#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[Roy H.]

ESPN has taken down mortensen's initial report about this whole thing

As in retracted or taken off their website. How did you gain this knowledge?

Ahh never mind its just been archived so its not easy to find anymore.  some stuff floating around on twitter

"Old News Story replaced by Newer News Stories" doesn't quite have the conspiratorial ring you're looking for?

well too be fair, two separate people that I follow, one from 98.5 and one from a nfl draft site both said they couldn't find it anymore and said they thought it had been removed, one of those people then retweeted which I saw later a follower who pointed out it had been archived

Maybe you should start being more skeptical of those guys. It literally took me less than 3 seconds to find the article on google.

God, I hate twitter.

I wanted it to be true Roy.  Im biased

Haha.  Well, the standard of you sharing stuff on CelticsBlog should be a bit lower than somebody from a radio station stating it as a fact on twitter.

[JSD]

The refs were presented with balls and didn't do their due diligence in measuring the air. It's that simple, I think.

One of the major reasons I went with this theory is because of what Aaron Rogers said about over-inflating his footballs. The way he said it, suggested that sometimes he can sneak it by the refs who might just do a feel test instead of going the whole 9 yards with a gauge. Again, I think that's exactly what happened here. Brady presented his slightly under-inflated footballs to the refs, they gave it a feel test, and then said, "Good to go". Much to do about nothing.

Among the many people who had contact with the Patriots pigskin used in Sunday's AFC championship ? which were reportedly underinflated ? were the ball boys. And one former ball boy (who did not take part in Sunday's match) told NBC News that his goal was always to prepare the ball to the quarterback's preference and hope they passed inspection, and that it would have been very difficult to tamper with them afterward.

Eric Kester, who was a ball boy for the Chicago Bears in 2003, says he can't speculate about the controversy dubbed "Deflate-Gate," but he remembers how the preparation worked ? starting with the delivery of factory-fresh balls a few days before a game.

"We would then work with the quarterbacks to customize the balls to their liking. This involved scrubbing them with stiff horsehair brushes to rub off the leather's slippery silicone sheen, and occasionally inflating or deflating the balls a very small amount, which I believe is legal to a degree. Quarterbacks are very particular about the way a ball feels in their hand, and we worked meticulously to match their particular preferences," Kester said.

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

"My thought process was, 'Let's get the balls exactly the way our quarterback wants them, and if the refs reject one or two before the game, no big deal. But there's no harm giving them our ideal balls and hoping they make it through inspection.'"

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

[D.o.s.]

ESPN has taken down mortensen's initial report about this whole thing

As in retracted or taken off their website. How did you gain this knowledge?

Ahh never mind its just been archived so its not easy to find anymore.  some stuff floating around on twitter

"Old News Story replaced by Newer News Stories" doesn't quite have the conspiratorial ring you're looking for?

well too be fair, two separate people that I follow, one from 98.5 and one from a nfl draft site both said they couldn't find it anymore and said they thought it had been removed, one of those people then retweeted which I saw later a follower who pointed out it had been archived

Maybe you should start being more skeptical of those guys. It literally took me less than 3 seconds to find the article on google.

God, I hate twitter.

I wanted it to be true Roy.  Im biased

Haha.  Well, the standard of you sharing stuff on CelticsBlog should be a bit lower than somebody from a radio station stating it as a fact on twitter.

BREAKING: Admin encourages low standards when posting on CelticsBlog forum.

[Boris Badenov]

ESPN has taken down mortensen's initial report about this whole thing

As in retracted or taken off their website. How did you gain this knowledge?

Ahh never mind its just been archived so its not easy to find anymore.  some stuff floating around on twitter

"Old News Story replaced by Newer News Stories" doesn't quite have the conspiratorial ring you're looking for?

well too be fair, two separate people that I follow, one from 98.5 and one from a nfl draft site both said they couldn't find it anymore and said they thought it had been removed, one of those people then retweeted which I saw later a follower who pointed out it had been archived

Maybe you should start being more skeptical of those guys. It literally took me less than 3 seconds to find the article on google.

God, I hate twitter.

I wanted it to be true Roy.  Im biased

Haha.  Well, the standard of you sharing stuff on CelticsBlog should be a bit lower than somebody from a radio station stating it as a fact on twitter.

BREAKING: Admin encourages low standards when posting on CelticsBlog forum.

In fairness, ESPN has really done the lion's share of bar-lowering. Let's give credit where credit is due.

