NFL doing business as usual is welcome distraction
Just in case anyone was wondering what I thought 鈥�
Will people please quit complaining about the NFL still doing business despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Sports are being wiped out by COVID-19 all over the world because of safety threats but what the NFL is doing by letting free agency run its usual course is completely safe. Everything is being done from afar, no one is violating the 鈥渟ix feet of distance鈥� that is recommended in these times.
The NFL if giving football fans something to latch on to, something to feed their quest for any kind of sports whatsoever.
Some say what the league is doing is disrespectful, some say it蘑菇视频 only being done for greed. I hear the line, 鈥淗ow can they do business as usual with all the suffering going on around the country?鈥�
These people don鈥檛 get that the NFL doing business is helping the many sports fans out there to get through these tough times with a mental break from the coronavirus. Football fans who may have lost their jobs now have a welcome distraction.
The big yearly production that is the NFL Draft has been pushed back but not eliminated as of yet. I hope they still hold it even if it has to be done completely via satellite feed and without a live audience. I still want to see who the Steelers end up with in the second round.
I don鈥檛 buy the 鈥渄isrespectful鈥� angle. To me, this is one of those situations where there蘑菇视频 a certain faction of people who feel if they are suffering then everyone else should, too.
I don鈥檛 really care if there are greed reasons or whatever for the NFL to still be up and running, I鈥檓 just glad they are. The sports world needs that right now.
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One way to fill a thirst for actual sports is watching old DVDs or television broadcasts of classic games and events from the past, and I鈥檝e been taking that path at home on occasion.
I鈥檝e recently popped in the Penguins鈥� Game 6 Stanley Cup clinching victory over the North Stars (Spoiler alert 鈥� 8-0 Pens, still the biggest margin of victory in a Cup-clinching game), Game 7 of the 1971 World Series (people forget how Orioles manager Earl Weaver tried to rattle Pirates starter Steve Blass 鈥� to no avail 鈥� by complaining to the umpires that his foot wasn鈥檛 on the rubber when he was pitching), and Steelers Super Bowl victory No. 5 against the Seattle Seahawks.
Watching Super Bowl XL again made me shake my head at the whiners from Seattle who still claim they were robbed by the officials.
That seems hilarious to me when you consider Seattle in that game allowed, 1. Ben Roethlisberger to complete a third-and-28 pass that set up the first touchdown; 2. the longest touchdown run in Super Bowl history (75 yards by Willie Parker); and, 3. a flea flicker for a 43-yard game-clinching touchdown, while also completely botching the final minute of each half from a time management issue.
Does that really sound like a team that deserved to win?
One big controversy was the third play after Big Ben蘑菇视频 long third-down completion to Hines Ward when the quarterback dove for the goal line. The official ruled Roethlisberger broke the plane of the goal line, replays were inconclusive. It seemed to me like the tip of the ball barely got in. The ruling of a touchdown was upheld.
The way Seattle fans reacted (and crybaby Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who was still fuming about the call at halftime, so much so that he ignored a question on what happened in the final mismanaged seconds of the first half while going to the locker room and chose instead to complain about the confirmed TD) you would鈥檝e thought there was clear, indisputable evidence that Roethlisberger didn鈥檛 get in. What a joke that complaint is.
The other fact Seahawks fans failed to realize was that was a third-down play. Steeelers coach Bill Cowher had already made the decision to go for it on fourth down had the call been reversed.
But I guess Seattle fans are 100 percent certain that their defense would鈥檝e held off a charge by Jerome Bettis from about one-inch out.
There were other calls Seattle fans complain about but none were obviously horrible calls to me. One was a push-off in the end zone that denied Seattle a touchdown (wasn鈥檛 a strong push, but it was a push), another was a holding call that denied Seattle a first down inside the Steelers 5-yard line (although commentator John Madden said he didn鈥檛 see holding on that play, other angles later confirmed the call).
Neither of those were flagrant missed calls. A couple plays after the latter, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck sailed a pass directly to Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, who despite being known for having hands of stone, snagged that one to snuff out the drive.
It was a horrendous throw in a crucial situation. But, hey, Seattle fans won鈥檛 acknowledge that.
No, it was the refs鈥� fault.
Steeler fans, your Super Bowl trophy No. 5 is not tainted in the least in my eyes.
Rob Burchianti can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com or on Twitter (@rvburch).