Holmgren should watch his mouth. He's not only on the NFL's competition committee, he's a past co-chair and he's always been a leading proponent of instant replay. So, he had a big hand in creating the imperfect system all the coaches play under. Perhaps he should work for change from within rather than criticising the system he is in fact largely responsible for. The fact is that if every single play were reviewed from the booth we'd STILL have controverysy, we'd just have more of it. A case in point - the interference call in the first half; You can go read ten different knowledgable columnists and half say it was interference and half say it wasn't. People act as if there's a way to reduce the controversy... there isn't. Let 'em play and live with the result.

I liked the article 'til King Kaufman off handedly suggested a college style review system might be better for the NFL. No way. Remember the Alamo Bowl? The NFL system is better if you're going to have replay. The real question is should we have replay at all. It is here to stay because of the vast amount of sports coverage on TV and the incessant second-guessing by sports reporters, but the game was better without it.

People squawking about the refs giving these to the Steelers should remember that the Seahawks were in good position to score seven of those points at the end of the first half--if not for mind-blowingly bad clock management and a needlessly hoarded timeout. And in the second half, Seattle might have tried to do a better job covering returns as well as trying to pin Pittsburgh inside the twenty-yard line rather than kicking the ball into the endzone.

If the Colts or Patriots had won it all nobody would be talking about the mediocrity of the champion, we would be hearing all-time great team for both of them. The Steelers thrashed the Colts and decisively beat the team that decisively beat the Patriots. Nuff Said!

Contradictory conclusions, I know. The Steelers, a 6th seed winning out is impressive. They also made fewer mistakes in the Super Bowl, but I think Seattle got a raw deal. On the called back touchdown, the defensive back was making all kinds of contact past the 5 yard limit. I saw both men initiate hand contact just before the catch. I really didn't see a 'push off'. It was ticky tack as was the big holding call. I also thought the penalty that brought back a good punt return was irrelevant and non consequential.

Your right, these kind of call can be made on most any play which is why when really weak penalties are called one-sidely it can be frustrating.

All that said, the missed field goals and poor clock management spelled doom for the Seahawks.

"Holding calls are pretty random. If I were a Seahawks fan I'd be steamed about that one. If I were a Steelers fan and that penalty hadn't been called, I'd have been steamed too."

Doesn't that just about sum it up: a routine play that at any moment of any game can be legal or illegal depending on the whim of the line judge? What other sport has rules that force players to adjust their play on a particular day based on the referee's fiber intake that morning? It's absurd. And as one writer mentioned, it's becoming far too annoying and stressful watching this sport when any given big play can be called back for such an infraction.

The players can't possibly follow these arcane rules and the officials can't possibly rule on them consistently. Isn't the whole point of having "rules of the game" to provide an OBJECTIVE set of criterion upon which players can fairly compete? The NFL is utterly broken, and my autumnal, neuro-chemical addiction notwithstanding, I may have to go cold turkey come next season.

Sad.

From my point of view both teams played horribly. The Seahawks have nobody to blame but themselves for not winning. Similarly the Steelers really can't take all that much credit for winning. In a game this ugly the issue wasn't going to be whether or not the refs have a hand in determining the winner, but rather which teams's win was going to be tainted by bad officiating. Of course it's not like there will be an asterisk next to the final score so all this will be promptly forgotten in a week or so.

Well if you had actually bothered to read my post, you would see that the point isn't that the Steeler's weren't the best team, but that there are no good teams-- that parity has created a league of mediocrity. I don't suggest that there is any team more deserving than the Steelers, I suggest that there isn't any team deserving, period.

(Despite what everyone seems to be saying, being a sixth seed isn't a mark of pride. I don't know why anyone is harping on that line.)

I hope not: I now have this vision in my head of dozens of zebra's wandering the football field, maybe one assigned to each individual player, and a referee assigned to each referee (you know, for accuracy and stuff). Dissing the poor old ref has become a worldwide sporting culture. You've seen footage of soccer refs having to run for their lives in some parts of the world. I hope it doesnt come to that in football (excluding Philly: I've seen Eagles fans! :)). I was rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday, and even I could see they were shooting gigantic holes in their feet, over and over again. If you want to blame anyone, blame Ben Roethlisberger! Damn him and his miracle plays . . . . he is less of a quarterback, more Bill Cowher's lucky rabbit foot. He gives the appearance frequently of being a bumbling oaf, but is now a bumbling oaf clutching the Superbowl trophy. Gives hope to all of us bumbling oafs!!

If The Steelers had more penalties called on them and lost I'd be bugged about the officiating, but I would NOT be going on about it for three days and blaming the loss on the officials. Certainly not when I had multiple blown opportunities and blatant ineptitude on several possessions as the Seahawks did. Champions find a way to win despite the officiating. Perhaps you saw the Steelers/Colts game? Joey Porter has a big mouth and he always will. If the Steelers were on the other side of this equation and Porter was whining Bill Cowher would say the same thing he said about him after he complained about the refs after the Colts game... "He's an idiot."