Lost to History (OT)

Yesterday was the day of America's other Christmas, the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs won, but they had to have help from the refs. The game was high scoring and tied right near the end—both things we normally want to see in a Super Bowl—but then the game got ruined. With less than two minutes to go the Chiefs were given an unearned extra set of downs. So we'll never actually get to know what would have happened. Could have gone one way; could have gone the other. Lost to history now.

No dog in the fight. No connection to either team.

Here's CCN's curated collection of the best still photos from the event. And one extra for good measure, for halftime show fans. And finally, some great photos from the other 56 Super Bowls, starting at number one in 1967.

Herodotus, in Book I of his Histories, tells us that the great Athenian statesman Solon, one of the seven great wise men of ancient Greece, wouldn't call anyone happy until their life had ended; for only then could it be certain that no further catastrophe lay waiting. "O Solon! O Solon! O Solon!" cried poor doomed King Croesus on the pyre, "Count no man happy until his end is known!"

Great game, till it was ruined. Now it has a big fat asterisk next to it forever. Too bad.

Mike

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Featured Comments from:

Richard Barbour: "Sorry, I don't know where it's written that the refs don't call deserved penalties near the end of a game. Or even why anyone would question it."

Mike replies: Sorry, no sale. 1.) The refs hadn't been calling penalties for minor holding all game long. 2.) Neither the grab nor the hand on the back impeded the progress of the receiver or changed his course in any way. 3.) The ball was un-catchable, thrown way over the receiver's head. 4.) The ref didn't call the momentary jersey grab when it happened, but waited till he saw the play didn't work, which meant the Chiefs would have faced fourth down and a field goal leaving time on the clock. I can't speak to motive, so I won't, but it was a bad call.

The Chiefs got robbed as much as the Eagles. They were deprived of the opportunity to win the game on merit.

Albert Smith (partial comment): "I know that I'm in the extreme minority, but I have less than zero interest in any of these sports events, Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup, etc. ... When I was a kid there were many movies made in the '50s about WWII, and one recurring thing was when soldiers were trying to determine the authenticity of other soldiers encountered, they'd ask something like, 'Who won the 1939 World Series?' The German soldiers in American uniforms would be tripped up and exposed. The number of times that this trope appeared in movies made me think that I could never be in the military. I couldn't tell you who won any sporting event last week."

Jeff (partial comment): "Also no dog in the fight here. ... The Eagles could have won instead had they not: 1.) given up the longest punt return in Super Bowl history (and at a crucial time)…their special teams were horrible all year; 2.) committed the only significant turnover of the game, a fumble by the QB, resulting in an opposing TD; and 3.) failed miserably on defense in the always crucial second half, permitting the Chiefs to complete every pass attempt (except a deliberate throw-away), and allowing six yards per carry on rushing attempts, with every drive resulting in a Chiefs’ score."

Comments

[Rand Scott Adams]

Are not the rules, “part of the game?” Are not humans fallible and the “calls” more or less equally distributed? Is not part of the “lore” the endless disputes over “what might have been?”

What’s to be lamented? Nothing is lost to history. What happened in toto, IS history.

[Mark]

Not a huge NFL fan, so I wasn't watching when the holding call happened. I'm sure everyone in Philadelphia disagrees, but the concensus seems to be that it was a legit penalty. A pretty good story at ESPN.com supports this conclusion, and also offers lots of analysis as to why the Chiefs beat the Eagles in the second half. Your OT columns are always a fun read.

[Bryan Geyer]

In the L. A. Times report (of Monday morning) on the game, Eagles cornerback James Bradberry is quoted as saying that yes, he did hold onto the receiver's shirt, but felt that the foul would get overlooked.

The officials "call ’em as they see ’em". They saw a foul, and invoked the related penalty. Hey, them's the rules.

[james Weekes]

The offending Eagle on that penalty said the, yes, he held and hoped they'd let it pass. I was not theft.

I had no dog in the fight either, so it is not through red-tinged glasses. A great game that deserves no Asterix.

