Quote:But how do you explain Brady's behavior after the investigation was begun? The flurry of communications between him and the ball boys, the giving of autographed merchandise to the ball boys, the refusal to turn over his cell phone? It sure smells like a cover up. Personally, I don't think the deflated balls had much to do with winning. But impeding an investigation like he appears to have done is what deserves punishment. Martha Stewart didn't get punished for insider trading, she got punished for lying to the FBI. Same with Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Clinton was impeached for perjury. Nixon was impeached not for the Watergate burglary, but for the cover up.
Personally, I like and admire Tom Brady for being a dorky 6th round draft pick who became a slam dunk first ballot Hall of Famer who married a Supermodel. Sure. But still, he has to be punished for this. Anything less would smack of star treatment and/or Goodell being in the pocket of his good friend, Bob Kraft. They suspend people for smoking pot, how can you not suspend people for something that goes to the integrity of the game and the integrity of the investigation?
If someone who worked with you and made sure that things were exactly the way you wanted got in trouble, wouldn't you try to help him? If Brady asked the ball guy to make sure the balls were exactly 12.5 and no higher, and the ball guy complied, then that would explain the communications. Of course, cheating would also explain them. Well states that it was more likely than not cheating. So he figures that say 60% of the time this would be due to cheating and 40% of the time an honest result. Maybe he's right. That doesn't mean that either case is true.
As far as the cell phone, would you turn over your cell phone to some non-police investigator if you weren't required to do so? I wouldn't, and my phone doesn't even have naked pictures on it.
Are these what actually happened? Only Tom Brady knows, and he hasn't admitted to anything.
You are right about the lying being the reason/excuse for punishment. Did Brady lie? Refusing to supply information not legally required by law is not the same as lying. In retrospect, Martha Stewart should have just refused to say anything.
(I also have a problem with people being jailed for lying when not under oath, but that's a matter for a different forum)
Quote:The problem with that is, people have done the math, and the balls would have had to be inflated around 120+ degrees for the outdoor temperature to change them that much. I remember Neil DeGrasse Tyson posted his math somewhere
Well if Neil DeGrasse Tyson said it, it must be true.
/sarc
It's a simple calculation. P = P0 * (T / T0)
77F = 25C = 298K
(I'm using 77 and 50 to make the celsius numbers come out even)
50F = 10C = 283K
pressure = 12.5 x 283 / 298 = 11.87
That's for dry air. If moisture condensed inside the footballs, then the halftime pressure would be even lower.
The lowest measurement at halftime was 10.9, about 9% under the expected dry air pressure of 11.87 after cooling. Three of four Colts balls were also under 12.5, with the fourth at exactly 12.5. Note the measurement accuracy of +/-.05 psi. It seems to me that the differences can all be explained by taking balls filled with warm humid air outside into the cold.
Looks like the standard practice was for the locker room attendant to deflate the balls right in the officials' locker room. He said for a normal game that locker room is usually empty and he often sits in there and watches ESPN. But because it was a Championship Game the officials' locker room was crowded and he had to take the bag of 24 balls into the rest room for doctoring.
Those trying to scientifically explain away pressure changes for one game are purposely trying to deflect not only the one incident, but they ignore the damning "deflator" texts from earlier in 2014 and the fact that the "deflator" had chosen that nickname in 2013 or earlier, suggesting the deflation scheme was in place for previous years.
Of course there is the history of Patriots' equipment personnel trying to slip doctored balls into games as early as 2004, and Brady's statements in 2006 about having "sleepless nights" wishing he had more control of the balls used on game days. Then the lobbying effort by Brady and Manning to allow teams to bring their own pre-doctored balls for use on gamedays. The new rule was adopted for the 2007 NFL season, and from then on, the Patriots' turnovers fell dramatically compared to league average, and remained significantly lower than any other teams' turnover ratio for 8 years.
Quote:Looks like the standard practice was for the locker room attendant to deflate the balls right in the officials' locker room. He said for a normal game that locker room is usually empty and he often sits in there and watches ESPN. But because it was a Championship Game the officials' locker room was crowded and he had to take the bag of 24 balls into the rest room for doctoring.
Is the Patriots equipment guy then admitting that he doctored the balls? I haven't seen that anywhere.
Quote:Those trying to scientifically explain away pressure changes for one game are purposely trying to deflect not only the one incident, but they ignore the damning "deflator" texts from earlier in 2014 and the fact that the "deflator" had chosen that nickname in 2013 or earlier, suggesting the deflation scheme was in place for previous years.
'Science' explains that one game. There are no pressure readings from any other game.
A guy who makes sure the pressure of each ball is reduced to exactly 12.5 might call himself "deflator." While this is suspicious, it proves nothing.
One other point: the second set of pressure measurements were consistently 0.3 psi below the first set. Assuming the tests were accurate to the .05 psi that was recorded, that implies that the process of inserting a pressure guage and then removing it releases 0.3 psi of air. If a person reduced each ball to exactly 12.5, then they would be below 12.5 after the action. So by adjusting the pressure 'honestly' to to bottom of the allowed range, the process would in fact illegally reduce it to below the allowed range.
