Chuck! I think you are on to something. There must have been a conspiracy.
The Seattle Seabirds must have gone to the mat to help the Steelers win. I
wonder how much the payoff was.
Jim
wrote in message
oups.com...

bb wrote:
On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 08:04:20 -0500, thunder
wrote:

Small market teams are bad for leagues.

Disregarding the game, I was curious. I don't think Seattle qualifies as
a "small market" anymore. In metro-area population, it ranks 13
nationally.


I don't care enough to verify my opinion with facts, but I think the
difference is in small market and small market for the NFL. I'd think
as far as NLF paraphernalia goes, Steelers crap outsells Seahawks crap
10 to 1. The average Neanderthal, Joe Six-pack sports fan relates
much more to a gritty, dirty play team like the Steelers. What self
respecting redneck would support a bunch of sweater wearing, latté
sipping, book reading, free thinkers like them Seattle folks, whoever
their namby pamby team is. Hey Bubba, you really gonna wear that
Seahogs jersey to the NASCAR club? snicker.

I think those better known folks in this group who took sides in the
contest pretty well prove my point.

bb

The Super Bowl has to sustain football fever for about 6 months until
the preseason games get underway.

Suppose you were writing the script for the event. You have two
choices:

1) One of the richest billionaires in the world accepts the Vince
Lombardi trophy on behalf of a city that 90% of the folks in the US
have never visited and many may only be half certain where it is
located. The physical location of the nearest competing team is about
700 miles away in the SF Bay area and there is no pro football at all
in three surrounding states and the adjoining Canadian province. There
are no blood feud rivalries with any teams that might get some help
selling out their stadiums when Seattle comes to town (You may as well
just send the trophy up on the Space Shuttle and bring it back in a
year for all the strategic good it would do the NFL.)

2) A little old guy whose family has owned the Steelers since the
invention of the pig, let alone the practice of making footballs from
pigskin, accepts the trophy and in the twilight years of his service to
the sport lays claim to being only the third team to win five Super
Bowl championships. Nobody likes billionaires, everybody likes a little
ol' grandpa figure.
Pittsburgh is within a few hours drive of any number of other football
cities, and while Seattle has so many civic assets and advantages that
an NFL team is just frosting on the cake, what the heck would you do in
Pittsburgh on a winter Sunday except root for the local football team?

A Steeler's win made much better television.

After watching the refs subtract a touchdown from Seattle and add one
for the Steelers yesterday, (and would have declared a phony "fumble"
if Holmgren didn't demand a relook at compelling video evidence to the
contrary) it occured to me why so many guys in the WWF are used up
players from the NFL.

The Steelers definitely won- but next year, I do think it would be
helpful if the referees were prohibited from betting on the game. :-)

thunder wrote:
On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 20:06:22 -0800, jps wrote:


Small market teams are bad for leagues.

Disregarding the game, I was curious. I don't think Seattle qualifies as
a "small market" anymore. In metro-area population, it ranks 13
nationally.

http://www.demographia.com/db-usmet2000.htm

As a city, 23.

http://www.demographia.com/db-uscity98.htm


Large and small market is defined not only by the population, but also
by the distance (physical and cultural) from NYC. Did you know that
Caracas, Venezuela and New York City are geographically closer than are
Seattle and NYC? (By a couple of hundred miles, IIRC).

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 5 Feb 2006 19:10:21 -0800, jps wrote:

In article ,
says...
On Sun, 5 Feb 2006 20:32:53 -0500, "RCE" wrote:


Congrats, Tom.

it ain't over until its over.

although the good father had a couple of choice words on the
telephone.

hell have to see his confessor tomorrow. :)

and hes gonna owe me dinner. :)

Refs and the league got the outcome they wanted. Two insane calls to
take touchdowns away from Seattle.

The first in the end zone was a ticky tacky call, after the defensive
man had committed interference that wasn't called. The second play for
the reception on the 1 yard line by Jeremy Stevens called back on a
hold, for which there was no evidence on the replay.

I won't even dispute the called touchdown for the Steelers 'cause it
looked like the ball could have crossed the plane before quarterback was
tackled. The ref who made the call first indicated the ball was down
short and then changed his mind. Pretty dicey.

