Super Bowl Hangover: What a Difference a Yard Makes

Post Super Bowl: When all we couch potatoes get to second guess and redicule a man who, during the past 42 years, has coached for six college and five NFL teams and has won an Orange Bowl, two national college championships and a Super Bowl.

This year, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll took his team to their second Super Bowl in a row. Last year they routed the Denver Broncos; this year they lost to the New England Patriots.

Barely.

For those who missed a spectacular ending here's a summary:  Down by only four points, 20 seconds left in the game, Seattle is less than one yard from a touchdown that would win them their second Super Bowl championship in a row. Instead of giving the ball to the "Beast Mode" Marshawn Lynch, arguably the best running back in the galaxy, according to some, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson passes to Seattle wide receiver Chris Matthews but it is intercepted by New England cornerback Malcom Butler. Patriots win, 28-24.

Why? Why did Seattle pass instead of run? It seems to be the question of the century. Pete Carroll took full responsibility.

"He's a moron," one grossly overweight drunken custumor told me. "He should be fired."

With the closest NFL teams from Missoula being Denver (896.8 miles) and Seattle (476.5 miles) we seem to have a lot of Seahawks fans in town. Apparently it's a tribe with a large territory.  A lot of them showed up at the store last night. Some were drunk. Some were sad. Some were angry. A few were insanely livid.

"New England cheated."
"The game was rigged."

"Do you think they could keep everyone involved silent if they rigged and fixed the Super Bowl?" I asked a custumor. "How could they do that?"
"Money talks, dude," he said. "New England's coach is friends with the NFL commissioner and Tom Brady's their special pretty boy . . . they let them win; they fixed it."
"But Russell Wilson has God on his side," I reply, "Is the NFL commissioner more powerful than God?
"Fuck yes," he says. "They got money, dude. I have no doubt it was fixed."

Another drunk customer was downright seething. "The most fucked up call in the history of football," he said. "What a fucking idiot." (I presume he meant Pete Carroll.) "Why . . . Why would anyone be so stupid? Why didn't they give it to Marshawn?"
"He was likely trying to fool New England," I replied. "The element of surprise. Catch them off guard, do what they least expect. The Patriots have a pretty solid goal-line defense and were probably expecting them to give it to Marshawn. They probably would have stopped him. If the pass would have worked, everyone would consider it brilliant."
"Oh bullshit," the guy said. "Nobody stops Marshawn. It was fucking stupid. What are you, a football coach now?"
"No," I said, "But Pete Carroll is."
"He's an asshole," the guy said. "A big fucking asshole."