Glass Stadiums

Paul Holmgren and other Seattle Seahawk partisans need to shut up. Whining about officiating after losing a game is the most pointless and unflattering activity imaginable. It is always particularly amusing to hear such wailing and gnashing of teeth after, as in this Super Bowl, the complaining team and coach screwed up so much.

One of the reasons I have always been lukewarm at best about instant replay (in any sport) is that it reinforces the ridiculous idea that, of all the people on the field, only the referees, umpires, officials, etc. have to be perfect. Players drop passes and kick groundballs, coaches botch clock management, but referees in real time have to flawlessly make calls that, like the Ben Roethlisberger touchdown, are difficult to discern even when watched in slow motion. I know I am shouting at the rain, but everyone needs to just calm down a bit.

Having said that, the "chop block" penalty on Matt Hasselbeck was the worst call in the history of the NFL. How none of those officials noticed that Hasselbeck fell down in front of the guy carrying the ball is something of a mystery. It must be a new rule -- Deion Sanders did that for 15 years and never got called for a penalty one time.