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BILL BELICHICK BRILLIANTLY SCHOOLS THE NFL, AND THE LEAGUE HAS NO ANSWER
weei.com ^ | 24 Jan 15 | Mike Petraglia

Posted on 01/24/2015 4:00:59 PM PST by big'ol_freeper

In the year of Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson and Greg Hardy, they've somehow managed to trump serious cases of domestic abuse by blowing a silly, inane, moronic controversy over the inflation of game balls into a national story that gets more sublime and ridiculous by the day.

The league didn't take their time and do due diligence on what really mattered in the Ray Rice case, and delivered a hasty judgment that Commissioner Roger Goodell admitted was ill-conceived.

Now, they're taking their sweet time to decide who may have taken too much air out of the balls, a violation that is punishable by a minimum $25,000 fine. This is no more serious than hockey players playing with an illegal stick or, as we saw in 1983 with George Brett, hitting with a doctored, pine-tarred bat.

Talk about having your priorities all screwed up.

(Excerpt) Read more at weei.com ...


TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: deflategate; nfl; patriots; superbowl
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To: William Tell
When Dan Rather uses forged documents in his newscast are you entertained?

You're going to have to tell me how you made that jump from football and movies to that.

61 posted on 01/24/2015 8:40:40 PM PST by Veggie Todd (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. TJ)
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To: Ditto

It can’t be bad valves if the balls maintained their pressure between halftime and the end of the game.

The simplest explanation is that one group of the Pats balls were simply warmer prior to the initial inspection than other groups. A change from 75F to 50F is more than enough to bring a ball from the maximum legal pressure to beyond the minimum.

This also suggests that if nothing funny was going on there, and that the Colts balls were checked at halftime as well and found to be within parameters, that the Colts balls were of a lower temperature when they were prepped to be submitted - like perhaps just off the bus, or from an outside practice.

I find it also interesting that people are claiming that this happened at the previous Colt game...where the ball attendants were supplied by the Colts.


62 posted on 01/24/2015 9:00:58 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: scooby321

Spygate over Million Dollar fine that BELICHICK gladly wrote the NFL a check for a Million Dollars as the NFL conveniently lost the evidence to show the public.


This is an example of one of the things with the hysteria, where people have all these misinformed ideas about the details of what happened. It’s like a lot of people have been spiking their drinks with ergot - ironic since Salem is IN Massachussets.


63 posted on 01/24/2015 9:04:46 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Veggie Todd
Veggie Todd said: "You're going to have to tell me how you made that jump from football and movies to that. "

Movies entertain you despite their fictional nature, at least in part, because you are not expecting them to be true.

When Dan Rather engages in fictional reporting it is an outrage because you expect the truth from those who represent themselves as purveyors of the truth.

Similarly, you expect some degree of truthfulness from those who participate in sports.

Would you be outraged if a team paid a bounty based on injuring their opposition? No team would do this openly. They know that such behavior would not be appreciated by their fans. It's not part of the game and could constitute an unfair advantage to benefit from such injuries.

If a team violates the equipment rules of the game, and hides that fact from you, it is because they KNOW that they are violating your expectations.

Perhaps you don't have such expectations. I do.

64 posted on 01/24/2015 9:15:56 PM PST by William Tell
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To: King Hawk

The balls are essentially the same to the manner used, above 10 PSI....hard. Additional pressure only really is discernible by most people if they are doing things a QB wouldn’t be doing, like kicking the ball. If you can barely squeeze the bladder through the leather case at 10, you aren’t going to be missing much at 11,12,13, or 50. It’s close to being like squeezing marble vs granite, even though there’s a big difference in hardness, you can’t tell with your hand.

Remember, a well inflated Regulation Basketball is only 8 PSI.


65 posted on 01/24/2015 9:18:29 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: King Hawk

Apparently there are several instances of ball changes, which Brady didn’t appear to notice:

http://www.businessinsider.com/dqwell-jackson-patriots-used-colts-balls-2015-1

Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson told NFL.com’s Jeff Darlington that he noticed the New England Patriots using Colts game balls at one point during the first half of the AFC Championship Game, a 45-7 Patriots victory.

...and the Colt who intercepted the ball couldn’t tell:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000462315/article/dqwell-jackson-footballs-didnt-change-outcome

When Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass in the first half of Sunday’s game, he had plenty of reasons to keep that football. After all, it happened during the AFC Championship Game. Tom Brady threw it. And it was his first postseason pick of a nine-year career.

One reason he didn’t keep it? Air pressure.

“I wanted that ball as a souvenir!” Jackson told NFL Media during a phone conversation Thursday.

Eventually, Jackson hopes he will indeed get the football back. But for now, it remains in the possession of the NFL, which is investigating whether the Patriots deliberately deflated the ball to gain an advantage. 

Until Jackson gets it back, though, he at least wants to make something very clear: He did not intend to prompt the investigation. Jackson says he actually did not even know the ball was taken or that the controversy existed until he was being driven home from the team’s charter plane after the Colts had arrived in Indianapolis.