Tainted win for Steelers. Seattle gets purposely shafted by the refs.
Evidently there's just not enough money in a Seattle win.

come on - take it like a man you loser. :)

Wattayouexpect. Northwet pansy.

Don White wrote:
wrote:
snip..
The physical location of the nearest competing team is about
700 miles away in the SF Bay area and there is no pro football at all
in three surrounding states and the adjoining Canadian province.
snip


** I'm not a fan of pro football...but fans of the BC Lions may argue
with your above statement.
http://www.bclions.com/ **

Interesting web site. Just took a look, and it appears that several of
the players are not certain whether they will "turn out" for hockey or
football next year.

Like a lot of sports, (including minor league baseball), the games at
the lower levels are often more enjoyable than the "big league"
productions and fewer of the players need a wheelbarrow to haul around
either their egos or their rolls of cash. I'm sure the Lions games are
very enertaining. I guess I should have said "NFL" football, rather
than "pro" football.

JIMinFL wrote:
Chuck! I think you are on to something. There must have been a conspiracy.
The Seattle Seabirds must have gone to the mat to help the Steelers win. I
wonder how much the payoff was.


This morning's press is not kind to the referees, and certainly not
just from Seattle.

Michael Wilbon, Washington Post, wrote:

Ben Roethlisberger's third-down dive into the end zone simply was not a
touchdown. Because less than two minutes remained, the call was
reviewed in the booth. And everybody in the stadium plus everybody at
home culd see, clear and conclusively, that Big Ben didn't get the ball
across the goal line. It wasn't a touchdown, plain and simple. Yet the
call stood and the Steelers had a touchdown.

Another penalty, assessed to the Seahawks early in the fourth quarter,
which negated a gain to the 1, also never happened. A penalty against
Hasselbeck for blocking below the waist when, in fact, he was trying to
tackly the interceptor, was also erroneous. It would be irresponsible
to say the officials were intentionally cheating Seattle, but the bad
calls killed the Seahawks.

**

Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star, wrote:

The inevitable finally happened. A group of middle-aged executives
trying to keep pace with a group of highly trained 20-something
athletes destroyed America's sports holiday.

Pittsburgh's one-for-the-thumb Super Bowl will be remembered as the
game when physically overmateched referees and heads-buried NFL
executives flipped non-Steelers fans an XL middle finger.

**

Down your way, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wrote:

Any other conclusion and it would have been like "It's a Wonderful
Life" ending with Beorge Bailey actually jumping off the bridge and
drowning.

We wanted the Pittsburgh Steelers holding up that trophy. We needed the
Pittsburgh Steelers holding up that trophy.

If the Seattle Seahawks had won, it would have been the stuff of dull
documentaries. The Steelers winning was the stuff of fantastic
fairytales.

**

And then finally from Bob Simisk at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (who
naturally needs to be pretty careful with his choice of words):

This one wasn't the splendid domination the Steelers had shown in three
previous playoff games. This one, truth be known, was a bit
ugly.......By winning in such a fashion, the Steelers proved just how
good they are. It's takes a special team to win when it doesn't have
its "A" game.

***


Bob Simisk may be on to something. When the Steelers brought their "B"
game and a crew of less than objective referees, it was more than
Seattle could overcome with a "B" game of its own. Had Seattle played
up to its recent standards, even the lousy calls would not have
prevented the Seahawks from rolling over the "B" game of the Steelers.

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:55:38 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:


On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 14:05:54 GMT, bb wrote:

I think those better known folks in this group who took sides in the
contest pretty well prove my point.

excuse me?

Nice fit on that shoe, fella.

bb

wrote:
JIMinFL wrote:
Chuck! I think you are on to something. There must have been a conspiracy.
The Seattle Seabirds must have gone to the mat to help the Steelers win. I
wonder how much the payoff was.


This morning's press is not kind to the referees, and certainly not
just from Seattle.

Michael Wilbon, Washington Post, wrote:

Ben Roethlisberger's third-down dive into the end zone simply was not a
touchdown. Because less than two minutes remained, the call was
reviewed in the booth. And everybody in the stadium plus everybody at
home culd see, clear and conclusively, that Big Ben didn't get the ball
across the goal line. It wasn't a touchdown, plain and simple. Yet the
call stood and the Steelers had a touchdown.

