Superbowl XL referee Bill Leavy passes away at 76

[seabowl]

Bill Levy, who refereed Superbowl XL between the Seahawks, and the Steelers passed away at age 76. Unfortunately, he was known as the one who affected the game, making numerous bad calls and literally handing the game to the Steelers. I truly felt that the Seahawks were the way better team and deserved to win the Super Bowl that year. I remember being at the NFC championship game and thought no matter who they played they would win the Super Bowl.

With that said, he came out and admitted his errors, and I have nothing but respect for that man. Refereeing is a very, very difficult and thankless job. We are all human.

You were forgiven a long time ago and may you rest in peace, Mr. Leavy.

Former NFL referee Bill Leavy dies at 76

Bill Leavy, a former NFL referee best known for officiating Super Bowl XL between the Steelers and Seahawks, has died.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[Jerhawk]

Rest in peace

 

[rjas77]

that closes the book on what he knew doesn’t it?

 

[Cyrus12]

He was just the puppet...

 

[Sports Hernia]

Am I a bad person for saying I’m not sad over this event?
Dude was involved in one of the biggest fixes in sport’s history.


Also……Did you know Jerome Bettis was from Detroit?

 

[hgwellz12]

 

[nwHawk]

Gone, but never forgotten.

 

[BlueTalon]

I can't really say what I think about the corpse. Let's just say -- neither forgiven nor forgotten.

 

[seabowl]

I have to admit I’m a little surprised at some of the comments on here. Anytime I hear people mentioning any type of conspiracy issue within the NFL, my response always is “if the NFL is truly trying to fix games how come in all these years nobody credible has ever come out saying they were told to fix a game and then had others back them up stating this is true?“.

The bad calls in this game were:

1- Ticky tack offensive pass interference on Darrell Jackson.
2- Ben not officially getting over the goal line as one ref signaled a he was stopped only to be over turned
3- Ticky tack, holding call on our right tackle which negated a Jeremy Stevens catch down at the one or 2 yard line
4- a penalty on Matt Hasselbeck for tackling a guy after an interception

Other than the Hasselbeck call none of these were completely egregious. Were they bad calls? Yes. Do these happen all the time? Yes. Was this a conspiracy against the Seahawks?

In my mind absolutely not. Again, bad calls happen all the time. There were two in this game that were ticky-tacky, one on the Ben TD that should’ve been made right via replay, and one on Hasselbeck that should’ve never been called at all.

Human error happens and we got bit that game mightily bad by it. It sucked, it hurt, but again there is no way I believe this was done on purpose.

 

[pittpnthrs]

I have to admit I’m a little surprised at some of the comments on here. Anytime I hear people mentioning any type of conspiracy issue within the NFL, my response always is “if the NFL is truly trying to fix games how come in all these years nobody credible has ever come out saying they were told to fix a game and then had others back them up stating this is true?“.

The bad calls in this game were:

1- Ticky tack offensive pass interference on Darrell Jackson.
2- Ben not officially getting over the goal line as one ref signaled a he was stopped only to be over turned
3- Ticky tack, holding call on our right tackle which negated a Jeremy Stevens catch down at the one or 2 yard line
4- a penalty on Matt Hasselbeck for tackling a guy after an interception

Other than the Hasselbeck call none of these were completely egregious. Were they bad calls? Yes. Do these happen all the time? Yes. Was this a conspiracy against the Seahawks?

In my mind absolutely not. Again, bad calls happen all the time. There were two in this game that were ticky-tacky, one on the Ben TD that should’ve been made right via replay, and one on Hasselbeck that should’ve never been called at all.

Human error happens and we got bit that game mightily bad by it. It sucked, it hurt, but again there is no way I believe this was done on purpose.

Come on man. The NFL was never going to allow Seattle to win that game. They would have lost way to much money plus the stage was set for Bettis to ride out in the sunset in front of his home town. Ticky tack calls or not, did you notice they were all against Seattle?

As for Leavy, if it wasnt him it would have just been somebody else.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

On the play that should have set up first and goal and got negated by the holding call, not only did they call the ticky-tack holding, but they also missed the Steelers jumping offside on the play. I honestly thought that's what the flag was originally

 

[WmHBonney]

From the linked article: “I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game and as an official you never want to do that."
Well, he got this part correct.

