nitetrain8601

QUOTE(FlaSoxxJim @ Dec 21, 2005 -> 09:20 AM) That' sthe real trick, of course. The Democratic Party is a very diverse party and so for some time now it has been hard to find a singularly unifying message. Bleeding hearts, blue collar unionists, academics, civil libertarians, environmental proponents, pro-choice advocates, socialized health care advocates, gay rights advocates, etc., etc., all claim affiliation to the party, and it's hard to find the singular message. Other than general agreement that the GOP cares very little about the average american little guy – unless it is an election year. I'm down with the Democrats and this post.

I'm not 30, so will I still be able to experience and appreciate the great tasting beer? And Pepsi > Coke.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Feb 8, 2006 -> 08:51 AM) Frank is such a sourpuss. Come on this is the chance of a lifetime, one that he will probably never be privy to again, and he blows it off. One day in the distant future he will look back on all this crap and realize what he is missing. Maybe he doesn't like the president. What I'm wondering is if new players will be attending the ceremony. I mean, don't you have to win a ring to visit the White House? It would be kind of messed up and kind of awkward if guys like Thome and Mackowiak showed up.

Damn those are crazy numbers.

I agree about Tracey. I'd like to look at Malone and Reynoso.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 02:17 PM) So its realistic for the defense to know what reciever will be gettting the ball on every play before the ball is thrown?? EA improved this feature alot when 360 version came out, as they got rid of the flashlight cone that pretty much gives away which reciever you are throwing to. If next years Madden learns from the 360 version, it should be a much much better feature. Well I agree that some of it needs to be improved, but the logic is right.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 01:22 PM) It's a shame that Jose will be hitting .239 for them. The catcher that the Angels are looking to replace Bengie down the line is former 1st round pick Jeff Mathis, not 30 year old Jose Molina. He's a career backup. There's a reason why they didn't resign Bengie until Mathis is ready. That is because they believe Jose could get it done. Everyone in the organization feels he's better than Bengie, so that's why they're going with him. I do agree Rowand44, he's one of the best guys to handle a pitching staff.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 01:02 PM) Fantastic move imo. Bengie is the best defensive catcher in the al, is fantastic at handling a pitching staff, and is a terrific clutch hitter. I'm a huge fan of Molina and think this move could payoff big time for the jays. I disagree. I mean, I think it's a good move, but everyone tells me that his defense has gone down big time since their WS season. Just about every Angels fan will tell you that they think his brother (their new starting catcher of the Angels) is flat out better in all categories.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) Which if used right, is an AWESOME feature that gets ripped on for no reason. The precision passing cone lets you put you dictate if you want to put the pass high or low, or lead the reciver out to the left or right, just like in real life. I just love the fact that the people against Madden cry and cry about them buying the rights to the NFL, and them being the only football game on the market, when 2k sports did the SAME THING with baseball. The only difference is that 2k took away a great baseball game. The passing cone is awesome. I used to think it sucked, but it is realistic as heck. A QB doesn't make a pass to a WR who isn't in his line of vision. It's a wonderful idea and I loved it. Agreed on the 2nd part of your post as well.

To show how bad the officiating was is that other fans are seeing it big time. On ESPN's SportsNation poll, 63% of people think the bad officiating cost Seattle the game across the Nation. Only 2 states who didn't think so were Pennslyvania and West Virginia, and even in those states, the results are 44%-Yes, 56%-No in Penn, and 47%-Yes, 53%-No in WV. So even those states aren't sure if Pitt would've won without the officiating.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 11:58 AM) Oy, I'm not trying to get into an argument about the actual strength of the Steelers. I said that it was funny that the six seed beat the one seed. Everyone knew that the NFC was much weaker, and this just makes it look worse for them. It is funny to me. I'm sorry that it wasn't to you. How does it show the strength of the AFC being much better than the NFC? If the calls were right, this game is completely different with Seattle possibly winning it. That 6 seed also beat those "super strong" 1, 2, and 3 teams in the AFC. Plus they blew out the 1st and 3rd team and the 2nd team if the calls weren't horrid in that game too. Just shows me that the AFC is full of pretenders. Seattle came closer than all those teams and would've had a great chance of winning if the zebra's weren't so horrible. And no one can say they weren't, because talk shows and ourselves wouldn't be so wrapped up in talking about it.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 11:46 AM) He is sorta right on EA. Look at a game like Madden. It sells a ton because fatboy's name is on the cover but they barely change or improve it year after year. Well the fact that they can't make any big improvements doesn't mean it's not the best football game out. They've almost perfected the game. It's hard to improve on something that's already great. That's why you see such little improvements from one game to the next. Would you like them to change their engine, even though it works great?

