Deflate-Gate: Here We Go Again

Bobsyouruncle said:

Isn't the water in the air a factor in the pressure changes at changing temps?

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There isn't enough water in the air to have any effect. Nitrogen and Oxygen (which makes up almost all of air) are ideal gases and obey the ideal gas law that everyone is quoting

Marinlik said:

Love to see how much Kurt Warner hates the patriots. Now he tweeted out that our number of fumbles are statistically impossible. Which makes me wonder, how can they be impossible if we had that number?

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Ask Kurt about the 3 recovered fumbles (Amendola, Edelman, Vereen) in the divisional playoff game against the Ravens. Were those statistically factored in his study?

Haley said:

I can't figure out why more of the media isn't screaming at the NFL for their time schedule. This article was fantastic.

http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/steve_buckley/2015/01/buckley_hey_nfl_stop_stalling

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I think you're under the impression that the media wants a truthful, fact-filled report from the NFL and they want it soon. That couldn't be further from the truth, the longer they get snippets of minor context-devoid information and can speculate and sensationalize to their hearts content the better. Without a ruling, without FACTS, they're able to call Brady a liar, call the Patriots immoral cheaters, call Super Bowls tarnished and delegitimized. I liken it to a classroom when the teacher steps out for a minute: they're rabid animals with some time where they can do and say whatever they please without any repercussions. In this case the big, bad Patriots are left dangling by the NFL and the cave trolls in the media are loving every second of it.

Sfpat said:

There isn't enough water in the air to have any effect. Nitrogen and Oxygen (which makes up almost all of air) are ideal gases and obey the ideal gas law that everyone is quoting

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Read the comments section in this scienceblog:

http://scienceblogs.com/principles/...and-the-ideal-gas-law-physics-of-deflategate/

Froob said:

Patriots should skip media day. Eat the fines.

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Disagree completely. It was the Belichick and Brady press conferences that turned things around for the Patriots. Every time a Patriot goes on camera and tells the truth it helps their credibility. I hope they send out the ball boys for media day.

The Patriots didn't do anything wrong so let them grill them all, it only make the Patriots look good. If the nation is believing what they see and the league has zero evidence of tampering then it makes it next to impossible to convict them. In Bountygate they had thousands of pages of evidence that they could use to imply wrongdoing, in this case they have nothing. In this case all they have is people saying the balls were under, they don't even have any actual proof of it, and absent any proof or suspects they can accurately point to the NFL has a big problem, especially when the Wells report concludes they found absolutely nothing.

To the general public and haters, the Patriots will always be cheaters. Nothing will change that perception now. But at least there's no proof, right? So, let them hate and call us names. All we can do now is what we've always done: win football games.

Who cares about public perception, let's go win the Super Bowl and call everyone else losers.

My apologies if someone already posted - good article:

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/01/...s-to-new-absurd-levels/#.VMIef32ZVT4.facebook

Deflating the balls in the tunnel on the way to the field or on the sideline theories have never made any sense. If 2 psi were so important to Tom Brady does anyone think he would entrust that job to a ball boy? So a ball boy in the limited time between when the referees release the balls to the time they make it on the field is suppose to carefully stick a needle in the balls and release precisely 2 psi and make sure he does that to each ball, but also does not deflate the same ball 2-3 times? Or better yet the ball boy does that one the sideline without any one noticing and does it perfectly so that Tom does not get some balls at 3 or 4 psi deflated and some at only 1 psi deflated or not deflated at all? This is an Ocean's Eleven type of scenario.

luuked said:

It would be enough to simply make the teams pump their game balls outside on the field before the game. Put a referee to each of the teams that checks them while it is being done. Problem solved.

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Screw that. Since this is SUCH A BIG DEAL, make the referees pump the balls up at mid-field during the coin flip. Then, stop play at the end of every quarter and make them check the inflation of all game balls. I mean, we can't have any underinflated balls.

I can see it now. 2 weeks into this witch hunt, the league will put forth another official statement, this time announcing that they believe the "R" constant in the ideal gas law is questionable and that they have comissioned MIT's physics dept to figure out what the "R" constant really should be.

hambone1818 said:

I think you're under the impression that the media wants a truthful, fact-filled report from the NFL and they want it soon. That couldn't be further from the truth, the longer they get snippets of minor context-devoid information and can speculate and sensationalize to their hearts content the better. Without a ruling, without FACTS, they're able to call Brady a liar, call the Patriots immoral cheaters, call Super Bowls tarnished and delegitimized. I liken it to a classroom when the teacher steps out for a minute: they're rabid animals with some time where they can do and say whatever they please without any repercussions. In this case the big, bad Patriots are left dangling by the NFL and the cave trolls in the media are loving every second of it.

