2/18/2015: Schefter Blows Up ESPN's Earlier Story

OMG -- this just in! Apparently the Pats may be disqualified from winning the Super Bowl! Apparently a Kenyan birth certificate has emerged indicating that Tom Brady is not even a real American!

Despite the amateurishness surrounding it, I understand why the NFLRA released that statement. The original ESPN story did have me thinking officials were involved, and several comments echoed those thoughts. The refs know the league is sinking, and they want nothing to do with it.Not sure if it was a wording thing from Schefter, although the story has no byline, and only says it contains info from Schefter so it could have been someone else.

If the league is going to make a huge deal about the significance of the balls on the integrity of the game, then trying to slip in unchecked balls by the league is equivalent to fraud. And then the question becomes why. Was it simple greed? Or more?

How far does it go? Was it to gain an advantage for one team that Goodell was betting on? Did Kensil try ****ing the balls with his needle ****, causing the drop in pressure? Were the balls stolen to be sold for drug money for Irsay? Is my ridiculous unfounded speculation really crazy, or am I Kravitz's original source? Or maybe I'm actually Mort? Or Mort's source, his imaginary friend?

I'm half expecting ESPN to use this post as a source in their next update to this story.

BradyManny said:

That's why she has 4 or so bylines in 43 months and Shefter is the oracle of the NFL.

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No kidding. Its like Tom Cruise and Demi Moore in A Few Good Men. As a lawyer, she ties 3 cases in 4 years and Cruise is in-n-out in 10 minutes and takes down full-bird Colonels in the process.

The NFL is officially a 1/2 ass, ethically compromised operation top to bottom.

Okay, which one of you guys is selling used footballs on eBay?

convertedpatsfan said:

Despite the amateurishness surrounding it, I understand why the NFLRA released that statement. The original ESPN story did have me thinking officials were involved, and several comments echoed those thoughts. The refs know the league is sinking, and they want nothing to do with it.Not sure if it was a wording thing from Schefter, although the story has no byline, and only says it contains info from Schefter so it could have been someone else.

If the league is going to make a huge deal about the significance of the balls on the integrity of the game, then trying to slip in unchecked balls by the league is equivalent to fraud. And then the question becomes why. Was it simple greed? Or more?

How far does it go? Was it to gain an advantage for one team that Goodell was betting on? Did Kensil try ****ing the balls with his needle ****, causing the drop in pressure? Were the balls stolen to be sold for drug money for Irsay? Is my ridiculous unfounded speculation really crazy, or am I Kravitz's original source? Or maybe I'm actually Mort? Or Mort's source, his imaginary friend?

I'm half expecting ESPN to use this post as a source in their next update to this story.

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If anyone was trying to sneak in "unapproved" balls to get anyone else an advantage they are a very stupid person.

"Let's put all our money on team X, it's money in the bag because their balls have 1psi less." I don't think there's anything you could do to a ball to sway a game, but if someone really did try it with a tiny pressure change, holy s*** that's stupid.

Danger Zone said:

Dude.. please

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Dude. This keeps getting better and better.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Where can I find interview with Quirk on Weei website? Radio show or what?

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http://media.weei.com/a/102140847/j...h-mut-about-the-nflra-s-statement-2-18-15.htm

LOL! I just heard a clip on WEEI from ESPN THIS MORNING where Sal Pal and Bill Polian are talking about this as if the Schefter report never happened and talking that the allegations against McNally are unprecedented and if he did purposely try to insert an unapproved football into the game it would be a sever form of cheating by the Patriots.

Tell me that ESPN doesn't have a bias against the Patriots. They ran with the Naqi story because they wanted it to be true and will continue to run with it and try to damage the Patriots even though their own employee debunked the story.

Fixit said:

Simmons needs a different comparison. Scooby and the gang always caught the bad guy.

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Inspector Clouseau?

BradyFTW! said:

It absolutely does. Again, the NFL kinda screwed itself over here by establishing the precedent that any modifications whatsoever to game balls is serious ****ing business. I don't believe that, but the NFL has made that claim and now the cat's out of the bag. Now it just reflects poorly on them when it comes out that they don't always gauge balls before the game, they don't record ball pressure, they have no idea how basic physics will, by definition, force balls out of compliance during the game, and oh yeah, they have employees stealing game balls and replacing them with unapproved balls during the game.

If they had gone with the sensible position that a technically unapproved ball is no big deal provided that the officials don't notice the difference, then this would all just reflect kind of unprofessionally on them. But if we're to take the league at its worse that this stuff is somehow fundamental to the integrity of the game, then heads really have to roll over this.

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All

BradyFTW! said:

It absolutely does. Again, the NFL kinda screwed itself over here by establishing the precedent that any modifications whatsoever to game balls is serious ****ing business. I don't believe that, but the NFL has made that claim and now the cat's out of the bag. Now it just reflects poorly on them when it comes out that they don't always gauge balls before the game, they don't record ball pressure, they have no idea how basic physics will, by definition, force balls out of compliance during the game, and oh yeah, they have employees stealing game balls and replacing them with unapproved balls during the game.

