Petition Update 8/4 - FUA issues official press release + Letter to Congress

(1) Priority One - Folks, please distribute both our official press release page and our letter to Congress to your friends and family. Then please e-mail our press release and Letter to your Congressional Rep/Senator, asking them to endorse our concerns. Then follow up with a phone call to your senators and district reps.

(2) Priority Two - Then distribute our official press release page and our letter to Congress to MA-based local news outlets and publications (see spreadsheet links below, which contain email addresses and phone numbers). If you have time, follow up your email with phone calls. (When emailing those outlets, make sure to copy and paste the addresses onto your email, but blind carbon copy (bbc) the recipients, so that the recipients will not know you are distributing a mass email!)

(3) Priority Three - And if you have not already signed our petition, please do so right away.

Contact Federal Elected Officials

• President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the White House - Contact the White House by submitting your comments or questions online or by phone or fax.
• Members of the U.S. Congress
  • U.S. Senators - Get contact information for your senators in the U.S. Senate.
  • U.S. Representatives - Find the website and contact information for your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Contact State Elected Officials

• State Governors - Learn how to get in touch with your state governor.
• State Legislators - Find the names and current activities of your state legislators.

Contact Local Elected Officials

• U.S. Mayors - Locate mayors by name, city, or population size.
• County Executives - A county executive is the head of the executive branch of government in a county. The county executive may be an elected or an appointed position.
• Other Local Government Officials - This directory can help you find contact information for your city, county, and town officials in your state.

• TV Stations

• Weekly Newspapers and Publications

• Daily Newspapers and Publications

• Radio Stations

Bravo, well done. Thank you for your efforts.

Can we add an "in the" between "FU" and "A"?

One of the slides were out of line. It's been corrected!

Ross12 said:

Can we add an "in the" between "FU" and "A"?

Click to expand...

LOL, I prefer F.uck U All!

Outstanding work

The audience here I assume are those in the media and as such you've documented findings well... perhaps a bit verbose but in this case "more is more"

I'd suggest you start and summarize with your findings and conclusions for those media members who may simply skim

Perhaps the terminology "it's more probable than not" to qualify most of your conclusions

As in "It's more probable than not that it is the NFL Offices, under the leadership of Roger Goodell, which is corrupt, and not the Patriots."

Good work.
Here are some suggestions:
Get out in front of anything the audience will automatically assume. For instance you wrote (not verbatim) 'we do this for all teams, not one in particular'. That's DOA IMHO. The audience will automatically assume you are a Patriot fan (and you are) and therefore are biased/unlikely to be providing a well thought out thesis. Get out in front of those certain assumptions within the audience with something like: 'We are fans of the Patriots who started this group based on what the evidence and facts show is appallingly unfair treatment of Tom Brady (IMHO leave out 'Patriots', use 'Tom Brady'). However, in the course of creating this group and researching the issues, we found unfair treatment by the NFL was not limited to this instance. We believe it is certain the unfair treatment will apply to others in the future, and we believe this issue should be of concern to all.'
.
Remove any appeals to emotion or fashion (for instance slide 3). This can be interpreted that your motivations are not simply to make a logical point that is backed up with solid proof. Remember, Deflategate is a widely held as true that TB cheated. This means anyone who disagrees with the widely held belief is semi-automatically suspect if not viscerally dismissed. Remove anything that isn't centered around facts in order to lessen the chances the audience will get the feeling this presentation is nothing but a whining Patriot fan.

Simple, simple (KISS method). To keep the audience's attention for something like this, the presentation has to be succinct, to the point, heavy of bullet point facts, easily comprehended. (Slide 5 is a good succinct and to the point example). IMHO once the argument gets down into the minutia the audience will tune it out.

Beta the presentation. If possible find a few non Patriot fans who know a little about Delfategate and believe Brady is guilty. Give them the full presentation in person and note the feedback from those predisposed to be dismissive of your presentation. Then take the presentation back to the drawing board, adapt it to what you heard from that, and release the formal version.

I hope that helps...

Chiuba E. Obele said:

Hope you fellas had a happy fourth!

