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Sports & More
Daily rants and opinions...because we're THAT bored. |
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Tired of looking at this page? Go back home and look at other stuff. |
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Pittsburgh Steelers 21
Seattle Seahawks 10 |
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from Ford Field in Detroit, MI |
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Sports > Football > NFL |
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The Biggest Goddamn Review of Super Bowl XL Ever
by Spaen - Monday, February 6 |
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Super Bowl Sunday, now a national holiday that's celebrated on everybody's wall calendar, was in full swing last night. The game, or if you will, the entire presentation on ABC gave us a little bit of everything on where the NFL stands today, good and bad. It also gave us the future of things to come, and what we really need to change. Everybody's been focusing on the bad...people think that this was one of the worst Super Bowl games ever. Ummm...give me 3 REALLY good SB games off the top of your head. Thank you. This game was good enough to be more at the top than the bottom...even if it will be more known for the controversy surrounding it. Let's break this shit down! |
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The Week Before.... |
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NFL Network did a fantastic job of covering the Super Bowl this year. So many interviews, so many analysts giving their inputs, and of course...Rich Eisen. NFL Network really did make everything on ESPN seem inferior when it came to covering XL. Sure, ESPN is still the juggernaut of sports, but they may really want to think about dropping the NFL coverage period. All the EA Sports crap they have (NFL Matchup) is about as pointless as listening to edited rap music, and NFL Live is extremely boring. The only thing remotely close to decent has been Sunday NFL Countdown, as Chris Berman is just the man. Steve Young and Tom Jackson are very good as well when it comes to smart knowledge...then there's Michael Irvin. The loud-mouth Dallas receiver (aren't they all?) has a laugh that would even make a hyena's tolerable. The thing is that he's supposed to be the comedy relief in the show...at least I hope that's what they use him for. Since NFL Network is gunna show live games next year...why not have their own pregame show with the god that is Rich Eisen? |
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The Pregame Show.... |
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Can someone help me with this part? I don't watch pregame shows. After the most down-right horrible pregame show in the history of football (2 years ago from CBS), I made a vow to never watch the 10-hour pregame shows again. That's not an exaggeration either...last year FOX really did begin football coverage at like 8 A.M. I believe this year had to be the least amount, since ABC began at 1:30 P.M. central time. Hell, NFL Network began at 1 P.M., and maybe those are actually good...because of Rich Eisen. Oh well...with perfectly good college basketball on (Pitt vs G'town, Colorado vs ISU), I was happy with my own pregame show. Now that I think about it, this would be a PERFECT opportunity to start showing the Lingerie Bowl. Who doesn't want to see some raw football action with girls in underwear before the real deal? |
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The Game - 1st Half |
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OK, what asswipe said that the game started 5:30 my time? I tuned in then...they fucking kicked off already! I find out the official kickoff time was 5:22pm. Umm...thanks? I was expecting to start seeing some planes fly by with the national anthem. No no no no no...I get 2 minutes into football action already. This was the first Super Bowl that I missed the start of. Thanks.
Okay...so Seattle moved the ball pretty well. Pittsburgh really had a tough time shutting down the offense, but they stuck with their "bend but not break" policy. RB Alexander didn't have an outstanding performance, but he got some pretty good yards. 1st quarter game ball goes to Darrell Jackson, as he completed the five great passes to move the ball. This would be the very last that we would see of Darrell Jackson, he finishes with 5 passes for 50 yards. What will be most remembered about this quarter? The phantom offensive PI call on Seattle which negated a touchdown and they had to settle for a FG. Talk about momentum killer.
As we move into the second quarter, Pittsburgh starts to find some rythm, even though Big Ben hasn't performed well at all. He had the worst passer rating in the history of the Super Bowls in the first half, and that would later continue into the second half. Tony K. from PTI today did make a strong argument about the passer rating. He stated that it doesn't take into account the big plays that happen, such as the miracle 3rd and lightyears play from Big Ben where he almost went over the LOS, but still hits Hines Ward at the 2 yard line. But that's second half stuff. Towards the end of the quarter, Pittsburgh caps on the most impressive drive in the game period, and it ends on another controversy. Ben runs the ball on 3rd and Goal at the 1, and just barely scratches through the plane. The ref runs in and doesn't think he goes in, so he lifts his right arm...but oh...OH! The second arm goes up for the TD signal! Never before have I seen that, and because they call it a touchdown, there needs to be indisputable evidence to overturn it. In my honest opinion, one of the angles ABC had quite possibly showed him breaking the plane in the air, but just oh so slightly. Since that's disputable, the call stands. Good call by the refs on that, bad call to change it from spotting it on 4th down to a TD. Once again, momentum for Pittsburgh, and the downfall begins for Seattle. |
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The Halftime (Stones will roll) .... |
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Will this be the future of NFL halftime shows? I really thought that MTV did the worst job ever 2 years ago, since the music was so varied from pop to rap, and really just wasn't good. Now the NFL takes care of it. They get retired Europian oldies straight from the nursing home...surely they won't do anything bad on stage. Now that they can't even trust grandpas, give it back to more modern-day Americans please.
