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Championship Sunday: Packers Blow It; Patriots Accused of Deflating Their Balls
Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | January 15, 2015 | Rush Limbaugh

Posted on 01/19/2015 11:49:47 AM PST by Kaslin

RUSH: Yeah, I'm so glad I'm not a fan of the Green Bay Packers. I'd be going crazy. I would literally be nuts if I were a fan. And it's not that I don't like the Packers. I like the Packers. You know, I'm a Steelers guy, but, man, if I were a Packers fan, jeez. So many things I'd be questioning.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

Now, football games yesterday, Patriots accused of deflating their balls. Have you heard about this? New England Patriots are accused of deflating their balls during this game. During rain and wind it's apparently eager to grip and throw a football when it's not properly inflated. The NFL is investigating. I don't know where the charge comes from, but it's a media guy from Indianapolis, Bob Kravitz who first made it public. Tom Brady said: this is crazy. This is asinine. This is silly. We didn't deflate our balls. Our balls are just fine. People are wondering how this can happen. This has got to be a day of utter misery if you're a Packers fan. Oh, man.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I want to let you hear something. You may not have heard this. It was the very last thing that I said on the program last Friday.

RUSH ARCHIVE: We're gonna have Patriots and Seahawks are going to be in the Super Bowl. That's what's gonna happen on Sunday. Patriots and Seahawks win.

RUSH: The show ended. That's the only things I said about the games, although I had no idea that the Seahawks were gonna play as poorly... I had no idea the game was gonna turn out the way it did. There's so many things in that game that I do not understand about the Packers and their execution. Maybe we'll get to that later. On Indianapolis, EyeballNews TV 13 sports director Dave Calabros talking with Bob Kravitz, a columnist for the local newspaper about investigating the Patriots for using deflated footballs in the championship game last night. Question: "Getting some breaking news, Bob. What have you learned out there," old buddy, old pal?

KRAVITZ: A league source tells me that the NFL is investigating the New England Patriots for possibly deflating the footballs in the AFC Championship Game. Nobody's beginning to suggest that that's the reason that the Colts lost, but that is an issue that they're going to take a look at it. The Colts are a passing team, and the Patriots like to run the ball, and a deflated football is very, very difficult to throw.

RUSH: Now, I've had a lot of people send me questions about this, and apparently... I think this is still the case. People said, "Wait a minute, wouldn't the balls be the same for both teams?" No, folks. Each team in the NFL now is allowed... It's been this way for some time. Each team is allowed to bring its own balls. Each team is allowed to designate its own balls for the kicking game, punting, and field goals.

They have a K on them, and they're not to be used during standard play. So the Patriots bring their balls, it's a specific number, and the Colts bring theirs and they're turned over to the referee an hour or two hours before the game. They're supposedly checked and weighed and all that. So the Patriots deflating their balls, I don't know how it would... The Colts wouldn't even end up using those balls.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, folks, on this inflated football business, you know, I can't say for sure. I've thought about it here during the break. I do know at one point that in the National Football League, at least the regular season, teams were allowed to bring their own balls to games. The balls they had used in practice, balls they were familiar with, or brand-new balls, but it was one way of preventing things like this. Al Davis, when he owned the Raiders, routinely did this kind of stuff and more, deflated footballs, muddy sections of the field. There were lots of rules changes.

Now, I must be honest, I can't recall if each team being allowed to bring its own balls was for all players, or just the kicking game, now that I think about it. And I don't know, even if that is the way it is, each team's allowed to bring its own footballs. I don't know if that's still the case in postseason. It may not be the case in postseason. They start out with brand-new balls and the home team has to provide them. I don't know how that works now, if the league provides them. But if the teams are allowed to bring their own footballs, balls they're familiar with, balls they've used in practice or in previous games, which makes sense, and they're not supposed to be mixed up.

For example, in a game like that, when the Colts have the ball, their balls are used. When the Patriots have the ball, their balls are used. If that's the case, which I can't swear to, then the Patriots could deflate footballs all night and the Colts would never encounter one unless they happened to intercept Brady. Well, that's obviously not the case. This wouldn't even be an issue. So maybe I'm not right about this. Maybe it's not true in postseason.

But still the idea that the home team is in charge of all of the footballs, I'm not aware of that being the case in years. But may be postseason it is. And it is being investigated. It is being looked at. Now, if it were found that this actually happened and the Patriots had the ability to deflate the footballs that the Colts were using, then the penalty would be money and draft choices or whatever. They wouldn't have to forfeit the game or any of that. It's kind of crazy. One more sound bite. Bob Kravitz last night on Eyewitness News NBC in Indianapolis, he was asked, "We did notice there was a time-out early in the first half. They came out and actually got a ball and they took it off the field."

