburgh after any of those losses. People did pretty much the same thing after those losses as they did on Monday morning this week. They got up and went to work.
if I took all of the replies on this thread BY DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS, my guess is that you are well behind in your 66% claim.....
Image that being investigated in the manner of NFL officials. A bunch of guys standing around looking at the rock, measuring from the window, whispering and looking for a security monitor so they can review.
By Tim Grant, Pittsburgh Post-GazetteWhen Joshua Vannoy decided to wear a Denver Broncos jersey Friday, he knew there would be some joking from diehard Steelers fans at Big Beaver Falls Area Senior High School.
But he never expected to feel humiliated by his teacher during a mid-term examination and become so shaken up that he could not finish his test.
He's made a complaint to the principal against John Kelly, who teaches an honors class on ethnic relations, saying the teacher made him sit on the floor to take his test and instructed other classmates to pelt him with balled up sheets of notebook paper.
Donna Nugent, superintendent of Big Beaver Falls Area School District, said she is investigating.
"We're not making light of this at all," Dr. Nugent said.
Mr. Kelly had little to say on the subject yesterday.
"We won the game [Sunday] night, didn't we?" he said. "That's all I was worried about."
School Principal Thomas Karczewski said what happened was "intended as a joke" and that the matter was "getting out of hand."
Joshua said his feelings were hurt, his nerves shattered and Mr. Kelly's reaction to his John Elway No. 7 jersey was anything but humorous.
"He had a dead serious face," said Joshua. "He never laughed at all."
He said when he went to sit down at his regular desk on Friday, Mr. Kelly ordered him to "take those books off my desk. I own that desk." He placed his textbooks on the floor and then sat down at the desk.
Joshua said his teacher told him to "get out of my desk. You're sitting in my desk."
He said Mr. Kelly began sliding the desks into a circle. Then he told Joshua to sit on the floor in the center of the circle.
While Mr. Kelly passed out the tests, he dropped Joshua's test papers, scattering them on the floor so that he had to crawl around and pick them up, Joshua said.
"As I started to write my name on the papers and number them, I noticed he went to the cupboard and grabbed a handful of notebook paper and handed it to all the kids and said, 'This is part two of your test. You'll get points for this. Take the paper and ball it up with two hands and throw it at the Denver fan,' " Joshua said.
Joshua said there were "papers flying everywhere towards me. At one point, a girl refused to do it and he [Mr. Kelly] took the paper off her desk and threw it into the back of my head."
Joshua said he was so furious his hands were shaking and he could hardly concentrate. He said he was lying flat on the carpet trying to answer essay questions about the Israeli Six-Day War and the Cold War while his face burned with shame.
He said he didn't talk back and when the dismissal bell rang, he handed the half-finished test to Mr. Kelly, who "snatched it right out of my hands."
Joshua said he reported the incident to the school principal immediately after a lunch period. He told his parents what happened when he got home.
Mr. Kelly "has never told me not to wear a Denver Broncos jersey in his class," Joshua said. "I probably wouldn't have if I knew it was going to cause this kind of big deal. I just thought it was a shirt."
You guys are making fools out of yourselves. The NFL supports the calls, and they have a history of admitting mistakes.
Unless, of course, you know better than the ones who wrote the rules, know the rules, and have been putting the rules in practice for at least 30 years.
Well I get the other 33%. What's the use of posting if I don't get any credit?
So, am I responsible for this or not?
Correction it was not a swing pass but a handoff.
I'll have some NFL refs look into it and get back to you.
LOL
I think about 90% of this thread is about 33% of his estimate LOL
Absolutely, the Seahawks did not get the benefit of the calls, but did not play well enough to win either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.