Steelers-Cardinals: The Real Travesty of the Super Bowl Officiating

In any given game, any player, coach, media member, or fan can point to a handful of plays that decided the game one way or another. Likewise, these same people can, and sometimes do, point to a few bad calls by the officiating crew that "cost their team the game."

Blaming the refs after a heart-breaking loss has become a "great" American tradition, one that everyone has been guilty of at least once in their lifetime.

In many ways, this is just human nature. It might be a cop-out, but it is easier than admitting that your team lost...and it was their fault.

As a player, you do not want to admit that you were outplayed.

As a coach, you do not want to admit that your game plan wasn't good enough.

As a media member, you want to create a good story that will help build your legacy as a writer or broadcaster.

And as a fan, you just don't want to admit that your team might not have been the better team. You don't want to wear an opposing team's jersey to work the next day or stand on a table in the break room and sing your buddy's team's fight song.

Put simply, your pride has been hurt.

As can be expected, officiating controversy has come into play regarding this past weekend's Super Bowl between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now, I personally did not have a dog in this fight, but I did have a team I was rooting for. I have no problem coming out and saying that I was pulling for the Cardinals, and I was pulling for them passionately.

It had nothing to do with Larry Fitzgerald, although I think he is a magnificent talent, a seemingly good dude, and one of the great young superstars in the league.

It also had nothing to do with the feel-good Kurt Warner story, although I certainly respect what he has done this season and admire the fact that he has come up from a nobody to a superstar...twice!

No, it had everything to do with my team, the Dallas Cowboys. Selfishly, I wanted my team to be the first team to get that coveted sixth Lombardi Trophy. So, for one night, I was a die-hard Arizona Cardinal super-fan.

All that being said, there is no need to fear. You are not about to be subjected to a breakdown of every missed holding call, should-be facemask, and bogus pass interference call.

I won't do that because, quite honestly, the majority of the game was pretty evenly called. Yes, there were bad calls, but they went both ways, and some of the more costly bad calls were corrected by coach's challenges.

Some people are complaining that there was a hold or a block in the back on the 100-yard interception return by Harrison. I never saw it, and I am not going to look for it.

The way I see it, it was not the refs that made Warner throw the interception and they certainly did not prevent the Cardinals players from letting James Harrison lumber 100 freakin' yards for a touchdown!

Holding happens on almost every play of every game. The majority of them don't get called. A supposed holding call on that one play was not the difference in the game.

Others will point to yet another Harrison play—the unnecessary roughness penalty. Should he have been ejected? Absolutely. Did it change the outcome of the game? Nope.

Late in the game, the Steelers' offense was the difference, not their defense. The presence of Harrison on the field did not stop Larry Fitzgerald from parting the (white? yellow?) sea on his way to a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes of the game, and he certainly didn't help Big Ben and Co. march down the field for the game-winning touchdown.

While that cheap shot of Harrison's was a disgusting show of poor sportsmanship and classlessness that certainly merits a fine and suspension, the fact that he was not ejected had no bearing on the final outcome of the game.

I have even heard people complain that Santonio Holmes was not penalized for his celebration after the game-winning touchdown where he used the ball as a prop.

Yes, it is true that by the letter of the law, that should have been a 15-yard penalty that would be assessed on the kickoff, and that could have made a huge impact on the game.

Part of me sympathizes with the Cardinals fans who believe that should have been called. The other part of me is glad that it wasn't, and I hope and pray that "penalties" like that one will never be called again.

Who wants to win a game based on another team getting called for a bogus celebration penalty that 99 percent of the fanbase will argue is ridiculous at best? There are many reasons that people call this league the No Fun League, and the "ball as a prop" rule is one of them.

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