I have dug no hole. I have speculated as to what happened, but I haven’t accused anyone of doing anything illegal.
If the Pats provided under-inflated footballs, then the officials should have caught it when they checked before the game, corrected it, and no big deal.
But no one knows if the footballs were over/under/perfect going into the officials. No one knows if they were over/under/perfect leaving the officials and getting to the ballboys. All we KNOW is that after the first half, all-but-1 ball was under. Maybe the 11-of-12 that we all heard was actually 11-of-11 - the other ball was on the colt sideline.
Maybe Kraft gives bonuses to ballboys that release a pound of pressure. or maybe Bill does, or maybe Tom.
Maybe Brady, after the ravens game, commented to their equip manager ‘hey, I liked those balls, lets use them again next week’. The manager put them in a locker and turned them into the refs without checking them again.
Maybe it wasn’t malicious, or maybe the NFL has been defrauded by the Patriots organization - from the owner to the cheerleaders and the guy tossing peanut packs that aren’t a full 8 ounces.
My point is we do not know. I will speak for myself, I do not know. But, to quote Ronald, ‘It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so’. Seems to me a lot of folks here know many things that may not be so...Until we find out...#BallDeflatedBradyGuilty
Here’s a couple of former NFL players who understand this is about media hype blowing it up and much about nothing. From the 1 minute mark in the NFL.com video Warren Sapp and crew explain a few things here.
Per the white hat (ref), they were reviewed over 2 hrs before game. So they were up to snuff THEN.
Let me give a parallel situation.
In some levels of baseball/softball, bats are checked by umpires pre-game.
So let's say during a game a broken bat reveals a corked bat. In those situations, a corked bat could get a batter tossed from the game, and in some levels, could either get a head coach either warned or tossed, too.
By warned, I mean, if a SECOND illegal bat is found, it could lead to a manager ejection.
Well...what if...midway thru such a baseball game...11 of the 12 bats in the dugout were found to be illegal...perhaps it was either missed by said umpires and/or some of them were substituted for the legal bats.
Well, we'd have some immediate consequences DURING the game...if it was baseball.
By not having IMMEDIATE consequences in football, the cheaters are only encouraged to cheat. I mean, what's $25,000 in a fine if it helps you get to the Super Bowl?
The other thing in this analogy is...that if 11 of the 12 bats in a baseball game came up as "illegal" -- and in ONLY one of the two dugouts -- who would be stupid enough to think it was...
..."accidental"
..."random"...
..."air temp"...
..."happenstance"...
...some bumbler's "mistake"...???
...fill in the blank...
If it was the equipment manager, he better either fess up & take the fall...or fess up & point the fingers at who directed him to do it.