Whine, Whine, Whine, Whine, Whine

Livin' in the South ya' get used to hearin' a lot of whinin' 'bout losin' wars along with endless woulda', shoulda', coulda'-s. Elderly southern ladies are the feistiest and frankly, if more of their great-grandma's had taken up arms, we'd probably be speakin' Southern right now.

Mike Holmgren seems to be channelin' a few.

"The officiating, though, has been a the major topic of discussion since Sunday night. Right after the game, Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren suggested that a first-quarter offensive interference call on the Seahawks' Darrell Jackson, negating what would have been the game's first touchdown, probably should have been "a no call."

"Holmgren…fueled the debate Monday during a rally for the Seahawks at Qwest Field when he said, "We knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."

Mike Holmgren meet Troy Polamalu and Joey Porter.

"Replays on the offensive interference call showed that Jackson's arms made contact with Pittsburgh's Chris Hope and that they separated afterward. Under the rules, pass interference took place but sometimes the call isn't made."

Sometimes is the operative word there, Mikey. Besides, ya' might wanna' remember that was in the first quarter. Ya' don't think if ya' had played like champions sometime durin' the next three quarters you woulda' pulled out a win?

"The first TD of the game scored on a third-down rollout by Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger late in the first half. Roethlisberger appeared to come down short of the goal line, but it was unclear on replay whether he had gotten the ball to the line before going down…"

Those people who TiVoed the play, and viewed it frame by frame, pretty much agree the nose of the ball broke the plane of the goal line before Roethlisberger hit the ground. Maybe the refs needed TiVo?

'Course Holmgren & Co. had over a minute and a half after that play to move into scorin' range and at least make the score 7-6. Hasselbeck shoulda' worked the clock instead of actin' like he was bein' attacked by killer bees while tryin' to call an audible.

"One call that clearly appeared erroneous came after that penalty, when Hasselbeck threw an interception to Pittsburgh's Ike Taylor, then made the tackle but was called for a block below the waist, giving the Steelers an extra 15 yards. They scored soon afterward on a pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward. Replays showed Hasselbeck never made contact with the player he was supposed to have hit illegally, instead going straight to Taylor to make the tackle."

Considerin' Antwaan threw a 51 yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward—usin' the same play—durin' the Cleveland game just before Christmas, do ya' really think 15 yards coulda' made a difference?

You guys just plain lost. Deal with it and move on.

posted by Harrison at 7:31 AM