#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[Fafnir]

I think they should check the other teams footballs as well  but maybe everyone deflates in cold  weather.

They did and they don't it appears to be a QB preference thing.

[Fafnir]

Sure we cheated, but we didn't need to cheat to beat you so you're the bad sport is a really strange way to talk about this.

Is it as strange as getting the living snot beaten out of you and then accusing the other team of cheating with balls that were checked and then checked again and handled hundreds of times by refs?

This is a great story except for the bit where they checked the ball and found them to be deflated to the point of breaking the rules.

Once again machismo about the Colts getting "beat" really doesn't play into the whole cheating thing. Its a deflection meant to change the subject.

[kozlodoev]

So all reports I've seen so far say all the balls were inspected at half time AND reinflated as needed. The Patriots went on to crush the Colts in the second half, so why is this even an issue? The Colts reported the deflated balls issue to the league after the game , after getting crushed in the second half with reinspected balls. The issue should be that they are displaying unsportsmanlike behavior and defamation after getting beaten fairly on the field.

Does the fact that the Patriots would have won anyway make the cheating any better?

It's like if you're playing poker, and a guy takes an ace out of his sleeve to make 4 of a kind.  Does he get excused for cheating because his 3 aces would have won the pot regardless?

The rulebook expressly forbids tampering with the balls after they were approved by the officials. So far, there is exactly zero evidence this has happened, and a throng of angry grunts looking for the authorities to hand out life in prison sentences for going 80 on a 60 mph road.

I think I'll reserve judgement until the league can speak about this on the record.

[Fafnir]

So all reports I've seen so far say all the balls were inspected at half time AND reinflated as needed. The Patriots went on to crush the Colts in the second half, so why is this even an issue? The Colts reported the deflated balls issue to the league after the game , after getting crushed in the second half with reinspected balls. The issue should be that they are displaying unsportsmanlike behavior and defamation after getting beaten fairly on the field.

Does the fact that the Patriots would have won anyway make the cheating any better?

It's like if you're playing poker, and a guy takes an ace out of his sleeve to make 4 of a kind.  Does he get excused for cheating because his 3 aces would have won the pot regardless?

The rulebook expressly forbids tampering with the balls after they were approved by the officials. So far, there is exactly zero evidence this has happened, and a throng of angry grunts looking for the authorities to hand out life in prison sentences for going 80 on a 60 mph road. I think I'll reserve judgement until the league can speak about this on the record.

So its zero evidence because the reports are off the record?

[Eja117]

Part of the issue here is that fans know the NFL is a control freak league. You can watch it for your whole life and then after a dominant win your team is supposedly in trouble for something nobody even knew is a thing and that other teams routinely do.

What next? Do we now have to be on the lookout for the Pats not using regulation teeth guards? Maybe their socks aren't pulled up high enough? Maybe after another dominant with the other team can complain about possibly use of voodoo dolls? Perhaps the eye black was too long?

[colincb]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/patriots/2015/01/21/new-england-patriots-deflating-footballs-may-not-as-easy-as-it-sounds/22113343/

Interesting read.  I'm still very skeptical about how this has been leaked with the NFL not being command of all the facts yet.

I wouldn't exactly consider the NFL the most tightly knit organization when it comes to information control. They've bungled item after item under the Goodell regime.

I agree.  They've screwed this up royally too.

[Eja117]

Sure we cheated, but we didn't need to cheat to beat you so you're the bad sport is a really strange way to talk about this.

Is it as strange as getting the living snot beaten out of you and then accusing the other team of cheating with balls that were checked and then checked again and handled hundreds of times by refs?

This is a great story except for the bit where they checked the ball and found them to be deflated to the point of breaking the rules.

Once again machismo about the Colts getting "beat" really doesn't play into the whole cheating thing. Its a deflection meant to change the subject.

