What did you think about the Super-Bowl?

[Aquaignis]

What did you think about the Super-Bowl?

[GhaleonOne]

I actually watch an AC Milan game from Italy through the first half of the Super Bowl. Obviously I'm into the other kind of football, but I did plan on catching the second half. When I saw Pittsburg ahead like 14-3 or something like that, I figured it was likely a bust, and did something else. I was kinda hoping for Seattle to win, just because they had never won a Superbowl.

[Imperial Knight]

Super Bowl XL just struck me as kind of odd. Lots of mistakes, sloppy play, etc. More often than not, the Super Bowl features either a dominating performance from one team, or a really close contest. This one doesn't seem to fit into either category.

I wasn't really all that concerned with the outcome, but I did have a slight preference for the Steelers for a number of reasons, not the least of which being that I was tired of hearing Seattle fans whine for two weeks about how nobody loves them because of "East Coast bias" (If you think Pittsburgh qualifies as "East Coast," you have no right to complain about how neglected your city is as far as I'm concerned).

[DragonmasterDan]

I was frusturated with questionable calls, I'm not normally someone to whine over officiating. But there was an eleven point swing of questionable calls. And eleven points was the difference in the game.

[Master Lunn]

Even though im a falcons fan, i guess the game was ok. Not really interesting to me . . .

[GhaleonOne]

I was frusturated with questionable calls, I'm not normally someone to whine over officiating. But there was an eleven point swing of questionable calls. And eleven points was the difference in the game.

My dad quit watching in the 4th quarter over that very issue.

[Scorpioeyez]

I watched from beginning to end but was getting incredibly tired of the obvious bad calls that were going against the Seahawks. We got so screwed. We probably could've won if those calls had been made properly.

[Dragonmaster Lou]

The Seahawks probably could've won if they didn't screw up their clock management in the final two minutes of the first and second half, and didn't drop so many passes.

To be honest (note, I'm not a Steelers fan -- Patriots fan here), a lot of the Seahawk fan complaints about the calls sounds like whining and excuses to me. The only blatantly bad call was the 15 yard penalty on Hasselbeck on his tackle. The offensive pass interference call was completely within the rules (look it up -- he did put his arm out and push off against the defender). Roethlisberger's touchdown, well, to me it looked like the ball just barely crossed the plane of the goal line -- and that's all that matters. It doesn't matter where you land so long as the tiniest tip of the ball touches the line before your knees hit the ground -- and you can't get knocked backwards out of a touchdown either. On top of that, for the review to have overturned the on-the-field call, it would have to have been completely obvious that the on-the-field call was wrong (again, those are the rules). Instead, even the replay was too close to call, so imagine how close to call it was for the guy on the field.

I will give you that the holding penalty against Locklear was iffy at best, but that would've been at most a 3-8 point difference in score, which would've still meant Seattle loses.

On top of that, Seattle got a break because they performed an illegal block in the back during that huge 75 yard interception return which they failed to capitalize on.

And it's not like I'm a referee apologst either -- the officiating in the Denver/New England game was even worse than in this Super Bowl, but I'm not blaming the outcome on the officials -- I blamed it on my team not playing well enough to win.

[Imperial Knight]

There were many questionable calls made in the game, but the whole "Seattle was robbed by the refs" thing is overblown. For starters, the calls that directly effected the point total were questionable, but not necessarily wrong, per se. Darrell Jackson did push off. Now, one could argue that it was a very light push that didn't really have an impact on the play and didn't deserve to be called, and that's a reasonable point of view, but it's not like the call was made for nothing. As for the Roethlisberger touchdown call, again, you can't say it was entirely wrong. The ball either just barely broke the plane or just barely missed breaking the plane. Either way, it was a very close call to make, but you have to call it one way or the other. And the replay was inconclusive, therefore, the call couldn't be overturned.

All this complaining about the officiating also ignores that the Seahawks didn't exactly play very well. They made bad mistakes at crucial times and managed the clock terribly at the end of both the first half and the game. One may argue that Pittsburgh didn't really deserve to win the game (they weren't exactly stellar), but it's hard to argue that Seattle did, either. If anything, the deciding factor was big plays (Pittsburgh made more and generally made them when they counted), not officiating.

[Angelalex242]

I live in Washington State now...

But...well, Seattle deserved to lose. If they'd been playing a flawless game otherwise, perhaps I'd have a different view.

Still, I was sort of hoping they'd win.

[DeathBeforeDenial]

I'm happy The Bus got his ring, other than that I really didn't care.

I actually didn't even watch the game, the option of eating In & Out and hanging out with my girlfriend was far too enticing.

[JWL]

Steelers forever! Bring on the second dynasty of Pittsburgh!

The Super Bowl itself was kind of weak, but the whining about the calls is weaker, especially now that the NFL has come right out and said that there were no bad calls made during the game.

The REAL story is Pittsburgh's amazing come from behind victory this season. It's unbelievable that they almost didn't even make the playoffs!