[bikepacker67]

Steelers fans should be angry, too. For one, they know how this feels, see their playoff game vs. Indianapolis, when they were the interlopers ruining the heartwarming tale.

Moreover, the execrable officiating cheapens their championship because it's what folks are talking about now, not the glory of Bettis.

Forever Tainted.

[PackerBoy]

I'm not a Steelers fan; in fact, I wanted the Seahawks to win.

I thought the "disputed" calls were all correct, and that Seattle failed to capitalize when it counted.

[M1911A1]

BS. The Steeler victory is not tainted, not in the least.

They won, with the conditions that prevailed on the field. That's football, and this is coming from a long time Seahawks fan.

The officiating sucked. Not the Steeler's fault. Some Steeler fans are trying to naysay this, and some Seahawks fans are being poor sports.

In a game where a lot of the penalties are essentialy judgment calls, the refs managed to seem one sided. Almost all the game altering calls can be defended or assailed on technical or judgmental levels. Nature of the game.

Better officials would have dispensed thier judgment in a manner that did not seem so one-sided. There are individual calls that I do or don't agree with, but for a majority of neutral fans it appeared imbalanced.

For the sake of what-if, let's say the refs had "found" an infraction on the Steeler 75 yard run or not called what really was an optional hold on Locklear when Seattle appeared to have first and goal. IMHO, Steelers still win, because my beloved 'Hawks were not making plays they needed to make when the flags stayed in the pocket, and instead of the uproar about one-sided officiating, you would have a majority saying, "it evened out".

There will always be a minority who scrutinize every call looking for excuses. The problem with XL is it seemed lopsided. Throw in some pretty obvious blown calls and you have a stench. Is that the Steeler's fault?

Congrats to the Steelers, NFL Champs, no asterisk in my book. Shame on the poor judgment of the judges. Officiating is as much art as science, and they blew both disciplines.

[Beowulf]

NFL officiating has been substandard for quite awhile. To preserve the integrity of the game it is time for the NFL to spring for full-time officiating professionals instead of the guys-doing-a-weekend-gig routine. I think the NFL can financially afford it.

That having been said, the poor officiating (and it went both ways in the Super Bowl) did not effect the ultimate outcome of SB XL. The better team definitely won, and years from now the final scoreboard count will be the only thing that true NFL fans remember.

[TheBigB]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! What a buncha whiny p*ssies.

Your opinion doesn't matter in the slightest. Never has, never will.

[Central Scrutiniser]

I told everyone the other night that the story of this super bowl would be the terrible job the refs did to give the Steelers the win.

All the homers can whine all they want, but in their hearts, they know its a tainted victory.

[68 grunt]

Hey, listen man, football is now, and for a long time, has been as phony as rasslin'. The game is rigged and there is no beating the riggers.

[tobiasjodter]

GET OVER IT!

Finally someone at ESPN has seen the light...