Mr_Slice

The latest poll on ESPN: "Do you think officiating mistakes affected the outcome of Superbowl XL?" Yes - 62% No - 38% Somehow, I doubt the 62% of 80,000+ votes all came from Seattle. The whole world saw a poorly officated game yesterday and the Seahawks can at least hold their heads high knowing that they were, at a minimum , the equals of the champs. You're right, I overreacted. But I wasn't the only one that thought this game could have been much closer even with the Seahawks mistakes. Congrats on the title. I don't remember when the last one was, but I'm guessing this is the first you've been old enough to enjoy. I hope one day I'll be able to do the same. If it was anything like what I felt when the Razorbacks won a college basketball National Championship, nothing will be able to bring you down.

Erik, I've lived in Seattle a total of five years. My wife is from here and this is now where we've decided will be our home for as long as the Navy lets us stay here and when we retire. I never had any connection to Philly other than liking some players. I do have that connection now to Seattle, so back-off. You're in the minority on this one, man. 59% of the country thinks that officiating mistakes changed the outcome of game. And last night 39% said that poor officiating was the thing they'd remember most about this Super Bowl. I'm not the only one who KNOWS the Seahawks got screwed. But not ONCE did I say that they would have won. I wanted a fair game. A game where the refs didn't wait to see what the Pittsburgh DB wanted them to do before throwing a flag. We didn't get that, Erik.

Thanks for clearing up the pylon rule. I wasn't aware that both feet had to be in before hitting the pylong for it to count. Ben's TD was questionable. There was not conclusive evidence either way, which is why I can't be upset that they didn't overturn it. I see it bugs you that I'm calling out the East Coast bias. Well, maybe it's a little hard to swallow the truth. The entire Super Bowl event was about Pittsburgh with Seattle being a sideshow. From day one the media stories were slanted and that kept happening all the way through the officiating and advertising. Do you know how many of those black and white Lombardi Trophy ads they showed? They showed Pittsburgh players at a rate of 3:1! If you don't believe East Coast bias exists, you're looking at things through rose-colored glasses.

No, there were TWO touchdowns called back, and even the commentators said that the catch by Jackson in the back of the end zone should have been a TD. The other was when Jackson's left foot hit inbounds and his right foot hit the pylon. If you hit the pylon it's a TD, right? I'm not arguing Ben's QB dive for a TD. That was super-close and at least they reviewed it. But they didn't review the one I mentioned above where they called D-Jack out of bounds. And calling a penalty on Hasselbeck for making a tackle!? The entire game was full of bad calls. Holding calls were made when there wasn't holding and Pittsburgh held a few times that wasn't called. It was a playoff long epidemic but tonight was blatant. This is the Super Bowl. You don't make the wrong calls on TDs like they did. The officiating took away the opportunity for a fair game to be played, that's all I'm angry about. Pittsburgh earned their 21 points, but Seattle earned the other 14 they should have had, too. And this game would have been CLOSE had the officiating been honest and fair. Then we would have known who the better team was and not just who the team was that came from a city on the East Coast.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the NFL would so blatantly rig a game. East Coast bias is one thing but this entire Super Bowl was another. Two weeks of Pittsburgh this and Pittsburgh that, then hours of pre-game talking about Pittsburgh and then one horrible call after another. The zebras are the ones who should have won this game. All I wanted was a FAIR game and we couldn't even get that much. Makes me want to never watch another football game. As for Pittsburgh, they deserve to be congratulated. I'm not saying Seattle would have won, but I damn well know that without taking TDs away from them it would have been a hell of a lot closer. Hope you guys enjoy the spoils and chip in some change for those big paychecks the refs got.

These are my two favorite golfers so I would have preferred to vote for a tie. :)

This was discussed a lot by the announcers during the Mercedes Championships. The way they put it, Michael was trying to give the finger to the PGA Tour. He wants to do what he wants to do and suffer no consequences for not following the rules of the Tour. Now, I don't necessarily agree with the PGA Tour rules, but Campbell knew what he was doing. If he does indeed want to be a "worldwide" player then that's fine, but many (Els, Goosen, etc.) have done the same thing and managed to keep their cards without ever having a problem. I personally don't like Campbell. Didn't like him winning the U.S. Open and I think he comes off as an arrogant "winning a major went to my head" kind of guy. And I really hate that same stinking symbol that is always on the back of his shirts.

Well, the bonus point tournaments really can carry you. I'm in 5th place overall and skipped one entire week and only managed 30-something points in the other. The two bonus point weeks my team did great, though.

