What a crazy superbowl! (Was it rigged?)

First off, congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals for your run to the superbowl, and for fighting back, despite the referees trying to keep you out of it.  Also, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers for winning the superbowl, and making the plays late to win.   The last play looked like a forward pass, if you remember Tom Brady against Oakland and the infamous “tuck rule”.  The play wasn’t even reviewed (not well, anyway), and the Lombardi trophy was handed to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  On the drive in the third quarter, Arizona was tagged with THREE personal foul penalties, and at least two of them (especially the roughing the passer penalty) were bogus.  Luckily for AZ, Pittsburgh could only score three points.  Also, in the fourth quarter, how the hell did Harrison not get thrown out for punching a player, even John Madden was wondering.   The “penalty” was half the distance to the goal, or about 18 inches, as Arizona had them pinned.  I know that the Steelers were called for some penalties late, but some of the penalties were virtually inconsequential, including the last penalty of the game and the Harrison penalty.  On the interception run back, did anyone not see that #56 for the Steelers was blocking in the back?  I saw it, but naturally the flag was on Arizona, giving a touchdown to the Steelers.  The referees assist the Steelers, once again, just like superbowl XL.  Could it be that Barack Obama ordered this game to have the result that it did?  I wonder.   Now two teams from the NFC West feel as if they were screwed against the Steelers. 

However, with all of that said, Arizona really screwed up on the last play of the half.  Instead of a fade route to Fitzgerald, Warner tries to throw over the middle, and right into Harrison’s lap.  At that point, you should NEVER risk an interception.  That 14 point swing was the worst case scenario.  Instead of 10-10, or 14-10, it is now 7-17.  Also, what happened to Arizona’s defense?  Roethlisberger, like so many other times escapes pressure to make a play.  Santonio Holmes played a hell of a game, especially on the last drive.  Roethlisberger may be the next Tom Brady, winning three or more superbowls.  Roethlisberger was clutch tonight.   I feel bad for Warner, as I thought he played extremely well, save for that interception and that “fumble”.

What a crappy Superbowl!

More like the SuperToiletBowl.  This has to be the worst match-up imaginable.   You have the so-called champs from 2005, the Pittsburgh Steelers.  When the refs gave them the superbowl in Detroit three years ago, people were all over the Steeler bandwagon, while Ben Roethlisburger was whining about how nobody believed in his team (funny how the Seahawks were complaining about the same thing).  As we know, that was Jerome Bettis’ last game, in his hometown of Detroit, how can you deny him a superbowl ring?  Expect the terrible towels to out in full force, and expect Roethlisberger to think that nobody believed in his team.   Arizona, I mean what the hell?  In weeks 15 and 16, when they were getting clownstomped by the Vikings and the Patriots respectively, everybody was complaining about how they shouldn’t make it.  Then they beat Matt Ryan and the Falcons, they they beat my favorite wide receiver and the Panthers, and then they beat (barely) the Eagles.   I know a lot of people will be behind the Cardinals, like I am.  How in the hell is Kurt Warner still playing?  It amazes me that he can play like an all-pro, and at times play worse than Mike Hartline.   The defense is giving up yards, as they gave up almost 500 yards today, but they are getting the takeaways (they got six against Carolina) that they need.  They have been the underdog all post-season long.  Look for them to play the disrespect card, at least 100 times.  The disrespect card, one of the more tiring cliches in the sports world today, will be used by both teams (like it has by every other team, except for the Patriots last year).  

The only interesting thing will be that the Steelers will play against their former offensive coordinator, Ken Wisenhunt, who was OC for the Steelers in the Superbowl.   A lot of offense versus a lot of defense.  If history repeats itself, a lot of defense will beat a lot of offense (think about another tiring cliche).  As much as I hate to say it, look for the Steelers to win, and for the Arizona Cardinals, to once again be disrespected.   Also, look for a boring Superbowl, I mean Pittsburgh versus Arizona?  I mean, what the hell?