2/10's psi: Never underestimate the power of Hot Air.

It all started with a tweet from Chris Mortensen, "11 of the 12 Patriots footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what’s required by NFL regulation." That's when the Defamegate PR campaign caught fire and rapidly spread throughout the national football world. Since then Patriot Fans have been thrust into the middle of an episode of the Twilight Zone. We were forced to watch scientifically ignorant ex football players dancing around with deflated footballs while singing the "Tom should have known" song. We've tolerated the new wave of "cheetriot" rants. And although the best conclusion Wells could come up with was "more probable than not" after millions of dollars and months of investigating, some of our own mediots have spun that into "they know Brady did something".

Soon after came the "competitive advantage" diatribe which was supported by the erroneous Sharp Analysis and it's fraudulent conclusion of fumble rates. Sure you,the Physicist, the Doctor, the Engineer, the Technician or the guy who just got "it" , probably wrote emails, tweeted and may have called in to preach the logic or the truth but it all fell on deaf ears. Even buckets of the purest water cannot extinguish an inferno. We would like to think the NFL is a cesspool of idiot clueless yahoo's who are running around blindlessly colliding into gate after gate, which may be true scientifically but unfortunately they are quite brilliant when it comes to PR campaigns. They have effectively created the latest controversy over 2/10's psi. Think about that for a moment. 2/10's psi. Of course you will not be able to find one single sentence in any report delivered from the NFL or it's cronie news networks expressing how much air they imply was missing or released. Nope it's not out there as a "matter fact statement". Why? Because if they did the entire scandal would slowly but surely start to crumble. Competitive Advantage from 0.3 psi? Nope. Brady directed a scheme to release 0.3 psi from footballs? Nope . McNally tells the referees 12.5 and then later sneaks into the bathroom to bring them down to 12.2 psi? Nope. None of that would add up. It would not support any of the "Integrity of the game" reasoning built using CM's 2 psi tweet.

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you the first instance in which how much air was missing is written for public consumption in a legal transcript. Kessler ,the Jedi F'ing Lawyer, somehow found a way to introduce it into the court transcripts, not as new evidence but as part of a fairness argument. Which, by the way, was not disputed by Nash at all. 2/10's psi is now on record and is available for all to discuss.

"Then it occurred to me as I'm preparing this argument, how much of a difference is that? And what it turns out, it's one or two-tenths of a difference of PSI. What does that mean? It means how much do you think we have to alter the assumption to overcome one or two-tenths of PSI. It means their conclusion is Mr. McNally, the attendant, went into the bathroom to lower the PSI one or two-tenths of a PSI. I would say, your Honor, even the NFL would not contend that a quarterback could even feel the difference of one or two-tenths of PSI, let alone in making a difference in play." Kessler Page 19, Aug 19th Transcripts.

Roger made one colossal mistake in all of this. He underestimated Tom F. Brady. While Roger filled his PR Balloon with hot air, Tom stood firmly on the grounds of integrity. Roger is twice on the record as a liar, Tom is not. It is about honor with Tom and soon the same inferred 2/10's psi that threatened Brady's legacy may be the same 2/10's psi that brings down Roger's kingdom.

Going by my rule of them that each 25 degree drop in temperature results in a drop of 1 p.s.i., a 2/10 drop in PSI is equivalent to going from a 70 degree room to a 65 degree field. It just doesn't make any sense.

Or heating with blower for 10 seconds. Similar offence - but in different direction.
Why Rogers prefer balls by 16 PSI before game? He'd like to play with 13.5, and going from locker room to frozen tundra will deflate it exactly like this.

To put it another way, the difference between the 2 OFFICIAL NFL GAUGES was TWICE the amount the Pats are accused of deflating the balls by. .4 PSI vs .2 PSI!

I understand that they were caught off guard not knowing about the IGL or the effects of weather on a football. What I do not understand is how they continued to pursue this even after they were aware. Not only did they continue to investigate they followed it up with an enormous PR campaign aimed right at Tom Brady without any care of what they were about to do to his legacy.

