Area fans can't root for the "Stealers"

If the mere mention of the Pittsburgh Steelers still makes you hyperventilate with rage, you might want to consult a doctor before consuming this fact:

With a victory today, the Steelers will stand alone with an NFL-record six Super Bowl triumphs.

(Breathe, darn it. Breathe!)

And, yes, we're still counting Super Bowl XL.

(OK, call the paramedics and the cops, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the Dalai Lama. We have a situation.)

Unfortunately, we must go there. Again. The Steelers are back in the Supe, only here there are memories of three years ago, when bad officiating marred the Seahawks' attempt to win their first championship.

Much time has passed, but the sting persists. Some wounds never heal. Even worse, some wounds throb incessantly.

Get over it?

Get outta here.

"I don't think many fans ever will get over it," said Mike Gastineau, a talk-show host on KJR-AM. "I used to say on the air, 'You gotta get over it.' I don't say that anymore. After thinking about it, after remembering the preposterously bad calls, I think, 'You know what? You don't have to get over it.' The bad calls were so egregious that fans have a right to still be ticked off.' "

Gastineau grew up in Indiana and came to Seattle to work for KJR 18 years ago. He has never been one to let bad officiating ruin his sports experience because he remembers, as a child, listening to his father struggle through Indiana University basketball games while complaining about the refs.

"Philosophically, I believe you can't let the refs impinge on your joy of the game," Gastineau says.

Unless you're referring to Super Bowl XL.

You remember it well. The sketchy pass-interference call on Darrell Jackson in the end zone? The iffy holding penalty on Sean Locklear? The inexplicable illegal-block call on Matt Hasselbeck when he was trying to make a tackle after throwing an interception?

(Calm. Down. Please.)

Those were just a few of the questionable calls that remain sources of anger. But talk to different Seahawks players or fans, and they'll give you others that left them disgusted that the referees could be so bad on such an important day.

Should Etric Pruitt really have been whistled for holding on Peter Warrick's 34-yard punt return? Did Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger really get in the end zone late in the second quarter? The list of complaints goes on and on.

But in 2009, the rest of the sports world doesn't care. National sports columnists mentioned the lousy officiating three years ago, but today, it won't even come up as the Steelers try to make history.

Around here, they're mockingly referred to as the Stealers. The sting persists.

Hasselbeck was asked about his rooting interests on the radio last week. It's an interesting conundrum for those in a Seahawks-centric world. Do you go for Arizona, an NFC West rival? Or the Steelers, the recipients of a 21-10 victory that you consider a hosing?

"You cannot root for Darth Vader," Hasselbeck said on KJR. "The Steelers are Darth Vader."

The Seahawks are left to wonder when they'll get so close to a championship again. As they've regressed the past three years, the lost opportunity has grown even more unbearable.

"The distance has only made you realize how precious a Super Bowl appearance is," Gastineau said. "It might be another 40 years before they get back. For some people, they might never see the Seahawks in a Super Bowl again in their lifetime."

If it took another 40 years, the only bright spot is that Bob Waggoner, the infamous Super Bowl XL back judge from Pittsburgh, wouldn't be around to work the game.

Other than that, the wait for redemption will be a difficult one in Seattle. The Seahawks can't change the result, and instead of whining about the refs' mistakes, they've mostly chosen to remember their own errors. As bad as the officials were, the Seahawks didn't play well.

And so Pittsburgh has become an enemy, a reminder of a day that should've been better. The NFL doesn't give asterisks to Super Bowls won under such circumstances, so the Steelers didn't act like unworthy champions then, and they won't if they beat Arizona today.

Around here, however, Seahawks fans see an invisible asterisk. And they're so hoping the Stealers will fall on their asterisks today.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com