how much deflate gate are we going to hear tonight?

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

Living up to his rep.

XLIX said:

For those not watching, they spent about 5 minutes at the start of the 2nd quarter talking about it. When they promote the NBC telecast coming up September 10, it is a natural segue. Notable comments:

Collinsworth: Mike Tomlin has it right 'I can't believe we're bringing last year's baggage into this year's season' but what's the compromise here? Either Tom Brady cheated, or the league has falsely suspended one of the greatest icons in the game, and is there something in between that? I don't know that there is .... It is a very difficult point in the league history right now and unfortunately it is taking away some of the enthusiasm for the upcoming season .... The are probably going to, for the first time, have some real evidence of what happens to footballs after one half of play.

They also listed the ball handling procedure changes.

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Thanks for the summary.

As for the bolded part, isn't that a really, really big deal, even the possibility of it? I'm talking in a general sense, not that Collinsworth should have spent more time on it.

This is the kind of thing the league should have thought about back in January or while the Wells investigation was going on. If they didn't have solid evidence that Brady was guilty, then they should have planned a way out of this, like saying the science was inconclusive, Brady maintained his innocence and there's no other evidence that supports tampering. They could have issued a fine for non-cooperation, closed the issue and still damaged Brady's reputation.

Since the league opted to fully commit to their made-up story, it's starting to unravel and they're starting to look bad to the general public. Now, in the first pre-season game of the year, they've got one of their top broadcasters wondering on air if the league framing a player. This will only get worse if other players speak out, Bob Kraft has some move up his sleeve, and the court case goes against the league. Someone whose job it is to look out for the "good of the game" should have seen this possibility and avoided it.

Was Florio on at halftime?

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

Isn't there going to be a concert in Foxborough too?

Man. That bill Polian love fest made me puke in my mouth a bit.

nabwong said:

Man. That bill Polian love fest made me puke in my mouth a bit.

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Polian has done more to hurt this game than anybody but Roger dodger in the 21st century. Is there a Hall of Infamy we could put him in instead?

Froob said:

Polian has done more to hurt this game than anybody but Roger dodger in the 21st century. Is there a Hall of Infamy we could put him in instead?

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There should be a count of how many rules he changed.

nabwong said:

There should be a count of how many rules he changed.

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My phones calculator ran out of screen space to add the digits.

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

I hear the Patriots will be playing the Seahawks in last year's Super Bowl too.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

well, ESPN would have posed the question "Did Brady cheat & get what he deserved" or "Did Brady cheat & manage to get away with it"

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the 2nd question applies to richard sherman. but he went to standford/also quite the character so nobody gives a ****.

One of my buddies is a steelers fan, so I'm watching the game at his place. I haven't been paying the closest attention, kinda drunk right now, but I was okay with what I heard. They had to address it in some capacity, and they acknowledged that Goodell might just be a ****ing liar. Better than I expected at least.

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

Typical. How sodium vapor bulb just ignited.

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

I am not a big rap fan but I wish the first song blaring from Gillette's speakers Thursday night is "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy and was on the "Do The Right Thing" movie soundtrack.

right...Bob Kraft and Public Enemy...

somehow, I think he gets some flunky to open the night's festivities with "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

I am beyond disgusted with all this phony bullcrap this year. I may not have much time left on this earth but what time I DO have I am going to dedicate to a nonstop war on Goodell. You stepped on the wrong fan, you stupid punk.

shmessy said:

BTW, the MCI breaking news we all knew 5 weeks ago..........


Ben Volin ✔ @BenVolin
Interesting that the NFL opening kickoff game will feature a live concert from San Fran, not New England pic.twitter.com/2HO6737jpM


Oooooh, thanks for the "scoop", Benjy!

Click to expand...

The last time they had an opening concert in the wrong city was... New England's opener in Sep 2005, their prior victory. Of course, New York Giants got to keep both of theirs.

Joker said:

right...Bob Kraft and Public Enemy...

somehow, I think he gets some flunky to open the night's festivities with "Surrender" by Cheap Trick.

I am beyond disgusted with all this phony bullcrap this year. I may not have much time left on this earth but what time I DO have I am going to dedicate to a nonstop war on Goodell. You stepped on the wrong fan, you stupid punk.

Click to expand...

There should be an I HATE ROGER GOODELL website. This clown needs to hear just how much we hate him. No one should hold back. I want to kick this man's arse and I'm a little woman. If he ever shows his ugly face in Gillette again, Fans should throw beer on him. I hate that bastard.

Pigskin Pete said:

I am not a big rap fan but I wish the first song blaring from Gillette's speakers Thursday night is "Fight The Power" by Public Enemy and was on the "Do The Right Thing" movie soundtrack.

Click to expand...

I'm good with that.

I was actually expecting that it might be discussed throughout the game, prompting me to turn the volume off. Surprisingly little, with plenty of opportunities to throw commentary out on the subject.

However, given the fact the NFL would prefer to have the subject die at this point (ie., "accept the punishment and move on"), maybe that should not come as a surprise at all.