Plaag wrote:These are the regular officiating crews..next week and there after it becomes the best of the bunch so these mistakes shall be minimized hopefully.  Course you wouldn't be able to convince a Seahawk fan of that anymore.

ShaneG.

No, you wouldn't.

The penalty on the Jacksonville defender was a nice example of what happened in the Super Bowl  It is called, "forming a picture."

The ref had a "picture" in his head of what might happen in the end zone.  He made a call that fit with the picture.

I have to admit that when I saw the play I assumed the defender was guilty.  Only the replay showed different.  The ref, however, was much closer to the game and had a much better angle.  Unfortunately, he was also in a stadium, only a few feet from a rabidly pro-Pittsburgh crowd....which is exactly what happened several times in that infamous Super Bowl.

FormCritic wrote:
I am not sanguine of the Cowboys' chances.  I doubt they will even get to the Super Bowl.  Even if they do, they will face one of two AFC teams with the power to defeat them.  The Boys may be gunning for their 4th loss rather than their 6th win.

I like the chances vs the Giants at home and the Pack at home, actually.  I think way, way too many observors opinions have been poisoned by that god awful last game of the season, where everyone was trying to not get hurt and didn't even want to be there.  A lot of people picked the Skins because of their dismantling of the Cowboys that game, and they got steamrolled by the Seahawks.

You just want to get the superbowl, in case Brady breaks his hand patting a supermodel on the butt the day before the game...

The last few years there have been quite a few underdogs who pulled off an upset.  The two most surprising the last few years were the Pats over the Rams, and the Broncos over the Packers. In both cases you could look high and low and not find anyone giving any sorts of odds on the eventual winners in those contests. In Superbowl 32, the Broncos were 11 pt dogs, with the Packers having won the superbowl the year before, Favre garnering the MVP, and having destroyed their two playoff opponents in the weeks leading up to the game.  In the Rams/Pats game (Superbowl 36) the Pats were a huge dog, as the Rams had the league's best offense, the MVP (Warner) and Offensive player of the year (Faulk).

Once again the league's best offense, with the league MVP, will face off against some team that will be a heavy dog.....

Mike B.

bombadil wrote:I didn't expect the Steelers to win on Saturday (even before the game started   ), but I'll tell you, I was damned impressed with that comeback.  You could almost feel the momentum of tradition and history behind them in the second half.  It's funny, being both a Steelers fan (lifelong) and an Eagles fan (only recently), the difference you feel watching those two teams in important games.  With the Steelers, you never give up hope (belief), but with the Eagles, you go into every important game with an unshakable sense of hopelessness   .

Anyway, the Chargers - Titans game sucked.  I'm looking forward to a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl.  I'm behind the Packers all the way, but have gotten to the point now that a loss to the Patriots might be symbolically fitting, having Favre in some way pass the torch to Brady (though I hate that joyless patsy, and he'll never mean for any team what Favre has meant for GB).

The Eagles are quite simply the Lovable Losers of the NFC...although, replace Lovable with whatever harsh adjective you can, it's closer to the truth.  Just think how it is to be a fan of a team in a divison whose other three teams have won TEN SUPERBOWLS combined...and have nothing to show for it except a couple of choke jobs in the big game.  It breed an inferiority complex unlike any other..hell, it almost breeds a defeatism, as you say, that leads the fans and team itself to expect the worse.

 This is truly one of those teams that people love to hate not because of any particular player, or owner, or coach...but because of the fan base, who can be as fickle, mercurial, and unforgiving as a thunderstorm in spring. Hatred of Eagles fans can be summed up by the guy I used to know who on his website had written "Celebrating XXXXX years since the Eagles have won a game that meant anything (referring to their 1960 championship; he updated it every season).  

In contrast, the Steelers, like the other teams in the NFC east who have won superbowls numerous times. always seem to be in the thick of things even if they are out of the playoffs for awhile.  The Steelers will be contenders as long as Big Ben is there...it's amazing how organizations like the Cowboys and Steelers just seem to have something that allows them to come back successfully, time and again, decade after decade, even if they are god awful for a time....

Packers-Pats would in interesting....I'd be rooting for the old man to take that punk kid to the woodshed..

Mike B.

bombadil wrote:Anyway, the Chargers - Titans game sucked.  I'm looking forward to a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl.  I'm behind the Packers all the way, but have gotten to the point now that a loss to the Patriots might be symbolically fitting, having Favre in some way pass the torch to Brady (though I hate that joyless patsy, and he'll never mean for any team what Favre has meant for GB).

It is always fun to watch Favre, so I can only hope I have at least 3 more games to watch with him, if not another season.

ShaneG.

Yeah, Rodgers did surprisingly well.  I didn't expect that.  I was thinking more along the lines of Majkowski...please, never again.

Ditto, 'cept the other way around, and 35 points to OSU.

For anyone interested in comics in the Dallas area...

I'll have a couple tables at the Dallas Comic Con Saturday January 12th (11-6) and Sunday Jan 13th (12-4) at the Richardson Civic Center on Arapaho (right to the west of Hwy 75) trying to get rid of some of these comics I've been hanging on to for far too long.  I'm bringing a few boxes of used gaming stuff, but as this is a comic event I'm figuring most of the people there won't be interested in used gaming items.  Anyway, if you are in the area, come check out the show, it's only $5 entry fee and there are a lot of artists, writers and media guests attending.  I'll probably be the only guy there with both comics and used gaming stuff...and I'll have the vicious pink shrew at my booth so you'll know it's me...so if your'e an Aceaum member I haven't yet met come introduce yourself!

Mike B.

Prufrock wrote:I hate the Big 10 or shall we now call it the Powder-Puff league.  Big 10 teams should be ban from BCS bowl games.  We just cannot compete with the SEC and the Pac 10 conferences.

Good luck, Mike, on the comic show.

Martin

I know it sucks to lose two years in a row in the national championship game but you can't have a defeatist attitude like that.  What about Michigan?  They pasted a damn good Florida team and no one expected them to do that.  You should be happy you arent an ACC or Big East fan.  Talk about bad bowl game showings.

Sorry man...

Prufrock wrote:The loss heard around the world.  
Martin

it was?

news to me

Al

ps. oh yeah, you americans regard the world as yours dont you