Is it just me...

[The Tim]

...or does the Super Bowl seem to have become something that would be more appropriately named Super Referee Ball in recent years?

[WestSideBilly]

The NFL has done a fairly good job at creating parity throughout the league and it's really shown the last few years (a very mediocre Bears team hanging with the Colts, the Giants beating an 18-0 Patriots team that was better in every way, a 9-7 team just getting IN the Super Bowl, etc). As a result of the close parity, small things become magnified, and the role of the refs is one of those. Who remembers the officiating crews from the 49ers routs of the 80s? It didn't matter because the teams were horribly mismatched.

For what it's worth, I only saw 2 bad calls and a few missed holding calls (2-1 favoring the Steelers). Both of the bad calls - the facemask penalty when the defender was getting stiff armed and a very weak roughing the passer call - were the result of ambiguity or stupid rules. Holding is nearly impossible to call consistently, so I just shrug those off. The play at the end of the game should have been reviewed, but I doubt it would have been overturned.

Most of the penalties that were called were pretty obvious. One of my pet peeves is the "It's the playoffs, let the players decide the game!" mentality that seems to run rampant in the NFL and NHL.

[The Tim]

[WestSideBilly]

[rose-colored-coolaid]