RunAmok said:

To put it another way, the difference between the 2 OFFICIAL NFL GAUGES was TWICE the amount the Pats are accused of deflating the balls by. .4 PSI vs .2 PSI!

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and let's not forget the accuracy of the gauges is only good to about +/- 0.1 to 0.2 psi
oh...and there's a pats gauge and colts gauge relevant to this but they disappeared.

I would love to number 10 footballs, take 0.3 psi out of some random balls, and let mark brunell show me which ones were short.

eom said:

and let's not forget the accuracy of the gauges is only good to about +/- 0.1 to 0.2 psi
oh...and there's a pats gauge and colts gauge relevant to this but they disappeared.

I would love to number 10 footballs, take 0.3 psi out of some random balls, and let mark brunell show me which ones were short.

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You would just make him cry.

The biggest tell of a sting is that they only measured 4 Colts balls.
If it was such a serious issue, shouldn't they have measured all the Colts ball too. After all, the balls they measured were under league minimum also.
But no, why bother they had the proof they came for. Why both muddying the water. They went in with a conclusion they already had made and came away with proof of that conclusion! Trap laid, bait taken, guilt proven. "We finally got those cheating bastards"! F.U. NFL

eom said:

and let's not forget the accuracy of the gauges is only good to about +/- 0.1 to 0.2 psi

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Likely worse than that. Buried in the Wells report is the data on the 12th ball, the one the Colts intercepted. It was pressure-tested 3 times by an NFL employee, all with the Patriots gauge. Results: 11.35, 11.45, 11.75. So one person, using one gauge, sees variation of 0.4 psi. And the big gotcha is the claim that the other 11 were 0.2 psi low, BASED ON ONE MEASUREMENT. Well within the expected error. It's so obvious that it would be silly were it not made into such a big deal.

Patstopia said:

The biggest tell of a sting is that they only measured 4 Colts balls.
If it was such a serious issue, shouldn't they have measured all the Colts ball too. After all, the balls they measured were under league minimum also.
But no, why bother they had the proof they came for. Why both muddying the water. They went in with a conclusion they already had made and came away with proof of that conclusion! Trap laid, bait taken, guilt proven. "We finally got those cheating bastards"! F.U. NFL

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this is just my imagination, but let's remember nobody in that room was thinking about the relationship temp has to pressure, and the guy pushing these measurements was already of the mindset that pats were illicitly deflating balls -- cuz how else could they beat the jets.....

they started checking the colts balls expecting every one of them to read exactly 13 psi, and when they started coming in low I'm sure there was all kinds of confusion before the plug was pulled at 4 balls.
they don't need those balls for teh 2nd half kickoff + pats had 1st possession.
if it had been done in reverse order I will 100% guarantee you they would've found the time to get to those other 8 pats balls

eom said:

and let's not forget the accuracy of the gauges is only good to about +/- 0.1 to 0.2 psi
oh...and there's a pats gauge and colts gauge relevant to this but they disappeared.

I would love to number 10 footballs, take 0.3 psi out of some random balls, and let mark brunell show me which ones were short.

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In the Wells report they tested the calibration of 50 new gauges. New gauges set up on a controlled 13.psi test set measured from 12.6 - 13.2 psi. IIRC.

