SUPER BOWL XL MIRED IN CONTROVERSY

By Harley Wyatt
NEWS WIRE SPORTS

DETROIT, MI - This year's Super Bowl is shaping up to be the most controversial since Janet's mammary made a surprise appearance during the halftime show two years ago. With NFL officials still reeling from the embarrassment of the blown interception call two weeks ago in Indy, a large shadow of doubt has been cast across the offices of Mike Pereira, NFL Director of Officiating.

Charges of favoritism and trying to orchestrate the "ultimate" Super Bowl by having the media darling Colts advance over the lunchbucket Steelers have been called "absurd" by league spokespeople. Other charges of referees having a vested interest in the game by placing wagers with offshore sportsbooks in Costa Rica were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Nonetheless, the whole incident has raised the hackles of league commissioner Paul Tagliabue who has vowed to uphold the integrity of his officials and promised fair and unbiased officiating at this year's main event.
Others are not convinced and say that this has become typical in recent years as the NFL tries to maximize viewership of the game by having 'marquee matchups' such as last year's Eagles vs. Patriots game.

An enraged Doug Krikorian, a columnist for Press Telegram was quoted as saying: "…the NFL officials, indisputably the most incompetent in professional sports, will flash the same awful form in the Super Bowl that they do during the regular season, too often making ridiculous calls that make sense to no one but themselves and their Park Avenue enablers in New York, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira."

Pereira has acknowledged that Pete Morelli had made a mistake although no disciplinary action has been taken. Krikorian went on to say, "When you have a bunch of guys who have 9-to-5 jobs during the week and suddenly find themselves on weekends working important NFL games in front of 80,000 passionate folk, you're going to wind up with guys like Pete Morelli who freeze up in crisis moments.".

Not everyone is upset with the NFL's bumbling officials. A caller to a sports radio talk-show in New York expressed his opinion on the game this way. "I'm disappointed the Colts lost because I put a ton of money on them with my bookie. When Morelli made that call I could have kissed him, they should run that bum Vanderjagt out of town!"

Offshore sportsbooks like www.nine.com located in Costa Rica have posted the smallest pointspread on the Super Bowl contenders in recent memory, which has left many gamblers scratching their heads. Instead of looking at stats and matchups, many are focused on how the game is going to be called. If you want a sure winner this year you may only have to ask the ref's bookie which side he bet on.

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