There is fortune in misfortune

“I vow to kill these officials”

- Super Bowl: Ok, first things first: I haven’t read any comments and/or news stories about this game. I went to sleep right after the stupid thing. I haven’t heard anybody talk about it on Sportscenter or any sports talk shows or anything. These are just my thoughts on the game independent of what the Seahawks themselves had to say about this game and what sports folk are saying about that. Secondly, I’m a Seahawks fan. I was born in Seattle and Seattle is the first place my dad migrated to in the US from Lebanon. Thus, I was raised a Seattle fan. I’m a transplanted Philadelphia fan so, if it came down to a Eagles-Seahawks NFC Championship game, I’m rooting for the Seahawks. Likewise, I’m a diehard Sixers guy, but if there were a Sixers-Sonics championship series, I’d be rooting for the Sonics. Luckily, the likelihood of a Sixer-Sonics NBA Finals happening in the next 40 years or so is pretty unlikely so I probably won’t ever have to encounter that situation, but suffice it to say that I’m a Seattle guy when it comes to sports.

So, my sore-loser thoughts on the game? The fucking officials ruined this one for us. Except for a few big plays, Seattle completely outplayed the Steelers and deserved to win that one. There were three huge blown calls that made it nearly impossible for the Seahawks to win. The first was the offensive pass-interference on Daryl Jackson. He extended his arm slightly, but this is football for God’s sake, that shit happens. Anyway, I’ll let that one slide because it did happen right in front of the ref and watching that thing in real speed, I can’t blame the ref for thinking that that push off gave Jackson an unfair advantage.

But what about that Roethlisberger rush for a TD? I don’t have any beef with them not over-turning the call on the review. I don’t think there was enough evidence for them to over-turn it. But, why didn’t the line judge signal that that shit was a touch down immediately? He ran a few steps forward looking like he was going to spot the ball short of the goal line, but then he seemed to see Big Ben past the goal line and called it a TD. Hey line judge, it doesn’t matter where Ben is when you get there, what matters is if he got the ball past the goal line before he was fucking down. There is nothing that running 10 feet forward should’ve revealed to you. You either saw him pass the goal line or you didn’t. That was a wack call. Again, I’m not mad that they didn’t over turn it, but I dunno what the hell that line judge’s thought process was.

The killer was the phantom holding call on that 20 yard pass to Jeremy Stevens (who dropped a TON of big passes). Instead of the Seahawks having a first and goal from the one down 4 points, they have a 3rd and 20 something that leads to an awful Hasselback interception (which he knew was awful as soon as he let go… on the replay you can see him jumping up and down as soon as he released the ball wishing he didn’t throw it) which in turn lead to the gadget play touchdown for Hines Ward. There was no fucking holding on that play. That was a 14 point swing. The Seahawks could’ve been up three, but instead found themselves down 11. That was a fucking DAGGER.

Fuck those officials.

Of course, the Seahawks had plenty of opportunities to make big plays, but the officials made that shit too difficult to overcome. It’s just infuriating that referees can be so important to a game’s outcome.

All that being said, I’m happy the Bus and Cower got rings and I’m also happy Hines Ward got a ring. Hines Ward is the dude. He’s undersized and not all that fast but is always making HUGE plays. Dunno how he does it. I’m pissed though. That was some BS.

I just read some shit on ESPN. Michael Smith echoes my thoughts. Blah. Frustrating.

- Bling Bling: Hotels made of ice? That's that next shit.

- Brokeback to the Future: Brokeback to the Future is amazing.

- RIP Betty Friedan: Rest in peace, the mother of feminism who is more controversial than she is 100% hero. My buddy Robert had some interesting thoughts that I’m finna jack and post here. He says:

I wonder how feminists at large will react to the death of Betty Freidan.
I mean, they're already pretty schizophrenic about her legacy. She's afforded "mother of the modern movement" props on one hand while, on the other, her legacy of parochialism has been pretty thoroughly maligned since she lost control of NOW and left it in a fit of homophobia. In her own time, the woman was a dinosaur. Since then, she's been worse. bell hooks, among others, basically called her a racist. Still, in everyday life, her side basically won. The prevailing image of a feminist outside of the academy is basically one of the Freidan mold: white, middle class, straight-laced, careerist, recalcitrantly liberal (if slightly more queer than Freidan might have liked). Feminists might utilize the opportunity of her death to drag her name in the mud for a bit and disavow that they were ever really all that into The Feminist Mystique.

- James Lipton reciting PopaZoa: You know, I’m not terribly into the new K-Fed single, but I do think this is in bad taste. I usually ride for Conan, but this shit is wack.

- Herzog: Not only is Herzog good at saving actor’s lives, he’s also not terribly afraid of bullets. Dude is the realest ever.

- The “N” Word: There’s a new documentary (executive produced by Nelson George) about the “N” word that promises to be quiet interesting. Anybody seen it?

- Black History Month: The bol M-1 from Dead Prez sounding off about Black History Month. Kind’ve a catch-22 though, isn’t it, M? I respect the notion that some real-live policies need to be put in place, not just some “Oh, let’s respect Black folks’ history for 28 days,” but (a) I’ve never been very convinced that reparations are going to help very much or (b) that Black History Month itself is all that exploitive and damaging.

- Freeway Rumors: Rumor has it that Freeway is leaving DefJam for G-Unit? Another rumor (heard on Philly radio) is that Freeway is staying on DefJam but 50 is finna executive produce his album with Jay-Z. Whatever the case, I’m not mad at it. Getting 50 involved means good beats.


-e