Patstopia said:

The biggest tell of a sting is that they only measured 4 Colts balls.
If it was such a serious issue, shouldn't they have measured all the Colts ball too. After all, the balls they measured were under league minimum also.
But no, why bother they had the proof they came for. Why both muddying the water. They went in with a conclusion they already had made and came away with proof of that conclusion! Trap laid, bait taken, guilt proven. "We finally got those cheating bastards"! F.U. NFL

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I can just see Kensil getting all excited about the Pats numbers. He turns around and the refs are measuring the Colt balls and he says "What the f*ck are you guys doing?" "I don't care about those balls! Put in in the bag and let's go."

eom said:

this is just my imagination, but let's remember nobody in that room was thinking about the relationship temp has to pressure, and the guy pushing these measurements was already of the mindset that pats were illicitly deflating balls -- cuz how else could they beat the jets.....

they started checking the colts balls expecting every one of them to read exactly 13 psi, and when they started coming in low I'm sure there was all kinds of confusion before the plug was pulled at 4 balls.
they don't need those balls for teh 2nd half kickoff + pats had 1st possession.
if it had been done in reverse order I will 100% guarantee you they would've found the time to get to those other 8 pats balls

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I think that "confusion" is what led them to re inflate all the footballs in question. Instead of putting them aside and using the backup footballs. They panicked after seeing the Colts footballs and just said re inflate them all.

Tony2046 said:

In the Wells report they tested the calibration of 50 new gauges. New gauges set up on a controlled 13.psi test set measured from 12.6 - 13.2 psi. IIRC.

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They bought 50 new gauges, all of which were the same model as the non logo gauge, while knowing the results were completely irrelevant. If they wanted to actually know which gauge was used pregame, they should have gotten the Pats and Colts gauges, discussed the process (rubbing) prior to setting the psi, and gotten the thermostat readings of the rooms it was done in. The fact Exponent did not while using flawed logic is evidence of them shaping results as they are not that stupid. Mathematically, if it was 2.5 degrees F warmer in the rooms the teams set the psi vs the room the ref tested them, it the logo gauge would be more likely if each team used a perfectly caibrated gauge. Aaaaaah. So many tricks, lies, and deceit.

Tony2046 said:

In the Wells report they tested the calibration of 50 new gauges. New gauges set up on a controlled 13.psi test set measured from 12.6 - 13.2 psi. IIRC.

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Love to read about the gauge calibration test.

Tony2046 said:

In the Wells report they tested the calibration of 50 new gauges. New gauges set up on a controlled 13.psi test set measured from 12.6 - 13.2 psi. IIRC.

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Yes - the range was 12.6 - 13.2 but the majority fell between 12.8 and 13.1. Again the the typical difference between new gauges is greater than what the Patriots are accused of letting out of the ball.

For me ... granted the ref is not a QB but still ...
How many times has a ref tossed a ball out of play for deflation because he sensed .2 or .3 or even .5 low?

I said in another thread I cannot wait until the media is checking balls before during ... halftime ... at game conclusions starting with a ball 12.5 - 13.0 at 70 degrees at kickoff. It will be a huge story as the weather gets colder this year ... Brady will be vindicated by more people at that time. Especially if any balls creep to 11.9 and lower.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

Likely worse than that. Buried in the Wells report is the data on the 12th ball, the one the Colts intercepted. It was pressure-tested 3 times by an NFL employee, all with the Patriots gauge. Results: 11.35, 11.45, 11.75. So one person, using one gauge, sees variation of 0.4 psi. And the big gotcha is the claim that the other 11 were 0.2 psi low, BASED ON ONE MEASUREMENT. Well within the expected error. It's so obvious that it would be silly were it not made into such a big deal.

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I believe (and I can't remember where I saw this), the intercepted ball was tested with the Patriots gauge -- the one they can't find now and the one the Patriots used on their own balls. The average of the three readings is 11.52, which is almost exactly what it should have been.

I can't wait for the halftime measurements of the balls. I will be so full watching all the twisted people, who think tenths of a psi is worth ruining a mans reputation, all eat crow. I'm almost as eager for that as to watching the real games.

MagicMarker said:

I believe (and I can't remember where I saw this), the intercepted ball was tested with the Patriots gauge -- the one they can't find now and the one the Patriots used on their own balls. The average of the three readings is 11.52, which is almost exactly what it should have been.

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That gauge is long gone at this point. The NFL cronies found it and probably destroyed it that night in some sort of weird ritual dance.