Super Bowl Penalty and Referee Commentary

I'll try to compile some of the media commentary on referee Terry McAulay and Super Bowl XLIII between the Cardinals and the Steelers.

First, some of my own thoughts:

Looking at the quality of the calls made (not the statistics):

• On the James Harrison interception return for a TD, should the referees have called an illegal block in the back? (Another question is why the players on the sideline stand so close to the field when the action is coming down the sideline? One of the Cardinals players #21 Antrel Rolle was standing close to the sideline and got in the way of Larry Fitzgerald, who was trying to chase down James Harrison but had to slow down when he ran into Antrel Rolle and got there barely too late to stop the TD.)
• On the Santonio Holmes TD near the end of the game, Santonio Holmes used the ball as a prop while celebrating the TD. I hate the rule that there's a 15-yard penalty for using the ball as a prop, but the rule is there and shouldn't the referees have called it? If they did, it would have been easier for the Cardinals to try to score in the final seconds.

Other commentary:

• Amazing game overshadows all the distractions by Jason Whitlock: the game overcame the officiating, which was "the worst-officiated, sloppiest Super Bowl in league history." Some penalties were obvious while "Some of the other penalties were highly suspicious and lacked common sense. Pittsburgh went up 20-7 in the third quarter thanks to a 16-play, 79-yard, field-goal drive that was significantly helped by a face-mask penalty, a roughing-the-passer flag and an unnecessary-roughness call."
• Kurt Warner Was The Real Super Bowl MVP; James Harrison Should Have Been Ejected by Ryan Michael: "My issue with Harrison is what he did during the 4th quarter. Punching another player when he was down then pushing him to the ground. The referees called a deserved penalty but where was his ejection? Looking at that replay you certainly couldn't find any justification for his actions, could you? Had this incident happened with a less popular player in a less popular game, that would be all we would see of him. But because it's the Defensive Player of The Year in the biggest game of the year he gets a free pass? Either the referees were stupid or afraid to be part of the controversy that could have arisen by telling James Harrison to beat it."