"Tomlin may have had the buses warmed up, but he forgot about the plane," attorney says
MIAMI - A report on Blogger! Sports claims that South Florida air traffic control and attorneys for the Miami Dolphins conspired to keep the Steelers' plane from departing while the lawyers tried to file briefs with the federal courts.
A controversial call near the end of the game gave the ball back to the Steelers despite a Roethlisberger fumble and apparent recovery by the Dolphins. The Steelers kicked a field goal on the next play, resulting in the final score of 23-22. In the locker room, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin had his players hurry to board the buses and leave the stadium before the ruling could be changed.
"It's outrageous," Dolphin attorney R. Carmen Angina of Angina & Rover says. "You had a Pittsburgh native [referee Gene Steratore] making a call for his hometown team. It's a clear conflict of interest, and the courts should have overturned it. But by the time we were retained, we had trouble locating a judge, and the air traffic controllers ran out of reasons to keep them here."
"We're still thinking of filing a lawsuit for infliction of emotional distress, so anyone who feels aggrieved should contact our law firm."
Dolphins' management and coaching staff is already taking steps to address the problems that arose last Sunday. "We'll be prepared at future home games," head coach Tony Sparano said today. "We'll have our lawyers on hand from now on, and we might set up our own court like they have in the Eagles' stadium."
"Or maybe we'll just find a few players who can score touchdowns. We get in the end zone on both of those first two fumble recoveries, and all this would be moot."
