Posted on 01/21/2015 6:57:45 AM PST by Colehill1999
The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night.
The next question is how did it happen?
According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated.
According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications say they must be inflated to 12½ to 13½ pounds.
Let’s try not to use political analogies when talking sports.
; )
Absolutely amazing how far this thread’s gone.
This won’t be over until Arron Hernandez is implicated.
First heard Rush mention this, so this must have just come out that the Colts complained last November
I should leave my wife out of this, but,........ After watching Gostkowski consistently kick the ball over the end zone, for touch backs, all season long, suddenly, during the playoffs, he wasn’t. I says, “honey, what’s up with that? Is he hurt? Is he being coached to do that?” And then it hit me. Ball pressure!
What do you expect from a coach who graduated from Wesleyan University -- one of the most liberal of the extreme left-wing, liberal arts colleges in the Country.
Maybe there was a “bad” air gauge? But, if the refs used a “bad” air gauge for the Pats balls, then why did one of the 12 balls meet pressure specs after the game?
We do not know the exact process (e.g. 1 or 2 gauges). My understanding is that about 2 hours before kickoff, each team provides the referees with 12 game balls and 6 kicking balls. Each set of balls are stamped with the team logo so they can be kept separate during warmups and the game. It makes sense for Andrew Luck or Tom Brady to use the their own warmup balls during the game.
My understanding is that the ball testing occurs in the referee locker room or in an off-field office, out of camera view? My further understanding is that after testing each ball is marked by the refs that they meet pressure and weight spec and ALL (both team’s) balls are given to the home team “ball boys”, Pats employees, to be brought to the sideline of each team. If this is the case, there is unlikely to be a video of BB or anybody else (TB?) inserting an inflation pin into any ball on the sideline. However, there appears to be a chain of custody break here that provides the “ball boys” with the time and opportunity to alter the balls.
It would be helpful for the NFL to explain the normal process and what actually happened before this game.
As you mention Sherman, I’m thinking this whole play-off season is stinking to high-heaven.
It was (literally) painfully obvious that Sherman had a left-side disability yet stayed in the game (kudos to him; my kind of player) but...
for the life of me I can’t understand why GB didn’t attack that vulnerability in the 4th quarter. Nelson is savvy enough to exploit such a thing. I sat in my couch wondering why they didn’t POUND the ball at Sherman by sweeps and short-hook passes.
Just confounding.
Something stinks in the NFL and it ain’t the consideration of a few deflated balls.
When all is said and done, I ask, “What would Ray Nitchke say?” (He’d probably eat Goodell for a snack; just out of spite!)
Obviously it is the Colts who have been tampering with the balls and blaming it on the Patriots. The only players who have handled the balls and uncannily surmised them to be “underinflated”, by feel, have been Colt players who have intercepted them. They let some air out and then turn them over to “officials”.
Sorry, just having fun with this. Keep your eye on the ball.
“We will not lie, cheat nor steal, nor tolerate those among us who do.” —US Service Academies Honor Code.
You wouldn’t make it.
Though greater dram than an NFL game any day.
12 balls. 1 of them was still 'in range'. The other 11 were 'low' and 1 of them was as low as 2 pounds under. That is my understanding. Could happen with a bad gauge, seems completely reasonable.
Many have jumped to the conclusion that the owner and/or head coach were involved in the process of defrauding the NFL. The one owner that built his own stadium instead of using his team to pressure a city/county/whatever to build them a stadium. And this owner is the cheat...Pathetic.
:: If a batter suspects, he usually keeps his mouth shut, because chances are there is a pitcher on his team who loads or scuffs ::
Or, there is a fastball out there with his helmet number on it!
As well as the Gaylord and Jim Perry!
It’s nothing like wrestling. They have a script, and predetermined winners. The NFL (and MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, CART...) are pushing boundaries, often times too far. The whole nature of the penalty system in sports creates a system where breaking rules is good, it’s part of the game, often necessary. Look at NBA teams behind in the 4th, foul a guy, send him to the line, hope he misses, then you get the ball. It’s considered a good way to keep the team ahead from milking the shot clock, but on its strictest level that’s cheating, they broke a rule. NHL announcers will talk about good penalties to take, better to go short handed for 2 minutes than to give the other team’s best scorer a breakaway.
Cheating is a built in assumption in sports. The question really comes in on just how big a cheat you’re doing, and is it one the viewing audience has come to accept as part of the game. A guy who takes a lot of holding calls might get called sloppy, under skilled, or under coached, but nobody says he’s a cheater. A guy that holds a lot but doesn’t get caught get’s called wily, sly, or a smart veteran player, but again never a cheater. And yet, really, they both are. But we expect that cheating, it’s been a part of the game since before we started watching, so nobody whips out the C word.
WWF had "suspension of disbelief" going for it. Thoroughly entertaining. The NFL is walking a fine line.
That’s what I’m talking about! Smash-mouth football. Punish any player on the opposing team that dares touch the ball!
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