So speaking of non machismo deflection if the Pats had lost would the Colts have even brought this up? Of course not. They were feeling a bit numb from having had their hands grabbed and used to punch their own faces repeatedly so needed a bit of non news to feel like human beings again so they came up with a bogus accusation. Ticky tack at absolute best.

[D.o.s.]

Infowars has pitched in on deflated footballs. My life is now complete.

 

Oooh! Can we play "Alex Jones or Felger & Mazz?"

I'll start.

I don’t think all lotteries are rigged. But there’s evidence some of them are rigged.

Felger.

BZZZT. Alex Jones:
http://www.esquire.com/anxiety/alex-jones-beliefs-0913

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

It's cheating, but it's a silly rule that everyone has ignored until the Patriots do it. There shouldn't even be an inflation rule—footballs obviously have to be inflated to a minimum level to be of any use, but otherwise the league should just let teams inflate to a level they're comfortable with. There's no difference between softening a football and wearing supergrip gloves. This is all so silly.

And if the league is going to punish the Pats, they should also punish the Vikings and Panthers for warming up balls during a cold game in November, and they should punish the Bucs because a decade ago Brad Johnson "doctored" the Super Bowl footballs, and they should punish the Packers because Aaron Rodgers admitted to trying to sneak overinflated balls into games, and they should punish Eli Manning for filing the laces on his footballs, and they should punish ...

You see where I'm going with this?

But it's the Patriots, so the league will make an example of them. And then no one will think badly of the NFL anymore. 

[TheFlex]

Infowars has pitched in on deflated footballs. My life is now complete.

 

Oooh! Can we play "Alex Jones or Felger & Mazz?"

I'll start.

I don’t think all lotteries are rigged. But there’s evidence some of them are rigged.

Almost as good as "Ballsghazi." TP.

[kozlodoev]

So its zero evidence because the reports are off the record?

There is zero evidence because there is zero evidence, I don't know how to explain it better. "The balls were irregular at halftime therefore the Patriots tampered with them" is not evidence, it is conjecture.

Also, the part where the officiating crew is supposed to be in charge of the balls pretty much until the whole thing goes live on national TV is somehow not receiving a lot of emphasis.

[BitterJim]

For those wondering why one of the balls was more inflated than others, it probably has to do with the occasional Tom Brady punt, which would be with a regular ball rather than a kicking ball (since using a kicking ball would give it away)

[TheFlex]

So all reports I've seen so far say all the balls were inspected at half time AND reinflated as needed. The Patriots went on to crush the Colts in the second half, so why is this even an issue? The Colts reported the deflated balls issue to the league after the game , after getting crushed in the second half with reinspected balls. The issue should be that they are displaying unsportsmanlike behavior and defamation after getting beaten fairly on the field.

Does the fact that the Patriots would have won anyway make the cheating any better?

It's like if you're playing poker, and a guy takes an ace out of his sleeve to make 4 of a kind.  Does he get excused for cheating because his 3 aces would have won the pot regardless?

Better example, Barry Bonds probably would have hit 600 homers without steroids, but that argument still hasn't gotten him into the Hall... yet.

[TheFlex]

So all reports I've seen so far say all the balls were inspected at half time AND reinflated as needed. The Patriots went on to crush the Colts in the second half, so why is this even an issue? The Colts reported the deflated balls issue to the league after the game , after getting crushed in the second half with reinspected balls. The issue should be that they are displaying unsportsmanlike behavior and defamation after getting beaten fairly on the field.

Does the fact that the Patriots would have won anyway make the cheating any better?

It's like if you're playing poker, and a guy takes an ace out of his sleeve to make 4 of a kind.  Does he get excused for cheating because his 3 aces would have won the pot regardless?

The rulebook expressly forbids tampering with the balls after they were approved by the officials. So far, there is exactly zero evidence this has happened, and a throng of angry grunts looking for the authorities to hand out life in prison sentences for going 80 on a 60 mph road.

I think I'll reserve judgement until the league can speak about this on the record.

Wow there are some gems in this thread.

TP.

[mkogav]