When the audio for the Stevie Wonder pre-game performance was so terribly bad I had an idea that this Super Bowl was going to be anything but Super.  With respects to my friend, James Morrisett, the venue for the game forced all extreneous activitives indoors as the snow fell outside. Volunteers from local colleges actually had to volunteer their time to shovel snow so the celebrities would not get their expensive shoes wet or dirty. It is the little things that matter. So the scene was then set for the yearly NFL extravaganze with the football game  in between acts.

 What did not matter was the fact that Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw would not be a part of the former Super Bowl MVP presentation due to personal greed. It didn't matter that the NFL brilliantly selected Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady, who was greeted with a chorus of boos from the pro-Pittsburgh crowd, to flip the coin for the ceremonial coin toss. It did not even matter that the Rolling Stones sounded like a newly formed garage band or that Mick Jagger could not remember lyrics that he had been singing for over thirty years. What mattered was the blown calls by officials and missed opportunities by the games participants.

 You had to have a clue that the officiating was going to be bad when the offensive pass interference call was made in the end zone, taking a touchdown away from Seattle. A nit-pick call that never would have been made in the regular season. Then Seattle reciever, Jeremy Stevens, fumbled the ball after catching a pass from Matt Hasselbeck and the officials ruled it an incomplete pass. The Seahawks then aided in their demise when Ben Roethlisburger lofted a pass against the grain of the field and the Seattle defenders stood mesmorized while Hines Ward made camp, went fishing, cooked and ate his meal, then let the ball fall into his arms at the three yard line. Still it took Pittsburgh three plays to be awarded a touchdown when the nose of the ball may or may not have touched the goal line, a contraversial call that will be disputed for decades. Then the Seahawks looked like a group of rookies as they squandered away a precious thirty seconds just before the end of the first half, then missed a field goal that they should have never needed to attempt. Thus, before the Sprint Halftime Show, or Coaches Interview Brought To You By Ford, or The GM Goodwrench, Budwieser, MasterCard First Half Review, Seattle had dominated play, yet they trailed by four points.

 There was for football purists, finally an exciting play when just after  The Second Half Kickoff, Brought To You By Taco Bell,  a pulling Pittsburgh lineman made a perfect block which sprang Willie Parker to a 75 yard touchdown run. But just as Pittsburgh seemed on the cusp of putting the game away early in the third quarter, Seattle db Willie Herndon stepped in front of a Steelers reciever, intercepting the Roethlisberger pass and returning the ball to inside the Steelers twenty yard line before he finally fell in exhaustion. Four plays later the score was Pittsburgh 14, Seattle 10. After a few exchanges of punts Seattle was about to take the lead when officials called a  holding penalty that did not happen. Then Seahawks qb, Matt Hasselbeck, threw an interception and was called for "blocking below the waist" when he made the tackle. Something I've never seen in over 30 years as a player and fan. After an Antwan Randle-El touchdown pass to Hines Ward the score was 21-10 and the game was over.

 I guess in the end what mattered most was not the poor officiating, poor play by the games participants or even the final score. What mattered most is that Hines Ward was going to DisneyWorld and I remembered to watch Grey's Anatomy, coming up right after the game.

 Now all we can do is look forward to next years Super Bowl and hope that the play is better and that the musical entertainment won't  be as antiquated. Though nowing the current atmosphere I suspect that it will likely include Chubby Checker and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

 No sane person would compare football to war. War is a deadly serious business. A lesson that we sadly learned with the tragic death of former Arizona Cardinal, Pat Tillman. Players who call themselves "warriors" deserve all of the ridicule that society visits upon them for football is nothing more than a game that distracts us from the mundane toils of everyday life. If you make a mistake you still get to live to see another day. A luxury that many true warriors do not have. No, there is in the truest sense no comparison between the two.  But there are indeed similarities.

 Despite their obvious differences, the two are quite similar in many ways. Both are primarily about taking possesion of ground tht an opponent is defending. In football, each play is a type of battle. One team is on the offensive and attempting to drive into enemy territory while the other attempts to defend that territory and even drive their opponent  backward. Both use terms such as "Field General", "Bomb",  "Blitz" and "The Trenches". Indeed, the modern T-fomation was even based upon German Panzer strategies used during WWII.

 Like war, in football you attack both on the ground and through the air. One compliments the other. Both are neccessary for a successful plan of attack. Though it is usually the ground game and defense that is the key to victory. During the Gulf War, coalition forces used strictly air power against the Iraqi army for thirty-eight days without displacing them. It took an infantry ground attack to bring the conflict to a conclusion. The old adage is, "Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships."  What has been historically proven is that the key to offensive success is running the football. As legendary coach, Woody Hayes, once said, "When you throw the ball only three things can happen, and two of them are bad." As in war, the air-attack is breathtaking and spectacular, but it is never enough for total victory. That is done on the ground and in the so-called trenches.

 Over the past thirty years there have been teams that attempted to win championships with an offensive strategy that relied mainly upon attacking through the air. Few have been successful. During the mid to late 1970's, Don Coryell was a coach who loved to employ his passing game as his primary weapon. As head coach of the San Diego Chargers, he had quarterback Dan Fouts, who threw to a talented recieving corps that included Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow Sr. Coryell met with some initial success. His Chargers made the playoffs consistantly, but never could win a championship. They would always get outscored by equally talented opponents. Then in the 1980's, Mouse Davis, used his run and shoot offense with the Houston Gamblers, of the USFL  and though his team made the playoffs they never won a playoff game.  When he brought the run and shoot to the NFL it was a total failure.  Hall of Fame coach, Don Shula, made it as far as the Super Bowl with the arm of quarterback Dan Marino, but could not repeat the success that he had when running backs  Larry Csonka, Jim Kick and Mercury Morris were his weapons of choice.  Steve Spurrier, with his passing offense, lasted only two seasons as coach of the Washington Redskins. Season after season, the old adage is proven true.

  This season, the Indianapolis Colts have proven it again. With their mediocre ground game shut down by the Pittsburgh Steelers, they were forced to rely on attacking through the air with their primary weapon, Peyton Manning. Such a one-dimensional attack is nothing more than a recipe for failure, for even a player as great as Manning cannot carry his team to victory through the air alone, A fact that was proven by Vince Young in the BCS Championship game. When under a heavy rush and unable to find an open reciever, Young was able to run for yardage and lead his team to victory.  As a pure passer, Manning needs excellent protection by his offensive line, something the Steelers defense did not allow. The stingy Pittsburgh defense used blitzes to keep Manning off balance and did not give him time to locate an open reciever and the Colts were never able to make the proper adjustments. In another case of strategy and coaching overcoming talent, the resulting confusion was just enough for Pittsburgh to claim the victory.

 A special thanks to Forgotten Fan for information on the Houston Gamblers.