a handshake of carbon monoxide

last night's super bowl showcased some of the shabbiest officiating i think i've ever seen. bill leavy and his crew disgraced referees everywhere, and that's not an easily accomplished feat. the fact that very few steelers turned in noteworthy performances last night just goes to prove that it was the calls, or in some cases the lack there of, that decided the game. first they robbed the seahawks of an obvious touchdown with a nonexistent offensive pass interference call. the idiot ref looked like a deer in the headlights. he let it go till the steeler player turned and screamed at him, then panicked and threw the flag. then they gave them roethlisberger's diving touchdown, when after replay it was obvious the ball never crossed the goal line, as doug already pointed out. but considering they'd ruled it as a touchdown, i didn't expect them to overturn it. and let's not forget the ridiculous low-block called on hasselbeck when after his interception when he tackled the ball carrier, and just happened to take out another steeler. plus some terrible holding calls against the 'hawks, and the "fumble" that took them a review to overturn (and boy did they sound sad to admit it).

thankfully, it seems some of the media is admitting how terrible the officials were. sports analysts are actually getting over their love affair with the steelers in the super bowl (i don't care where bettis' hometown is) and calling the nfl out on how bad the referees are. its pretty terrible when the super bowl is decided by the officials, not the game. these articles do a good job talking about all the calls the refs got wrong, but they don't talk about all the holdings, blocks in the back, and horse-collar tackles they neglected to call on pittsburgh.

i guess what we all learned is that in order to get what you want, open your big obnoxious mouth and complain. well joey porter certainly can never complain about the refs again. in fact, he should probably take them out to dinner, seeing as he owes them for that shiny new ring on his finger. we also learned that the referees are suckers for the media. it was pretty obvious who the sports media wanting to win, with them talking nonstop about bettis' super bowl homecoming, or roethlisberger possibly being the youngest quarterback to win a super bowl. i guess the referees got caught up in the pittsburgh frenzy. but i will agree with him on one point: the nfl refs are terrible. they need to take a hint from the acc's example, and start disciplining refs for this kind of disgraceful performance.

and just for fun, here's fox sports' 10 worst calls of the postseason.