For Those Debating The Super Bowl "Conspiracy"

[TheWatcher]

I should preface this by saying I am from Seattle. However, I am not really that much of a Seahawks fan, nor a Steelers fan, but I am writing this as an objective observer who has been watching the NFL for 32 years.

It should also be prefaced by me that I do not necessarily have th opinion that Seattle LOST the game BECAUSE of the officiating in the contest. Seattle made some HUGE mistakes on their own, in the form of two missed field goals, a key holding penalty that took back what would have been 1st and goal on the 2 in the 3rd Quarter (I'm sorry Seahawks fans, but it WAS a HOLD), and some absolutely BAFFLING play calling at the end of the 1st half, and at the end of the game, and some key dropped passes that you simply HAVE to make in a game like that, especially when they are dead-on passes that are easily catchable. What I will argue is that it was undeniably a factor that was a huge distraction, one that definitely took charge of the momentum and the general flow of the game.

Tonight's game SHOULD have been a game that saw a great match up between two fantastic football teams, who definitely deserved to be there. Two fantastic stories, two fantastic roads to get there, and a group of players on both sides who really brought a lot of flavor and intrigue to the match-up.

That's what it was SUPPOSED to be.


The officiating in tonights game was a travesty, and something that no objective observer could deny completely tainted the game, and all but il-legitimized it.

The Offensive Pass Interference Call that took away the touchdown was, to be the kindest you could be, STUNNINGLY questionable, but even if it is going to be made, you must call the game cleanly for both sides. Hines Ward was NOT called for pushing off several times, and it was clearly more blatant than this particular instance was. This is officiating at it's worst. If the game is being called a certain way, then it must be called the same for both teams. Clearly here it was not. You cannot set the tone by making a call THAT questionable, while letting clearly and more blatant infractions made by the receivers and players on the opposing team go uncalled. So while it CAN be argued this was not necessarily a blown call, it illustrates how blatantly unbalanced the officiating was. This has been a core problem with officiating in the NFL that has only gotten worse each season. That is a problem Replays and Challenges CANNOT fix. People can choose to call it bias, or whatever they want, but it is clearly unbalanced, and calls into question the legitimacy of the games being played. The No-Calls that were made in this game is what made the difference far more than the calls made against Seattle at critical moments. You simply cannot call a game so tight and strict on one side, and let the other side do whatever they damn well please and turn a blind eye. While there is human error to take into account, this was so blatantly obvious, it is very difficult to see HOW it could have been simple human error of judgment.

And although it is being completely ignored by the Media, which is usually what happens to actual reality in ANY situation, in ANY event these days, travel the Internet tonight, and you will see this is THE Topic of discussion all over the world concerning this game. And it isn't all disgruntled Seahawks fans. It's fans and observers from just about EVERY team you can think of.

This was such a blatant display it defies logic.

The most blatant was Rothlisberger's Touchdown. He clearly did NOT cross the plane of the Goal Line, EVEN in the air, and there was an angle that CLEARLY showed that. That was not a touchdown.

Late in the game on 3rd and 6, Rothlisberger called time-out almost a FULL SECOND after the play clock had reached zero. That should have been a delay of game. 3rd and 11.

Now, as I said earlier, whether it cost the Seahawks the game or not is really not the question, because if you take away the touchdown that wasn't, The Steelers still win 14-10. However, there is no question the officiating took over the tempo and flow of the game, and was an overwhelming factor. And sooner or later, there is going come a time when this IS going to cost a team the Super Bowl. There are already examples of regular season games where this has occurred. It is only a matter of time.

And it is not in just this game, it was The Playoffs and pretty much the entire season. I probably don't need to cite what happened in the Playoffs, because I am sure as this thread grows, fans can point to the specifics, but there is no question that Officiating has reached critical mass in the NFL, to the point it is far too influential on the outcomes of games. For those that think it has reached a level where it is ruining the Sport, you have every right to feel that way. it is something the NFL needs to address, because if it is NOT addressed, you can be assured that it will only get worse.

In the end The Steelers won, but if you are a Steelers fan, although you should be jubilant, deep down, if you are honest and objective, you did NOT want them to win this way. Fans being fans, there are many who could give less of a shit, but for those who care about the Sport, tonight was the NFL's Darkest Hour, and the foreboding of even Darker Days ahead.

ON A SIDE NOTE:

I would also like to say something to those who have put on their so called "tin-foil hats" and pointed to perhaps a larger conspiracy of this being handed to the Steelers on a silver platter, because of the financial interest that the Networks and various entities had in the Steelers winning the game, as well as higher-up's in the NFL wishing this to have a storybook ending because of Jerome Bettis, for image purposes of for whatever so-called "conspiracy theories" have been conjured up.

