An Ellensburg, WA man has filed a lawsuit contesting the results of the Seattle Seahawks’ 27-20 loss to the St. Louis Rams in the first round of the NFC playoffs. The suit alleges malfeasance, misconduct or errors by referees resulted in nine penalties on the Seahawks, “several of which kept Ram drives alive when they would have faced fourth down situations.”
Apparently inspired by the unsportsmanlike manner in which failed GOP gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi has blamed his own loss on the officials, longtime Seahawks fan and political blog connoisseur John Slyfield claims that failure to replay the game “could harm the integrity of the game, by not allowing mistakes to be corrected.” Impartial observers — like Seahawk Cornerback Ken Lucas — apparently agree:
“The refs made some very questionable calls today,” Lucas said. “There was one call I thought I did, and that was the hands to the face. The other two I thought were questionable. But they made the calls, and that’s been the story for us this year, calls made against us.”
The lawsuit comes in the wake of a rising tide of public opinion in favor of a new game, fueled by inflammatory rhetoric coming from local sports radio. Radio hosts and callers are particularly irate about a “phantom” fourth-quarter illegal contact call on cornerback Marcus Trufant, that set up the Rams with a first down at the Seattle 30, on a drive that eventually led to a tying touchdown.
Seahawk boosters have reportedly reserved the domain “replaywa.com”, but rumors of a planned “victory parade” through downtown Seattle could not be confirmed.