If they had gone with the sensible position that a technically unapproved ball is no big deal provided that the officials don't notice the difference, then this would all just reflect kind of unprofessionally on them. But if we're to take the league at its worse that this stuff is somehow fundamental to the integrity of the game, then heads really have to roll over this.

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All the more reason, should the NFL find that some one deliberately tried to defame the Pats, they should nail them to the cross. Major, major penalties.

vyrago said:

Inspector Clouseau?

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Lt. Frank Drebben?

patfanken said:

Shmess, I never disagreed with anything you've written, and I love your optimism, but nothing you've written prove the Pats INNOCENT, just not guilty...and that's not a bad thing.....to start..

The perception of the Pats as cheaters will remain unless or until Kensil is fired for his part in a smear campaign, the Colts, Grigson and Irsay are punished because they were willing accomplices, ESPN issues a public apology for its poor journalism and their part in this passion play, AND Roger Goodel issues his apologies as well.. THEN, and only then would the stink of "deflategate" truly be removed.

BTW- have you checked out NYC's post of an article that lays out perfectly the whole "Camerplacegate" saga, and how clearly the Pats weren't cheating. It should be on everyone here's favorites so they can immediately link to any haters they encounter. Its really that well laid out.

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Link please?

It's now 1:38 into Mike and Mike and not a syllable yet about the story.

Jackson 2 said:

It's now 1:38 into Mike and Mike and not a syllable yet about the story.

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It's been on the crawl several times. M&M hasn't spent a whole lot of time on it in the first place.

rochrist said:

Meanwhile, the Smartest Man in the Room(tm) Gary Tanguay hastens to point out that this doesn't mean the Pats aren't lying liars who are guilty guilty GUILTY!!

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rochrist said:

Meanwhile, the Smartest Man in the Room(tm) Gary Tanguay hastens to point out that this doesn't mean the Pats aren't lying liars who are guilty guilty GUILTY!!

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How does this azz still have a job???

JJP said:

OMG -- this just in! Apparently the Pats may be disqualified from winning the Super Bowl! Apparently a Kenyan birth certificate has emerged indicating that Tom Brady is not even a real American!

View attachment 8754

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This makes sense. Brady's shoes are slowing him down. He needs to take them off when scrambling.

Great tweet from the Globe's Chad Finn: "How long before Jim Irsay is pulled over in a car packed with footballs meant for charity?"

Rob0729 said:

LOL! I just heard a clip on WEEI from ESPN THIS MORNING where Sal Pal and Bill Polian are talking about this as if the Schefter report never happened and talking that the allegations against McNally are unprecedented and if he did purposely try to insert an unapproved football into the game it would be a sever form of cheating by the Patriots.

Tell me that ESPN doesn't have a bias against the Patriots. They ran with the Naqi story because they wanted it to be true and will continue to run with it and try to damage the Patriots even though their own employee debunked the story.

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As ESPNs reporter-centered investigation brand of journalism that fully intends to be fact-based, OTL took a major hit in my eyes. Its a shame really. Most recently they did such a good job with the Ray Rice and Steelers "Cleaner" storylines. They clearly rushed information out there to re-establish credibility reporting (which OTL had) with the story. OTL is more than what Naqi ran with. The additional issue is that she doesn't have the credentials (see Walter Cronkite) to support the OTL brand. She got shuttled out there as a puppet of ESPN/TMZ. If ESPN felt so good about this, they would have given Bob Ley a megaphone. Instead they made Naqi into a canary in the mineshaft.

The other problem with Naqi's report that the OTL (ESPN) story her editors forced her to run with lacked the completeness and thoroughness that this story requires. She tried to couch it as "just the facts" but she- and her editors damn well knew that this story has many layers and unanswered questions. For example..why didn't the NFL official just give the ball to the ref? Why did Kensil "personally"check the balls? What about the Colts assertions? Cold temperatures impacting the ball's PSI.

For a brand that prides itself on trustworthy, thorough investigative journalism, I expected more from OTL. Instead we got a 1/2 ass combo of Hank Phillipe-Ryan, Perez Hilton and Bob Lobel.

vyrago said:

Link please?

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It's right there near the top of the 1st page of the forum:

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...lphins-tapegate-vs-our-07-cameragate.1117273/

robertweathers said:

The problem with Naqi's report that the editors forced her to run with is that it lacked the completeness and thoroughness that this story requires.

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That has been the problem with this "story" for weeks! Why? BECAUSE ALL THE FACTS HAVE BEEN HIDDEN BY AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION! NO story has been "complete and thorough." EVERY story has been based on conjecture, hearsay, and partial bits of allegedly leaked "information." So far I trust only one account of this nonsense -- the Patriots (Brady/Kraft/BB). Everything else is a bad dance routine.