Super Bowl XL was possibly fixed???

[Sports Hernia]

So the NFL has picked certain officials on certain crews to do this and the other officials don't know about it?

I’m speaking on generalities you’re talking about specifics.
I’m not an insider, you???

If you want to think the NFL is pure as the driven snow that’s your prerogative I guess.....

 

[Seahawkfan80]

So the NFL has picked certain officials on certain crews to do this and the other officials don't know about it?

I’m speaking on generalities you’re talking about specifics.
I’m not an insider, you???

If you want to think the NFL is pure as the driven snow that’s you prerogative I guess.....

Driven snow has salt, dirt, sand, oil, gas, and other pet fecal matter......So you really mean driven snow??? :stirthepot:

 

[NYCoug]

The allegation here isn't that the NFL rigged it. It's that a particular ref did. That's not the same level of screw job as having the entire NFL being behind fixing games.

Also, there is a big difference between a the NFL nudging certain outcomes and going full WWE level of scripting.

One final point. If the NFL was going to script or nudge, it's likely they would do so prior to the Super Bowl to set the teams rather than actually care who won the actual game.

Okay, I'll bring it back to just the individual ref situation and just assume it's a bad actor during one event. This seems really unlikely with the likely explanation just being human error, but that's reasonably possible.

I've never been down with the "script/nudge" theories. It's too big of a conspiracy to keep under wraps with everybody involved. There would be over 100 officials and a bunch of NFL staffers involved.

It's called racketeering.

You're accusing over 120 individuals whose professionals are school principals and teachers, federal agents, attorneys, judges, software engineers, sales guys, athletic directors, accountants, airline pilots, small business owners, operations managers, insurance agents, environmental engineers, probation officers, electrical engineers, college professors, investment brokers, internal auditors, financial advisors, IT managers, law enforcement officers, carpenters and foremen, public accountants, realtors, physical education teachers and coaches, plant managers, defense contractors, bankers, systems engineers, firefighters, and other jobs as being party to a criminal conspiracy.

Best part of this entire thread is right here. The listing of all the professions of all the refs has me dying laughing for some reason. I guess a contrarian would say that there's corrupt people in every walk of life, but your point is taken. I'm seriously considering becoming a ref just so we can add bartender to the list of referee day-jobs. I once had a dream that I became the Serpico of refs, only to fall victim to a crippling cocaine addiction because of course, I was living that ref party life, as they are known to do.

 

[fenderbender123]

So when Hasselbeck threw that interception and everyone was running the other way, Bill Leavy in the heat of the moment suddenly remembered that he had $500 on the Steelers and thinks to himself "well, this interception and run back sure helps, but I just don't think it's gonna be enough. I better throw a flag and make something up so we can give them more free yards. Nobody will even notice. It's just the Super Bowl. Man I'm such a genius."

 

[fenderbender123]

It was a bad call, but it's not like Hasselbeck executed a perfect form tackle on that play, either. It almost looked like he had been skipping tackling drills all season.

 

[Fade]

The NFL is legally filed under entertainment. They are under no legal obligation to deliver a fair contest. They only do that when there is massive public outrage.

The NBA ref scandal was fascinating. The officials called the NBA Finals magnificently that year. It's like magically referees became competent. It wasn't a coincidence. The credibility of the NBA was on the line.

The NFL was founded by people heavily embedded in organized crime. Especially gambling.


The NFL is a business they are going to do what makes them the most money first and foremost. This is a sport where you could call a penalty on nearly every play, with most contests being so close that all you have to do is call two offensive holds, and one defensive hold, and the outcome is changed.

The NFL isn't sitting back scripting this thing like the WWE. The NFL just has to give directives, and points of emphasis on how the game is called. Organize "All-Star" crews for the playoffs, etc. It's not outright rigged, just crooked, and dishonest.

Whether it's gambling/criminal elements on the outside, from within the NFL, or both, It's there.

An NFL ref having a bookie is all that needs to be said. Like a molester working around kids. It's not hard to put two & two together.

