I can't believe that a professional journalist answered a question with this type of tone.
Yeah, I won’t be doing that. The point of putting in that section was to show that the whole “science” part of this is ridiculous, on both sides. How do you know when the NFL actually got around to testing the Patriots’ balls? What about the balls that were tested at the end, right before the Colts’ balls. You and whoever else can mock Exponent if you want, but the fact remains Dr. Daniel R. Marlow, a decorated physics scholar from Princeton, signed off on the science portion of the report. So you can’t just toss it out.
So he just admitted that there's not enough information in the experiment which supposedly proved tampering to prove no tampering. Unwrap that in your head for a few minutes.
The bottom line is, we’re talking about football. This isn’t a capital murder case. We’re not deciphering some complicated math proof. It’s football. The NFL itself (signed off by all the owners) lowered the bar on competitive rules violations because they shouldn’t need guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I agree with them.
Ergo, it's arbitrary, there is no truth or justice to be found, or needed, and for some reason, we should all still care about the competitive honesty of the sport enough to recognize that the penalty was, therefore, just.
Wow. Just wow.
If you don’t want to get busted, then stay clear of the gray line. Don’t go into the bathroom with the footballs and then lie repeatedly about it.
Lie repeatedly? McNally said nothing was unusual. The two guards in the tunnel said he goes out alone with the balls about half the time. No big deal. Happens all the time.
But no, says the report! NEVER happened in 19 years with Walt Anderson.
Then it happened again after the halftime weigh-in, and it's on video.
Stay clear of the gray line? That's the whole damned point: this entire process is nothing but a gray line!
Don’t text about pumping up footballs when your gameday duties shouldn’t ever involve the handling of footballs. Don’t call yourself the deflator, or joke about going to ESPN.
Let me see your phone, Bedard. Bet you dollars to donuts there's a million things on there I could take out of context and make you look really, really bad.
And don’t decide you’re not going to fully cooperate, or withhold witnesses. Do everything by the letter, then you can tee up the science and take it for a ride, if you want. Be my guest. Until then, you have to deal with more than just the appearance of impropriety.
How about, if you want cooperation in this investigation which is NOT vital to world peace (as Bedard pointed out, "the bottom line is, we’re talking about football. This isn’t a capital murder case. We’re not deciphering some complicated math proof. It’s football") then DON'T LEAK THE PART-TIME WORKER'S ADDRESS SO SOME ESPN HUNTER CAN SHOW UP AT HIS HOME AND HARASS HIM!
Good lord, what a snarky, one-sided, ridiculous answer to a reader's question.