I think the Twins will be in Wild-Card contention all year. I mean they kept pace with us until Hunter got injured basically and that team was alot worse than their current one. I don't see the Twins or Indians as a joke though I think the Twins will be better. The Royals definately will cost some teams some games.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 10:41 AM) I haven't a clue which team would have won had the refs actually done their jobs. I haven't a clue which was the better team. Poor. ^^What he said.

NBC is doing Sunday Night IIRC. I wish I were the coach getting with Bonnie Bernstein; she's hot! And I'm going to love Kornheiser in the booth. Hell, they should just have Kornheiser and Wilbon in the booth.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 10:36 PM) On that I'll agree with. Guess that's what the Super Bowl does. I just wanted to see a good game and actually see which team was the better team, and I didn't get that at all. Very true. I think we got spoiled with those great Super Bowl games over the past couple of years minus Ravens/Giants & TB/OAK.

I'm going to stop with this thread though. I never thought I would get so worked up over a team that isn't even in my top 5 favorite teams in the league.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 10:25 PM) He also got separation just by changing directions. He put an actual good move on the DB. Had he not had his hand there...the play would have looked exactly the same. Don't forget that the DB also got his hand on Jackson.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 10:22 PM) Wait a second, so the ref told Holmgren that the ball didn't break the plane, but made the opposite ruling while on the field? Wha? Yeah, that's with the outrage. Michelle Tafoya I believe it was went up to interview Holmgren as he was arguing with the reg to do the interview they do before the half(to ask about adjustments, etc) and she saw him yelling at the ref. She asked "why the outrage?" Then he said the ref told him he didn't think the ball broke the plane and Holmgren said, "well why didn't you make that call on the field?" That's my main beef with that call.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 10:21 PM) They showed the replay of that holding call. There was nothing that struck my eyes as holding either. Nothing even close. The Steelers line had a bunch of plays that would have been called holding if that standard was their holding standard. Don't care what Madden says except in that it agrees with what my eyes saw. Extending your arm does not equal a pushoff. You can extend your arm without pushing off. If there was a push...it was incredibly minor. Bingo. He extends the arm, but unless 3 fingers could bench press at least 200 pounds, I didn't see that as a pushoff. And the holding call was brutal. Every analyst has agreed so far that they saw no hold.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 10:01 PM) Watch the replay again, you can clearly see the ref starting to pull it out directly after the catch, he just has trouble getting it out. That is one call that I didn't see either. Watching the replay, you can see about 1-2 inches that broke the line of the goal. There's no definitive proof that it wasn't a touchdown either, which is what need to be shown on video. The ball was either over the line, or less than an inch away, nothing conclusive at all. Wasn't a horsecollar, he grabbed him down by the shoulder pad, not the neck lining. That was an odd call, but Matt didn't really even try to make the tackle, he just flung his body down towards the ground and didn't even look at the ball carrier the whole time. Call didn't need to be made, but he clearly wasn't focusing on the ball carrier and was closer to tackling the blockers than the ballcarrier, luckily for him his feet tripped up the runner. On #3, the ball was dropped. It's not so much that the ref though conclusiveness or inconclusiveness, it's what he called. He told Holmgren that he didn't think Ben broke the plane. Holmgren yelled at him asking why he didn't make that call. Notice the ref didn't say, "there was inconclusive evidence" according to Holmgren. He said he didn't think Ben broke the plane. That's a huge call. On #1, there was hesitation. It was noticed by others including analysts. The Jerry Porter tackle was a horsecollar. Even Michaels said it was close to one, but I'm watching that part on my computer and it was a definate horsecollar. I do agree, however, that the Kings screwjob in Games 3(game when Kobe gets an inbounds pass and then elbows Mike Bibby and then Mike Bibby gets called for the foul while bleeding from his nose) and 6(overall just horrible) were the most brutal officiating jobs. This game though has to be the worst in major championship games.