Super Bowl XL Observations

This year’s Super Bowl followed in suit to many previous “big games.” The game can be summed up in two short words—ho-hum—once again adding another reason why I love watching college football so much more than the NFL. Take this year’s Rose Bowl, a competitive, classic clash of titans fighting it out to the last second, opposed to every Super Bowl that I can remember, a non-competitive game with gratuitous hype where the commercials are much more entertaining than the actual event itself. This year’s Super Bowl featured two teams that played to a mediocre level, at best, but for Seattle, they faced three opponents, not just one: Pittsburg, the Steeler fans, and most damaging, the refs.

I can’t ever remember blaming the outcome of a game on referee’s bad calls, but yesterday’s ref blunders were not just obvious, they hurt when it mattered most. A “push off” which led to a negated Seattle touchdown was non-existent, a ticky-tacky holding call forced yet another Seattle touchdown (actually the pass was caught on the 1-yard-line) to be called back. The Steelers were gifted a touchdown on a play when Big Ben never broke the plane of the end-zone. And finally, a 15-yard “low block” call on Hasselback’s interception, even though Hasselback’s “low block” is what made the tackle on the ball carrier, put Pittsburg close to midfield, setting them up for their next touchdown. Granted, Seattle, having missed two field goals and dropped several easy passes, didn’t play well enough to earn it, neither did Pittsburg, and that’s what left me frustrated.

Even though it’s the same old story every year in the Super Bowl, for some reason, I still keep watching hoping for a game similar in quality to the college bowl games. At least the commercials were entertaining.