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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
It was played out before the game began.
GB could have wiped them out.
I did not bet on this game.
They wanted West vs East.
They have it.
He had a good game.
I wondered about that, too. Must be easier to run when a ball is 1 oz lighter.
That's as far as I could get with my pea brain ... I'm still lookin' for the transition from air to he ... it just magically appeared (in MY way of reading, anyway)
That was because the source that was cut and pasted from was comparing a football filled with air and one filled with helium...
:)
If it isn’t an issue, why the investigation?
Probably have my daytime/nighttime/summer/winter data all jumbled up
lets see if we can post their calcs without the word wrap.
Calculation of Weight
Weight of Air in Football
= WAir = mWAir = [PfVf/(mV)*Pa] = 9.67 g
Weight of He in Football =
= WHe = mWHe = [PfVf/(mV)*Pa] = 1.34 g
Weight of Football with Air
= WF(Air) = WF + WAir = 421 g = 0.421 kg
Weight of Football with He
= WF(He) = WF + WAir = 412 g = 0.412 kg
Conclusion: The He-filled football is about 2% lighter than the Air-filled football.
/8^)
Clearly, the teams do not trust the refs to provide the balls.
It is far better to have the onus on the teams to provide the balls.
I never realized how particular professional athletes can get about their balls.
When I was a kid, we just grabbed whatever balls we could get our hands on and played with them.
But I am smarter than ya... :)
I got sidetracked on weight. Lets talk PRESSURE.
If they filled their balls in a nice, warm room at 80 F to 13 psig.
Then the balls would automatically depressure to about 10.4 psig if they are playing outside in the cold at 30 F...
Assuming an ideal gas
P1 = 13 psig => 27.7 psia
T1 = 80 F == +460 ==> 540 R
T2 = 30 F == +460 ==> 490 R
P2 = P1 * (T2/T1) = 27.7 * (490/540) = 27.7 * 0.907 = 25.1 psia
P2 = 25.1 psia ==> 10.4 psig
Now THAT’S what I was gettin’ at ... ‘cept ... if both teams are mandated to fill their balls to x ... both teams will experience the same increase or loss ... so there’s no difference
Is that how you northerners do it?
Down here we get in big trouble if we play with someone elses balls...
(Of COURSE I knew what you were talkin' 'bout ... but I couldn't resist)
Depends on when they fill their balls.
If you make them set the pressure in their balls in a nice, ice cold, dressing room, then their balls will be at 13 psig.
So if they are doing the pressure check at the field, all you have to do is to turn the heat off to the room at their ball pressurizing station.
:)
I’m not sure about that. I used to spend my summers down in Alabama (grandmother’s house) and I never used my own balls. In fact none of us could afford our own balls. And even if we could, we had to order them from the Sears & Roebuck catalog and wait 4-6 weeks. So we just used whatever we could find in the barn and that was good enough for us.
I forget the reason for the conversation.
Rush's transcript is very informative
Patriots by 3 in a hard fought battle ... the best SB in many years ... true gladiatorial spirit.
From the Wilson TRIVIA site...
“How well do you know the game?
Wilson, The NFL and Ada, Ohio 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII Fact Sheet
Number of football-only factories in the United States: 1
Number of Wilson football-only factories in world: 1
First year Wilson began making the Official NFL Game Ball: 1941
First year that the Wilson Factory in Ada, Ohio, began producing Official NFL Footballs: 1955
Total number of footballs produced annually at the Ada Football Factory: 700,000
Total number of workers employed by the Wilson football factory in Ada, Ohio: 130
Average number of years employed by Wilson for Ada Football
Factory workers: 20
Average number of footballs made by a single cowhide: 10
Pounds of air pressure in an NFL game ball: 13 psi
How many game balls does each team receive? Each team is shipped 108 game balls - 54 for practice and 54 for the game.
Total number of game balls used during the Super Bowl: 120, including 12 Kicker Balls
Number of laces found on an NFL game ball: 1
Total number of lace holes on an NFL game ball: 16
Total number of panels on an NFL game ball: 4
Difference between the regular NFL game ball and NFL kicker ball: Letter “K” is inscribed on the kicker ball, sealed in boxes (with anti-tampering tape), sent to the NFL official hotel one week before the game and then delivered to the officials’ room approximately 2.5 hours prior to kickoff.
The special “watermark” that is printed on a Wilson football to prove that it is authentic: The letter “W”
When are the Super Bowl footballs delivered to the teams? Wilson employees work through the night to ship game balls to the teams within 24 hours of NFC and AFC championship games.
When do the teams give the game officials their 54 game balls? Teams present their 54 game balls to the officials on game day for inspection, then a DNA ink is added to the laces to indicate they are the authentic on-field game balls.
What is the difference between the regular season Wilson NFL Game Ball and a the Super Bowl Game Ball? The Super Bowl ball has the Super Bowl logo stamped on the ball, along with the names of both teams, date and location.
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