[Albert Smith]

I know that I'm in the extreme minority, but I have less than zero interest in any of these sports events, Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup, etc. I'm baffled by people that can't tell you how many amendments are in the constitution or how many members of Congress are in the Capital Building, yet can name every winner with scores from every game in the last ten years. And don't get me started on obese junk food eaters spending hours on the couch watching athletes.

One funny thing, when I was a kid there were many movies made in the '50s about WWII, and one recurring thing was when soldiers were trying to determine the authenticity of other soldiers encountered, they'd ask something like, "Who won the 1939 World Series?" The German soldiers in American uniforms would be tripped up and exposed.

The number of times that this trope appeared in movies made me think that I could never be in the military. I couldn't tell you who won any sporting event last week.

[Jeff]

Also no dog in the fight here. But while the game could have had a much more exciting ending, it hardly deserves an asterisk by NFL standards and past big-game history. The player who committed the defensive holding penalty (not called pass interference; a different penalty and standard), freely admitted in an interview after the game that he committed the hold, just wishing the ref wouldn’t have noticed or called it. Most expert commentators agreed it was a foul.

The Eagles could have won instead had they not: 1) given up the longest punt return in Super Bowl history (and at a crucial time)…their special teams were horrible all year; 2) committed the only significant turnover of the game, a fumble by the QB, resulting in an opposing TD; and 3) failed miserably on defense in the always crucial second half, permitting the Chiefs to complete EVERY pass attempt (except a deliberate throw-away), and allowing 6 yards per carry on rushing attempts, with every drive resulting in a Chiefs’ score. A great game, and a could-have-been dramatic ending, but hardly a robbery requiring an asterisk.

[Nancy Chelmen]

Did Bradberry grab Smith-Schuster a bit? Yes. Does that flag get thrown every time? No. After the game, Bradberry told reporters that the officials made the right call.

"I pulled on his jersey. They called it. I was hoping they would let it ride," Bradberry said, via CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson.

[Adirondack Pete]

The “catchable” standard applies to pass interference calls, not defensive holding. There were calls that were made, and were not made against both teams. Sorry Mike, but your “no sale” comment doesn’t hold up, and, I’m afraid, points to a bias you brought to the situation, rather conscious or not. As the Eagles coach remarked after the game, the outcome of a game doesn’t rest on one call, or one play. It was a great game, and an earned victory for the Chiefs who dominated the second half.

[Hugh]

It was a perfect day to go on a hike. Is Joe Montana still the quarterback?

[Jeff]

Mike wrote: “The Chiefs got robbed as much as the Eagles. They were deprived of the opportunity to win the game on merit.” I disagree. The fans got robbed of a potentially more dramatic ending, but the Chiefs earned victory. I actually wanted the Eagles to win, but respect the Chiefs for embarrassing the Eagles in the second half, when champions are made. Not only did the Chiefs repeatedly score, receivers were open by more than 10 yards on two separate goal line possessions. In a Super Bowl, no less, and against a team touted as having a premier defense. An Eagles calling-card entering the contest was its defensive line pressures and number of sacks. They had zero all game! Andy Reid out-schemed and out-coached the opposition, plain and simple. And Patrick Mahomes was spectacular, despite a bad injury. The Eagles had a phenomenal first half (except for the crucial fumble), keeping the Chiefs off the field. But the Chiefs made adjustments and earned the win in the second half. Kudos.

[All that is what got them TIED, not what won them the game. An arbitrary, questionable, controversial call is why they WON the game. The call is what decided the outcome.

American football is a very unsatisfying sport to me. I've stopped watching it during several extended periods during my life. It's just way too contrived, and not pure in any sense. It equates to war--"the moral equivalent of war"--which is why people don't mind that it's not fair. War isn't fair either. I'm going to think about walking away from it again, rejoining people like Albert and Hugh. --Mike]

[Paul.S]

Not much of a professional sports fan for at the very least a couple of decades now. However, I am quite sure as a former athlete, we could dissect every professional game ever played from start to finish and find numerous moments or plays (as small as they may seem in the early going) that could have changed the final result. Rule changes and the evolution of the game has made these sports very different from their previous generations. Very rarely will we find an absolute officiated call that would have changed the end result. It is easy picking though.