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 09:43 PM) Pittsburgh was outgained by a whopping 57 yards, and actually outgained Seattle on the ground by 44 yards, which is how the Steelers win. As for the officiating. I'm honestly shocked to see all the outrage over it. The pass-interference that caused Seattle a TD was clearly a push-off, and RIGHT in front of the referree. The ref didn't even hesitate, he began pulling out the flag directly after he caught the ball. Another time Haggans was pulled down from behind by his collar, and I've seen people complaining over that, its amazing. Was the game pretty? Hell no. But there were atleast two missed helmet to helmet shots from Seattle in the game as well. It was just poorly officiated all the way around. I disagree strongly. They missed big time calls that would've changed the outcome of the game. 1)Pass Interference call on Darrell Jackson. Very ticky-tack. Only 1 announcer out of like 10 said it was Pass Interference. What really pissed me off about this call is that the ref didn't call it until Pitt's DB started complaining. It was the definition of a late call. 2)Holding call on the Seahawks in which Hasselbeck completed a pass to Jeremy Stevens that put them at the 1-yard line. When looking at the replay, John Madden even mentioned, "I don't see the holding. There may have been holding on that play, but it sure as heck wasn't by the guy they called it on." 3)Ben Roethlisberger's TD run. He was stopped short. Replays showed that the ball never broke the plane. What's even worse about this is that the ref told Holmgren while heading to the tunnel for the half that he didn't think Ben got in. The ref is the one who makes the call. If you don't think he got in, you don't make the call he made. You overturn the call and it's 4th down. He didn't say he thought it was "inconclusive" he said he thought Ben didn't make it. 4)Horse-collar tackle by Mr. Big Mouth, Jerry Porter. A horsecollar tackle is supposed to be a 10 or 15 yard penalty automatically added onto a catch. Seattle gained around 7 yards on that play I think and calling that penalty would've added 15 more yards which would've been an automatic first and better field position. Seattle was already driving. 5)The 15 yard penalty on the illegal chop-blocking/holding on Matt Hasselbeck after the interception. Matt Hasselbeck clearly went for the guy who had the ball and he's the only one he touched. For some reason though, the refs don't see it that way(it was pretty easy to tell) and 15 yards are added on after Pitt's already at the 35 yard line.

QUOTE(bmags @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 09:27 PM) incredibly boring game, commercials, and halftime show. And terrible announcing and annoying post/pre game...Worst superbowl ever. I agree minus the boring game part. The officiating was putrid though. As a Bulls fan, I'm used to having calls not go my way, so I usually keep quiet now, but goddamn, these officals were flat out horrible. Reasons why Seattle lost: 1)Refs - already explained why. Missed calls combined with calls that should've never been called and well damn, it sucks to be in Seattle right now. 2)Couldn't finish - Plain and simple, Seattle won this game in every statistical category but the W column. If somone saw that statline and had to guess who won, Seattle would've been picked 10 times out of 10. They drove on Pittsburgh's "great defense" all day long and then ended up getting penalties called on them(some true, some not) or they would just completely change up their strategy as soon as they got close to the red zone. 3)Clock Management - I'm not going to complain about the 2nd half, but the 1st half, they had no idea what they were doing. That's worth at least 3 points there. 4)Missed FG's - 2 to be exact in which Seattle would've only needed one score at the end to win. BTW, Jerome Bettis just retired.

It's over. Seattle really should've went for it on 4th down. They got jobbed this game, but they also didn't help their case by not scoring on drives they should've scored on.

That drive went like all other drives have gone. They start off hot, but then they cool off big.