Schefter: Has Heard Speculation Colts might have deflated the footballs

JJDChE said:

I agree, the original deflategate fiasco was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. The Brady press conference was simply insanity, but at the same time, I don't think it was anything malicious or intentional by the media. They have a formula they stick to and they follow it for every story. It wasn't because it was Tom Brady, or the Patriots, it's because it has become the media's job to make a controversy out of every little things that crops up so they can fill the 24-hr news cycle. Don't report on stories, create them.

Politico media and sports media are on about the same level when it comes to this stuff. They've resorted to making things up just to fill the time they are forced to fill, and it comes at a severe detriment to the general populace. It's really despicable, but the reporters on the front lines are just fighting for a job. 90% of them wouldn't have made it in the news industry 20 years ago, there just wasn't a need to make everything into a story. The ones controlling the cycle are those truly to blame.

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Jd, the only,thing I disagree with is the level of malice, which I felt was out of control, and they openly admitted repeatedly that it was only because it was because,it was the Patriots, and had it been the Jags it wouldn't be a story. Imo it was one of the most disgraceful episodes I have seen the sports media engage in. The political media behaves this way all the time, which is why I won't watch or read them at all.

JJDChE said:

I agree, the original deflategate fiasco was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. The Brady press conference was simply insanity, but at the same time, I don't think it was anything malicious or intentional by the media. They have a formula they stick to and they follow it for every story. It wasn't because it was Tom Brady, or the Patriots, it's because it has become the media's job to make a controversy out of every little things that crops up so they can fill the 24-hr news cycle. Don't report on stories, create them.

Politico media and sports media are on about the same level when it comes to this stuff. They've resorted to making things up just to fill the time they are forced to fill, and it comes at a severe detriment to the general populace. It's really despicable, but the reporters on the front lines are just fighting for a job. 90% of them wouldn't have made it in the news industry 20 years ago, there just wasn't a need to make everything into a story. The ones controlling the cycle are those truly to blame.

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At first I wasn't sure which is worse; your unawareness of many in the media with an axe to grind against the Pats, or your belief that it is the media's job to make controversies over nothing. After a little bit of thought, the answer became obvious. The idea that competing to make a buck justifies unethical behavior is downright disturbing.

Asking TB what are we going to tell the children might have been the most disrespectful thing I have even seen in sports based on pure rumors. That twat should be banned from life. Its malicious.

Bruins29 said:

Asking TB what are we going to tell the children might have been the most disrespectful thing I have even seen in sports based on pure rumors. That twat should be banned from life. Its malicious.

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this

they should be asking what Superbowl win will we be telling our kids was the best one.

IMO is SB49

Ivan said:

Jd, the only,thing I disagree with is the level of malice, which I felt was out of control, and they openly admitted repeatedly that it was only because it was because,it was the Patriots, and had it been the Jags it wouldn't be a story. Imo it was one of the most disgraceful episodes I have seen the sports media engage in. The political media behaves this way all the time, which is why I won't watch or read them at all.

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It's because the Patriots are at the top of the mountain, not because they have anything against the Patriots. Whatever entity which has the farthest to fall will be the one who gets the most attention from the muckrakers. They're fame seekers. Bringing down the Jags nets no fame. Bringing down the Pats does.

The New England sports media has an axe to grind against Belichick because he treats them like crap, but that's a different story. This was a national story.

We have an awful lot of dueling unnamed sources giving out contradictory bits of information.

Thus it is indeed is more than a little silly to get all worked up about one set of possibly false information pointing in the direction in which we'd like it to point. Silly, but hard to resist doing, given the flood of agenda-driven opinions who rushed headlong to strong conclusions that have been also based on possibly (indeed probably) false information.

So I only feel comfortable putting a big, crystal-clear "IF" in front of such opinions...

IF the Colts had a plan that included taking air out of footballs intentionally to set up the Patriots for embarrassment, then they are among the most slimy scum ever and should be punished as such.

JJDChE said:

It's because the Patriots are at the top of the mountain, not because they have anything against the Patriots. Whatever entity which has the farthest to fall will be the one who gets the most attention from the muckrakers. They're fame seekers. Bringing down the Jags nets no fame. Bringing down the Pats does.