“I wouldn’t know how that could even be an advantage or a disadvantage,” Jackson said. “I definitely wouldn’t be able to tell if one ball had less pressure than another.”


66 posted on 01/24/2015 9:35:32 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: BeadCounter

That’s how they found out the balls were not fully aired, interceptions, the balls didn’t feel right. Happened in the Colts/Patriots game in November, happened again in this last game.


You’re claiming the Colts Ball Boys were in on it? Interesting.


67 posted on 01/24/2015 9:38:17 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: timestax
 photo 20f_zpsclhoyj56.jpg
68 posted on 01/24/2015 9:42:24 PM PST by timestax (American Media = Domestic Enemy)
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To: BizBroker

New, Warm, clean, dry balls, told what the values were...

Note the hesitance on the 13 vs 15, even with all of those benefits. Not a lot, but tells you it’s very marginal.


69 posted on 01/24/2015 9:51:43 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: BeadCounter

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2015/01/report_colts_tipped_off_by_ravens_harbaugh_says_te.html

But head coach John Harbaugh said his team didn’t notice anything wrong with the pigskin in his team’s AFC divisional round loss to the Patriots on Jan. 10, adding that he believes the softness in the kicking balls was related to the weather that day.

“We did not notice anything,” Harbaugh told ESPN on Wednesday. “We never had a ball that they used or anything like that on offense, so we don’t know anything about that in our game. We didn’t have a chance to handle any of their offensive footballs.

“As far as the kicking balls, it was 20 degrees out, so the balls were softer,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys told us during the game, and I just chalked that up to the fact that it was cold and that both teams were kicking the same kicking balls, so I didn’t think really anything of it during the game. Other than that, it’s not something we’ve really given any thought to at all.”


70 posted on 01/24/2015 10:06:53 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Excuse me you are?

Besides a sore cheater...


*I* am a cheater?

No. I can just do basic math...though I can see how you’d find that unfair.


71 posted on 01/24/2015 10:13:04 PM PST by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: timestax
 photo 4397f3fc-b963-40e9-9d0d-446ec6f8a36a_zpscvm7nkn3.jpg
72 posted on 01/24/2015 10:18:10 PM PST by timestax (American Media = Domestic Enemy)
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To: timestax

2. NFLPA could seriously roadblock the Deflategate investigation

The NFL statement indicated that nearly 40 interviews have been conducted, including with Patriots “personnel” and referees. The statement notably did not refer to Patriots players. In his press conference on Thursday, Brady — seemingly a key witness — surprised some by revealing that he had not spoken with the league. Brady’s remarks are consistent with statements made by Matthew Slater, the Patriots representative to the NFLPA. Slater told ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss the NFLPA had instructed Patriots players to decline to answer questions from the NFL about the controversy.


73 posted on 01/25/2015 12:30:56 AM PST by timestax (American Media = Domestic Enemy)
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To: lepton

What is it with your math thing.

OK you can do basic math.

Can you do basic reasoning?

What exactly does my post:
Cheat!
Cheat!
Cheat!
... have to do with your crazy math rant?


74 posted on 01/25/2015 2:01:10 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Scrambler Bob

Furthermore the rule only states the balls are to be tested 2.5 hrs before game time. Hot inflate air plus entropy equals lower pressure at game time every time. No deflation occured. Just heat transfer. Mechanical engineers know these things. Others not so much.


75 posted on 01/25/2015 2:01:56 AM PST by smaug6 (We can't afford to be innocent!! Stand up and face the enemy.)
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To: big'ol_freeper

GO SEAHAWKS.


76 posted on 01/25/2015 2:30:27 AM PST by Drango (A liberal's compassion is limited only by the size of someone else's wallet.)
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To: smaug6

True that


77 posted on 01/25/2015 3:34:56 AM PST by big'ol_freeper ("Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" ~ Ronald Wilson Reagan)
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To: RayChuang88

You’d need to consider the barometric pressure, too.


78 posted on 01/25/2015 3:42:13 AM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: 9YearLurker

Given the altitude of Foxborough, MA (only 289 feet above sea level), barometric pressure will have little influence on ball inflation levels. Now, if this was happening at Phoenix (1,086 feet altitude) or Denver (just over one mile altitude), then barometric pressure becomes a lot more important.


79 posted on 01/25/2015 4:37:09 AM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: big'ol_freeper
The Pats have a history of bending the rules to suit and getting caught or being suspected (under a couple coaches). If they were career criminals, some would say a street shooting would be appropriate. Some will act like Dems and support anything they do because they are their team.

That said, they are an awesomely effective team and had the Colts crushed regardless of the ball issue. They aren't my team and I tend to root for underdogs when my team is out of it, so, as often happens, I will be rooting against them. Almost time to play ball...

80 posted on 01/25/2015 5:05:49 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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