NFL refs shouldn't know any bookies, let alone be a client of one.

 

[Donn2390]

So the NFL has picked certain officials on certain crews to do this and the other officials don't know about it?

I wasn't planning to get drawn into a conspiracy theory, but reading you comment left me with no choice.
Who ever said the NFL had any part in a fix, if in fact there was one? No NFL official would need tell a referee to cheat, it could be done my one person easily. Just miss a couple of calls in the right situation and it's done.
If Levy, for example, were to do such a thing, not saying he did, the whole sports world would hate him. Couldn't you live with a little hate for a bank full of money? Plenty of people could and have.
As a former Rams season ticket holder, I hope they get their a$$ handed to them...!!
GO HAWKS..!!

 

[AROS]

What's the saying? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck....Probably a duck.

I am not one who dodges a good conspiracy theory and my tin foil hat collection is quite impressive thank you very much and so it is with XL* I have always smelled smoke. Former owner Rockhawk and I attended XL* together and it was a shit show from the start. It was clearly skewed towards Pittsburgh from the very beginning. Walking around town you would have sworn we were in downtown Pittsburgh. The fact that we were able to even find ONE Seahawks-friendly bar in the city itself was shocking.

When we were in line, and got to the doors, they were handing out Terrible Towels. Do you think there were any Seahawks towels being handed out? Please. When I saw that, I knew the fix was in. I even said as much to Mark. It was very much a feeling of "Uh oh." We already had that feeling when Detroit's mayor gave Bettis the Key to the City the week leading up to the game. It was like, "Transparent much, NFL?!?"

So as disappointed as we were, sitting there, watching the first Super Bowl championship slip away with each astounding bad call after bad call, it was not in the least surprising. The league got the story line they wanted. And that little team from Alaska should just be happy with the consolation prize of being there in the first place.

I still recall on the side of Ford Field they had the Seahawks logo backwards. It is the FIRST AND LAST TIME I have ever EVER seen our logo placed backwards on a major marketing/branding level.

The signs were there. Levy was just the icing on the cake of it all.

XL* Never Forget.

 

[jammerhawk]

I watched the XL game in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic and was one of three Seahawks fans in the bar. When even the Stealers (correct spelling) fans were observing the refereeing was very one sided Iknew there was little likelihood of victory. One guy even apologized and said in a fair game it would have been a lot closer than 8 points. If you re-watch that game the referees stole quite a few game changing opportunities from the Seahawks. I knew it was going to be a long day when DJack got called early for OPI after being mugged well downfield by the Stealer DB, -7 points. Even Worthlessberger subsequently admitted he didn't actually score and was down prior to the TD awarded to him. It was an awfully unusual and repeated course of unusual bad luck for the Seahawks that game :roll: .

The concept of fixing a game seems so unlikely but then the league has a poor history of being transparent and ensuring fair contests. Lots of $ will change hands today in SB 53, and you can be sure several may regard the outcome fixed when that is almost impossibly difficult to accomplish, yet I will forever believe/suspect that the fix was in in Detroit and the Stealers were anointed as the organizers wished for Bettis and Rooney. To me Bill Leavy deserves nothing but disrespect and if this is true his own special and uncomfortable place in hell.

It is frustrating to even think the league is not honest but as time goes on I wonder more and more to the point that I could foresee people switching the games off in disgust as I bet will be the case in N.O. today.

 

[Sports Hernia]

It was a bad call, but it's not like Hasselbeck executed a perfect form tackle on that play, either. It almost looked like he had been skipping tackling drills all season.

There is no call in the rulebook for what they threw a flag on Hass for.
They literally made shit up on the spot, and created a new penalty then and there.
Play the contrarian role all you want, but don’t be surprised when you look like a fool in the process of doing so.

 

[scutterhawk]

So the NFL has picked certain officials on certain crews to do this and the other officials don't know about it?