If you haven't heard by now, @ViperGTS and @Dr Pain and I came up with the idea of starting a group.
We've already put together a petition and Facebook page. Now we're trying to bring attention to some of the corrupt behavior by the NFL.

I've put together this online document, in presentation form, to let our supporters know specifically what our concerns are, and the 5 major questions we want answered about the League's involvement in the Deflation Controversy (click link below)

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1F-MhVHNcaNSjT_cV7owQP49vQKPJJS-lkNnWgXtk8Po/edit?usp=sharing

We are kindly asking your help in fact-checking our slides and pointing out errors. And if you feel important revisions are needed feel free to make suggestions using the "comment feature"

(1) I suggest you first try viewing the document in presentation form, to get a sense of the animated text and how we want the slides to "flow" to our viewers.

(2) Then select the layout format to make comments. To make a comment, click on insert and press "comment." That will allow you to comment on the texts

(3) You are also allowed to invite others to comment on this page, by simply sharing the links.

Thanks for your help guys,
Chiuba

Click to expand...

Wow. Love it but I think it needs to be more of a quick read. I'll get back to you on that later.

One addition I would make which has not gotten a lot of attention is the re inflation of the footballs in question during halftime. Why would the NFL have the footballs re-inflated if they thought they had caught the Patriots cheating? Why didn't they use the back up footballs which were in the same locker room during halftime? By re-inflating those footballs they essentially destroyed the evidence which would have proven whether the Pats cheated of not without the need of a BS scientific study or a Wells report. They would have had to simply test the balls after the game and if they were below regulation then the Pats cheated and if they were not then they did not cheat.

The the whole idea behind the Gas Law is simple. If you inflate a football to 13 psi in a 70 deg room, bring that football to the antarctic where it will lose pressure and then bring that football back to the 70 degree room it will eventually return to its original pressure of 13 psi. It would have only been a matter of time which they did not have enough of during their halftime measurement process. If the NFL had set those footballs in question aside and tested them after the game they would have known if someone had tampered with them or not. (provided they used the correct gauge) The Wells report would have never been needed.

What I do think happened was Kensil, who had no idea of the effects of weather/temperature on a football, panicked once he realized that the Colts footballs were under regulation as well and decided to re-inflate all the footballs essentially creating a cover up so that he could continue his sting operation.


My initial thoughts.

My problem with this endeavor ... to be completely honest is how can one claim outrage over a false deflated football report and actions if the same people did not claim outrage over the Peterson and Rice fiascos. I think an attack against the NFL should encompass all 3 if it is to be perceived as genuine. The NFL dropped the ball on each of these events.

The NFL's treatment of a false deflated football report triggers more outrage than light punishments over domestic violence ... it will be perceived as homeristic bias. I am more concerned that the NFL gets domestic violence correct than I am a possible rules violation - correct or not. I do not believe anyone from this team put forth equal effort for the Rice, Hardy, or Peterson cases.

Tom Brady is a big boy ... I do not believe he needs anyone's help to prove his innocence other than the work of his lawyers. I wouldn't want to see Brady get leniency because some sponsor or some elected official got in the way. I want to see Brady cleared on his own merits ... and he will be ... anything less will leave a further stink to this mess. someone strong arming Goodell politically is the last thing Brady needs.

Tony2046 said:

Wow. Love it but I think it needs to be more of a quick read. I'll get back to you on that later.

One addition I would make which has not gotten a lot of attention is the re inflation of the footballs in question during halftime. Why would the NFL have the footballs re-inflated if they thought they had caught the Patriots cheating? Why didn't they use the back up footballs which were in the same locker room during halftime? By re-inflating those footballs they essentially destroyed the evidence which would have proven whether the Pats cheated of not without the need of a BS scientific study or a Wells report. They would have had to simply test the balls after the game and if they were below regulation then the Pats cheated and if they were not then they did not cheat.

The the whole idea behind the Gas Law is simple. If you inflate a football to 13 psi in a 70 deg room, bring that football to the antarctic where it will lose pressure and then bring that football back to the 70 degree room it will eventually return to its original pressure of 13 psi. It would have only been a matter of time which they did not have enough of during their halftime measurement process. If the NFL had set those footballs in question aside and tested them after the game they would have known if someone had tampered with them or not. (provided they used the correct gauge) The Wells report would have never been needed.

