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2015-2016 NFL Season Thread
- Thread starter AustinIllini
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Yeah. And spygate was dumb too. That had been illegal only since 06, then the league made it illegal. Belichick didn't move the camera to the right place. Thought a small-medium fine would be enough since the nature of the offense was relatively small, like this.
Any issue that gets Congress involved is not "dumb".
There is a reason for the NFL to worry about this. The league's antitrust standing depends on the NFL keeping the game on the up and up.
Bad argument in my opinion. Congress is retarded for getting involved in spygate. Just because Congress got involved in it, doesn't mean the issue is serious. Rules were broken yes, but the rules that were broken involved the placement of the camera a few feet from where it was supposed to be. I'm sure congress would love to get involved with anything that isn't what their constituents want them to be involved in however.
I stopped reading there.
Congress grants the NFL the right to have no real competition. If they decide the game is fixed or at all tampered with, the can break up the league.
Congress got involved because Arlen Spector is an Eagles fan.
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...as did "Bountygate" and the Ray Rice case. The penalty was about Goodell trying to repair his image, since image is the only thing he cares about. I'd bet a million bucks he's furious at whoever leaked the deflated balls story to Bob Kravitz.
Ball tampering has been going on a long time, and it's pretty obvious the league really doesn't care.
We are all subject to the same dumb congress. Hmm, that's not so good.
http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm
Sorry is that now a banned word? Sure a little childish, but lets assume what people are like based off one statement.
Pats: Jim McNally called himself “Deflator” because he’s fat
LOL! Ok the Patriots are just embarassing themselves now.
LOL! Ok the Patriots are just embarassing themselves now.
Unfortunately, that rather silly aspect of the rebuttal will provide a talking point for ESPN and the NFL Network to hammer while ignoring more valid concerns raised today. Definitely not a good move there.
LOL! The only people embarrassing themselves are the haters who are still crying "cheaters!!" over a couple text messages taken out of context because the Pats have steamrolled the league and their team for the last decade.
Scientific analysis using the data provided in the wells report exonerates the Patriots of any wrongdoing whatsoever. The Patriots DID NOT deflate the balls. AT ALL.
From the Wells Report, they state Walt Anderson (the ref) measured all the game balls before the game and all the Patriots balls measured in right around 12.5 psig. Walt Anderson also stated that he used the "logo gauge" to do these measurements.
At halftime, the officials took measurements of all the balls with two gauges, one being the "logo gauge" used before the game, and other a "non-logo gauge". The non-logo gauge readings were between 0.3-0.45psig (0.38avg) below the logo gauge.
Wells then goes on to support his conclusion that the Patriots deflated the balls based on the halftime measurements of the non-logo gauge, even though Walt Anderson told them he used the logo gauge. However, since the "logo gauge" was the one used before the game according to Walt Anderson, this invalidates Wells' claim. The only gauge used pregame was the logo gauge, so as the control, it is the only gauge that will give an accurate representation of how much pressure was lost during the first half.
From page 113 of Wells' report:
According to Exponent, based on the most likely pressure and temperature values for the Patriots game balls on the day of the AFC Championship Game (i.e., a starting pressure of 12.5 psi, a starting temperature of between 67 and 71 degrees and a final temperature of 48 degrees), the Ideal Gas Law predicts that the Patriots balls should have measured between 11.52 and 11.32 psi at the end of the first half, just before they were brought back into the Officials Locker Room.
So, according to the firm Wells' and the NFL hired, the balls should have tested between 11.32 and 11.52 psig at halftime.
Using the data provided in the Wells' report, the balls tested at the following psig on the logo gauge (which, as established above, the only valid gauge since it was the one used to set the balls by Walt Anderson pregame).
11.80, 11.20, 11.50, 11.00, 11.45, 11.95, 12.30, 11.55, 11.35, 10.90, 11.35.
The average psig of those eleven Patriots balls tested at halftime? 11.48 psig. Right at the upper end of the range that their own firm says they should be due to the weather. The numbers aren't exact due to the nature of the gauges used not being extremely precise instruments, the variability of each football being slightly different, and the rain during the game, but the effects of any of these variables are minor. The fact is that the Patriots footballs were fell exactly in the pressure range they should have fallen in due to the weather conditions during that game.
What does all this mean? Regardless of all the conjecture and hot air blowing around regarding out of context text messages, the Patriots are innocent. They did not deflate the footballs. Science and math prove it, and science does not lie. Trying to argue the Patriots cheated based on all the available evidence from Wells' report would be like trying to argue 2+2 = 17.
