Watchdog

I'll let Glauber and McNamara figure out what the heck just happened in football and betting terms on the final play of the Chargers-Steelers game, in which the Steelers didn't cover the spread, then did, then didn't. There was an illegal forward pass in there somewhere, although I'm not sure where.

Anyway, my jurisdiction extends only to the TV end of it, and I am pleased to announce Jim Nantz came through . . . barely.

While the confusing ending was being sorted out and the score went from 11-10 to 17-10 to 11-10, I kept thinking Al Michaels surely would have come up with one of his trademark veiled references to the effect on those who gambled on the game, in which the Steelers were favored by 5.

Nantz said nothing until just before CBS signed off, when he finally hinted at what much of America was thinking:

"I know there's a lot of people now who will be happy there was an 11-10 final. It deserves it, as strange as it was."

(Unless . . . Nantz just was referring to the fact there never had been an 11-10 final in NFL history and people might be enjoying the novelty of that. I doubt it, but maybe. Lemme know, Jim.)

(UPDATE: Bob Costas joined the fun at halftime of the Sunday night game, saying something to the effect of "others cared for other reasons" after Cris Collinsworth pointed out the possible impact on the point differential tiebreaker of the bogus illegal forward pass call. Yikes. This is going to go down as one of the most notorious incidents in NFL gambling history, my friends.)