Super Bowling

First, I didn’t care who won, I just like football.

If you evaluate an entity after an event and grade them by how well they performed, here are the grades I'd give:

Seahawks
Overall first half - B
Time management first half - F
Overall second half - B
Time management second half - F

If they had run the two minutes drill effectively, or hadn’t turned the ball over, or stopped Parker's run, or got some catches from Stevens, or gotten Alexander running more effectively, they'd have won this game. If this was a heavyweight fight that counted minute-by-minute instead of a football game with TDs and Field goals, they'd have won going to the cards. More often than not, they looked in control, with momentum. The Steelers had bright moments, but overall didn't look 'better' than the Hawks.

Steelers
Overall first half - C
Time management first half - N/A
Overall second half - B
Time management second half - A

The INT, trick play (that anyone should have seen coming from 30 miles away) Parker's run, and their last drive were the only time that the Steelers looked good. But they were enough to put more points on the board, and take the win. The best 4th quarter, time grinding drive I've seen in quite a while. Those first downs were killing the Hawks. Steelers should feel lucky they were ahead to run out the clock in the first place.

Refs - D-
I think there was no malice, no intention, but they missed quite a few calls. Seemed very sloppy to me. Where was Eddy Hocks? I don’t think anyone should ref any game ever, other than Ed. This game proves my theory.

The push-off was a terrible call to reverse a touchdown. He put his hand out, but didn’t push.

The holding call to push them back form the 2 was phantom. It didn’t happen… even Madden said so.

In football, there are three and only three penalties on a guy who successfully makes a tackle- Facemask, horse collar, and unnecessary roughness. Hasslebeck's chop call was terrible, and you might even hear the NFL own up to it. That penalty is there to keep guys from chopping blockers, to allow another guy to make the tackle. Hasslebeck dove PAST the blocker to make a great tackle.

And, thanks for the explanation from the ref on the Ben no-TD. "Play stands as called." Thanks. What did you see? Did you see him score? Did you not see enough to overturn it? What happened?

Overall, lots of calls were Bah-log-na.

Media Day Hype - D
OK, Joey Porter, settle down, tiger. Stevens said his team will win the game. That’s what everyone should say. That’s what YOU said in your media day. Why are you getting all upset about it? Oh yeah, it’s cause you are a hype master who needs the drama to make the news. How about make news on the field. Sorry, you didn’t do that either. So now, how about just shut up.

Media Coverage - C
OK, OK, OK.. I get it... Bettis is from here, Polomalu is awesome, the Steelers have won a super bowl before. Jesus Christoph. Enough already. Damn. Can we get a new story line? Get out of the Steeler's ass, quit over-hyping a guy who should have retired two years ago who didn’t do much for your team this year, and give me a break, Polomalu is a good defender. He isn’t the savior.

Commercials - C
This was not the year of the watercooler commercials. The Ameriquest ones were decent, the Pepsi ones were pathetic (as usual... I can't think of a single decent Pepsi ad ever) and AB wasn't up to par. One good fridge joke, but that was it. The Hummer ad was genius. I think the haters of the ad are Hummer haters and would have hated a Hummer commercial that featured a naked Jessica Alba making out with a naked Jennifer Gardner.

All performing artists - D
Horrible. I guess if you are 60, and can afford superbowl tickets, you care about the Moldy Stones, and you remember when Aretha had a voice. Frankly, they've got to fix the half time shows. Mtv failed too young, this year the Stones Failed too old. Not sure what the solution is. I watched all I could stand, then turned and watched a Simpsons rerun. What ever happened to alternative halftime shows? Didn't Beavis and Butthead do one? I miss that. Where was In Living Color when you need them?

My Wife's Wings - A
Super duper sauce she cooked up. All households should have a Fry Daddy for fries, wings, etc. Oven cooking what should be fried is just pathetic. Stop fooling yourself; you will love how your food tastes in the oil fryer. Not the healthiest of choices, but who wants healthy Wings? Bah!

6:00pm game time - A
Very nice work. Saw the whole game, and some post interviews, and still got in bed before 11pm. Thank you for the early start time. Until they make Post Super Bowl Monday a national holiday, they need to keep the game early.