From the horse's mouth

[judecorp]

Before David Letterman got to shave Ben Roethlisberger's beard Monday night, he got the Steelers' Super Bowl-winning quarterback to admit a little something that might rankle Seahawks fans even more.

Roethlisberger told Letterman that he didn't think he scored on a controversial play in the second quarter that put the Steelers ahead for good 7-3. Roethlisberger dove toward the end zone but didn't appear to get the ball to touch the goal line. But officials on the field signaled touchdown.

"I told Coach, 'I don't think I got in,'" Roethlisberger told Letterman.

Comments

[cfred.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying it's right, but a player's reaction can be a useful clue on close calls.

If a pitch is borderline but the catcher is framing it, I'm likely to call it a ball because by bringing her glove in, she's telling me, "I thought it was outside, but maybe I can sneak it over and get you to call a strike."

With football, though, it's very common for a runner to push the ball forward after he's tackled, so I didn't think twice about Ben doing it on that play. But the fact is, he did it—and while it might just be instinct, it could also be that he knew (or thought) that he didn't get in.

[volumeat11.livejournal.com]

I'm so angry I don't have anything else to say.

[scirocco.livejournal.com]

So, Big Ben goes on TV and confirms to the Nation what the Nation already knew, that he's a big fat cheater? Yeah, that's groundbreaking stuff there, Letterman.

Ben went down quite a few notches in my mind after that play, and the Referees' Association (except for Ed Hochuli) went with him.

[keelamonster.livejournal.com]

Even all the Steelers fans in the room with me (me, all alone, sitting in my seahawks jersey) agreed it wasn't a touchdown. How could they rule that a touchdown? Fuckers.

[kat-chan.livejournal.com]

See, I was watching, and rooting for the Seahawks. When I saw it, I thought there was a good chance that the ball crossed the plane of the goal line (which is all that it has to do), and there certainly was no way to tell for sure, from the replay, that it didn't. I think that the right call was made on the play. But I'm one of the about 10% or so that believe so.

There were many more cases of flat-out bad calls in that game, to be picking on that one in particular. And it's not like the Steelers wouldn't have kicked the field goal on the next play, anyhow. Those 4 points wouldn't have made the difference.

[vorpalbla.livejournal.com]

FWIW, as he says, it was only third down. If they'd ruled him short, it probably wouldn't have cost the Steelers the game.