Stand by your Pats

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.

I agree 1000%. I've been outraged by conclusion jumping. Francesa has been on a rampage all week. This is starting to look more and more like a smear campaign by the Colts and Ravens. And I think the "reports" of the league being disappointed and angry just might be directed towards them and the refs. There's a very good chance the refs never checked the psi in the balls properly. The "squeeze" test is probably the standard way they check, if at all. It's probable that it's always been done that way because nobody ever cared before. Until sore losers found a loophole in the system and exploited it start a fire storm. If this is true, the poop is going to hit the fan real hard.

Patters said:

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 -- 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.i The process has been so biased and so unfair and so polluted with bias 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.

Click to expand...

While I agree with most of what you posted, I'm sure that a number of Seahawks fans are thrilled that their team has been left to quietly practice and focus on the big game, whilst the opposition has to deal with this ******** as a distraction...

Then again some other Hawks fans might fear that this whole hubbub will motivate the Patriots.

1. This is a country that prides itself on the integrity of its justice system yet have all made up their minds based on reports containing unnamed sources.

2. Having an opinion is your right. But so many people including our "fans" cannot distinguish opinion from fact. How hard is it to check?

3. And these people still won't bother checking going forward because right or wrong (factually) doesn't matter to them. And these people vote.

4. What happened during spygate is irrelevant today. Each case should be based on its own individual merit. You can't even say belichick is lying because he lied during spygate. HE NEVER LIED ABOUT SPYGATE. IT WAS IN PLAIN SIGHT.

5. I'm so disappointed by the state of journalism in this country. Entertainment > integrity

6. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of lies and accusation.

7. I don't know whether the pats are guilty or not. But the conduct shown during due process makes me puke. An investigation means you need to gather ALL the facts before MAKING a judgement. What we have instead is personal opinions driving the agenda. Shame on you and shame on this country.

I posted this in another threat, but is pertinent here also...

While the press focuses on Brady/Belichick this seems to be a much larger clusterf..ck and the NFL is trying to change the focus from them to having the Pats being tried in the press.. just about every newspaper nationally is carrying this story.. judgements have been made, and the NFL has been silent..

The NFL tried to control the message and its implications from the onset..

Why did they release snippets of info to a news reporter in Indy who has vitriol for the Pats early Sunday AM??

Why did they dump info on the balls to Mort on Monday nite around 11:00 PM?? We still do not know if the 2 pounds under regulation meant that they were 10.5 PSI or 11.5 PSI.. that very specific info has deliberately been left out.

Yesterday Brady said he was not even contacted by the NFL...

The Colts contacted the league office on 11/16, why did it take so long to do something.. was there more drama in the AFC Championship game?? Why didn't they check the balls prior to the game?? As the Colts knew they probably would be checked their balls were "perfect"..

IMO it is beginning to look more and more like the NFL is the culprit, I really want to believe this..

I wish Kraft would stand by his team. I guess that is reserved just for his good buddy the POS trying to crucify his team .

While the Pats find rules that help the team win, other teams and their supporters look for rules that help them cry about losing. I like being on this side of that fence.

This is a phucking witch hunt and the NFL needs to make things right. I don't want this to be resolved by the league saying they have no proof.

The NFL needs to come out and admit they need to fix their process with the footballs and psi. They also need to explain the reported November leak (no pun) and the -2 psi per 11 ball leak.

Most importantly, they need to state its very possible several teams played with footballs that were below (or above) the mandated psi. Let's face it, if its determined the balls were not properly checked for the AFCCG, its safe to say the balls were not checked for a week 3 game between Oakland and Jacksonville (this is just a hypothetical example as I'm sure they didn't play each other week 3).

Again, Pats fans don't want the NFL fixing this by saying no proof. Fix it by admitting the process needs to be revamped and they have NO idea if other teams played with footballs outside the 'mandated' psi.

Patters said:

...the only people who will support [the NFL's] conclusions are those who know right now what conclusions they want.

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Winner.

Great post my friend. Summed it perfectly. "And these people vote"

nabwong said:

1. This is a country that prides itself on the integrity of its justice system yet have all made up their minds based on reports containing unnamed sources.

2. Having an opinion is your right. But so many people including our "fans" cannot distinguish opinion from fact. How hard is it to check?

3. And these people still won't bother checking going forward because right or wrong (factually) doesn't matter to them. And these people vote.

4. What happened during spygate is irrelevant today. Each case should be based on its own individual merit. You can't even say belichick is lying because he lied during spygate. HE NEVER LIED ABOUT SPYGATE. IT WAS IN PLAIN SIGHT.

5. I'm so disappointed by the state of journalism in this country. Entertainment > integrity

6. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom of lies and accusation.

7. I don't know whether the pats are guilty or not. But the conduct shown during due process makes me puke. An investigation means you need to gather ALL the facts before MAKING a judgement. What we have instead is personal opinions driving the agenda. Shame on you and shame on this country.

Click to expand...

Perhaps the Pats can start serving this stuff at all press gatherings...