KRAVITZ: I'm told by this league source that they took the ball off and weighed it, and it's going to become an issue. There may be lost draft picks if they find the Patriots guilty of this. Of course, the Patriots were involved in Spygate and some other unsavory dealings.

RUSH: Well, now, if all this is true, then apparently I'm not right about the way footballs with dealt with in the postseason. If the home team's in charge of the footballs, that hasn't been the case in a long time and something that's gotten by me. But that's the only way this could affect the Colts, or the Colts, as Phil Simms says. That'd be the only way is if the Patriots provide the footballs, 'cause whoever provides 'em, they go to the referee or somebody, an hour or two before the game, where they are weighed and checked for proper inflation or deflation. And they spot-check 'em during games at the same time, which is one of the reasons one ball was spot-checked and taken out. Tom Brady was on the radio today in Boston. Before he had even heard about it, he was asked about it.

BRADY: No. I don't. I have no idea. (laughing)

REPORTER: Would you care to weigh in on that?

BRADY: I think I heard it all at this point. It's ridiculous. That's the last of my worries. Yeah, I don't even respond to stuff like this.

RUSH: It is kind of strange. It wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans anyway to the outcome of that game. That game, it's a sad circumstance that that game even ended up being scheduled. The Colts just are not ready. But they ended up beating the Broncos. I mean, they were legitimately genuinely there, but that game was -- and the scheduling on that, to make that the prime time game, I know they have to alternate CBS and Fox, each get the night game on championship weekend, they rotate it every year. CBS had it last year. Fox got it this year, which meant that Seattle had to start at noon local time, which had never happened before.

I got a couple of calls I want to get in here before we dovetail or split the scene on this and get back to some other issue oriented stuff.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, I was right, by the way, on this football business.

I went back and looked, ladies and gentlemen. During the Ravens-49ers Super Bowl, Joe Flacco complained at one point that they were given a Fort'iners ball. It's right there at NFL.com. What we learned from sound effects or Super Bowl, whatever it is live when they mike the players, Joe Flacco realizes the Ravens are using the wrong football during the game. He realizes that they're using a 49ers ball. It was a mistake.

Each ball is marked, and he asked for it to be replaced with a Ravens ball. The balls have the team's name on them so the quarterbacks get the ball they want during the game. Here's the rule book: "Home teams are responsible for furnishing playable balls at all times. Each team brings 12 primary balls. The home team is required to bring 12 backup balls." So there's a total of 36 footballs at the beginning of the game, probably more than that.

But the visiting team brings its own footballs, is the point, even in the Super Bowl. The 49ers had their own balls and the Ravens had theirs and Flacco (the quarterback for the Ravens) noticed at one point that he was given a 49ers ball and asked for it to be switched out, which he was granted. And that Super Bowl was just two or three years ago. My point here is, how do the Colts end up with a Patriots ball?

I mean, how do the Patriots get hold of the Colts because to deflate them? There's something really screwy about this, folks. Here it is in the rule book again. "Home teams are responsible for furnishing playable balls at all times." Take that and set it aside. Next sentence: "Each team brings 12 primary balls." Okay, meaning last night the Colts were using balls they brought with them, and the Patriots were using their own balls, and then the Patriots have to supply an additional 12 balls as backup in case something happens, goes wrong.

In addition to that, what's not in the rule book here is that there are balls set aside for the kicking game only. They have a K on them, and it's the responsibility of the ball boys running up and down the sidelines to get all this right. Now, taking a ball out of play and weighing it and whatever they do to check its legality, I don't know. But given this, the Patriots could deflate footballs all day long and it would only be their own, unless the Colts were then given those balls to play with.

But they should have seen that, because the balls are marked.

Now, the 12 K balls (they're called K balls) are unwrapped the day of the game, and the equipment guys get 45 minutes to try to break 'em in. The kicking game footballs are brand-new. The balls that teams bring to the games are balls that they've used either in previous games or in practice. They do not have to be brand-new, is the point. They're balls that are comfortable. They've been broken in; they've been used by the teams in their own endeavors.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: afl; colts; deflategate; deflatriots; football; newengland; nfl; packers; patriots; seahawks
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1 posted on 01/19/2015 11:49:47 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
"During rain and wind it's apparently eager to grip and throw a football when it's not properly inflated"

Possibly, but it's "easier" to make a mistake when you're too "eager" to write an article.

