Super Bowl: Fulltime

Seattle did not play their best game, but it's impossible to win when the calls are as awful as they were in this game. 14 points were taken from Seattle, 7 given to Pittsburgh, because of 2 bad calls: the interference in the endzone and the hold on the play before Hasselbeck's interception. neither was a legit penalty, and that was 14 points taken from the Seahawks. maybe Pittsburgh goes on a game-winning drive after Seattle scores; maybe they make other plays. but the truth of the matter is they did not make the plays; the zebras did. they got them wrong. the interference was so ticky-tack; as Steve Young said, it was not a penalty but a touchdown. and John Madden was crystal clear on the hold: it did not happen.

the cliche is that a champion overcomes things like bad calls. it depends. when i was a kid, the Rams got a chance at the playoffs taken away when the refs shorted them a down at the end of the game. the 49ers brought instant replay to the NFL when they were ripped off the Bears (i think it was) and kept from the playoffs. and the Hawks against the Jets, early in Holmgren's time. this was a close game. neither team did very well. but the difference was not the Randle El pass, nor any other play. it was 2 bad calls by the refs. what a terrible shame.