Wake-up call: Steelers, Chargers, Troy Polamalu, Kings, Ducks, Donovan McNabb

First things first: The Pittsburgh Steelers played the San Diego Chargers last night. The big story of this game was not the snowy conditions or the oddball final score of 11-10 in favor of the Steelers. Nor was it the wild last play by the Chargers, who threw at least two laterals -- the last into the hands of ex-USC star Troy Polamalu (seen above on an earlier play), who took it for an apparent touchdown with no time left. No, the real story is that $100 million was bet on this game, two-thirds of it on the Steelers, who were five-point favorites. That touchdown gave a lot of bettors reason to yell in joy. Ah, but then came a video review. The officiating crew said no touchdown because the lateral was actually an illegal forward pass. Pittsburgh bettors lost. After the game, the official admitted that a mistake was made, and the touchdown should have counted. That meant a swing of more than $60 million within seconds.

Steelers-Chargers II: The vice president of officiating for the NFL, Mike Pereira, was on the Dan Patrick radio show this morning and said yes he saw the play as it happened. "I was trying to figure out what the heck was going on," he admitted. Should it have been called a touchdown? "Yes," said Pereira, who added that no one is happy with what happened and the biggest problem now is "how do we figure out how to not let this happen again." He added, "We had a miscommunication by the crew, kind of amazing." Pereira does not advocate moving officiating decisions to some headquarters, as the NHL does on controversial goals. "We need to leave officiating on the field ... and we need to expect them to be right."

And finally: Here are two videos of Troy Polamalu in last night's game: one amazing interception (photo above) and the other the second is the end-of-game call. Enjoy. The interception. And the last play.

Manny suspension? ESPN is reporting that a week before Boston traded Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers late last July, the Red Sox had prepared paperwork to suspend him. The relationship with Ramirez had grown that contentious, Pedro Gomez reports. Stay tuned to latimes.com for more.

A different rivalry: The Kings and Ducks went at it last night, and unfortunately game time was the same as the Steelers-Chargers game. So I watched hockey and was still able to catch the last part of the football game. The Kings looked strong on defense and, um, not so good on offense. I started wondering if they still had an offense. But then the Ducks have Teemu Selanne (18 points, 17th in the league), Corey Perry (20 points, 12th) and Ryan Getzlaf (22 points, 5th) and they're hard to hold back. Anze Kopitar has just 13 points so far (two goals, 11 assists for 88th place). Yet Drew Doughty stood out again, as did Matt Greene and Kyle Quincey. But when your points leader has two goals and next highest is Dustin Brown with six goals (and five assists, 119th) ... And who is this Brett Festerling? We found out last night that he is a pretty good defenseman.

And if you haven't read Helene Elliott's column on the Ducks' team doctor, who lost his home in one of the wildfires here this weekend, check it out.

Kings add: You know how well Kings goalie Erik Ersberg played because he was named one of the three stars last night. Here is the box score and below is a video of the game's highlights.

Ducks add: Randy Youngman of the O.C. Register said the Ducks ex-GM Brian Burke is headed to Vancouver on Tuesday but not to talk to the Canucks, where he was once the GM. There was a report Saturday that attorneys for Burke and for the Maple Leafs made contact. But Burke told Youngman on Sunday that he has not yet talked to the Leafs, explaining his attorney merely had called to make the Leafs aware the Ducks had filed the paperwork with the NHL to make it legal for other teams to approach him. So, no, Burke is allegedly not hunting for a job. Only hunting for real, sadly. But maybe someone should trail Burke while he's in Canada to see if he does indeed meet with someone from the Leafs. You never know.

Finally: Yes, the NFL does allow ties. Poor Donovan McNabb.

-- Debbie Goffa 

Photo: Troy Polamalu intercepts a pass by San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers in the first half of Sunday night's game. Credit: Keith Srakocic / Associated Press

Comments

[Dwight]

Erik Ersberg is the Kings' new #1 goalie but that second goal he allowed from the blue line unobstructed was weak and took all the air out of the Kings' comeback. That being said, previous number one goalie Jason LaBarbera gives up those goals every game and this is the first bad goal I can remember 'Iceberg" allowing so that says something.

The game was a sellout and with the fires I think that says a lot about SoCal hockey fans supporting their teams.

And perhaps the Kings would score more if Patrick O'Sullivan was given more of a chance to play with the big boys on one of the top 2 scoring lines. Just a thought, Coach Murray.

[Angela]

Brian Burke will be the next GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Once the report is denied by all, it will become official.

[akalabob]

The call was correct. It was an INCOMPLETE foward pass. Legal or illegal, a foward pass that is dropped, or hits the ground is an INCOMPLETE FOWARD PASS, AND as soon as the ball touches the ground, the play is dead. Being that there was no time left on the clock, the game was over. The touchdown was NOT counted, and THAT was correct since the pass was deemed a foward pass, legal or not.

[Jack]

No, you've got it wrong. A $100 million bet on pro football is not that uncommon, just check the Vegas touts each week. What's uncommon is the 11-10 score, which spells trouble for the NFL. An 11-10 score between two of the better teams in the AFC??, come on, show some news judgment. Troy Polamalu is right, the league has turned into a dull collection of sissies that Vince Lombardi, George Halas and Tex Schramm and even Carroll Rosenbloom wouldn't stand for. The NFL is now the Non Football League.

[Kat Kealy]

I'm not sure how you get that the game times were the same. I watched the end of the Steelers/Chargers game from the press box of the Honda Center. The game ended before the Kings/Ducks game started. I'm confused by the comment about it unfortunately being the same time.