(...grumble grumble grumble...)

Start with the caveats:

No. I'm not a regular sports commentator.
Though my dad is a ref, I am not.
I was kinda hoping that Seattle would win a hard-fought game.

Those aside, I really felt gypped by Super Bowl XL. It's as though the league wanted an emotional story with a happy Steeler ending. The Pittsburgh fans had reason to gripe with the game-calling in their match-up with the Colts. Now the Seahawks have reason.

Look at the game flow: The first score (a Seattle TD) is called back on a very iffy penalty. How iffy? I borrowed the adjectives from ESPN, and ABC commentator Steve Young looked sick when mentioning it.

Next, we have the grandson of the Immaculate Reception: Ben's Hidden Ball TD. Upon further review, I'm not ready to believe that Big Ben scored. Granted, I'm not ready to go the other way; the video evidence is not sufficient to overturn an on-field call. The on-field call was a delayed "touchdown" (so delayed the announcers thought the judge was coming in to mark the spot).

Finally, we have the drive that lead to the only Seattle turnover. After driving almost the length of the field, the Pittsburgh defense was jumping a little early. In fact, when Hasselbeck completed a pass down to the 1, I thought the penalty flag was going to be offsides. Instead, it was a holding call that, upon review, was also iffy (and the announcers couldn't see it, either).

Rather than first-and-goal, Hasselbeck tries to force a long pass, and is intercepted. To add insult to injury, the QB draws a bogus penalty when he makes a game-saving tackle (the refs no-call what looked like a horse-collar tackle by Pittsburgh, but flag Hasselbeck for a normal QB tackle?!). So not only do the Steelers get the ball, but they get an extra 15 yards. And on a crucial third and short, Ben calls time out "two beats" after the play clock hits zero (again, Madden's words). No delay of game, the Steelers barely make the first down, and then pull out a trick play to seal it.

Now this is not to detract from the Steelers; they played a good game (not great, but good... look at the stats). It really felt like everybody wanted this game to shape up to be the storybook tale for Cower, Bettis, and Ben. And when it wasn't, they had to hammer it into the right shape. It feels... cheapened.

Oh, well. Now Ben and Rutherford B. Hayes have more in common than their Ohio roots... Though they didn't ask for or want it, they got a little outside help to win their respective campaigns.