King, I wish you'd have explained exactly what the penalty called on Hasselbeck was.

(Before I get into this, it was a bad call. But, after reading many of yesterday's letters, most people are confused as to what the penalty was).

Hasselbeck was not flagged for making an illegal block. He was flagged for going low on a blocker.

When you're a defender, the only person you're allowed to hit below the waist is the ballcarrier. If you go low on a blocker, you'll be flagged (assuming the refs see it). The derivation of this rule is because of a couple of blockers having their knees blown out years ago when they were engaged with Defender A and Defender B hit them low, taking them down awkwardly.

That said, Hasselbeck was making a tackle, and the contact with the defender was incidental. But, please, understand what the penalty was before whining about it, Seattle fans.

...but I do think the refs gave the Steelers a pretty big boost on Sunday. They weren't on the take, of course, they were just bad.

King asks for replays of plays like the Jackson non-touchdown. I can't provide a link, but if anyone needs proof of those plays going uncalled please see the following: the career of Michael Irvin.

Excellent column. First rate.

This is why I read you in the first place even though I'm a college football fan and usually don't pay much attention to the pros.

Nice one King. I'm an admitted lifelong Steelers fan and I live in Seattle. Lots of things could have helped the Seahawks the win on Sunday. More calls to be sure. But 7-3 isn't that disparate for an NFL game, and as you mentioned there were a couple of non-calls the other way but the Seahawks can't see that right now. You didn't mention the quick whistle on a Stevens fumble in the first half - without the quick whistle the steelers had a good chance of recovering that fumble before it went out but it was ruled an incompletion. A tight end that could catch would have helped. Even mediocre punting would have been good. Decent field goal kicking maybe. Better clock management than a high school team should be expected. A safety that didn't give up a couple of home runs. There are lots of things. But whining about the refs is the age old cry of the loser... it just seems to be going on a lot longer than usual in Seattle and I don't get it. If they lose three in a row they'll be back to blacking out the home games in the local market and I'll be turning down free tickets as I was as recently as earlier this season. But for right now the bandwagon has been transformed into a wambulance.

I didn't watch the game, nor any football game this year. The whole thing rather bores me. I do agree that poor officiating can cast a shadow on the integrity of a sport. So can poor judging. I wish you would turn your writing skills to "Skating With Celebrities." The judging is horrible, and it casts a shadow over the whole celebrity, reality show, pairs figure skating. If celebrity, reality show, pairs figure skating is not of the highest integrity, just where is our country headed? Jesus, they let Bruce Jenner stay in the competiton. He can't even walk! He has less mobility than Stone Cold Steve Austin! I am going to start believing all this stuff is fixed or even fake.

To be fair, I do like Bruce Jenner, and think his plastic surgeon is one of the best in the business, but his orthopedic surgeon is useless.

King, love the column, but the Super Bowl was Sunday. Today is Tuesday, February 7, 2006, and that means that everyone's attention should be focused on one thing: Carolina vs. Duke!!!

You're right, they do have a problem with the perception of the refs and it is a huge one. Even during the game, people weren't talking about the lackluster play of both teams or the fact that Holmgren doesn't seem to know what he's doing once he gets to the big game, they were talking about how bad the refs were and how one sided the calls seemed. I was at a party in NJ, few real fans for either side and there were three tvs in three different rooms. People in all three rooms were saying the same thing: What is wrong with these refs?

The bad call on Hasselbeck's tackle only cemented the myth, the ref's poor performance lead up to it. They need to be more decisive and they need to get rid of Instant Replay if they're making iffy calls in the theory that it can always be overturned.

This said, why won't the NFL release the entire rulebook? Why do the rules need to be so complicated in the first place? The discussion yesterday about the pilon, breaking the plane and is it a catch never would have happened if the rules were clearer in the first place. Now I know, catch rules take precidence over plane rules, but I wasn't the only one confused.

And calls like the holding call bringing back the pass to the one are a big problem. If there's holding on every play and it can go either way that easily, maybe the definition needs to be changed. Earlier in the game there was a holding call on Seattle and they had a really good shot of it for the replay. The O-Lineman was pushing the Defender when the defender slipped to the right of the O-Lineman and slid down so his facemask got jammed on the O-Lineman's bicep. To me, the Offensive player looked for all the world like he was trying to push, his hadn was nowhere on the guy, but because his arm bent and the Defensive player slumped down like he was trying to limbo under the arm, it became holding.

The rule needs to be more specific somehow or the refs end up deciding who wins on whim every game.