Reiss not convinced balls were gauge-tested

Saw this interesting couple of sentences in Reiss's "Quick Hits" column today:

Mike Reiss said:

One aspect that requires further clarification on the record is exactly what referee Walt Anderson did before the AFC Championship Game to “gauge” the balls. As we’ve learned more about this topic, confidence that the NFL has its house in order has waned.

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As I recall, he actually personally heard Blandino say "gauged" (and so got to hear Blandino's tone of voice, had the full context, etc.), so I take his doubt seriously.

Why hasn't someone interviewed Walt Anderson?

Even if it's to get an official statement, "I've been told not to talk about it until the Wells investigation has been released".

I think Reiss is onto something. The league was very careful with their words. They've used inspected, and they've used gauged but without actually referencing a device to do the gauging.

Where was it I was reading that the actual gauging is done by a lower level ref or rookie ref and then the head guy just checks it? That could be what happened here, except there is no proof anyone even stuck a gauge in it.

Yep. A lax process is Occam's Razor in my opinion, and the League was caught cruising fat, dumb and happy by a hair-splitting media. I do some "process" stuff at my job, and wherever the effort to validate exceeds the perceived worth of validation, attention to detail reduces....

I won't be least surprised ~if~ the NFL tells us the balls weren't all checked with an accuracy required to unequivocally say the balls started inside the +/- 0.5 PSI spec.

You'd think there be some leak or something clarifying this if they had. Yet there's only confusion and secrecy. God, I hate the NFL.

Proud of Mike, has been separating himself from the "sheeple" and makes him my fave.. glad to see he asked the buttwipe commissioner if this was the first time balls were tested at the half...

BradyManny said:

I think Reiss is onto something. The league was very careful with their words. They've used inspected, and they've used gauged but without actually referencing a device to do the gauging.

Where was it I was reading that the actual gauging is done by a lower level ref or rookie ref and then the head guy just checks it? That could be what happened here, except there is no proof anyone even stuck a gauge in it.

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I've been saying this for days. When Blandino says "gauged" he could very well mean "assessed" that the balls were fully inflated. Otherwise why didn't he say, Anderson "used a gauge."

Though I believe that in Reiss' first version of the story it did seem a gauge had been used.

buile said:

Yep. A lax process is Occam's Razor in my opinion, and the League was caught cruising fat, dumb and happy by a hair-splitting media. I do some "process" stuff at my job, and wherever the effort to validate exceeds the perceived worth of validation, attention to detail reduces....

I won't be least surprised ~if~ the NFL tells us the balls weren't all checked with an accuracy required to unequivocally say the balls started inside the +/- 0.5 PSI spec.

Click to expand...

But then they would be admitting fault. I bet they say the balls were appropriately gauged both times and the difference was found to be explainable by atmospheric conditions. But they wont apologize because they will maintain that they were just doing their jobs. The media leaks will be ignored.

I did like Reiss's question to Roger the Dodger. I would be willing to bet that there is only one protocol around measurement of ball pressure, and that is when they are inspected by the referees before game time. It is important, of course, what that protocol dictates, but again transparency from the league is lacking. We don't know if a gauge is required, or whether one was used, yet we do know that actual pressures were not recorded.

Enter the half time measurement. I doubt there is a protocol for this measurement, Goodell fudged the answer to Reiss's question by declaring ignorance. Really? Close to two weeks after the incident and he knows nothing about NFL investigative actions or game operation procedures? Especially when the topic has become headline news in the US and foreign markets.

But what I like most about this is there is no baseline for any ball, (ie its referee-accepted pressure from the first and only protocol) nor is there a baseline for what a ball could or should be at halftime. Furthermore it is most probable that their current calculations have no accommodation for the laws of physics, as the NFL has yet to acknowledge them as a factor. If the laws of physics are taken into account then the incidence of half-time game balls being under the 12.5 PSI threshold is likely to be significant.

I am not sure what they can derive from the data they have collected. All they can determine is the pressure when they measured them as part of the investigation, but how those results relate to original tested states or intended state at half time is impossible to determine.

Anything good on tv tonight?