 

[SeAhAwKeR4life]

When I think about it, and just how awful the calls were, versus the result a few years later when we dominated Denver, yeah I still wonder. No I don't think a giant NFL conspiracy makes sense, but a gambling ref or two, yeah it could've been, yet we'll probably never know. So I prefer to think it's just an awful job by officials. Sure feels fixed, but that counts on too much. Overall jus seems too much a stretch.

I mean you wonder, why didn't the NFL fix it for Peyton Manning in our next SuperbOwl?

I still sometyimes think it had to be influenced, but realistically seems a longshot.

 

[rjas77]

The calls never allowed the seahawks to establish any rhythm which in a west coast offense is critical. Leavy knew that

 

[ZornLargentPatera]

Bill Levy, who refereed Superbowl XL between the Seahawks, and the Steelers passed away.

My mother told me if you don't have anything nice to say about someone, then don't say anything at all.

So....

 

[AROS]

Despite my feelings about the game, the officiating, the fix, et al...

I will always respect and admire the man for coming to Seattle years later and admitting his part in the terrible calls that were made one-sidedly. I can't recall ever in the history of the NFL before or since an official admitting he made a wrong call in a game that impacted the game's outcome.

 

[BlueTalon]

Despite my feelings about the game, the officiating, the fix, et al...

I will always respect and admire the man for coming to Seattle years later and admitting his part in the terrible calls that were made one-sidedly. I can't recall ever in the history of the NFL before or since an official admitting he made a wrong call in a game that impacted the game's outcome.

Not me. He wasn't nearly specific enough in his mea culpa. When someone apologizes and asks for forgiveness (which he didn't do), they don't get to just say "I did a couple of things I regret" and have that be enough. Plus, he had a lot more to answer for than just a couple of calls in the 4th. His admission was weak sauce, and struck me as the minimum he could say and still get credit for apologizing from some circles, while leaving as much as possible left unsaid and unaddressed.

No admiration or respect from this corner of the internet. None whatsoever.

 

[BlueTalon]

On the play that should have set up first and goal and got negated by the holding call, not only did they call the ticky-tack holding, but they also missed the Steelers jumping offside on the play. I honestly thought that's what the flag was originally

Me too. I was at a bar in Texas with two of my Seahawk loving friends, with half of everyone else wearing piss-&-black. As soon as it happened, I yelled "Free play!" and then celebrated the JS catch. Then when they announced what the call on the field really was, I said, "They're not going to let us win."

After the game, I congratulated all the piss-&-black fans I came in contact with. Not a single one of them said anything with bravado, and most of them looked ashamed.

 

[Boohman14]

I always felt that the biggest tragedy was that the fans of the NFL were robbed of a potentially great game. I was just sick after that game. It was worse that the New Gangland loss because we weren't allowed to play on a level field. The NFL had egg on it's face afterwards. Most fans thought the calls were bogus. Also, Pittsburgh's defensive end was offsides nearly every play on defense. John Madden was great in his opinions presented during the game.

 

[CalgaryFan05]

Bill Levy, who refereed Superbowl XL between the Seahawks, and the Steelers passed away at age 76. Unfortunately, he was known as the one who affected the game, making numerous bad calls and literally handing the game to the Steelers. I truly felt that the Seahawks were the way better team and deserved to win the Super Bowl that year. I remember being at the NFC championship game and thought no matter who they played they would win the Super Bowl.

With that said, he came out and admitted his errors, and I have nothing but respect for that man. Refereeing is a very, very difficult and thankless job. We are all human.

You were forgiven a long time ago and may you rest in peace, Mr. Leavy.

Former NFL referee Bill Leavy dies at 76

Bill Leavy, a former NFL referee best known for officiating Super Bowl XL between the Steelers and Seahawks, has died.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Not really sure how I feel about this one -

I do know that overall I'm not 'over' XL - but I just don't think about it much anymore.

Agree with another poster - if it wasn't him, it would have been someone else. Munich has taught us that much. If you can call a game like that with the commish in the stands mugging for the camera while it's happening - well, the Bettis love-fest XL debacle is entirely conceivable.

The one thing that I do notice over time, and in comments from people like Aros - who attended the game - is how stacked is was at the stadium. From all the terrible towels and lack of hawks merch/representation. I wasn't there - but it sounds like it was pretty one sided. This supports the 'if not him, who' theory.

I guess 'RIP' dude. But, at the end of the day if you don't want to be remembered for this kinda shit - well, then don't do this kinda shit. It was more egregious than 2 calls that got 'kicked' - and we all know it.