Instant Replay Super Bowl XL...

Finally, one for the thumb...


A quick SB XL post with some random, knee-jerk thoughts to get these things off of my mind before I get back to work on the soccer publication. Will be on deadline tomorrow...

1) Just noticed Paulie's play-by-play blog of the 2nd half. Prescient analysis, as could be expected from our gridiron historian. Maybe the best thing about the game tonight.

2) Now that we have ranked all of the previous SBs, where does this one go? My first thought was in the third tier, between 21-25, but upon further review, I might bump it up to the lower portion of the 2nd tier. In fact, it reminded me a lot of Eagles-Patriots last season, though perhaps even more exasperating for the Seahawks. Though it matters little, Seattle looked the better team much of this night, and had more business winning this game than almost any Super Bowl loser I can remember. I really thought for much of the game that Seattle would win, especially after Herndon's pick turned the game on its ear for a while. It was a compelling game deep into the 4th Q, there were numerous big plays, so I might be more inclined to put it on par with Dallas-Pittsburgh SB XXX, ten years ago.

3) The difference in natural leadership was evident between Hasselbeck and Big Ben. Though Hasselbeck is good, he is basically a manufactured QB, you can tell that his athletic life has probably been programmed by a series of coaches since boyhood. He has flourished lately in the NFL basically because of Holmgren's astute tutelage. Put him in Arizona the past few years, and he'd look like Josh McCown. Tonight, however, on the biggest stage, his game management skills were found lacking, with poor clock management at the end of both halves, poor pass selection in crucial times of the game, and generally poor decision making in the clutch.

By comparison, Roethlisberger, who did not have his best game, still made plays when they counted, and was able to overcome one egregious error (the Herndon interception). You had a sense that Big Ben was likely to make the game-deciding plays in this one, and that Hasselbeck's stats would be empty at the end. Big Ben is a natural leader, his play is instinctive, which I'd bet was honed in countless days as a youth, playing football in the street or in the park with all of his friends, rather than under the guiding eye of a coach.

It reminded me of what some soccer in-the-know people have told me about the general difference between American soccer players and those from South America. Brilliance is never taught, it is a gift first honed at the grass roots level, when kids play after school amongst themselves, in a street or nearby park. The next soccer genius, in the Pele or Maradona mold, they tell me, is more likely to come from South America or even Africa, where kids learn the essence of the game from playing it themselves. Coaching comes later, honing and refining. In American soccer, coaching comes first. In American hoops, it is different, however, as kids play hoops here in the street and playgrounds and develop those instincts for the game in an unstructured environment, just as it is with soccer many places elsewhere in the world. Then comes the coaching. This is a very generalized example (and has gotten me away from SB XL), but the most-brilliant basketballers usually come from the USA, just like the soccer geniuses have come from South America. I believe there is some correlation in there between Hasselbeck and Roethlisberger.

4) Give the Steelers credit for being resourceful enough to capitalize. But this was one of the worst, one-way officiated games I can recall, and especially being in the Super Bowl. I am no football-watching novice, either, and I'd rank the officiating in this one with some of the WAC games I've seen over the years from Honolulu, where Hawaii routinely gets some of the darnedest calls you'd ever imagine.

The Men of Steel were basically penalty-less after their first series, when they had those two false starts. Seattle only had 7 penalties, but I can hardly recall a collection of such having so much to do with the outcome of the game. In particular, that holding call in the 4th Q, nullifying the pass completion to the 1, was bogus, especially since the Steeler LB might well have been offsides on the play (why ABC never showed a full replay from the regular angle on that one is mind-boggling). It was a phantom hold, as Madden and Michaels noted. The offensive pass interference that cost Seattle its first TD was also dubious, as was the illegal block on Warrick's punt return that had the Seahawks in business in Pittsburgh territory. Key plays all. Maybe the worst call of all was the foul on Hasselbeck for going low on his tackle on Ike Taylor's interception. That put the ball out at the 40, instead of the 25, and made me a bit suspicious, because almost every knee-jerk flag and call was going against Seattle, including Hasselbeck's subsequent fumble that was correctly reversed. Roethlisberger's TD was shaky, though overturning that one would have been tough. These were all huge plays, HUGE, especially that holding call when the ball should have been at the 1, that essentially changed the course of the game. Dallas never even got the benefit of this many calls! Numerous spots of the ball were also questionable, including Strong landing about 4 inches short of a 1st down when Seattle was still up 3-0 in the 2nd Q. A couple of inches more, and Big Ben probably doesn't get the chance to make the big 3rd down pass at the end of the half that helped Steel go ahead. Brown's two missed FGs were also wide by a combined 2 feet. It really is a game of inches.

One that didn't go Pittsburgh's way was Stevens' catch ruled incomplete in the 1st half, but they blew the whistle quick on that, and the Steelers would only have gotten the ball deep in their own territory anyway, at a time when they weren't moving. I don't think Seattle scored on that drive, anyway.

5) Special teams, and lack thereof. Now I know why Denver let Tom Rouen go as its punter. Any problem angling for the sidelines when you're punting around midfield, instead of just booming the ball into the endzone? Pittsburgh started its first 4 drives from the 20, when it could have been bottled up inside of its 10 on a few of those if Rouen had any idea how to punt. With the Steeler offense choppy at best, limited mainly to those three big plays all day, it could have made a huge difference.

6) Oh, well, that's the way it goes. In the grand scheme of things, there were far worse losses we experienced this season and in years past. I'm sure we also won several games we really had no business winning this season, and these things always seem to even out in the long run. As far as Super Bowls go, I think this might be the most exasperating defeat for a team, however. Holmgren must be kicking himself, as his game plan was sound, and basically took away what the Steelers wanted to do. Cowher, in an honest moment, will probably admit as much, not that it matters. Just win, baby. It's what counts, no matter what the means.

Football is quite unpredictable. Hopefully the masses won't figure that out until I have sold TGS. After all, they seem to have forgotten all of our past Super Bowl misses, and keep coming back for more. Thanks to the Quad Squadders for helping me with many ideas to make it all at least sound a bit more convincing in print at various times throughout the season. And, of course, thanks again to Paulie for help on the SB rankings, the best-ever story written in TGS.

Now, let's focus on college hoops!