If those are the facts, then you make for a compelling argument. If the end pressure is within the margin that ls predicted under those conditions, then what are we wasting our time over?
1. The text messages and Brady refusing to turn over texts and emails look anywhere in the range of suspicious to incriminating. I don't consider them to be definitive proof, but the explanation for the "Deflator" texts released by the Patriots yesterday was laughable. They really shot themselves in the foot with that, as very valid questions about the Wells report are being ignored by most media outlets.
2. Because so much of this is about the court of public opinion, facts matter very little. There is a text in the Wells report from Jastremski to his wife; it is related to the game in New York when the balls were inflated by the refs to 16 and not adjusted back downward. It says, "the balls were supposed to be 13 lbs...They were like 16. Felt like bricks." So it's fair to ask why he would send this text if he was under orders to drop all balls below 12.5. But no one does, because it's treated as irrelevant next to the "more probable than not" finding. It's become nearly incontrovertible that the science in the Wells report is wildly inaccurate at best, blatantly biased at worst. Again, this is deemed irrelevant. Even the openly-stated influence on Walt Anderson by Wells in terms of his answer about which gauge he used prior to the game has been basically ignored.
3. Roger Goodell has to save face in the wake of a very bad year. The Rice case has damaged his credibility a great deal. He has to "do something" in order to look like he's not screwing up yet another problem that the league has to handle.
Unfortunately, both sides have gone all in, and I'm not sure what it's going to take to stop the idiocy.
EDIT: I do have to say, I felt a mixture of bewilderment and hilarity last night. So the Patriots have just released their response to the Wells report with the explanation for 'Deflator' in it. They look incredibly foolish as a result. So what does this monumental boob Goodell do? Announce he's going to preside over Brady's appeal. All I could picture was the sound of a needle scratching off a record and a room going silent as people slowly, incredulously turn their heads to watch. Then, as if that wasn't enough, Wells goes to an interview and gives answers to questions that directly contradict his own report!
I swear, if you wanted a book on how not to engage in a PR battle, the NFL and the Patriots could write it right now.
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The country hates the Patriots. Any excuse they can get to try to discredit them because they don't want to admit their team has been smoked by them over the last decade, they'll take.
This all started because the Colts are a bunch of crybabies and they cried to Mike Kensil, a former Jets executive. These guys were a bunch of meatheads who didn't understand basic physics and thought they finally had something to tear the Patriots down. Too bad for them science has proved them liars.
I wouldn't worry too much Patriots fans. Roger Goodell is hearing Brady's appeal personally.
He will be reinstated.
He will be reinstated.
The case is going to end up going to court and be heard by a judge. The NFLPA has expressed their intent to call Goodell as a material witness in the case. In that case, he wouldn't be able to serve as the arbitrator. As the NFLPA stated in their appeal later, this precedent has already been set in the past.
It's gonna be hard for Brady to win due to the action of his boss :
"New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday that he will not appeal the punishment handed down to him by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell over the congtroversy known as "Deflategate."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/19/us/nfl-patriots-deflategate-no-appeal/index.html
Kraft was not going to sue the league as the other owners would not have allowed it. He has no legs to stand on as he is the one that pushed for these rules that he is now being punished for.
New SB Champ rings cause Patriots' fingers to shrivel up and turn black (Onion)
I mean, where is all this h-eight coming from?
I mean, where is all this h-eight coming from?
I'm so done with Roger Goodell and ESPN.
Awful announcing is claiming that Olbermann's firing had something to do with NFL redistribution.
http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/cre...-played-role-in-espn-and-olbermann-split.html
Awful announcing is claiming that Olbermann's firing had something to do with NFL redistribution.
http://awfulannouncing.com/2015/cre...-played-role-in-espn-and-olbermann-split.html
ESPN is reporting that 2 NFL players lost fingers due to fireworks accidents over the 4th of July weekend. Buccaneers CB C.J. Wilson lost 2 fingers and Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul had his right index finger amputated yesterday.
Very sad news for both players. However, I do have to wonder whether or not the fireworks were legal. Sadly, they probably were not.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13221663/cj-wilson-tampa-bay-buccaneers-injured-fireworks-accident
Very sad news for both players. However, I do have to wonder whether or not the fireworks were legal. Sadly, they probably were not.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13221663/cj-wilson-tampa-bay-buccaneers-injured-fireworks-accident
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