[Jeff]

One more thing. Coaching details sometimes matter. Bill Belichick, savvy Patriots coach, always had his team wear white gloves when the opposing team wore white jerseys. The Eagles wore black gloves against the white-shirted Chiefs, possibly making the defensive holding more obvious. Live and learn, Nick Sirianni.

[Jeff]

“All that is what got them TIED, not what won them the game. An arbitrary, questionable, controversial call is why they WON the game. The call is what decided the outcome.”

No, last I checked, 38 is more than 35… the Chiefs got the lead, not the tie. They were in field goal position regardless. And because the Eagles blatantly couldn’t cover receivers (two embarrassing TD’s with wide open receivers in the end zone in the second half, and another first half defensive holding call on a Chiefs’ third down). The refs were on alert for exactly this type of penalty.

All professional sports with referees have the same human element; ‘balls and strikes’ throughout the contest, any one of which could theoretically change the outcome. But pro football remains my favorite, ever since ‘my’ Baltimore Colts won the first ‘sudden death’ overtime championship in 1958 when I was 8 years old. That was the game that eventually propelled pro football over baseball as America’s most popular TV entertainment.

[Alex G.]

"The number of times that this trope appeared in movies made me think that I could never be in the military. I couldn't tell you who won any sporting event last week."

This has been a recurring nightmare for me as well. I recall one movie where the question was something like, "Name the starting line up of the Yankees." I'd be shot as a traitor for sure. I can see Lambeau Field from my kitchen, but I'd have trouble naming more than four Packers and I think we have four Super Bowl wins, but I couldn't tell you which years.

[Roger]

Part of my misspent youth involved a friend who was an absolute sports fanatic. It did not matter what sport it was, if it involved two or more people and was on TV, he watched it. All day, all night, all sports all of the time.

It was aversion therapy for me. To this day I have zero interest in any form of sport. There's an entire section of the newspaper that I skip completely. It's bliss, actually.

Super Bowl? Hell, I don't even pay attention to the ads.

[Olybacker]

Over here in England, I admire the Photo Editors, for Sports Illustrated and other media outlets, who have to - in these digital days - view hundreds, perhaps thousands of images and make their selection, sometimes against very tight deadlines.

[Kirk]

I asked my swim coach today about the big Super Bowl game that happened on Sunday. She looked across a pool filled with all manner of great swimmers. Looked off into the horizon as the sun was rising. Sighed and said, "Football is for people who can't swim."

I nodded, tightened the strap on my goggles and thanked God that some people still prefer to participate instead of being passive spectators, and jumped into the pool to start swim practice.

An added benefit of being a participant instead of a passive spectator is that there are no ads, no merchandizing, no consumer manipulations in true sports. Just fresh water or open roads and man against distance against time. The way nature and the universe intended for us to play.

[Daniel]

As one Sportscaster has noted the Eagles wore black gloves & KC white uniforms. A few years back Patriots Coach Belechick saw the color of uniforms the opposition wore and matched it with gloves of the same color. Much more difficult to spot holding.
Yep, it was called. Robbed? No, if it was not called we would be hearing KC fans whining about a missed call.

Coaching was the difference.

I don't watch the games. Too many commercials and not enough analysis. Besides, if I am not shooting an event I don't go or watch. NFL, MLB, F1 racing..., whatever. Love photographing them for publications but more fun is Pop warner, T-ball and the like. Pure fun, not a business - even with Little League parents.

[James Weekes]

Some wag stated that professional sports are romance novels for men.

[Dan S]

Sorry Mike, whining about a single call when they were out coached and outplayed is pretty lame. (The vast majority of the 2nd half) The player himself admitted to it. Nuff said.