I did noticed that ESPN has fixed their current lead article on the subject, which until recently trumpeted the fact that the footballs "weighed two pounds less" as its smoking gun.

[Donoghus]

ESPN has taken down mortensen's initial report about this whole thing

As in retracted or taken off their website. How did you gain this knowledge?

Ahh never mind its just been archived so its not easy to find anymore.  some stuff floating around on twitter

"Old News Story replaced by Newer News Stories" doesn't quite have the conspiratorial ring you're looking for?

well too be fair, two separate people that I follow, one from 98.5 and one from a nfl draft site both said they couldn't find it anymore and said they thought it had been removed, one of those people then retweeted which I saw later a follower who pointed out it had been archived

Maybe you should start being more skeptical of those guys. It literally took me less than 3 seconds to find the article on google.

God, I hate twitter.

I wanted it to be true Roy.  Im biased

Haha.  Well, the standard of you sharing stuff on CelticsBlog should be a bit lower than somebody from a radio station stating it as a fact on twitter.

BREAKING: Admin encourages low standards when posting on CelticsBlog forum.

In fairness, ESPN has really done the lion's share of bar-lowering. Let's give credit where credit is due.

I did noticed that ESPN has fixed their current lead article on the subject, which until recently trumpeted the fact that the footballs "weighed two pounds less" as its smoking gun.

The echo chamber has been working overtime since Monday there. 

The NFL Live spot with Bettis, Brunell, & Dawkins might take the cake.

EDIT:  Actually, the more that I think about it, Kornheiser comparing Belichick to Whitey Bulger takes the cake.

[Rondo2287]

Interesting read from the perspective of a ball boy for the Bears. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

[JSD]

Interesting read from the perspective of a ball boy for the Bears. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

Just posted this. "Hello this thing on?"

[Rondo2287]

Interesting read from the perspective of a ball boy for the Bears. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

Just posted this. "Hello this thing on?"

Haha my god im the worst!

[kozlodoev]

Interesting read from the perspective of a ball boy for the Bears. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

This is from 2003, hence before the rule was passed that allowed teams to bring in their own balls.

[Donoghus]

Interesting read from the perspective of a ball boy for the Bears. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/super-bowl-xlix/deflate-gate-nfl-ball-boys-perspective-preparing-footballs-n290801

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

This is from 2003, hence before the rule was passed that allowed teams to bring in their own balls.

Also another article that uses "two pounds" instead of "two pounds per square inch".

[D.o.s.]

Clearly its credentials are unimpeachable.

[kozlodoev]

3. there is no evidence that the patriots did anything wrong

I disagree with you there.  Circumstantial evidence is evidence.  If only a couple of balls had been deflated, or if the Colts balls had been deflated, I'd agree.  Based on what we've heard so far, though, I think that it's not that hard to follow the logic chain.

For all we know, the Colts balls may have been inflated to 13.5 before the game, and Pats balls to 12.5. It IS possible for both balls to have lost about 1 PSI, in which case Pats balls could be non-conforming, while Colts balls would still be conforming. Given that the media has already gotten the whistleblower wrong, there's no guarantee they got the amounts right. We're talking about people who could't figure out that a football (13 to 15 oz in weight) cannot be "two pounds lighter" from deflation.

On a separate note, there's also the possibility that the Pats inflate their game balls in a manner to make sure they'll lose some pressure when they go outside on cold days (which I think may be a reason why they haven't been fully forthcoming in describing the exact process of preparing their game balls). Is this an actual wrongdoing? It doesn't involve any tampering with the footballs after they have been approved by the officials.

[kozlodoev]

Also another article that uses "two pounds" instead of "two pounds per square inch".

That's not really a problem to me unless it's abundantly clear that the author believes a deflated football will be 2 lbs lighter in weight.

[Donoghus]

Also another article that uses "two pounds" instead of "two pounds per square inch".

That's not really a problem to me unless it's abundantly clear that the author believes a deflated football will be 2 lbs lighter in weight.

It's just a pet peeve of mine that I've seen out there in several media reports.  Its a BIG difference. 

[Cman]

On a separate note, there's also the possibility that the Pats inflate their game balls in a manner to make sure they'll lose some pressure when they go outside on cold days (which I think may be a reason why they haven't been fully forthcoming in describing the exact process of preparing their game balls). Is this an actual wrongdoing? It doesn't involve any tampering with the footballs after they have been approved by the officials.

To state the obvious, whether it is seen as wrongdoing or not will depend on whether you like the Patriots or not.