The New England sports media has an axe to grind against Belichick because he treats them like crap, but that's a different story. This was a national story.

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They have ton against the pats because they embarrass the other teams and the national sentiment is that they are ****y and arrogant (and cheaters) and all that jazz.

Additionally, when someone asks BB a legit question he is more than happy to answer and talk football. Granted after a loss its tough to get anything out of him at all.

Also, the NE sports media (or a contingent) has an ax to grind against the Pats because the Pats take attention away from their beloved Red Sox.

JJDChE said:

It's because the Patriots are at the top of the mountain, not because they have anything against the Patriots. Whatever entity which has the farthest to fall will be the one who gets the most attention from the muckrakers. They're fame seekers. Bringing down the Jags nets no fame. Bringing down the Pats does.

The New England sports media has an axe to grind against Belichick because he treats them like crap, but that's a different story. This was a national story.

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I Agree, if the Patriots sucked,they would had ignored it, but that still doesnt excuse it.

If I had even a touch of skill with video editing I would make a take a video of that press conference and replace Tom Brady with Aaron Hernandez and the word cheater with murderer.

Everything else, the questions and the manner in which they were asked could all stay the same.

Again, from the perspective of a journalist, what's been amazing about this story is the total lack of caution by the reporters covering it.

Good reporters live in constant terror of stories blowing up in their faces. That's why you don't run major breaking news stories based on a single unnamed source. Someone who tells a reporter something w/o attribution can easily have an agenda, knowing that if it turns out to be wrong, the reporter is going to take the heat, not the source.

People like Kravitz and Mortensen were incredibly reckless to run these stories. It's the journalistic equivalent of unsafe sex. To a lesser degree people like Ben Volin were making the same mistake when they let unnamed sources point a finger at Harbaugh.

With these scandals, you have to stand firm with sources and tell them: if you want to lob an accusation at someone, put your name on it. Unless you've checked the info six ways to Sunday, it's otherwise too big a risk, professionally to say nothing of morally, to accuse people in public without hard evidence. It's incredible that so many reporters got sucked into this.

PatsFanSince74 said:

I wish there was a Smiley that I could click for: "I'm afraid you're right."

Schefter's final lines state the conundrum that would be invoked: "It does seem unlikely that the Colts would be conniving enough to deflate a football, then turn it in to the NFL and blame the Patriots. It doesn’t make sense that only one football was so under-inflated, though."

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/02/adam-schefter-there-are-people-who-believe-colts-deflated-patriots-football/

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Screw that! If the Pats are not found guilty of anything they should refuse to accept even a token punishment.

Enough is enough! The Pats didn't start this ****storm, unless you want to point a finger at their jealousy causing excellence. The Colts can just take one for the league just like the Pats did back in 2007.

Go after them Bob, and go after them hard!

Don Kipines said:

It's the journalistic equivalent of unsafe sex.

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You would think it would be the journalistic equivalent of career suicide, but not in the society we live in today where its better to get attention than be factual and have dignity.

JJDChE said:

I agree, the original deflategate fiasco was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. The Brady press conference was simply insanity, but at the same time, I don't think it was anything malicious or intentional by the media. They have a formula they stick to and they follow it for every story. It wasn't because it was Tom Brady, or the Patriots, it's because it has become the media's job to make a controversy out of every little things that crops up so they can fill the 24-hr news cycle. Don't report on stories, create them.

Politico media and sports media are on about the same level when it comes to this stuff. They've resorted to making things up just to fill the time they are forced to fill, and it comes at a severe detriment to the general populace. It's really despicable, but the reporters on the front lines are just fighting for a job. 90% of them wouldn't have made it in the news industry 20 years ago, there just wasn't a need to make everything into a story. The ones controlling the cycle are those truly to blame.

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This is where we as people need to be very careful. The power of the media to create the narrative instead of comment on it. It struck me with Deflategate and it was even more concerning with the way they tore apart Marshawn Lynch.

I remember hearing the First Take podcast and Stephen A Smith going against Marshawn for not giving the media the answers they wanted, then manipulating people to believe that the media works for the people to report what the people need to know. Then there was another media member (forgot the name) who basically said that without them, these players would be playing in parking lots for $10 an hour. Then we had Kravitz, Doyel, and the rest of them basically saying "we don't know if they cheated, BUT THEY CHEATED AND THEY SHOULD HAVE THE HAMMER DROPPED DOWN ON THEM!!!!". Then we had that other media member asking Belichick and Brady "Did you tell them to deflate the footballs?", as if they were Edward Murrow cross examining Joseph McCarthy.

