The ref'ing in the Steelers-Jaguars game last night was unbelievably terrible. Any rational human being could see that it looked like the refs were trying to throw it for the Jaguars. They did everything possible to try to stop them, but the Steel Curtain still prevailed. Here are the ones I saw, from the 3rd/4th quarters:

- A "roughing the passer" call (15 yd/1st down penalty) called when a Pit linesman was a 1/2 step and 0.5 second away from the QB. This is a legal hit in any other non-on-the-take world.

- A marginal call of personal foul of the open field hit after the ball was tipped in flight and the Jax receiver didn't get his hands on it.

- A bullshit 15 yd penalty for Ward for literally holding the ball out to the Jax sideline after making a nice catch. WTF?

- The Jax QB fumbles the ball on the last drive and he is ruled down, when any person who is not blind can see from the replays that he fumbled the ball.

When will there be accountability for such poor refereeing in the NFL?

See Sarah dig!

Dig, Sarah, dig!

...so that he won't have a chance to be wrong about them once again.

(no flames please)

Because you're going to have to. And Norwegian is unlike any other language, except Hungarian. You'll find it pretty hard living there long term without speaking the mother tongue.

No no no no no no no.

President-Elect Obama, we salute you.

I am certainly a Steelers partisan, but the holding on the Parker TD run was clear on the replays - that was a legit call. There was another obviously cooked/incompetent call in the 1Q, where some Steelers back got called for D pass interf when he was nowhere near the ball, leading to the Chargers' touchdown. *That* play needs to be brought up as well.

@jordan - why should anyone care? Because next time the Point Shaving could result in changing a win to the loss column, or vice versa. Throwing calls which result in points getting on/off the board incorrectly is never acceptable.

Ok, so now it's the Steelers fault that the refs blew the "forward pass" call on the last play. Nice.

"The troop surge is working!"

I hope your kids don't see you when you're smoking that weed.

What is The Untied Way, you may ask? Read Jon Carroll of the SF Chronicle and he will explain.

http://tinyurl.com/e2o2j

Unless You Become Like A Little Child, You Shall Not Enter The Kingdom of Heaven.

There's plenty of time for impeachment and the trial.

Yes, so silly to hold people to the standard of the law.

... why I'll never live in Georgia.

The facts are: a man forced himself into a residence where he does not live, without any immediately verifiable proof that he was invited. It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't look like - he has no business doing what he did. Being of any religion does not mean you get special extra-legal privileges - we are all equal under the same civil law. Speak to the supposed inviter and tell him it has to end. If it happens again, call the police when it does.

Point-shaving and ref culpability in pro sports, particularly the NFL, and the networks' unwillingness to report on it, lest they kill their cash cow. I mean, really: it doesn't get any more obvious than the Steelers-Chargers game, and that "reporting" lasted for about 5 minutes. Who has the courage to step up to pull back the curtain here?

They have chosen to air the Browns-Bengals game over the Steelers-Titans game, but no one cares about the battle of I-71, even in Ohio! Now I have to scramble to find someone with a channel that does have it.

Heaps of scorn and badwill on them!

from the discussion of relevant case law I have seen, the Senate does not have the ability to block seating him, unless he is under 35, not a resident of IL, or not a US Citizen. This is because he is being appointed, not elected.

And Harry Reid is such an ass anyways. Total Bush lapdog. I have no respect for the man.

...as minivans are considered acceptable penance because they are ugly. That is the appropriate course of action.

While Strickland is technically a Democrat, he is a D.I.N.O. He's very conservative, and if you didn't know his party, he might as well be a Republican.

Reid will roll over like a trained dog and and of course give the GOP what it wants. The Repubiclicans couldn't ask for a better majority leader!

it definitely is irresponsible, especially in 2009, to have 8, let alone 14 children.

Is this really that hard? Community groups are great, but family is more important, especially when it's not dysfunctional. Are the members of this group really that shallow that they're going to ostracize you for attending your (what the other writer said - say "close") cousin's wedding? If they think they're more important than family, you've got to question their priorities/motives/values. The question would be a little bit harder if this was your work, and you thought your job would be on the line if you didn't go. But it's not. (And the answer would still be to go to the wedding.) And as you said, you can go next year.

I bet it's just one tosser in the group who is sending grief vibes your way. Ignore him/her, and enjoy being with the rest of the group.

but LW, your "friend" and her husband are assholes of the highest order. Unfortunately, you should move on. I'd be curious to hear how you were "friends" in the first place.

And Cary - being a guy, I have never heard someone euphemize "I have a problem with you" by saying "[you're] dead to me." It sounded like the guy said what he meant.