2 posted on 01/19/2015 11:53:04 AM PST by DannyTN
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: DannyTN
Shrinkage?
4 posted on 01/19/2015 12:03:34 PM PST by bunkerhill7 (re (`("The Second Amendment has no limits on firepower"-NY State Senator Kathleen A. Marchione.")))
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To: DannyTN
How much does a ball weigh in 30 degrees as opposed to 8o ?

How "tight" is a 30 degree ball as opposed to the same inflation psi in 80 ?

If I'm anywhere near correct ... filling a ball to 10 lbs (I have no idea ... just using a number) in 30 deg and setting it aside for an 80 deg day would necessarily "tighten" it due to the expansion .. and vice/versa

I think this is all a bunch of Ferguson

5 posted on 01/19/2015 12:04:27 PM PST by knarf
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To: PatHimself

There is a vas deferens in the balls full of air and those that aren’t.


6 posted on 01/19/2015 12:06:22 PM PST by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
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To: Kaslin
RUSH: It is kind of strange. It wouldn't have mattered a hill of beans anyway to the outcome of that game. That game, it's a sad circumstance that that game even ended up being scheduled. The Colts just are not ready. But they ended up beating the Broncos....

....Here's the rule book: "Home teams are responsible for furnishing playable balls at all times. Each team brings 12 primary balls. The home team is required to bring 12 backup balls." So there's a total of 36 footballs at the beginning of the game, probably more than that. But the visiting team brings its own footballs, is the point, even in the Super Bowl....My point here is, how do the Colts end up with a Patriots ball? I mean, how do the Patriots get hold of the Colts because to deflate them?... meaning last night the Colts were using balls they brought with them, and the Patriots were using their own balls, and then the Patriots have to supply an additional 12 balls as backup in case something happens, goes wrong....

....given this, the Patriots could deflate footballs all day long and it would only be their own, unless the Colts were then given those balls to play with. But they should have seen that, because the balls are marked.

Man, that was a sad game. Sadder than watching the Broncos lose to the Colts last weekend. Can you imagine last weekend's Broncos playing against this weekend's Patriots?

7 posted on 01/19/2015 12:06:23 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: bunkerhill7

LOL


8 posted on 01/19/2015 12:13:08 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: Kaslin

I used to like football when I believed it was real like wrestling, now I don’t because I know the games are fake like boxing


9 posted on 01/19/2015 12:14:21 PM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Kaslin

This whole controversy is ridiculous. Also ridiculous is the rule that teams supply their own balls. Just have the NFL ship the balls to each stadium on game day and be done with it. Have the referees introduce the “neutral” balls to the game.


10 posted on 01/19/2015 12:16:07 PM PST by SamAdams76
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To: Kaslin

I think the Packers deflated their own balls... how dare anyone insinuate it was the Pats. If anything the Seahawks may have played a role, though.


11 posted on 01/19/2015 12:16:48 PM PST by Rodamala
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To: exit82
There is a vas deferens in the balls full of air and those that aren’t.

I semen acting differently when that happens.
12 posted on 01/19/2015 12:18:39 PM PST by Old Yeller (Civil rights are for civilized people.)
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To: exit82

LOL


13 posted on 01/19/2015 12:23:02 PM PST by ninonitti
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To: Old Yeller

Good one.


14 posted on 01/19/2015 12:24:08 PM PST by Hiro Protaginast
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To: Rodamala

The Packers’ coach’s balls sure were deflated which explains why they settled for those early FGs.

You just knew they’d wind up regretting it.


15 posted on 01/19/2015 12:25:35 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Kaslin

It is a stupid and childish accusation.

Sure, you get a better grip on the ball but, it would not fly true, for one.

After each play the referees handle the ball quite a bit.

Wouldn’t they notice when passing it between each other and placing the ball on scrimmage line?

You lost and there’s always next year.


16 posted on 01/19/2015 12:30:28 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Kaslin

The Packers went to the Championship game with a formidable front line and a great fullback.

They kicked field-goals from the 1.

That is NOT what got them to this game.

That is why they lost.

The Seahawks on the other hand pull out a fake field goal and it saves them.

Green Bay lost the game because they wanted to.


17 posted on 01/19/2015 12:32:38 PM PST by eyedigress
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To: Kaslin

Don’t they have medication the players could take for this?


18 posted on 01/19/2015 12:36:10 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: qam1

This has certainly been a year the NFL would like to put in the rearview mirror asap.


19 posted on 01/19/2015 12:37:45 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: Kaslin

I’m wondering when some Packer fan will cry saying the only reason the Hawks won was because of the coin toss in their favor ....


20 posted on 01/19/2015 12:41:31 PM PST by SkyDancer
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