[Toonces]

[Malachai Constant]

[polarbear]

I burnt my tongue the other day and sued myself for millions. I am still paying it off. At this point, I think the Steelers may have a chance.

[mpaul_hansen]

RE: My two bits - from ex-player...and ref Personally I try to keep things in perspective in as much the overriding priority is not the SuperBore, in my opinion. However reffing can be demanding, but the level of partial to actual incompetance has apparently reached a near-record low. That aside, have seen worse. An early 1960's Husky game at a SEC opponent was "reffed", due to unusual circumstances, by SEC refs. They essentially allowed occasional intermittent assault(s) on some of the Washington players and did not control the game. Subsequently, UW - Washington did not re-schedule with this SEC opponent for years.

[tennessee treader]

[Mtn Dog]

There is a world of difference between making a few bad calls and the officials altering the outcome of the game. In the Colts/Steelers Divisional Playoff game Polamalu's interception was ruled incomplete - that was a bad call by a ref that admitted he was confused about the recent rule change. It kept things close but the Steelers won either way. In the Superbowl the refs started making draconian calls on the Seahawks as soon as they realized they were dominating the first quarter. The Seahawks mounted several substantial drives while Pittsburg was unable to gain any positive yards or first downs. The refs took away the Seahawks first touchdown and gave a free one to Pittsburg both under dubious circumstances; even Roethlisberger later said he didn't think he crossed the goal line on that carry. This had a huge impact on the ultimate outcome of the game. Can the refs justify their calls now? Perhaps but I doubt they'd be taken seriously. Its obvious to not just Seattle fans but most of America that there were serious problems with the officiating; even Steelers fans admit it. Even in the third quarter when the Seahawks were within four points the officials time and again found ways to stifle their offensive drives. The Seahawks came into Sunday as one of the least penalized teams in the league, they weren't about to throw it all away on penalties. By the end of the third quarter they must have felt as though they couldn't do anything right. But even at the end of the game Seattle had fewer turnovers and noticeably better offensive stats - No one can look to this and say there wasn't a problem with the officiating!!! My question is the motivation. Do the refs have a subconscious aim to keep things close in a Superbowl for commercial reasons? Does the possibility of having five titles create some special condition that encourages them to favor Pittsburg? They could be easily bought off by someone working the Vegas line but this is too easily discovered.

[Chief Paulina]

It was FIXED from the beginning. I'll bet Disney (world) didn't even have a 'I'm going to Disney World' commercial made. Those kind of calls were obvious slaps in the faces of common sense football fans all over the world. Their team could be next. Those kind of calls are not ultimately made by the refs on the field, whether they be full time or part time. They are made by the NFL and all of their $2.5 million/30 second contributing corporations. What is the difference between the NFL and Enron or Halliburton? They all gained huge monetary benefit at our expense. NO, I will not let it go. These people blatantly stole from us. They damaged the integrity of the game. If that isn't bad enough, they now have officially stood behind those calls, everyone of them.