And I still don't see why Walt Anderson still has a job after allowing a half to be played knowing there may be an illegal action that gave an advantage to one team.
Quote:'Science' explains that one game. There are no pressure readings from any other game.
A guy who makes sure the pressure of each ball is reduced to exactly 12.5 might call himself "deflator." While this is suspicious, it proves nothing.
One other point: the second set of pressure measurements were consistently 0.3 psi below the first set. Assuming the tests were accurate to the .05 psi that was recorded, that implies that the process of inserting a pressure guage and then removing it releases 0.3 psi of air. If a person reduced each ball to exactly 12.5, then they would be below 12.5 after the action. So by adjusting the pressure 'honestly' to to bottom of the allowed range, the process would in fact illegally reduce it to below the allowed range.
And I still don't see why Walt Anderson still has a job after allowing a half to be played knowing there may be an illegal action that gave an advantage to one team.
It's also possible there wasn't a difference in calibration. It's possible that testing the balls cause a consistent air loss for each time it's read.
Another interesting note. No one has explained why four of the Colts balls were under regulation, too.
Quote:Is the Patriots equipment guy then admitting that he doctored the balls? I haven't seen that anywhere.
That info was from a story done previous to the incident. He was the Officials' Locker Room Attendant, a glorified ball boy who was part of the chain of custody regarding handling of the balls. Apparently the custody was lax enough that once the officials left the locker room, he was allowed to remain in there with game balls for some period of time.
Per rotoworld:
Quote:Report: Pats fear 6-8 game Brady suspension
Tom Brady | NE
(May 8, 2015 4:36 PM EDT)
CSN New England's Mike Giardi reports the Patriots are "bracing for the worst" regarding DeflateGate discipline for Tom Brady and are "fearful" of a 6-8 game suspension.
To this point, only a 1-2 game ban has been feared amongst a majority of NFL observers. A 6-8 suspension would be wildly and unreasonably harsh from a league that stripped Ray Rice of just two games after he rendered his fiancee unconscious with a punch to the face in an elevator. Brady wanted footballs deflated to get a better grip. The possibility of a lengthy suspension makes Brady -- and Rob Gronkowski, Brandon LaFell, and Julian Edelman -- high-risk propositions in fantasy leagues that draft early. 2014 second-round pick Jimmy Garoppolo is next up on New England's quarterback depth chart.
SOURCE: CSN NEW ENGLAND
Fair or not, I hope he's out against the Jags.
Good chance that he's out against us in week 3. We'll see
With Brady out of the picture we already have our first W of the season in the bag gentlemen.
Quote:With Brady out of the picture we already have our first W of the season in the bag gentlemen.
Actually it'll be harder. We always make backups look godlike
Quote:It's also possible there wasn't a difference in calibration. It's possible that testing the balls cause a consistent air loss for each time it's read.
Another interesting note. No one has explained why four of the Colts balls were under regulation, too.
That was my point, that the act of measurement reduced the pressure.
As for the Colts balls, you are right. Also unexplained is why only four were measured. Halftime is long enough to measure all of the balls from both teams. If necessary another commercial break could have been added. 
It would have been wise for the NFL to measure the halftime pressures of the balls from other outdoor games as a basis for comparison before they jumped on the cheating explanation. We still don't even know if the pressures measured were unusual or typical.
Quote:Actually it'll be harder. We always make backups look godlike
No kidding!!! This never works out that great for us!!!
Quote:Per rotoworld:
Fair or not, I hope he's out against the Jags.
He'll be back game 3.
Quote:He'll be back game 3.
Possible. Hopefully he'll be somewhat rusty coming back if so.
Quote:Good chance that he's out against us in week 3. We'll see
The "HOT" rumor is Brady will suspended 2 games and make his season debut in the Pats 3rd game of the season and he will want to prove himself to all the people who are calling him a cheater.
Quote:It's also possible there wasn't a difference in calibration. It's possible that testing the balls cause a consistent air loss for each time it's read.
Another interesting note. No one has explained why four of the Colts balls were under regulation, too.
There's this report that came out... Says the patriots have been deflating balls for a long time, or something... you may want to look into it. :-)
Quote: The "HOT" rumor is Brady will suspended 2 games and make his season debut in the Pats 3rd game of the season and he will want to prove himself to all the people who are calling him a cheater.
That is what I saw too. One punch to the gut after another.
Not trying to excuse Brady or anything:
Listened to Kurt Warner talk about QBS preference for footballs yesterday.
1) He said he just liked brand new balls to be worn out slightly to get that "slick" film off of them,, he liked the nubs still there. He said he just played with what the refs gave him though.
2) He also said in a game vs Minnesota once,, that the footballs Minnesota used were a completely different color (like 3 shades darker) than what his team was using. He said he held one and it was like it had alot of stickem' on it like WRs use.
3) Then he talked about Steve Young wanting his equipment guys to throw dirt all over his footballs the whole week prior to the game.
4) He also mentioned hearing about guys wanting footballs put in ovens for some reason.
Seems to me there are alot of various ways that QBs want footballs tailored to their personal liking.
The NFL better take back over issuing the equipment prior to games to keep things "equal," IMO.