I'm sorry, but I don't care what players have to say. I don't watch the NFL for soundbytes. I watch the NFL to see my favorite team play. I watch the NFL to see these gifted human beings make great plays, strategize against their opponents, and try to come out on top celebrating a victory. The rest is just there. I don't need media members asking players/coaches inane questions which they can then twist into their own narrative.

If Deflategate and the Marshawn situation taught me anything, it's that people are taking the medias created narrative as gospel instead of just an opinion. The opinions that were laid out the weeks before the Super Bowl were mind-boggling, but it was even more mind-boggling that the people ate it up.

JJDChE said:

It's because the Patriots are at the top of the mountain, not because they have anything against the Patriots. Whatever entity which has the farthest to fall will be the one who gets the most attention from the muckrakers. They're fame seekers. Bringing down the Jags nets no fame. Bringing down the Pats does.

The New England sports media has an axe to grind against Belichick because he treats them like crap, but that's a different story. This was a national story.

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It wasn't a national story until the ESPN propaganda machine helped make it one.
Are you under the impression that at no time in the history of the NFL, a game was never once played with a football at 12.3 PSI? That in no time in history the weather conditions did not sap some air pressure out of the football?

This is an example of the media and the Patriots enemies inventing reality.

If all that happened was "NFL investigating how some footballs in the AFC Championship game were possibly below regulation" panned past the ESPN ticker, nobody, including everyone on this forum, would have thought anything of it, and this would not be a thread. Instead we got Bettis calling the team "felons," whats-his-face mustering fake tears on air, and everyone chiming in to lie about what an obvious advantage it was.

This was a hit job. Not a "story"

I would imagine that at least a dozen times a year teams make complaints to the NFL that the other team did something wrong/unethical/illegal.

There are three main outcomes:
a) The NFL investigates, finds nothing wrong, and we never hear anything about it
b) The NFL investigates, finds some wrongdoing but thinks that it's no big deal, calls the team doing it and insists that they cut it out right now. The wrongdoing never sees the light of day, or it is minimized and not punished (Vikings, Panthers heating footballs, for example)
c)-the most rare instance, by far-NFL investigates, finds some wrongdoing, and announces on their own time frame that an investigation is ongoing and/or a punishment is to be issued (Browns texting, Atlanta crowd noise, etc.)

This time the Colts made a complaint to the NFL and someone very high up gleefully got Kravitz to report it. Thus the regular process was completely circumvented and the NFL had to make up procedures as they went along.

The NFL is horrible at making up procedures as they go along.

I am sure that they are royally ticked off that Kravitz was clued into this complaint by Irsay or by Grigson and that the normal procedures were thus thrown out the window from the very beginning due to media pressure.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

I would imagine that at least a dozen times a year teams make complaints to the NFL that the other team did something wrong/unethical/illegal.

There are three main outcomes:
a) The NFL investigates, finds nothing wrong, and we never hear anything about it
b) The NFL investigates, finds some wrongdoing but thinks that it's no big deal, calls the team doing it and insists that they cut it out right now. The wrongdoing never sees the light of day, or it is minimized and not punished (Vikings, Panthers heating footballs, for example)
c)-the most rare instance, by far-NFL investigates, finds some wrongdoing, and announces on their own time frame that an investigation is ongoing and/or a punishment is to be issued (Browns texting, Atlanta crowd noise, etc.)

This time the Colts made a complaint to the NFL and someone very high up gleefully got Kravitz to report it. Thus the regular process was completely circumvented and the NFL had to make up procedures as they went along.

The NFL is horrible at making up procedures as they go along.

I am sure that they are royally ticked off that Kravitz was clued into this complaint by Irsay or by Grigson and that the normal procedures were thus thrown out the window from the very beginning due to media pressure.

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Everything you say about Kravitz/Irsay/Grigson rings true.

