#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

So, basically, Exponent is a glorified lobbyist, crafting things to look the way their paying clients want them to look.

Not necessarily. You constantly make assumptions as a part of the scientific process -- that doesn't necessarily disqualify your conclusions. There are, however, other issues with the credibility of the contractor.

I'd be careful about involving assumptions in the scientific process.

The fact that you'd be careful doesn't change the necessity to assume.

I guess I'm questioning the wisdom and necessity of assuming anything.

[D.o.s.]

to finish out this increasingly specious tangent: faith and belief are nothing more than an assumption of an inherent truth.

Following the money is a good idea, but it's possible to see boogie men where there are none. Just ask Sy Hersh (allegedly).

[kozlodoev]

I guess I'm questioning the wisdom and necessity of assuming anything.

The necessity is unconditional, and the wisdom lies in knowing what's a reasonable assumption and what isn't.

[knuckleballer]

I guess I'm questioning the wisdom and necessity of assuming anything.

The necessity is unconditional, and the wisdom lies in knowing what's a reasonable assumption and what isn't.

Exactly.  They used a lot of assumptions as was necessary, but determined their results to be precisely accurate.  Their calculations found that the Logo balls were an average of 0.1 psi lower than their calculations and determined that to an unrealistic level.  That's not a reasonable determination.  There were many factors that would reasonably account for this that they failed to mention.  They even used just four Colts balls whose measurements contained multiple recording errors as a control group.  There are so many problems with that, but they were rigid with their calculations in comparing those four to the 11 Pats balls.  Their experiment of the effects of rain water was totally unrealistic.  It varied to HeadSmart Labs' experiment by 0.5, but they assumed their experiment to be accurate without accounting for margin of error or reasonableness.

[LooseCannon]

Ted Wells previously worked for the NFL on a report about bullying and the Miami Dolphins.  Does #BallGhazi make anyone think that maybe Richie Incognito wasn't as bad of a guy as he was portrayed to be?

[Donoghus]

For anyone interested in some light reading this Thursday morning. 

Via the Patriots counsel:  http://wellsreportcontext.com/

[D.o.s.]

Someone needs to have their bold button privileges revoked.

[Eja117]

I think these are fair questions...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/05/14/hurley-questions-roger-goodell-needs-to-answer/

[Donoghus]

I guess we can reiterate the fact that the only winners in all this are going to be the lawyers. 

Of course, its always the lawyers.   

[Cman]

I think these are fair questions...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/05/14/hurley-questions-roger-goodell-needs-to-answer/

I think the first three are fair, and I think there's a good point made in the fourth, but the last few are just red meat for Pats fans.

[mahonedog88]

For anyone interested in some light reading this Thursday morning. 

Via the Patriots counsel:  http://wellsreportcontext.com/

I haven't read it, but just listening to coverage on it on the radio, it sounds like they make some legit points, specifically about the science and the gauges used...but then they also make themselves look pretty desperate at times too, trying to explain away the "deflator" text by saying that McNally said it in terms of because he's a big, overweight guy and that he's commented before about he needs to "deflate his weight."  And then the "going to ESPN" text they say is McNally talking about going to ESPN about receiving merchandise.

I'm a diehard Pats fan and I like to think of myself has relatively objective.  It's hard not to be 100% objective when it's your team involved, I get that.  But this is really starting to get ridiculous.  The Patriots are going to continue to make themselves look like buffoons with these constant attempts at explaining away things that really don't seem to hold any water.

This story is killing my enjoyment of local sports radio.  It's all that's been talked about for the last week, and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.  I'm just about deflategated out.

[Donoghus]

The "Deflator" explanation actually made me laugh. 

[Roy H.]

I think these are fair questions...

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/05/14/hurley-questions-roger-goodell-needs-to-answer/

I think the first three are fair, and I think there's a good point made in the fourth, but the last few are just red meat for Pats fans.

Yeah, some of the inquiries were legit, but at a certain point I stopped reading to see who the author was, and he was from CBS Boston.  That explained a lot.

The legit point, though, is how on Earth the officials could bungle this so much.  They knew ahead of time that this was an issue, and yet they didn't record their measurements, or even which gauge they used?  They let the balls out of their sight?  You might expect that at the high school level, but in a several billion dollar per year organization, it's ridiculous.

[Donoghus]

The legit point, though, is how on Earth the officials could bungle this so much.  They knew ahead of time that this was an issue, and yet they didn't record their measurements, or even which gauge they used?  They let the balls out of their sight?  You might expect that at the high school level, but in a several billion dollar per year organization, it's ridiculous.

Yeah, it's a joke that a league that is so strict when it comes to things like uniforms, socks, etc... acts so lackadaisical on something like the footballs actually being used in their games.   Then they come out and always beat their chests about the "integrity" of the game.

It's an absolute joke.

[mahonedog88]

The legit point, though, is how on Earth the officials could bungle this so much.  They knew ahead of time that this was an issue, and yet they didn't record their measurements, or even which gauge they used?  They let the balls out of their sight?  You might expect that at the high school level, but in a several billion dollar per year organization, it's ridiculous.

Yeah, it's a joke that a league that is so strict when it comes to things like uniforms, socks, etc... acts so lackadaisical on something like the footballs actually being used in their games.   Then they come out and always beat their chests about the "integrity" of the game.

It's an absolute joke.

The refs definitely dropped the ball.  But Wells himself said in his interview that he thinks they never even took that initial complaint email from the Colts that seriously, that they looked at it along the same lines of "hey, watch out for #63, he holds on every play."  The league gets complaints like that all the time from every team that they really just ignore them now.  That's why Walt Anderson never wrote down the PSI levels before the game and had to go off his "best recollection" of which gauge he used.

And now it's looking like that the D'Qwell Jackson interception (after conflicting reports with this) really was the act that started ALL of this.  Because if he doesn't pick that ball off, the Colts have no opportunity to turn a Pats ball into officials during the game.

Remember how Brady seemed to throw ALOT of redzone interceptions this year?  I constantly said that one of these games, it's gonna come back to bite him and cost them game.  Well it didn't cost them a game, but it certainly came back to bite him.