Let me say first of all, there is no direct "proof" that you can point to to give light to any conspiracy here. But I WILL say this. If you have question about whether the interest and motivation amongst certain entities was there for such a level of corruption and manipulation, you shouldn't be considered crazy for having such notions. Does it exist? With the level of corruption we see these days, it probably can't be ruled out. Does that mean your theories are founded?

Because we cannot point to actual proof, all I can say to you objectively is one word:

INCONCLUSIVE.

Such talk and thoughts can only be speculated about at best.

But I can tell you this. As someone who knows people who are heavily involved in the Sports betting "Industry" at high levels, there is more Corruption and Manipulation that goes on these days in Professional Sports than the general public would ever feel comfortable about. However, whether you could truly make a case for a conspiracy of THAT high a level, for outright RIGGING, there is no direct proof of that, so again, all talk of such must be regulated to speculation.

HOWEVER.

Don't forget what country you are living in, and the times you are living in. You have one of the most corrupt, criminal governments in the history of mankind currently running this country, seething with corruption and criminality so blatant that you have a White House Aides making statements like this one:

" The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do." Source: Ron Suskid- New York Times

And in a country where this kind of distortion of reality and truth is being played out so blatantly in the political arena and world stage, can it really be THAT much of a stretch that such scripted reality creation is not possible or even probable in just about ANYTHING else, (considering that we live in a country where Corporate Interest and the almighty dollar trump just about everything else) including Professional Sports? Perhaps. We are living in times that are SO Orwellian, it's hard to distinguish Truth and Reality from Fiction anymore as it is.

I mean come on, you live amongst a population where FAR too great a percentage half-believes that Professional Wrestling is "Real". And need we mention "Reality TV." Is it really so far-fetched to believe that such manipulation and scripting of reality is possible for just about anything?

And although there is no direct proof it is happening, it is definitely food for thought.

But because there is no driect documentable proof of such, I suppose it will have to remain in the realm of so-called "tin-foil hattery."

But if you were to ask me if I would put ANYTHING past ANYBODY in this day and age, honestly after what we have seen in just the past five years, I would simply have to say:

NOT ANYMORE. Not after 9-11. Not after Two Stolen Elections. Not after Iraq. Not after Katrina. Not after The Bush Administration and their "Reality Creators."

So to those people I simply say: Keep Digging. You never know WHAT you may find. But until something can be proven, you can't really say for sure.


To get back to the smaller picture at hand though, tonight's game was definitely tainted by those on the field who did not actually PLAY the game, but play a part in the way it is played.

And any way you slice it: Whether it was incompetence, bias, conspiracy, collusion of scripted reality, what have you.......

This is NOT acceptable for the sport of Football.

Not for the Teams or the fans.

It MUST be addressed in order for the game to retain any legitimacy at all.

To all Steelers fans, I send you the warmest of Congratulations.

Whether it was 21-10 or 14-10, your are still The World Champions.

But you deserved better for your efforts.

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. A reasoned argument, but I still disagree

If only on one basis.

However, there is no question the officiating took over the tempo and flow of the game, and was an overwhelming factor.

In Pop Warner or high school football, maybe. But we're talking about veteran, professional players and coaches. If they allowed the officiating to influence them to that degree, they wouldn't be where they are.

As for this being football's "darkest hour," unless it's revealed that some or all the refs were on the take, it's not even close. I'm not an NFL historian by any means, but from what I do know, that dubious honor would go to the betting scandals of the late '50s, in which Alex Karras, one of the greatest linemen in NFL history, was among the players suspended by the league (even though all he did was have a part ownership in a bar where gamblers were known to hang out).

[TheWatcher]

2. And I will respectfully agree to disagree.

Like I said, anyone speaking of a larger conspiracy, well, it can be nothing but speculation. There is no direct proof of that.

But the officiating in the sport has gotten so bad that it is difficult to take the game seriously, and it is affecting the legitimacy of the sport itself. This is evident when you look at this ENTIRE SEASON as well as the Playoffs. It HAS affected the outcomes of games directly, and it can be legitimately argued at the very least that it played far too major a factor in the flow of tonight's game. I simply cannot go as far as to say it was the deciding factor. You saw the same game I did and you know what the Seahawks errors were as well as I do. If you take into account the Offensive Pass Interference call, the MOST you could say in the Seahawks defense is that you might possibly have an Overtime game at 14-14 had that call not happened, so I refuse to place the direct outcome of the game solely on the officiating.

