[fredgarvin]

That was a perfect fade pass. With the receiver being HELD with two hands up in the jersey for a second made it uncatchable. I guess Ravens fans don't want to admit the obvious. My money was on the Ravens, but that was a catchable ball if the receiver hadn't been held. So the whole season began and ended on bad calls. Surprise! 

[geowak]

Well just a little fun with this poll. But most all results are in and those who voted believe the Superbowl was NOT fixed.

Thanks for voting and I respect all opinions and comments here. I for one cannot believe in NFL football anymore. I did not watch it much this season, but with what I have seen with players and officiating I cannot respect the game. So I will not be watching it anymore. I used to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny when I was a kid. My ancestors believed the world to be flat. I think I am done with this kind of mythology now. If I want to see a fair game of football, played with integrity and heart, I will watch high school or pee wee football.

[thunderbrick]

Don't forget Division II and III college ball.  I watch it (and HS ball) from the sidelines as a photographer, and it's far more interesting to see the coach/player/ref interaction up close.

Best (well, only) football coach I played under was a gentleman who taught us a lot, but in my first year a few of us still had leather helmets, so his kind may be rare.   But I do see some at games.  They are the people I'd like to work for.

[Letitroll98]

The ball landed 2 yards out of bounds and with the high arc projection, the receiver would have had to have been 7' tall and have a 23" vertical leap and managed to have got both feet inbounds....stop the friggin sniveling....

Jim

Well, we won't agree on this, but allow me to make a couple of points anyway.

If you watch the Santonio Holmes catch in the Steelers-Cardinals SB, the ball would have landed 10-15 yards out of bounds.  So saying the ball landed two yards out of bounds absolutely, positively confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt the ball was catchable.  Now I don't believe that of course, the ball landed only 1 yard out of bounds, look at the replay, and the interpretations of the rules (which are usually way more important than what the rule says in black and white) say if if the ball could have reasonably been caught, it has to be considered catchable.  I don't care who won so there's no sniveling, but I will snivel about being called snivelling. 

Personally I think the Ravens deserved the win by the way they played, but it doesn't change the fact that it was blatant holding or interference, you pick, that the refs decided not to call.  And despite what the letter of the rules say, the refs don't call interference unless the players make some play on the ball, they always downgrade it to holding or illegal contact because of the severe nature of the spot foul penalty, no matter when the ball is in the air. 

But what I thought was more interesting, since we'll never agree on the above, is Mike Greenberg at ESPN brought up some figures this morning that purported to establish that it's five times less likely that a penalty in the endzone during the last two minutes of the game will be called during the playoffs vs the regular season.  The refs are predisposed to not calling that penalty if they are officiating a playoff game, including the Superbowl.  Thus what we see occurred.