Empire 8

[gobombers15]

After reading a bunch of Superbowl columns and seeing the posts here, I'm in the minority, I guess. I don't think the officiating was that atrocious, really. I'm certain that it didn't really have an effect on the game. I'll say this, if these two teams played 10 times on a neutral field, Pittsburgh would win 7 or 8 times. The better team won is all I'm saying.

1) The interference call on Darrell Jackson. Was it a soft call? Probably. Did he push off? Yes. Is it illegal to push off on a defender in order to gain an advantage, which Jackson undoubtedly did on that play? Of course. Would people even be bringing this up if it were Week 8 of the regular season? No chance. Do some receivers get away with a lot worse than that (TO, Chad Johnson, etc)? Definitely! But you can't use that as a justification. Can you imagine going into court and telling the judge that you were speeding but you shouldn't have got a ticket because other cars were speeding too but they didn't get caught? Good luck with that one.

I can't stand to hear people say "you can't call that in the Superbowl!" Sure you can and the ref did. The rules are the rules whether it's the championship game or a regular season game; whether there's five minutes left in the 1st half or two seconds left in the game. Once, when I was refereeing a soccer game, I nearly incited a riot when I called a penalty kick with 7 seconds left in a tie game(the championship game of a tournament, no less). But I had no problem with it because the rule was broken and it was the right call. I have absolutely no problem with that pass interference.

2) The holding call negating the completion down to the Steelers' 2-yard line. I didn't really see the holding the first time I watched it. However, my roommate was watching it again this morning and when the defensive end beat the tackle around the end and then, ever so slightly, the tackle hooked his right arm for a second(couldn't see it on the replay because it was obstructed, but you could see it during the play) and quickly let him go.

If you get visibly beat and do something like that, it's gonna get called. Period. Again, a soft call but ultimately the right one.

3) I'm not sure about that call against Hasselbeck on the INT return. From my understanding, the refs thought he was going low on the blocker right in front of the returner, which is illegal. I don't really think that's what Hasselbeck was doing, but I don't think the call really mattered in the grand scheme. The Steelers would have still called the trick play and it still probably would have gone for a TD. A missed call? Yes. An important one? No, not really.

I don't want to seem like a proponent for refs--I'm not-- but I thought they were pretty average in the Superbowl. You can argue all you want about Big Ben's TD but the ref interpreted the rule correctly, as there was no "conclusive" video evidence to overturn it. Obviously some refs overturn things when it isn't conclusive but you can't take the exceptions and make them the rule.

On to basketball. Big Tuesday night of hoops coming at us:

Utica at Oswego
RIT at Naz
Fisher at Alfred

Alfred certainly has the talent level and depth to play with Fisher if they're firing on all cylinders. We'll see if the Saxons can stay close in spite of their terrible coach. I like Fisher in a closer game than everyone expects, 74-69. This may have "letdown game" written all over it.

RIT at Naz may be the most intriguing game of the night now that we know both Oswego and Utica have no shots at an at-large big. These two teams have played two very close games, already. An RIT win would virtually guarantee them a spot in the E8 tourney and Naz would probably have put the final nail in its own coffin. If Naz wins, the last two weeks of league play are going to get very interesting with four teams competing for 3 spots; one of course being the right to play Fisher in the 1st round, not good. This will obviously be a pretty high-scoring game. I like RIT, 86-83 in a nailbiter.

Utica at Oswego: Great, two teams that are clearly a distant second in their conference. It's like watching two good teams play in the consolation game of a tournament. Sure, it's interesting to see who will win, but does it really matter? Not really. Oswego wins, 76-69.

[fisheralum91]

Oswego vs UC is like watching the NIT!

[dewcrew88]

Oswego vs UC is like watching the NIT!

The NIT!!! That's $%&#^!!! 

[fisheralum91]

Me thinks I hit a nerve.
At least I didn't say preaseason NIT.

[rjcarter8]

I also thought Rothlisberger's TD dive was not a touchdown. Sure his head crossed the plane of the end zone,  but the ball did not go across until he was already on the ground.  Not sure how the replay crew missed that one.

And for those who say it wouldn't have mattered because the Steelers won by 11, a Seattle TD on the offensive pass interference and no TD for the Steelers on the dive play would have been a 14-point swing. Not to mention the fact that teams play differently depending on the score. Had Seattle had the lead they surely would have run the ball a bit more.

Anyway, it's all over, the Steelers won, and we could be talking about what-ifs forever. I was just adding my food for thought.

Back to hoops -- No surprise that Hartwick got blasted against Fisher, but i thought they might have better luck against the Saxons. As for the payers mentioned above, I believe Simoneshi is gone, and Brown and Dills have been absent for a few games. What's the word MadHawk?

It also seems like things are shaking out a bit in the E8, it will be interesting to see how the next couple weeks play out.

