These shots were taken live by me at the game. It was deafeningly LOUD in there, and we made as much noise as possible. I'm still a little hoarse.
Game was really enjoyable in person, however, the blown call at the end was just egregious. The NFL has really got to do something to address the issue of blown calls. Not sure what the right answer is, but I don't see what harm it would do to allow challenges to be used for penalties as well as receptions, etc.
The refs are human and it's a fast-moving, technical game, so there's always going to be blown calls. The players and coaches certainly make mistakes, so it's unreasonable to expect the refs to be perfect. Allowing teams to use the challenges they already have to challenge penalties would probably be about the best solution we're going to get, as no one wants to see the game slowed to a crawl by a million reviews.
All that said, it was starting to become an ugly scene in there at the end. Despite numerous announcements and warnings, the crowd was angry and throwing stuff. Which of course just ended up landing on people in the lower levels of the stadium; fortunately, no one was hurt. I didn't see any fights, but there was definitely a lot of anger, even after the crowd spilled out on the street in front of the Superdome.
I have to agree with the sports analysts who've said that, despite what people think, game-changing blown calls are actually extremely rare. This may have been the first time in NFL history where there simply was zero doubt that the call changed the outcome of the game. Which is sad, because A) fans feel cheated and, B) a lot of people will now consider the Super Bowl illegitimate. That's probably a first.
