tom.kordis
Practice Squad Player
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2015
- Messages
- 130
- Reaction score
- 72
[Part 1]
I just sent this letter to Roger Goddell. I'm pessimistic about any effect it might have, but I thought I'd post it here.
In short, Exponent's model for their "Patriots' Wet Football" was fatally flawed by virtue of being massively "under-wet".
Their model gave them their "Warming Time Constant" and "Equilibrium Pressure" for their "undeflated Patriots football".
Since the Patriots' footballs did not match their model, they concluded that "someone delated the balls".
Exponent's assumptions are wrong, their model is wrong, and their conclusions are wrong.
Here's absolute proof of that assertion.
__
[Letter to Roger Goodell & Troy Vincent]
Sirs,
By way of introduction, I have been a mechanical engineer for the past 41 years. I have a vast background in designing, executing and writing Engineering Test Reports for a wide range of engineering firms & agencies, including NASA, Boeing, the FDA & many others.
In short, I know what I am talking about. This is my profession.
You really should listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you:
You are on a course to give yourselves a reputation as the most profoundly incompetent buffoons in Sports History.
Nobody deflated any footballs during the Patriots/Colts game in January, 2015.
The simple fact that you were not capable of determining this self evident fact in about 4 minutes with a pen, a scrap of paper & a calculator simply proves your ignorance of the technical issues.
Please don’t be insulted by my statement above. The physics of gasses is not your field.
Nonetheless, as uncomfortable as it may make you feel, my statement is completely accurate.
There are approximately 2 million competent mechanical & chemical engineers in the US alone, and every single one of us who have looked into this issue (except one willfully incompetent, hired-gun engineering firm, paid to come to a biased conclusion) has come away with exactly the same conclusions:
1) The NFL is utterly incompetent regarding the technical issues of pressure vs. temperature vs. moisture content in footballs.
2) The NFL is utterly incompetent regarding the technical issue of “taking any sort of measurement”. (See ISO standards, in last paragraph below.)
3) The NFL regulations regarding the pressure & weight of footballs is incompetent & unenforceable.
4) Nobody let any air out of any footballs prior to, or during, the Patriots/Colts game on Jan 18, 2015.
The US’s engineering establishment is, frankly, startled & bemused at the level of incompetence of the NFL, regarding an issue as trivial as this one. The simple fact that you seem to find this simple issue to be complicated or difficult to understand underscores the woeful state of affairs.
And yet, have you made the slightest effort to reach out to engineers for some assistance?
No, you have not.
You’ve reached out to a wretchedly biased law firm, who hired an engineering-firm-for-hire, whose sole purpose is to provide lawyers with “legal technobabble that supports whatever answer they want”.
And you have accepted their junk engineering report.
That was a very bad move that will come back to haunt you and your reputations, in about 6 months from now.
[End Part 1]
I just sent this letter to Roger Goddell. I'm pessimistic about any effect it might have, but I thought I'd post it here.
In short, Exponent's model for their "Patriots' Wet Football" was fatally flawed by virtue of being massively "under-wet".
Their model gave them their "Warming Time Constant" and "Equilibrium Pressure" for their "undeflated Patriots football".
Since the Patriots' footballs did not match their model, they concluded that "someone delated the balls".
Exponent's assumptions are wrong, their model is wrong, and their conclusions are wrong.
Here's absolute proof of that assertion.
__
[Letter to Roger Goodell & Troy Vincent]
Sirs,
By way of introduction, I have been a mechanical engineer for the past 41 years. I have a vast background in designing, executing and writing Engineering Test Reports for a wide range of engineering firms & agencies, including NASA, Boeing, the FDA & many others.
In short, I know what I am talking about. This is my profession.
You really should listen very carefully to what I am about to tell you:
You are on a course to give yourselves a reputation as the most profoundly incompetent buffoons in Sports History.
Nobody deflated any footballs during the Patriots/Colts game in January, 2015.
The simple fact that you were not capable of determining this self evident fact in about 4 minutes with a pen, a scrap of paper & a calculator simply proves your ignorance of the technical issues.
Please don’t be insulted by my statement above. The physics of gasses is not your field.
Nonetheless, as uncomfortable as it may make you feel, my statement is completely accurate.
There are approximately 2 million competent mechanical & chemical engineers in the US alone, and every single one of us who have looked into this issue (except one willfully incompetent, hired-gun engineering firm, paid to come to a biased conclusion) has come away with exactly the same conclusions:
1) The NFL is utterly incompetent regarding the technical issues of pressure vs. temperature vs. moisture content in footballs.
2) The NFL is utterly incompetent regarding the technical issue of “taking any sort of measurement”. (See ISO standards, in last paragraph below.)
3) The NFL regulations regarding the pressure & weight of footballs is incompetent & unenforceable.
4) Nobody let any air out of any footballs prior to, or during, the Patriots/Colts game on Jan 18, 2015.
The US’s engineering establishment is, frankly, startled & bemused at the level of incompetence of the NFL, regarding an issue as trivial as this one. The simple fact that you seem to find this simple issue to be complicated or difficult to understand underscores the woeful state of affairs.
And yet, have you made the slightest effort to reach out to engineers for some assistance?
No, you have not.
You’ve reached out to a wretchedly biased law firm, who hired an engineering-firm-for-hire, whose sole purpose is to provide lawyers with “legal technobabble that supports whatever answer they want”.
And you have accepted their junk engineering report.
That was a very bad move that will come back to haunt you and your reputations, in about 6 months from now.
[End Part 1]