Also, if one wanted to make the argument that the officiating was such a distraction that it affected the Play calling of the Seahawks, I would not be inclined to disagree. Holmgren really lost his focus after the Rothlisberger touchdown that wasn't, and it could be argued that it served as a distraction the rest of the game. It was certainly evident that no one was home during the final two minutes of the first half. Now, one can also argue that a team should play THROUGH such distractions, but the trump argument still stands that it SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE TO BEGIN WITH.

This was a far too blatant display of, at the very least outright incompetence, to be allowed in a game of that level, or in a Professional Sport.

The issue NEEDS to be addressed.

I respect your opinion, but I am afraid I have to disagree.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. I don't feel I'm in much of a position to debate

because I'm no longer a football fan; I haven't been for 20 years or more.

I base my stance on a long experience with baseball and the same sort of arguments, i.e. "The umps blew the game for us." (I'm not saying that's your standpoint.) Maybe the sports are so basically different to make this apples and oranges — I don't know; I'm too tired to think that deeply right now. But, even in the worst-case baseball scenario with the most blatantly missed calls — a runner who was obviously out is called safe and later scores a key run — the argument always goes back to, "Well, why didn't the defense keep the run from scoring, or why didn't they score more runs themselves?"

That's what I'm talking about. There are far more opportunities in a given game for a team to win or lose than there are for an official to screw it up.

But I'm not gonna argue with you because I don't think you're wrong. I just disagree with a couple of your points. And, like I said, I may be overlooking some fundamental difference that negates my analogy. (If you can think of one, I'd be interested to hear it.)

[democracyindanger]

3. Come on.

Crappy officiating can affect the tempo of the game, even if you're a veteran and professional. You can't tell me that the mystery holding call, pushing Seattle back 10 yards instead of 1st and goal on the 5, didn't crush their momentum. You can't honestly say that the ticky-tack offensive PI call that took away the TD didn't change the entire equation at that point in the game.

And I seem to remember a whole lot of Steelers fans pissed off about the crap not-an-interception call against the Colts. That was clearly a pick, and if the Colts ended up winning that game, I seriously doubt any Steeler fan would say, "Well, they're professionals and they should've overcome that."

The Steelers won. But the criminally incompetent officiating diminished the victory.

[Robeson]

4. You mean Polamalu's interception......

...that the ref's said "never was". Yeah, I could imagine the Steelers fans response had the Colts won that game. And rightlyfully so. That call came damn close to deligitamizing that entire game. It's not just this Super Bowl. The officiating this year has been piss-poor, and widely commented on throughout the season. And, yes, it is a problem.

[TheWatcher]

5. Indeed.

If you are a Steelers fan, it's a shame to win like that, and to have the victory tainted by officiating there was simply NO EXCUSE for. That kind of thing should not happen on a Professional level. Also, I don't think it's a question of whether they should be able to overcome things "because they are Professionals." I have seen some Steelers fans argue that they "overcame" what happened in Indianapolis, so no one should argue about the "taint" here, but in reality, they are missing the point.

They shouldn't have to "overcome" anything like that, because there should not be that level of incompetence occurring in the game to begin with. The Officials are there to enforce the rules of the game, not distort or detract from the legitimacy of the game with calls and performance that are clearly at a level of incompetence and malfeasance that there is NO PLACE for in a sport played at this level.

[Strong Atheist]

7. Bwahahahaha!

Sports suck, and are getting what they deserve!:evilgrin:

[qanda]

8. I'm a Steelers fan

And I'll give you that there were a couple of calls that were called tight, but the officiating was not as bad as the coaching and the play of the Seattle Seahawks. I didn't want the Steelers to win the way they did, not because of the way the game was called but because the Steelers didn't play a very good game either. They just managed to play better than the Seahawks.

How many questionable calls were there? Two? And both of them happened right in front of an official. I honestly believe that the Rothlisberger touchdown could have been called either way, because when his arm comes up it looks like the ball is at least very close to goal line and then the defender pushes it back and the official had the best vantage point to make that call.

The other call is the push off and there is no doubt that he pushed off. No, it wasn't the worst foul ever, but he did it right in front of the official and it did gain him the advantage to catch the ball. Sorry, you can't do that.

There were a couple of calls that went Seattle's way also. On the interception return, someone blocked Rothlisberger from behind and it wasn't called. And there were many holds that should have been called against Seattle that weren't called.

BTW, that timeout was called from the sidelines before the clocked ticked down.