What I do think happened was Kensil, who had no idea of the effects of weather/temperature on a football, panicked once he realized that the Colts footballs were under regulation as well and decided to re-inflate all the footballs essentially creating a cover up so that he could continue his sting operation.


My initial thoughts.

Click to expand...

I think Tony makes some great points especially the 'quick read'.
Consider what may be clear to you, Tony and I: Everything we know is all out there for media/public consumption. Hell, just get on the internet and come to Patsfans to see a list of counterpoints. Yet the majority of 'media' and 'joe dumb public' hasn't done that. They have largely ignored and/or dismissed anything they have heard that is contradictory to their belief.
Remember, your audience will not be full of Sally Jenkins and Tonys, they will be full of Ron Borges and people who can list the Kardashians dress sizes or quote every line from the movie Sharknado. IMHO Deflategate requires some effort of thought to understand and it is well established this will not be done by most. So you mustn't give a presentation that requires a lot of effort of thought/comparative and statistical thinking, you have to give the presentation that requires not significantly more effort of thought than 'I read the headline and first paragraph'.

Side note to the OP; I really respect your effort to put something together that will, in effect, fight the established powers that summarily assign guilt or favoritism without much thoughtfulness.

Some of these numbers can be used as bullet points to get the non Pats fan's attention. Not many people understand or have taken the time to understand effects of weather/temperature on a football.

Below is a chart from page 39 of the Exponent attachment of the Wells report. They calculated the pressure loss using the Gay-Lussac's Law. (Not the Ideal Gas Law that every radio jockey states.)




Basically they used T1/P1=T2/P2 (They used an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 which is standard for sea level. Gillette stadium is about 250 feet above sea level which would give you an atm pressure of approx 14.55. I'll use 14.7 to stay consistent with the Well's chart.



The NFL never cared about PSI of a football. Nobody complained about over pressurized footballs in a hot game in Phoenix. Nobody ever mentioned "soft footballs" in games played in freezing weather. Nobody who played in the ice bowl complained about a football being 4 psi under inflated.

Funny Side Note: Remember all those ex-players asking why didn't Tom Brady notice the pressure difference in the footballs that day? Well....Why didn't they notice? If they ever played in the game that was at or below freezing their footballs were at least 1.95 psi below pressure. If they weren't someone was cheating. haha

@Tony2046 @TheBostonStraggler @JoeSixPat @DarrylS

We've composed a 1-page letter to Congress, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (the one responsible for looking into Steroid Use). We're going to hold onto it until we know what to do with it.

Any suggestions guys?

Five comments.

One, thank you.

Two, once again fans are doing what the Patriots organization should be doing.

Three, as others have noted, this definitely needs the "One Page Elevator Speech" summary at the front, as most people won't read past the first couple of pages.

Four, you might want to reword the sentence where you say, "We want to clarify that we do not intend to promote any one particular team." Let's face it, you do intend to do so. You might want to say something like, "While we acknowledge upfront that we come at this from the perspective of supporters of the New England Patriots, we believe that our alarm at the direction of the current leadership of the League Office raises issues that should concern all NFL fans." [give examples from the Rice and Petersen messes]."

Five, thanks again.

Great stuff, but OP needs to be held accountable for the thrad title!

Chiuba E. Obele said:

@Tony2046 @TheBostonStraggler @JoeSixPat @DarrylS

We've composed a 1-page letter to Congress, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (the one responsible for looking into Steroid Use). We're going to hold onto it until we know what to do with it.

Any suggestions guys?

Click to expand...

You're going to need someone who understands how to deal with the government. I can't even get my taxes done without a couple of migraines.

Where is the letter?

Tony2046 said:

Some of these numbers can be used as bullet points to get the non Pats fan's attention. Not many people understand or have taken the time to understand effects of weather/temperature on a football.

Below is a chart from page 39 of the Exponent attachment of the Wells report. They calculated the pressure loss using the Gay-Lussac's Law. (Not the Ideal Gas Law that every radio jockey states.)


View attachment 9640

Basically they used T1/P1=T2/P2 (They used an atmospheric pressure of 14.7 which is standard for sea level. Gillette stadium is about 250 feet above sea level which would give you an atm pressure of approx 14.55. I'll use 14.7 to stay consistent with the Well's chart.

