There was 5:26 left in Sunday’s game between the Steelers and the Colts, and the Steelers were winning, 21-10. Strong Safety Troy Polamalu intercepted a Peyton Manning pass, fell, and fumbled. He recovered his own fumble, and the game was all but over,

EXCEPT for the unfortunate fact that the League wanted the Indianapolis Colts, this year’s “team of destiny™,” to win the game. Corrupt NFL referee Pete Morelli, who might or might not have contacted Democrat Congressmen for Jack Abramoff went through the motions of viewing the tape, but his mind was made up. He had orders from on high – the league’s front office – to see to it that the Colts won. The interception was reversed, and Peyton Manning led the Colts to a touchdown and a two-point conversation, narrowing the score to a field goal, 21-18.

The NFL spoke kindly of their agent, Morelli:

read on…

“The issue was whether he had possession. The ball came loose when he was getting up. Pete Morelli determined it wasn’t a catch,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. “That was his judgment.”

Steelers Linebacker Joey Porter knows what happened:

“It’s like they were out there saying, ‘We don’t care if you know it. We’re cheating for Indianapolis.’ They definitely wanted the Colts to move on, not us.”

Porter was incensed that an apparent interception by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu was overturned after a replay review with 5:26 to go.

“We’re out there fighting so hard. All we want is for the refs to call a fair game. Don’t take it away from us.”

“I felt they were cheating us. When the interception happened, everybody in the world knew that was an interception. Don’t cheat us that bad. When they did that, they really want Peyton Manning and these guys to win the Super Bowl. They are just going to straight take it for them. I felt that they were like ‘We don’t even care if you know we’re cheating. We’re cheating for them.’

[ . . . ]
“The way the refs were going, I wouldn’t have trusted them in overtime. If we hadn’t won, they would have cheated us in overtime.”

The league was then forced to back down, through their vice-president of officiating Mike Pereira:

“The definition of a catch — or in this case an interception — states that in the process of making a catch a player must maintain possession of the ball after he contacts the ground,” Pereira said.

“The initial call on the field was that Troy Polamalu intercepted the pass because he maintained possession of the ball after hitting the ground. The replay showed that Polamalu had rolled over and was rising to his feet when the ball came loose. He maintained possession long enough to establish a catch. Therefore, the replay review should have upheld the call on the field that it was a catch and fumble.

“The rule regarding the performing of an act common to the game applies when there is contact with a defensive player and the ball comes loose, which did not happen here.”

As best I can see it, the NFL has no more sweetheart teams in the playoffs, so there should be no more intentional bad calls. That does not mean that the individual refs cannot act on behalf of their personally preferred teams. It works for the Big 10, after all.