Super Bowl XLIII

If the Super Bowl party I attended was still going on, we would all still be staring at the TV in disbelief, waiting for that final turnover to be reviewed. The call may have stood up. It certainly was close, and you could make a case either way. But it needed to be reviewed!

The lasting image from that game will always be of referee Terry McCauley waving his arms above his head and walking towards the line of scrimmage, apparently waving off the Pittsburgh kneel down which had just occurred...and then the postgame festivities beginning anyway. Replay is a given in that situation. That it didn't happen in the biggest possible situation throws the whole system into doubt. Would it have been different had the call gone the other way and Arizona had retained possession? With five seconds on the clock and Larry “THE best receiver in football” Fitzgerald to throw to, it is more than plausible to think Kurt Warner could have heaved up a Hail Mary pass and changed the outcome of that game.

It's too bad they never got the chance. I still think it was an incompletion and not a fumble.

Controversy aside, that was one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history. Back and forth, big plays from both sides, and two of the best touchdown catches you will ever see. There was some griping where I was about the Patriots not being there, but even if they had been I do not believe it could have been any more enjoyable of a game. Plus, can anyone honestly say they believe the Pats would have dominated the Cardinals the same way they did in week 16 without a blizzard raging around them?

On another note, I was wrong about the idea of the silver lining. Knowing that Pittsburgh was passing Indianapolis did nothing to make another Super Bowl championship for the Steelers more palatable. Nothing at all. The only true silver lining is that we have seen the last of the “terrible towel” until next fall.