Another penalty, assessed to the Seahawks early in the fourth quarter,
which negated a gain to the 1, also never happened. A penalty against
Hasselbeck for blocking below the waist when, in fact, he was trying to
tackly the interceptor, was also erroneous. It would be irresponsible
to say the officials were intentionally cheating Seattle, but the bad
calls killed the Seahawks.

**

Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star, wrote:

The inevitable finally happened. A group of middle-aged executives
trying to keep pace with a group of highly trained 20-something
athletes destroyed America's sports holiday.

Pittsburgh's one-for-the-thumb Super Bowl will be remembered as the
game when physically overmateched referees and heads-buried NFL
executives flipped non-Steelers fans an XL middle finger.

**

Down your way, Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wrote:

Any other conclusion and it would have been like "It's a Wonderful
Life" ending with Beorge Bailey actually jumping off the bridge and
drowning.

We wanted the Pittsburgh Steelers holding up that trophy. We needed the
Pittsburgh Steelers holding up that trophy.

If the Seattle Seahawks had won, it would have been the stuff of dull
documentaries. The Steelers winning was the stuff of fantastic
fairytales.

**

And then finally from Bob Simisk at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (who
naturally needs to be pretty careful with his choice of words):

This one wasn't the splendid domination the Steelers had shown in three
previous playoff games. This one, truth be known, was a bit
ugly.......By winning in such a fashion, the Steelers proved just how
good they are. It's takes a special team to win when it doesn't have
its "A" game.

***


Bob Simisk may be on to something. When the Steelers brought their "B"
game and a crew of less than objective referees, it was more than
Seattle could overcome with a "B" game of its own. Had Seattle played
up to its recent standards, even the lousy calls would not have
prevented the Seahawks from rolling over the "B" game of the Steelers.

Chuck,
I agree that the Seahawks were robbed, I don't agree that their was a
conspiracy.

--
Reggie
************************************************** *************
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

************************************************** *************

Reggie Smithers wrote:
Chuck,
I agree that the Seahawks were robbed, I don't agree that their was a
conspiracy.


Conspiracy would be an overstatement.

The Seahawks had a good chance to win this thing, because Pittsburgh
was so lame.
Did the Steelers get more than one or two first downs in the entire
first half?

If Seattle had palyed up to its potential, it could have prevailed
against the team the Steelers put on the field yesterday, obviously
biased referees or not. Seattle did not.

If both teams had brought their best stuff (and neither did), it would
have been interesting to see whether the Seahawks could beat a team
with a few extra men on the field. :-)

wrote in message
oups.com...

Reggie Smithers wrote:
Chuck,
I agree that the Seahawks were robbed, I don't agree that their was a
conspiracy.


Conspiracy would be an overstatement.

The Seahawks had a good chance to win this thing, because Pittsburgh
was so lame.
Did the Steelers get more than one or two first downs in the entire
first half?

If Seattle had palyed up to its potential, it could have prevailed
against the team the Steelers put on the field yesterday, obviously
biased referees or not. Seattle did not.

If both teams had brought their best stuff (and neither did), it would
have been interesting to see whether the Seahawks could beat a team
with a few extra men on the field. :-)

What the hell was with the Seahawks game management in the last two minutes
of each half? They looked utterly confused

P. Fritz wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Reggie Smithers wrote:
Chuck,
I agree that the Seahawks were robbed, I don't agree that their was a
conspiracy.

Conspiracy would be an overstatement.

The Seahawks had a good chance to win this thing, because Pittsburgh
was so lame.
Did the Steelers get more than one or two first downs in the entire
first half?

If Seattle had palyed up to its potential, it could have prevailed
against the team the Steelers put on the field yesterday, obviously
biased referees or not. Seattle did not.

If both teams had brought their best stuff (and neither did), it would
have been interesting to see whether the Seahawks could beat a team
with a few extra men on the field. :-)

What the hell was with the Seahawks game management in the last two minutes
of each half? They looked utterly confused




That might have been the most f/u 2 min drill I have ever seen.

--
Reggie
************************************************** *************
That's my story and I am sticking to it.

************************************************** *************