In Pittsburgh's 21-10 Super Bowl victory last Sunday, the Steelers failed to get a single first down in the opening 19 minutes, were outgained overall by 57 yards, lost the time of possession battle 33 minutes to 27, and committed two turnovers to Seattle's one. How could the Steelers possibly win a game like that?
If you ask Seattle fans, head coach Mike Holmgren, and millions of other people, the deciding factor in the ball game was unfair officiating. However, those people are putting way too much blame on the referees and not enough on the Seahawks and how they lost it.
On the controversial offensive pass interference penalty that negated a first quarter Seattle touchdown, the wide receiver fully extended his arm and created separation from a defender, which is supposed to be illegal.
After looking at the Ben Roethlisberger touchdown run 100 times, it appears that the point of the ball barely does reach the goal line. There certainly was no clear evidence to overturn the called Pittsburgh touchdown with instant replay.
Two Seattle holding penalties nullified a pass to the 1-yard line and a nice punt return. Those penalties easily could have been not called, so there is room for some Seahawk complaints there.
But in reality, the penalty called against Matt Hasselback for an illegal block was the only one that was clearly wrong. Hasselback had just thrown an interception and was trying to make a tackle, which he did legally.
The main problem with Seattle was that those five questionable calls were accompanied by even more Seahawk mistakes.
The biggest goat was tight end Jerramy Stevens. Before the game he calls out Pittsburgh's worshipped hero Jerome Bettis, then he responds by dropping three important passes.
Coach Holmgren also deserves a chunk of the criticism for mismanaging the clock. At the end of the first half Seattle wasted time, then narrowly missed a long field goal. At the end of the game, Holmgren chose not to try a field goal when he needed one.
Throw in another missed field goal, a Steeler 75-yard TD run, and one of Pittsburgh's notorious trick plays for a TD, and that's more than enough to decide a ball game, let alone what the refs did.
Next year's champion - New England.
PRO BOWL
Pro Bowl - With its rules designed for less defense and more scoring, betting on the Over here has been a real moneymaker. But the sports books have adjusted, setting the total this year at a whopping 68 points.
The AFC has won seven of the last nine Pro Bowls. In the four years since 2001 that the AFC won, the scores were 38-17, 38-30, 45-20, and 38-27. In 2004 the NFC came out on top 55-52.
Prediction - Going with the AFC -4 and Under 68.
OLYMPICS
Being a true sports fan, and not just a fan of major team sports, I'll be watching the Olympics. Any time the best athletes in the world at their particular sports get together, it's always worth watching. It also helps that the United States has improved lately to become a force in the Winter Games.
As far as betting is concerned, in recent years odds have been hard to find for the Olympics. Ironically, odds are usually available somewhere for men's ice hockey, a sport suddenly mired in a gambling controversy.
Gold - It is Canada's birthright to win Olympic gold in hockey.
Silver - Czech Republic.
Bronze - Sweden.
The United States will have to get lucky, play out of their minds, or both just to win a medal. At least their games will be televised uninterrupted by commercials.