[fisheralum03]

when do the Regional rankings come out? Is it around next week??

[bamm]

Let me preface this by saying I'm an Eagles fan.  I didn't bet on the Seahawks, so I had no vested interest in seeing them win other than I feel it would have been fun to see Jerome Bettis cry.

GB15 - I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you on pretty much every point you made about the SB officiating.  You said "I'm certain that it didn't really have an effect on the game",  but then admit that the call on Jackson (offensive pass interference) was "soft" -- code for "I wouldn't have called that."  It wasn't just soft, it was wrong.  Jackson's arm was outstreched and touching the DB, but there is consensus that it didn't warrant a call.  Anytime a bad call takes four points off the board in a close game it affects the game.

The bogus holding call on Locklear only likely took points off the board, as it would have put them on the 1.  I say it was bogus because I watched the replays several times last night and today and that's the conclusion I drew, as did many, many others.  Furthermore, when the play started live I said "that's offsides" as the man who drew the holding call appeared to break early on the snap.  The Seattle offensive lineman were saying the same thing after the game.

I agree that the call on Hasselbeck for the chop block is most likely irrelevant to the outcome, but it was just another highly questionable decision against the Hawks.

The replays on Big Ben's TD were inconclusive and I don't have a problem with the way he ruled there.  Anyone who says different isn't being honest with themselves.  

Finally, I disagree that Pittsburgh was the better team, decisively.  How did you draw that conclusion?  What statistical categories did they dominate?  Who exactly played well for them?

In my mind Seattle's mistakes (drops, INTs) and bad decisions by the refs had far more to do with the outcome of that game than the Steelers did.

[tigerfan2]

And GB15, don't try and tell anyone for a second that if it was the Giants, and not the Seahawks getting those calls against them, you wouldn't be losing your mind right now.

[fisheralum91]

Weren't we talking about this a few weeks ago when it was the STEELERS that were crying foul because it was the NFL that wanted the Colts to win?

[bamm]

Well, yeah.  Again, I'm not saying the referees "had it in" for the Hawks.  My point is they were bad, and their badness affected the outcome of the game.

Funny thing about the Steelers/Colts game.  Before that game Joey Porter whined about the Colts not being "man enough" to just lineup and play smashmouth football.  He said they had to audible all the time, use trick plays, and make it a "thinking game."  Does this mean he's mad at his teammates now for the reverse-pass TD to Hines Ward?  Either way, I love Porter and his underdeveloped brain.

[fisheralum91]

Good point!!
The only people who have gadget plays are the ones with no game plan or talent!?

[gobombers15]

Hey now, Fisheralum, SJF's football team runs a gimmick offense and throws the bubble screen about 20 times a game.

TF2, I probably would be upset with some of those calls, much the same way you were those two weeks in a row when your Skins got jobbed by the officials.

Bamm, I think Pittsburgh is the better team. They played about as poorly as they could play, and still took it. I think Seattle is an above average team who came into an easy schedule and fortunate circumstances. To be honest, I'm not sure if they'd make the playoffs if they were in the AFC West like they used to be.

If it weren't for the fact that they play in by far the worst division in football, I'd be 100% sure that they're not going to make the playoffs next year. Luckily for them, they have 6 games a year against the Rams/Cards/Niners.

Bamm, I'll be going(being forced) to go see the Eagles game when they're at the Superdome next season. I'm not excited about that.

[dewcrew88]

Me thinks I hit a nerve.
At least I didn't say preaseason NIT.

Not really... i guess it would be nice to have NIT champion on your resume lol.

[bamm]

GB15 - That breaks my heart.  I'm guessing you're going to have to deal with the glow on your other half's face after they destroy the hapless Saints, too.  Hey, it could be worse, you could have to witness them take out the G-Men 

Your boy Andruskewiecz (did I spell that right?) scored the decisive bucket on Saturday, by the way.  A nice turnaround jumper from the foul line that gave them the lead for good.

[gobombers15]

I don't know, the Saints could be decent next year. Nobody can really tell how good this team is because it's impossible to get a read off them this season because of all that happened. Also, it's tough to win when you have the stupidest QB in the entire NFL. I honestly think if they draft Leinart, they could be a playoff team the year after next.

However, we ARE talking about the Saints here. They will inevitably do something very stupid. I've already heard talks down here that the Saints may trade the #2 pick. The rumor that keeps flying around is they'd trade the #2 pick to the Jets (who would take Bush if he's available and if he isn't they'd take Leinart) for the Jets' #4 overall pick, a 2nd rounder this year, a 4th rounder this year, and a 3rd rounder next year. Then the Saints would take Jay Cutler (QB-Vandy). I almost threw up in my mouth when i read that. They NEED to take Leinart, he's a sure-fire pick.