But I think you're letting the League off too lightly. It's not just the incredibly loaded leaks. Not just the apparent absence of due process (allowing the Patriots to see the putative evidence against them and to respond to it). Above all it's the assumption that there is something illegal there in the first place. It's like a suspicious death. Investigate it, of course, but don't call it "murder" until you have excluded other plausible explanations.

You, of all people, know that the NFL conspicuously failed to do that.

Now the Pats have the Super Bowl, I want Goodell's head.

Boots Electric said:

This is where we as people need to be very careful. The power of the media to create the narrative instead of comment on it. It struck me with Deflategate and it was even more concerning with the way they tore apart Marshawn Lynch.

I remember hearing the First Take podcast and Stephen A Smith going against Marshawn for not giving the media the answers they wanted, then manipulating people to believe that the media works for the people to report what the people need to know. Then there was another media member (forgot the name) who basically said that without them, these players would be playing in parking lots for $10 an hour. Then we had Kravitz, Doyel, and the rest of them basically saying "we don't know if they cheated, BUT THEY CHEATED AND THEY SHOULD HAVE THE HAMMER DROPPED DOWN ON THEM!!!!". Then we had that other media member asking Belichick and Brady "Did you tell them to deflate the footballs?", as if they were Edward Murrow cross examining Joseph McCarthy.

I'm sorry, but I don't care what players have to say. I don't watch the NFL for soundbytes. I watch the NFL to see my favorite team play. I watch the NFL to see these gifted human beings make great plays, strategize against their opponents, and try to come out on top celebrating a victory. The rest is just there. I don't need media members asking players/coaches inane questions which they can then twist into their own narrative.

If Deflategate and the Marshawn situation taught me anything, it's that people are taking the medias created narrative as gospel instead of just an opinion. The opinions that were laid out the weeks before the Super Bowl were mind-boggling, but it was even more mind-boggling that the people ate it up.

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How in the world can the media's treatment of Lynch be more concerning to you than their treatment
of the Patriots? What they did to the Pats is far more dangerous than whatever it was they did to Skittles.

Pats_AZ said:

As I sit and read whatever stories are out there and read the public responses in the discussion sections....I am left to believe that outside of us here on the boards, the public understand the rules and regulations in general about the football...how they are handled, how teams are allowed to break them in, how they are inspected, etc. I don't feel like there have been any good articles written with the actual rules and regulations clearly spelled out and for the true blockheads, clearly interpreted. That could go a long way in the way people might understand this garbage. For example, if people knew that "K" balls were controlled solely from start to finish by the NFL, then people would be less inclined to say stupid crap like "Baltimore knew and tipped off the colts because the kicker thought the kicking balls were under inflated ". Or if people knew that after inspection, the official inspecting the ball puts his special mark on the approved balls so talk about switching out balls in the bathroom crap would stop. Then the more realistic questions get asked and the more likely scenarios make more sense...like temp change effecting PSI, how Colts balls DID change but remained within the range which is not a requirement in the rules. And like I've said before, if anyone on the Colt, whether on the sidelines or wherever else, stuck a needle into the Patriots balls to even just check the Patriots balls...they would be CLEARLY in violation of the rules as it states (paraphrasing) that balls may not be altered at all once inspected by officials. I myself am convinced that this is no investigation at all if the Colts are not being investigated as well for foul play.

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A large part of the ignorance about this process is because, prior to the evening of January 18, no one (including the league) ever cared about the PSI of a football during a game.

captain stone said:

How in the world can the media's treatment of Lynch be more concerning to you than their treatment
of the Patriots? What they did to the Pats is far more dangerous than whatever it was they did to Skittles.

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It is time for GODell to go

his antics as commish have gone to far to really hurt the league from all fronts.

if anything comes from all of this, i just hope he is fired.

IMO the leak to Kravitz was intentional as he had a hard on for the Pats and they knew he would unleash his vitriol, the timing was everything in the middle of the night so we could all wake up to this news, Brady laughed initially and Belichick seemed surprised..

Then late Monday Night Mort released some info, followed by Peter Kings early Wednesday release...

All of this is planned and orchestrated, however do not think that they anticipated that the Pats would fight back with Kraft and Belichick blowing up their theories..

They will find something to save face, in my heart I hope they find that Indy was guilty of wrong doing and they take away their #1 pick and make them pick after the Patriots for the next draft..