Patriots deflated game balls

[Anonymous]

Questions from someone who hasn't followed this:

Are footballs required to be inflated to a certain level? If so, do officials verify that the balls are properly inflated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Questions from someone who hasn't followed this:

Are footballs required to be inflated to a certain level? If so, do officials verify that the balls are properly inflated?

Yes and apparently not well enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Questions from someone who hasn't followed this:

Are footballs required to be inflated to a certain level? If so, do officials verify that the balls are properly inflated?

Yes. Between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI. And, yes, they are inspected ... two hours before the game, and returned to the teams. The questions are: How cursory was the inspection, and could anything have been done to the balls after the exam.

[Anonymous]

One of those things I didn't know: The King of Sports, the multi-billion dollar NFL has the teams supply the footballs that their team will use during the game. Yes, the officials check the footballs a couple hours before the games but then they give them back to the team.

Are you kidding me? Now that I know that, I can only assume that all of the teams cheat; the system seems pretty much designed to encourage cheating.

How about this: the league supplies the footballs and there is just one set of footballs for the game; the same football is used by both teams.

Next week, I'll research what to do about the "K" balls, which are yet another set of footballs that are used just for kicking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It's hard to believe that the refs or the other team wouldn't notice. I mean, everyone handles the same ball, right?

Well when you're not expecting a cheater . . .
And wasn't it a cold driving rain for much of the game?

What is your point? Mine is that if the ball is performing differently than normal, someone from the other team and/or the refs should have noticed. I see umpires pull baseballs all the time for being scuffed and potentially impacting performance.

So the Pats can simply violate the rules because the officials didn't catch a 10% deviation in psi? Ok.

[Anonymous]

The balls were checked and re-inflated at halftime, per standard protocol. The Pats crushed them in the second half. This is a totally manufactured "scandal."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The balls were checked and re-inflated at halftime, per standard protocol. The Pats crushed them in the second half. This is a totally manufactured "scandal."

If it is manufactured. Then the Raven's balls would be deflated also.

NE is known for cheating. They did it again.

[Anonymous]

Pat's balls were deflated for the Ravens game too but Harbaugh dismissed it due to the cold temps. 11 of 12 Pat's balls and 0 of 12 Colts balls were deflated for the Pat/Colts game. The Pats cheat. What's a $500,000 fine to Bellichick? Clearly, not a deterrent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pat's balls were deflated for the Ravens game too but Harbaugh dismissed it due to the cold temps. 11 of 12 Pat's balls and 0 of 12 Colts balls were deflated for the Pat/Colts game. The Pats cheat. What's a $500,000 fine to Bellichick? Clearly, not a deterrent.

This is a good point. If something like game play, weather, etc would have caused the game balls to deflate than the 12 balls from the Colts would likely also have deflated which none of them did. Only the Patriots had deflated game balls.

[Anonymous]

It isn't a win if you had to cheat. Sadder still when you could have won but still cheated. Just like Lance Armstrong.

[Anonymous]

For those of you suggesting that the Pats would have won the game regardless of the rigged balls, think again. Football is very much a momentum sport. Both of these teams had more than enough capacity to win. That means, details will matter. If one team is throwing/catching significantly better in rainy conditions (which deflated footballs allow for), that alone, could be a real game changer. Someone intentionally deflated these balls to gain a competitive advantage - it worked and the Pats are headed to the super bowl.

[Anonymous]

I have the feeling we'll be seeing a lot of attractive news women's' comments about this story taken out of context on SNL and the like.

[Anonymous]

Belichick likely knew, but Brady definitely knew. He's obviously a wuss and enjoys throwing Nerf footballs in the NFL for millions.

[Anonymous]

Ravens / colts next week for the AFC championship!

Kick out the cheaters .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of those things I didn't know: The King of Sports, the multi-billion dollar NFL has the teams supply the footballs that their team will use during the game. Yes, the officials check the footballs a couple hours before the games but then they give them back to the team.

Are you kidding me? Now that I know that, I can only assume that all of the teams cheat; the system seems pretty much designed to encourage cheating.

How about this: the league supplies the footballs and there is just one set of footballs for the game; the same football is used by both teams.

Next week, I'll research what to do about the "K" balls, which are yet another set of footballs that are used just for kicking.

I agree - especially the part about all teams cheating.