This halftime show was bad. Paul McCartney last year wasn't half bad, and I'm not a fan of his music. At least I could hear what Paul said. He never tried to sneak a few cuss words either, unlike Mick Jaggar. Oh, and let's play the 3 most-played songs ever from the Rolling Stones. How 'bout mixing it up guys? What about the incredible solo by Mick called "God Gave Me Everything" just to name one? Speaking of editing, I liked how an article of clothing was thrown on stage, and ABC just kinds vroomed the camera away from the stage itself. I'm sure a few tops were taken off during the performance...typcial Stones roadies. Couldn't they edit the horribly tight shirts these guys were wearing? Seriously, I don't want to see your raggidy-ass flab, Mick.
Eminem or Kid Rock would have been great candidates (possible special duo if they don't hate each other?), ESPECIALLY since the game was played in fucking Detroit Rock City. It's a 25 minute look-in to the Lingerie Bowl next year for me. Grade: D+ |
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And Now, Back to the Game... |
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After the halftime show lulling people to sleep, Willie Parker smashes right out of the gate and wakes people up with a record-setting 75-yard dash to the endzone. Obviously, the Seahawks were effected by the performance, too. Let's face it...they were in a world of hurt in this quarter, and as the Steelers threatened, the second-most unbelievable thing happened to the them in the red zone. Big Ben throws a pick, and it's returned by Seattle all the way to Ben's 20-yard line. Whoops. That brought the passer rating down again. |
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The most unlikely candidate to catch a TD for Seattle? Jerramy Stevens, and he did with an amazing pass-and-catch. Stevens was hassled all game long by Porter, as the obvious confrontation between the two during Media Week effected Stevens negatively. Possible X Factor in determinng the game? Maybe...but I'll leave that to the refs. Anyway, The game is now 14-10, and yes, in some eyes it should be tied. Towards the end of the quarter, Seattle begins at their own 3 yard line, with the Steelers obviously winning field position. With the crowd being 90% Steelers, it seemed like it would be highly impossible for the Seahawks to march down the field. But they did, and it began their best-looking drive yet. Unfortunately, a timeout made them lose their focus, and shortly after Pittsburgh intercepted it for the game-changing play to ultimately close out the Super Bowl early in the 4th. Later on in that same drive, the best play of the game happens, when Randle-El throws to Hines Ward for the 43-yard TD reception. Goodnight Seahawks. Nothing else would happen in this game. |
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The Postgame.... |
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The best thing about the whole Super Bowl event. Jerome Bettis officially announces his retirement, stating that the bus ends here. Never is there a better way to close out your career with a championship win at your hometown. There will be no MJ thing going on here. Bettis is officially done, and I think him for not pulling a Vince Young. There was no doubt that he has officially retired on that very night, and he's really done all he needed to do to prove his candidacy in the Hall of Fame. With new hotshot Willie Parker at the leading helm of RB, and the surprising power running of Big Ben, that's enough bus to last Pitt for awhile. |
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Thoughts and Reactions.... |
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Yes, if there were better teams in the Super Bowl (and yes, there were better overall teams than these two), or if New England played, we would of had a better game. But that's the beauty of the free agency era. Never will we see teams constantly coming back to the SB year after year. For fans of the 49ers and Cowboys, they certainly haven't been too happy with it. For fans of the Bills, they couldn't be any happier as they will never see their team in another SB and taste defeat.
This game was rigged. The refs wanted Pittsburgh to win...they got what they wanted. You cannot give me any evidence that shows otherwise. It would be a storybook ending to the team, and Jerome Bettis. Who didn't want to see it anyway...well...besides Seahawk fans? Sure, there's the story about Seattle finally getting there after years of problems, and what a way to end the season...but after the performance they showed in the second half, they didn't deserve the W. They still have a lot to work on be considered a quality team. I can't blame everything on the lackluster performance of the supporting cast for Matt Hasselbeck. They were obviously downridden by some of the bad calls made by the refs, and figured they won't play to their hardest because they'll get screwed out of it anyway. Chances are they were right.
Funniest moment in the game itself had to be when the camera focused on one of the players starting to what seemed to be him taking off his pants. John chimes in about why the hell he would be taking off his pants, and Al states that with the 5-second delay ABC just didn't want to risk it. Yup...that's how boring the game was. |
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And the Real MVP was.... |
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The 2nd half Pittsburgh defense. They literally shut down anything Seattle did in the first half. With the momentum Seattle had after the big pickoff return, it's hard to keep them out of the endzone. That was really the only mistake they made.
Other candidates:
- Matt Hasselbeck (really, for what he had to go through with his offense, and still gets 273 yards and a TD, he deserves it)
- Jerome Bettis
- The referees
- Commercials |
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The Bus Stops Here.... |
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Well kids, until the beginning of NFL Europe in mid-March, as well as NFL Draft coverage, this will be the last report on the NFL. However, I still have the Lingerie Bowl on TiVo, and will be giving a review on that. Yes, pictures and all :) Before you begin stiffing up, how about you relax to some of the great commercials the Super Bowl had this year here. This was the first time in a long time that the entire game had new commercials, and I thought they were overall very enjoyable. Second-best part of the whole Super Bowl experience. Commercial grade: B+ |
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Page edited by Spaen and Skinner. Anything you wanna say to them, send it to Spaen here or Skinner here. |
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