I don't understand why any self respecting patriots fans would watch or listen to this clown. We already know what hes going to say. As far as the IGL, Sharp is lucky if he can spell his name, never mind understanding gas laws.
It is extremely rare for me to watch First Take, since it can at best be only called entertainment, and should never be quoted by anybody to back an opinion. But I did happen to catch it today, and seeing Sharpe in his pink suit was like driving past an accident; I couldn't help myself, and slowed down to take a look.
His stance was both predictable and laughable. But what caught me is a phenomenon that so many mainstream sports media use as their starting point on this topic - even when there are two sided 'debating', scripted or not.
How is it that so very many completely ignore the Ideal Gas Law, and don't get called out for it? This results in a starting point on the discussion that is completely off base! People begin the conversation that New England's footballs were substantially below the PSI that they should have been, and therefore the only way that could have happened is if somebody purposely let air out.
That results in all further discussion being way off target. And because of that Brady and the Patriots are presumed to be guilty in the court of public opinion. There are so very few that don't start at that point that they are written off as homers or conspiracy theorists. The message, whether implied or explicitly stated - that the footballs were intentionally deflated - has been repeated so very many times over the last several months that it is now accepted as fact.
The NFL got what it wanted with the initial highly erroneous leaks to Mortensen and King. Beyond their mouthpieces on ESPN and NFLN, other sports journalists - many of whom are otherwise very professional - begin their thought process with the idea that the footballs had to have been manually deflated. Due to that flawed assumption, it is no wonder that so many fans and sports writers reach an inaccurate conclusion in regards to this case.
around 1:08 mark
moderator interrupts Jeff Saturday(he was talking about minesotta/GB game - heating up the ball) and says
'Sota got a warning. NFL didn't warn pats/brady.'
Shannon Sharpe goes
'that's not what I was told. That's not what I was told. they were told multiple occasion.'
wut? we got a warning?
I don't know if (as somebody wrote earlier) Sharpe was just making things up as he went along or what. But in this instance he needs to back that up with facts. Now some lie turns into a rumor, and then the rumor becomes accepted as fact.
'Yes, it's true; I heard it on ESPN! They couldn't say it if it wasn't true!' Once again the NFL and their leak/PR department gets what they wanted.
Again, as
@BradyFTW! pointed out earlier: if this was indeed a fact then the NFL would have brought that up earlier - in either justifying the original fine and docking of draft picks, or in the Wells Report or Brady appeal. It's just another false rumor that has been repeated so often that it is now accepted as a fact.