View attachment 9641

The NFL never cared about PSI of a football. Nobody complained about over pressurized footballs in a hot game in Phoenix. Nobody ever mentioned "soft footballs" in games played in freezing weather. Nobody who played in the ice bowl complained about a football being 4 psi under inflated.

Funny Side Note: Remember all those ex-players asking why didn't Tom Brady notice the pressure difference in the footballs that day? Well....Why didn't they notice? If they ever played in the game that was at or below freezing their footballs were at least 1.95 psi below pressure. If they weren't someone was cheating. haha

Click to expand...

Along those lines, I read a comment on one of the articles debunking the science in the Wells Report that I don't believe has mentioned here. Once I read it, it seemed like such obvious thing: If having a lower PSI is such an advantage, why does any team inflate their footballs beyond 12.5 PSI?

We've read about the garbage study on fumbles and I've heard how a ball set at a lower PSI is easier to throw and catch. If it makes such a difference for all aspects of an offense, why would any player want to use a ball set at 13.5? On the flip side, why wasn't the Patriots-Jets game in Gillette last year (the 16 PSI game) a fumble fest? There was one fumble in that game, by Geno Smith, and the Jets recovered it. You'd think the Patriots, used to their "illegal" footballs, would have dropping the ball like the 1st half of the regular season game against the Broncos in 2013 (which, ironically, was played in freezing conditions, so the natural deflation plus the assumed artificial deflation should have rendered the balls fumble-proof.) Or, maybe, this "advantage," if it even existed, is extremely overstated.

Just to bring things back to the subject of the thread:

On slide 5, Alberto Riveron's name is misspelled as "Riverton."

On slide 7, I would move the third bullet to the first spot. To me, that makes sense in the order of the events.

I'll see if I can come up with some more.

PatsFanSince74 said:

Three, as others have noted, this definitely needs the "One Page Elevator Speech" summary at the front, as most people won't read past the first couple of pages.

Click to expand...

^^^this^^^

Also, there is a flow/continuity concern.. You have the five questions, then a page of text. Then a page with the first question as the main point. After the page of five questions, IMO the next page should have as its topic the first question.

neuronet said:

^^^this^^^

Also, there is a flow/continuity concern.. You have the five questions, then a page of text. Then a page with the first question as the main point. After the page of five questions, IMO the next page should have as its topic the first question.

Click to expand...

This is, of course, exactly why corporations hire people to do this...getting presentations like this "right" is a difficult, time consuming task which, for some reason, seems to have been left to the fans on this board, who are trying to do the job that the Krafts should be paying a team of people to do on their behalf.

But, since Bob sold out to Goodell, I guess he isn't worried about things like this.

PatsFanSince74 said:

This is, of course, exactly why corporations hire people to do this...getting presentations like this "right" is a difficult, time consuming task which, for some reason, seems to have been left to the fans on this board, who are trying to do the job that the Krafts should be paying a team of people to do on their behalf.

But, since Bob sold out to Goodell, I guess he isn't worried about things like this.

Click to expand...

FINALLY, someone who understands!!! LOL

Anybody want me to send them the Letter To Congress....wanna keep it confidential...but would still love to have others look at it

Chiuba E. Obele said:

FINALLY, someone who understands!!! LOL

Anybody want me to send them the Letter To Congress....wanna keep it confidential...but would still love to have others look at it

Click to expand...

While I realize how "over the top" calling for a Congressional investigation is, Arlen Specter set the precedent when he felt it was important to the integrity of the game of an institution granted an anti-trust exemption to at least make some noise about a Congressional investigation

Indeed Specter's statement on the issues then is the same as now: "Goodell's explanations don't pass scrutiny"

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3246788

The integrity of the game is very much on the line when the Commissioner of the NFL and his staff members have been caught in blatant lies and have falsely accused others of violations to divert attention from "real" scandals and the lack of reaction from Goodell

I'd consider releasing the letter (after it goes out) and a summary press release, perhaps with a link to your research, to area Sports outlets, as well as other interested parties that might write about it like Sally Jenkinks and other