True. And you were right. That was a close game and I think this one will be close, as well. I also adopted ALL Seattle teams when moving back here, since I now know this is going to be my home for most of the remainder of my life, so for the record I suffered through the Mariners season faithfully. Just clarifying my non-bandwagon status. :) That's fine and dandy, but this isn't college football. You can't choose your schedule in the NFL. They played the schedule they had and they dominated it, then they beat Washington despite playing a bad game and not having the NFL MVP and destroyed a Carolina "road warrior" team that nearly every "expert" was picking to win. They've stepped up to every challenge so why wouldn't they step up to Pittsburgh? That's my question. I will be reasonable. Pittsburgh is playing outstanding right now. It will be a super-tough game no matter what, but I have no doubts that Seattle can step up and do what it takes to win the game. I just get so tired of hearing about how easy their schedule was when that is completely out of their control, and the numerous other excuses of why they beat another team without just admitting that they played better on both sides of the ball. I honestly can't argue.

It's amazing to me that the national media and general population are still giving NO respect to Seattle. Last night the polls were showing about a 65-70% favoring for Pittsburgh, and I got into work this morning and had to listen to eight-hundred excuses about how Carolina would have won if they had a running game. I can't help but be frustrated that no one can just accept and respect that the Seahawks have played the schedule given to them and beaten all comers. Last night was total domination. The game against Pitt will be a fun one for sure. I say it's pretty evenly matched and both sides are playing absolutely terrific football right now. I honestly would call this a Pick'em. Here's hoping that the Hawks keep it up and Roethlisberger comes back down to Earth.

You also know a couple of guys in Washington who are absolutely giddy right now (and praying that the next 3 quarters are more of the same). Congrats to the Steelers! Edit: SUPER BOWL HERE WE COME!

I changed my foursome on Monday evening based on the golfers that ESPN said would be playing. I did forget that the tournament started today, though, and now I have four golfers selected whom none of are actually playing. Guess I'll be dropping to the bottom of the group.

Ditto. I was screaming all day Thursday and Friday about that pathetic coverage. Michelle Wie, in dead last place, and I have to watch every single shot she takes. Not once did I see an Adam Scott shot. Totally unacceptable to me. I don't care if she is the media darling or not, it's a golf tournament... it's a competitive, professional sports event and they made it into a paparazzi parade.

I read the article, too, and planned to keep my eye on him. Apparently distance does mean something, since Mr. Watson took 4th place to himself in his first PGA Tour event. Considering the field, I think he more than impressed.

He looked good all week. Well, his game looked good. He is actually looking pretty chunky.

Hahaha. I knew you wouldn't count the chickens before the eggs hatched. Boy oh boy, what a game! Great job by that Steelers pass rush. It's definitely true, if you hit Peyton in the mouth you can beat him. Carolina @ Seattle Pittsburgh @ Denver How many people predicted that foursome this pre-season?

It may still be early, but somewhere, Erik is absolutely giddy right now watching this Steelers/Colts game.

He sure looks like he'll be alright. He was the #1 cheerleader this afternoon! The playoff monkey is off of their backs now. Two games left. Get 'er done, boys!

Give me Paula Creamer anyday. :)

+5 through 6 holes at the Sony Open. Yeah, she sure deserves to be there.

That's the kind of comments that make me lose respect for a guy. So it's only golf if you can shoot under par? Well, I shoot near 100 everytime I go out and I have a blast. What a douchebag.

I give Appleby a ton of credit for his performance this week. That course was nasty. With the faster greens and the wind, it was wreaking havoc. I love it when the course actually challenges the players, though.

Hahaha. I should end up tied for first in the group. This was a tough tournament to have double points on. Usually the scores would be much higher, but the guys who played bad played really bad and the ones at the top had very little turnover during the four rounds. Good stuff. Good start to the season. Can't wait for next week. Anybody picking Michelle "I can't even win on the LPGA Tour yet I somehow get to play on the PGA Tour" Wie?

The weather held up enough today that I was able to finally get that first round in eight months played. It sure was an adventure, though. The course was nasty and that contributed to my final score quite a bit. It's a Par 68 course and I shot an 81. Looking back, I didn't do too bad, but during the round I felt like crap. I did record two birdies on the day. I'm proud of that. Things I noticed: - The first thing to go after an eight-month layoff is your driver. I couldn't hit the ball straight to save my life. When I did hit it straight, I couldn't hit it far AND straight. I got better as I went, but it took some time. - My best club by far is my PW. I made a bunch of up and downs for par and the two for birdie. I would have had more birdie opportunities, but this course has no par 5's. I don't like that and will probably find another course to play on the next time I go. - I need a partner. Golfing alone sucks. People either try to rush you ahead of them even when you tell them you're happy to play along behind and take your time, or they make you feel like you're playing to slowly and rush up on you, then give you sarcastic remarks and rude looks when you offer for them to pass so that you can take your time. My round only took me 3 hours yet I still had to deal with both of these situations. - I'm getting better with my irons. I used to be able to hit 3-wood and 5-wood off the fairway no matter how far to the green, but now I'm using my irons and getting better results. They aren't getting on the green much, but they're becoming more accurate and on a line. I can't wait to play again. Who knows when the weather will let that happen, though. Still, I had a blast overall and will not be waiting another eight months for sure.

Oh, boy. The Redskins are gonna get destroyed if they play offense like that next weekend when they come up here to the Emerald City. Muah ha ha!!!