:roll: And the girl kissed the frog, which turned him back into the Prince "And They Lived Happily Ever After"

 

[fenderbender123]

I rewatched that play. Hass dove to tackle the ball carrier around the knees. There was another Steeler in the area, too. They called an illegal "low block". I don't know all the rules, but isn't it a penalty if you dive and take out the legs of an opposing player who doesn't have the ball? Or something? I mean yeah terrible call but it at least was very slightly understandable.

I don't know the truth. It could be the most rigged game of all time, it could be Leavy doing little things to influence the outcome, or it could have just been a bad game for the officials...maybe they all went out and partied the night before. I don't know.

It's not that I want to be a contrarian. Let's face it I'm not the only person who's sceptical. It's just my nature to give people the benefit of the doubt until I see proof.

Everything that's been mentioned can be explained without saying the official or officials were out to get us. It was 2005 and nobody cared about The Seahawks. And those awful looking all-one-color drab uniforms weren't helping. Pittsburgh has a huge national fan base, Detroit is relatively close to Pittsburgh, etc. That's why it seemed like everything and everyone was against Seattle in that game. Thank God Pete Carroll and co. fixed our marketing/brand issues with better colors, better uniforms, and a unique style of good football.

 

[godawg]

I always felt that the seventh game between the Sonics and Charles Barkley's Phoenix Suns was fixed. The Suns were called for about 11 fouls and the Sonics were called for about 40. As a result, the NBA got its premium matchup between Barkley and Jordan. A few years later, the referee for the game was sent to Federal prison for fixing games. This stuff happens.

 

[irfuben32]

I am 100 percent confident that the game was fixed and that the league was involved.

 

[Rainger]

Please let this story blow up nationally ... and let there be an independent investigation ... and have people go to prison ... and have the Stealers be stripped of that particular *title.

But, it’s the Seahawks. Not holding my breath.


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It will be suppressed like everything else in today's society that reveals all the corruption in every facet of modern life.

 

[Hollandhawk]

Did this thread get resurrected because Bill Leavy died?

 

[DJ_CJ]

The fact the NFL Network has the officiating in this game included in their production of the Top 10 Biggest Blunders in NFL history said what we all had knee years ago. Just an even bigger slap in the face recognizing as so. We let plays happen but to say that the calls in this game didnt effect the outcome is asinine.

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

Crazy that all this passed me over probably because I was dealing with a divorce.

After reading through I just have to say and it does feel wrong to make an allegation on someone who just died but if I was Leavy in the scenario where I was told by the NFL to perhaps “favor” the Steelers, I’d probably try to make some money off of it too. And his taking it to the grave (ugh) and sleepless nights comment seems to point to guilt felt much more devious than just making some bad calls.

Idk. It doesn’t matter though, the pain of that game was washed away in the exhilaration of dominating the Broncos in 48. And I felt 49 only lingered as much as did was because it took awhile for all the noise to die out even though game producers still bring it up seemingly in every national game the Seahawks play but just more of what came out in the aftermath of that game and really how it slowly tore the lockerroom apart. Thank god there a very few trollers spamming Pete should’ve ran it. The last thing I want to say though is the Fail Mary was a catch, simultaneous possession. Sorry.

 

[TwilightError]

Well the last two super bowls were decided by the officials changing how they call the game at the decicive moments of the last drives. Sometimes I feel like getting mad at the NFL refs is like getting mad at the WWE results... I still do get mad though

 

[scutterhawk]

I've asked this before, but why would a Seahawks fan who believes that the NFL is deliberately picking the winners of games and telling the officials to make that happen (and specifically in this case, did that in a Super Bowl), continue to watch the games? That is some irrational behavior, right up there with staying with your significant other who is abusing you.

Because not all Referees are corrupt, and even the ones who are, try not to be too damned obvious too often & draw too much attention to themselves.
Money can corrupt ALL facets of ANY sports event, anyone doubting that it can is lying to themselves.
One big under the table wager, and then play it cool, no one the wiser....Just ask Bill Leavy when you go to the other side. lolol