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I'm very much not under that impression. I would think there are a variety of reasons why the press would want the report sooner rather than later, one of which being to hang the Patriots out to dry prior to the Super Bowl.

Haley said:

I'm very much not under that impression. I would think there are a variety of reasons why the press would want the report sooner rather than later, one of which being to hang the Patriots out to dry prior to the Super Bowl.

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Just to be clear, I wasn't mocking you or your post, just providing commentary on the vultures in the media.

hwc said:

Screw that. Since this is SUCH A BIG DEAL, make the referees pump the balls up at mid-field during the coin flip. Then, stop play at the end of every quarter and make them check the inflation of all game balls. I mean, we can't have any underinflated balls.

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Yes, and now for the ceremonial pumping of the balls . . . .

And a camera in the ball bag on the sideline

Bobs My Uncle said:

I can see it now. 2 weeks into this witch hunt, the league will put forth another official statement, this time announcing that they believe the "R" constant in the ideal gas law is questionable and that they have comissioned MIT's physics dept to figure out what the "R" constant really should be.

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Knowing them they'd actually enlist the help of a physicist from Washington & Jefferson College, Goodell's alma mater. Not in a shady way, mind you, they just want a fair and honest investigation.

cmasspatsfan said:

Dawkins already backpedaling, of course none of these media big mouths will be held accountable for their actions and they'll just start talking about the game as if nothing happened.

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What's he saying now?

They have found nothing. Schefter confirmed as much on the radio. All they have is that the balls were underinflated at halftime. and that they are having a hard time finding a "fall guy" or someone to pin it to...and they cant. unless they have video of a ball boy sticking needles into footballs to take air out to the Exact amount then they cant find the patriots at fault for anything.

I think the fact that so many of the game balls were found underinflated tends to point to science rather than human tampering. Do you have an idea how hard it would be for a ballboy to mess with 11/12 or maybe all 12 of the footballs with all the video cameras in the stadium going nonstop during the whole game?

It sounds like mission impossible to me. And how did the ball assassin, manage to deflate all the balls to around the same level - 2 lbs less or 1.5 or whatever with such precision in whatever limited time he had to do it, if there was ever a window to do it, under all that surveillance?

VJCPatriot said:

I think the fact that so many of the game balls were found underinflated tends to point to science rather than human tampering. Do you have an idea how hard it would be for a ballboy to mess with 11/12 or maybe all 12 of the footballs with all the video cameras in the stadium going nonstop during the whole game?

It sounds like mission impossible to me. And how did the ball assassin, manage to deflate all the balls to around the same level - 2 lbs less or 1.5 or whatever with such precision in whatever limited time he had to do it, if there was ever a window to do it, under all that surveillance?

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Was the 12th ball given to a fan by Blount? Is this why they are saying 11 of 12? They could say every ball tested.

So I had a new fantastic thought (NOTE: I don't believe this to be true, but oh the rich irony it would provide!)

Simms has stated that Rodgers likes his balls overinflated and even submits them to the refs that way, with the hopes they'll leave them as-is. There's no reason to disbelieve this statement because it was made off the cuff, pre-controversy, and paints a pretty specific scenario that seems difficult for him to have misinterpreted. So let's take him at his word.

What if the old country bumpin Andrew Luck--with the 10" hands (XXL gloves, for those keeping score at home)--also likes overinflated balls? Let's call it 14.0 psi for the hell of it.

For the sake of argument, let's say the reports from multiple ball boys is accurate and NFL refs 'inspect' and approve balls through a simple squeeze test, after all do we really expect them to pressure test upwards of 50 balls before every single game, in a league that bends over backwards to cater to the QB's every desire?

Finally, we'll assume the laws of physics hold inside footballs and inside Gillette stadium, with a generally accepted drop of ~1.5 psi between a 70 degree temperature and 45-50 degrees.

You see where I'm going with this? When re-tested either on the field or at halftime the Patriots LEGALLY SUBMITTED footballs would test under the requirements, at 11 psi...the Colts would be 'legal' at 12.5 psi.

I know this is absurd...but no more absurd than thinking someone was on the Patriots sideline surreptitiously deflating footballs with a billion cameras and league officials all around them.