Before we get to that however, a few words on the Super Bowl. As first reported by the B-Slant Jerome Bettis is from Detroit, he is also fat, he is also apparently much more full of himself than we thought. And thankfully, he is now gone. That is not to say that he wasn't a great player but like "Gold Digger" he was woefully overplayed for the last 3 weeks.
Speaking of fat men Mike Holmgren entered the Joey Porter School of Sour Grapes and graduated in the time for the Seahawks rally at QWest Field on Monday. (First of all, it says A LOT about your team and your city that you have a rally for coming in second. If you want to give everyone the impression that you were satisfied by getting to the Super Bowl just say so.) In a speech to the crowd (who went to this thing?) Holmgren said he expected a tough game from the Steelers but did not expect to have to compete against the officials as well. While I agree that Holmgren has an argument to some extent there is no way that his was the team most egregiously afflicted by the miserable officiating this post season.
Ironically, it is Holmgren's XL opponent that really has the most to complain about overall. The referees literally tried to take the game away from the Steelers in Indianapolis. Pittsburgh was outplaying the Colts on both sides of the ball until the zebras redefined a "football move" in a desperate attempt to push D-Caf and his MasterCard campaign through to the AFC Championship game. Even the Patriots have a larger complaint than the Seahawks for Asanti Samuel's phantom P.I. call.
Nothing like that happened here. Holmgren's team just didn't play well enough to win, and while 2 of the calls were just flat wrong (the holding penalty and Hasselbeck's personal foul) neither of those directly changed the score of the game. You can make an argument that Darrell Jackson's non-touchdown greatly affected the outcome, but he did push off. Regardless of whether that rule is always enforced, he clearly broke the letter of the law. On Roethlisberger's questionable touchdown I will concede that it seems a bit odd for an official to run in from the sideline pointing as though to spot the ball only to change his mind 6 steps in and rule it a touchdown. The replay however, was inconclusive, I think they got the call right and to have overturned it would have been the wrong decision based on the replay evidence.
So Mike, shut up. The Seahawks played in a crappy division in an even worse conference and beat two tired teams at home to reach the Super Bowl. It would have been wrong for the champion to come out of this year's NFC, it stunk. Not to mention that they then had a party for losing. I don't want to hear any complaints from a guy who lets his team celebrate a loss, even a Super Bowl loss.
The silver lining is that this mess will (hopefully) cast a serious light on the officiating problem in the NFL which will allow them to fix it by next year.
Sadly the officiating was easily the most exciting part of Super Bowl XL. Aretha Franklin can't even squeeze into one of the jerseys the Bus wears (congratulations to me I just made the 1 millionth Jerome Bettis / Aretha Franklin comparison since Sunday, I won a cruise), the Rolling Stones and the ageless wonder in a belly shirt have officially moved from cool to creepy, both sides tried to give the game away, both coaches botched late half/game decisions, Ben Roethlisberger choked, Jerramy Stevens has cement blocks for hands, Josh Brown can't kick inside, and while the Steelers covered they didn't even come close to hitting the over!
And the worst part is I just KNOW that the Patriots would have killed Seattle (or Pittsburgh for that matter). Brady should be polishing that 4th ring right now, not flipping coins.
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*************************************************************************Moving on to the link that started the post, if you clicked on it you saw that Johnny Damon took out an ad (ala Drew Bledsoe) thanking the fans of Boston. He said, "It was an honor and a privilege."
Let's review. First he took the money and ran to New York. (No problem with him taking the money, big problem with him going to the Yankees.) Then after a haircut and shave he starts bashing the Red Sox, saying that the Yankees would love to have Manny etc. Follow that with last week's statements about how great it feels to be a Yankee, about the "Yankee way" tradition, and how special it all is. Now this?
How stupid does he think we are? Does he think we're all going to perk up now and say, "Well he did pretty much stab us in the back at the 11th hour and go to our biggest rival leaving us without a centerfielder or a leadoff hitter, and then he ripped us mercilessly in the press. But now, since he spent .0000000001 of one game check to take out a lip service ad in the paper I guess I'll just drink this beer instead of throwing it on him." Johnny, you could buy the Boston Globe and it won't matter. Everyone here hates you, just check out the Rants and Raves section on Craig's List Boston, people that don't even follow baseball and that live in their parents basements are saying that you suck. You're going to get booed, get used to it.
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-In other news, the Olympics start on Friday in Torino. The big question is will Bode Miller be drunk, on steroids, molesting little girls, killing puppies, kicking homeless vets, and willing gold medals all at the same time? 'Cause you know...Bode Miller hates puppies...
-Wayne Gretzsky's smoking hot wife Janet Jones (adult features?) is being implicated in the Rick Tocchet gambling scandal. Wayne claims to know nothing about it. Doesn't something sound a little fishy here? Bad boy assistant coach and attractive wife of often-working-late first year head coach involved in something illicit together. Want to bet what her "involvment" really was? This story has "E" juicy written all over it.
-Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser, and Joe Theisman (big dramatic sigh) will be the team for Monday Night football on ESPN. Going from Al Michaels and John Madden to this crew is like finding out that your wife who looks like Janet Jones was doing your best friend and assistant coach who is badly balding and a compulsive gambling addict while you coached a mediocre NHL team.
- Ultra-ugly West Virginia forward/mascot Kevn Pittsnoggle became a father a few days ago. Pittsnoggle is the poster child for birth control and B-Slant controlled conception rights. Who, I ask you had sex with this man on purpose!? Oh right...he goes to West Virginia, nevermind. Pittsnoggle!
- And finally J.J. Reddick hung 35 on UNC last night as Duke hung on to beat UNC in Chapel Hill. It was the highest point total ever by a Duke player in the Dean Dome. He might not be able to get his own shot very well but I can't remember a player who was as deadly when only marginally open. He'll be a lousy pro but for now he is one of the best college hoops players ever.
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