How did this Le Batard article pass through the ESPN editorial gauntlet?

I listened to Nick Wright on CBSSports radio last night. I can't take Kruk and Schilling doing a baseball game. Might have a few beers with them. But, 3 hours of jibberish. Muted sound on Sunday Night Baseball and listened to him. He was spot on about this. He's out of Houston. He wants to know why the heck the NFL made this anything more than a minor equipment issue. Thinks it's laughable a league will suspend TB12 for 25pct of the season because of the integrity of the game. Railed on Goodell. NFL stance on concussions. Jimmy Haslet'S lawsuit. Irsay's cash, dui and oxy incident.

Patsfanin Philly said:

Lyrics- With credit to Harper Valley PTA

I wanna tell you all a story 'bout a Foxboro widowed man
Who had four sons and ran a team really well.
Well his son came home one afternoon and didn't even stop to play,
And he said."Dad, I got a note here from the Commissioner of the NFL.

Well the note said, "Mr. Kraft, you're team’s balls are way too flat”
It's reported you've been deflating balls and refusing to turn over your QB’s cell.
And we don't believe you oughta be playing games and running a team like that
And it was signed by the Commissioner, of the NFL.

Well it happened that the owners was gonna meet that very week.
And they were sure surprised when Mr. Kraft wore his Flying Elvis shirt into the room.
And as he walked up to the black board, I still recall the words he had to speak.
He said I'd like to address this meeting of the NFL owners and it got quiet as a tomb.


Well, there's Woody Johnson sittin' there, and he tampers with my team..
And Mr Snyder uses a racist name and runs his team like swill.
And Mr. Haslam can you tell us why you had to pay all that money for that scheme?
And shouldn't owner Jones be told stay out of photos with pretty young girls still?


Well another owner couldn't be here cause he stayed too long at a bar again.
And if you check Mr. Irsay’s briefcase you might find 29 grand and some pills.

Well you have the nerve to tell me, you think that as an owner I'm not fit.
Well this is just a little Peyton Place, and you're all NFL hypocrites.

No, I wouldn't put you on because, it really did happen just this way.
The day Robert Kraft socked it to the NFL.
The day Robert Kraft socked it to the NFL

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LOL. That's a great song.

PedroMac said:

I absolutely agree with you but at some point a change in the tide needs to occur. While not all of these articles exonerate the Pats completely, we shouldn't expect them to. We hope for more unbiased, honest and fair accounting of facts and opimions. These articles start to deliver that element of reconsideration.
Personally I believe when this plays out in full, it will be clear that Brady is entirely innocent, as are the staff and management.
Let's allow the tide to turn, let's ride it willingly, and then ultimately drown the haters in it. Simmons can write about that from his own Pats Pulpit!

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You have a dream such as Martin Luther King did. Give it 50 years and some of it will probably come to pass - but not in the collective minds of America anytime soon because the NFL prevented an effective defense to the charges for 4 months by withholding what little real information they had (the PSI measurements of the balls) until the facts could be totally obscured by the Wells report conclusions.

Eventually our children may realize that, according to best evidence,
- 3 of the footballs were above the expected range
- 5 of the footballs were in the expected range
- 3 of the footballs were below the expected range
- the average of the footballs was on the high side of the expected range
and that this was all a witch hunt.

But if you made a poll right now about what the actual facts were - something like: Assuming the referees recollections are accurate and that the Patriots footballs measured 12.5 before the game and the gauge with the logo was used for all measurements, how many of the 11 footballs tested were within or higher than the expected range based on the Ideal Gas Law values used in the Wells report?
- 0
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 8

I bet less than 15% of the American public would get this right. Because they may think they know what "Deflator" now means (although none of us truly KNOW), but they haven't a clue whether the factual, scientific evidence indicates footballs were really deflated.