- Joined
- Sep 13, 2004
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I think most of us were willing to be objective about Deflategate. We were genuinely concerned that the Pats had engaged in practices that threatened their credibility, but then along came:
- Leaks from the NFL that the NFL simply let hang out there without explanation. We actually do not know if the NFL found 11/12 balls deflated by 2 psi and if that means the air pressure was really 10.5 psi, not 12.5 psi n each of those balls.
- Lack of transparency by the NFL as to how it's conducting its investigation -- we only just learned they haven't even interviewed Tom Brady.
- Poor reporting by the media such as the inaccurate news that D'Qwell Jackson reported the deflated ball or the various stories as to when those balls were replaced and whether those balls were checked.
- Lack of investigative reporting by the media, such as by tracking down an interviewing former Pats staff and ball boys and figuring out exactly how and when the balls could have been deflated.
- Failure by the media to conduct a simple experiment to see the effect of temp and moisture on football psi or to fully report on that subject.
- Exaggerations by the media that deflated footballs should have been easily detected by Brady during actual game time, when he clearly would have more important things on his mind.
- Name calling by media pundits calling Brady, Belichick, and the Pats liars.
- Lack of fairness by the media in elevating the opinions of football players who have their own grievances -- players who lost important games to the Pats or who were perennial Super Bowl losers (like Fran Tarkenton).
Deflategate is plagued with all the sins of politics, except that in politics there is ostensibly a higher purpose. In this case, we're getting hysterical pundits who fail to distinguish between what's known, what's rumored, what's opinion, and what's fact to make a case against the Patriots.
There's a lack of justice in this entire process, and the NFL is party to that lack of justice. Ironically, not only is this unfair to the Pats fans, it's unfair to the Seahawks fans who are seeing their team largely pushed aside by this scandal. The process has been so biased and so unfair and so polluted with laziness and incompetence that I see no way for the NFL findings, whatever they are, to have any credibility. As in politics, the only people who will support their conclusions are those who know right now what conclusions they want.
The NFL and the media no longer have any credibility on this issue, so given that, we have to decide based on all the garbage whether or not to trust and stand by the Pats. I think that choice is easy.
- Leaks from the NFL that the NFL simply let hang out there without explanation. We actually do not know if the NFL found 11/12 balls deflated by 2 psi and if that means the air pressure was really 10.5 psi, not 12.5 psi n each of those balls.
- Lack of transparency by the NFL as to how it's conducting its investigation -- we only just learned they haven't even interviewed Tom Brady.
- Poor reporting by the media such as the inaccurate news that D'Qwell Jackson reported the deflated ball or the various stories as to when those balls were replaced and whether those balls were checked.
- Lack of investigative reporting by the media, such as by tracking down an interviewing former Pats staff and ball boys and figuring out exactly how and when the balls could have been deflated.
- Failure by the media to conduct a simple experiment to see the effect of temp and moisture on football psi or to fully report on that subject.
- Exaggerations by the media that deflated footballs should have been easily detected by Brady during actual game time, when he clearly would have more important things on his mind.
- Name calling by media pundits calling Brady, Belichick, and the Pats liars.
- Lack of fairness by the media in elevating the opinions of football players who have their own grievances -- players who lost important games to the Pats or who were perennial Super Bowl losers (like Fran Tarkenton).
Deflategate is plagued with all the sins of politics, except that in politics there is ostensibly a higher purpose. In this case, we're getting hysterical pundits who fail to distinguish between what's known, what's rumored, what's opinion, and what's fact to make a case against the Patriots.
There's a lack of justice in this entire process, and the NFL is party to that lack of justice. Ironically, not only is this unfair to the Pats fans, it's unfair to the Seahawks fans who are seeing their team largely pushed aside by this scandal. The process has been so biased and so unfair and so polluted with laziness and incompetence that I see no way for the NFL findings, whatever they are, to have any credibility. As in politics, the only people who will support their conclusions are those who know right now what conclusions they want.
The NFL and the media no longer have any credibility on this issue, so given that, we have to decide based on all the garbage whether or not to trust and stand by the Pats. I think that choice is easy.
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