One factor that the Wells report ignores is the amount of time that passed between measuring the Pats footballs vs. the Colts. This is an important factor because the pressure returns very quickly. I read about an experiment that was done back in January about balls taken from a 70 degree room to a 40 degree temperature outside and the balls dropped 1.5 psi as expected. But after just 15 minutes in the 70 degree room, the psi had adjusted back.
We know the Patriots footballs were measure first and only 4 Colts balls were measured as they ran out of time. We also know the officials locker room was just over 70 degrees. So, if the Patriots footballs were measured on average of just 5 minutes or so earlier, that could explain the entire difference between each team's footballs.
Edit: Upon reading further, I see that the Exponent report does address this and determines that it does not account for the full difference. The problem I have with this is that this determination assumes they have perfect information to the times each team's balls were measured. By their own calculations if the time disparity is just two minutes longer than their assumptions, then their calculations would account for the entire difference between the two sets of balls. Just two minutes of an estimated timeframe provided by the referees would change their conclusion entirely.
TP
the funny thing about the PSI thing is that it's not nearly as simple as some are making it out to be.
anderson claims the colts balls were around 13 PSI, and the pats were 12.5 before the game.
at halftime, the refs measure the 12 pats balls, which according to their graph average 11.3, and then they measure just 4 of the colts' balls, which average 12.5. so, if the refs' original measurements were accurate, the colts balls lost around .5 PSI and the pats' balls lost around 1.2 PSI.
the .7 difference in lost PSI between the 2 teams' balls looks a bit suspicious.
but there could be legit reasons:
-as knuckleballer notes above, there was a time difference from when the two teams' balls were measured. that time could have warmed the colts' balls a bit more than the pats', raising their PSI as a result.
- did the refs use the same gauge for both teams when they first measured the balls? they had 2 different gauges, and there was a consistent .4 PSI difference between the 2 gauges. that is "huge", at least in terms of this silly story.
-only 4 colts balls were tested. what if those balls were the ones warm and safe in the bag, and hadn't been exposed to the elements? those 4 could be outliers, we'll never know if the rest were lower or not. and the pats certainly had their balls on the field a lot more than the colts did in the first half, so it stands to reason their balls might be a bit wetter and cooler.
-what if the colts balls at the start of the game were 13.5, and not 13.0. as anderson suggests? what if he made a mistake? that would account for most of the .7 differential in lost PSI. the refs also made a blatant error in one of the readings they logged for one of the colts' balls (the footnotes admit as much). keep in mind there's only a .7 PSI difference between the amount of air both teams' balls lost. a lot is riding on the refs' having not been negligent or made mistakes.
-as others have noted, Exponent Inc, the lab hired by the NFL, is extremely shady, and according to an LA times report is basically a shill for big businesses to put out scientific propaganda that makes them look good. not exactly the most credible lab to be using for such an "important" investigation.
in closing, there's plenty of reason to doubt the league's "scientific" conclusions; sadly for the pats, the text messages are much harder to explain. without those texts, i think the pats easily beat the rap. goes to show that, in this digital age, be careful what you do. some of it (or all?) sticks forever.
Topic: #DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension) (Read 609178 times)