The simple story behind the entire "deflategate" controversy

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

chasa,

I've seen people argue just about every one of these points. I thought, though, that it was valuable in seeing how & if they pieced together. I also wanted to get the narrative out there, clearly stated, because we will find out a great deal about what did happen, assuming that Mr. Wells does his job well.

In the end it doesn't require huge Patriot-hating league-wide conspiracies. It just takes plain old ordinary flaws in human nature, such as jealousy, paranoia, a willingness to take matters into your own hands (even if those actions are prohibited), a willingness to jump to unwarranted conclusions, and the media's appetite for a good feeding frenzy.

Some simple concepts, granted, but they weave a pretty complete story.

We hopefully will see how well it matches with what happened.

And if I'm completely wrong then I will take the heat for it, and willingly. Some parts of the narrative WILL be off base, for sure, because there are too many gaps to fill, even if we fill them thoughtfully. But are the fundamental components correct?

I'm eager to find out.

 

[fourhour]

It was Tom Brady's fault all along for throwing tem damn interceptions! That must explain his absence from the White House last week.

 

[chasa]

chasa,

I've seen people argue just about every one of these points. I thought, though, that it was valuable in seeing how & if they pieced together. I also wanted to get the narrative out there, clearly stated, because we will find out a great deal about what did happen, assuming that Mr. Wells does his job well.

In the end it doesn't require huge Patriot-hating league-wide conspiracies. It just takes plain old ordinary flaws in human nature, such as jealousy, paranoia, a willingness to take matters into your own hands (even if those actions are prohibited), a willingness to jump to unwarranted conclusions, and the media's appetite for a good feeding frenzy.

Some simple concepts, granted, but they weave a pretty complete story.

We hopefully will see how well it matches with what happened.

And if I'm completely wrong then I will take the heat for it, and willingly. Some parts of the narrative WILL be off base, for sure, because there are too many gaps to fill, even if we fill them thoughtfully. But are the fundamental components correct?

I'm eager to find out.

Once again Ill say THIS DIDN'T NEED ANOTHER THREAD.

You rehashed the same exact thing every thread here has rehashed. The patriots didn't do anything wrong, The colts and ravens are whiney idiots.
The league dropped the ball
Kensil is a jet loving, patriot hating scumbag.

We know all of these things. WHY CREATE ANOTHER THREAD?

The wells report is going to be about what the league did wrong.

1.)The refs don't record the measurments of the balls
2.)A league employee was stealing footballs
3.)The league was alerted to potentially low inflated balls and gave no warnings
4.)Kensil commited career suicide by trying to run a sting DURING THE AFCCG
5.)The refs didn't notice anythign wrong with the balls during the game
6.)The ref not in charge of handing off balls to enter the game, handed off a ball to enter the game
7.)Members of the league leaked information

 

[Ross12]

I don't want to be obtuse, but I don't get why people complain (and hand out dislikes) because they don't think someone should've created a thread about something. If you don't like it, don't read it... Are you aware we have a thread ignore feature?

 

[Dr Pain]

As far as the math, I have filled at 72 degrees at 12.5 leaves 9.83 PSI at 20 degrees.

 

[Brewskies]

Lots of typing PBPF what really matters is what the Wells report says. Who is paying for the Wells report? The league. Therfore the league will review the findings before the final report is written. I am sure there will be omissions. There should have been a lawyer representing the league, Players association and the Pats Doing the investigation and preparing the report

 

[OhExaulted1]

Like your dual posts PBPF, but just to nitpick a bit using a 3500 word dual post manifesto to describe a "simple story" doesn't do your thread title alot of justice. Just sayin'.

Good post(s) though.

 

[chasa]

I don't want to be obtuse, but I don't get why people complain (and hand out dislikes) because they don't think someone should've created a thread about something. If you don't like it, don't read it... Are you aware we have a thread ignore feature?

Clutter, and to a greater extent a separation of conversation. Now instead of everyone discussing the topic in one place, we have 5 or 6 different conversations going on about the same thing, "So what? just ignore the other ones" Well that would be awesome if you wanted to completely ignore any chance of something insightful being said. So now lets say you are reading just one of the well report/deflate gate threads, but off in the corner someone with actual information finds something out, should they put it in every deflate gate wells report thread? Suddenly the first page is JUST deflategate related, not good, Maybe they should create their own thread with that info, ha jokes on you, 5 other people now have the info, and we have 5 new threads about the new info.

It's just not a very clean way to have a discussion.

 

[DarrylS]

28 Positive ratings for your first two posts,2 negative... don't sweat the small stuff.

There will be new threads on this until the outcome, good to refresh and frame the issues..

 

[Sfpat]

Deleted

 

[Ross12]

Clutter, and to a greater extent a separation of conversation. Now instead of everyone discussing the topic in one place, we have 5 or 6 different conversations going on about the same thing, "So what? just ignore the other ones" Well that would be awesome if you wanted to completely ignore any chance of something insightful being said. So now lets say you are reading just one of the well report/deflate gate threads, but off in the corner someone with actual information finds something out, should they put it in every deflate gate wells report thread? Suddenly the first page is JUST deflategate related, not good, Maybe they should create their own thread with that info, ha jokes on you, 5 other people now have the info, and we have 5 new threads about the new info.

It's just not a very clean way to have a discussion.

I respect your viewpoint and I can see where you're coming from in regards to disparate threads serving little purpose; however, in the case of threads like this where PBPF is weaving a complete picture for the reader, I feel it does deserve its own thread. If we are wrong, I'm sure the mods will move it and/or combine it with another thread.

Furthermore, while I agree that we should all strive for clean and simple discussion, handing out negative feedback ratings doesn't seem like the way to get there.

 

[VectorPrime]

Not only do I feel that this is a great thread but I implore the mods not to move it into the Siberian deflategate forum.

 

[MitchKumstein]

I too believe that this entire saga went down exactly as PBPF described it. And it blows my mind that so many people in high positions in the NFL never once thought about the science of temperature/air pressure of the footballs.

Even my kids know that their bike tires will need to be pumped up a little before going for a ride on a cold day.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

(continued)

The Patriots are dumbfounded. The morning after is the first time that they have even heard about the controversy. Belichick inquires of his people “What is going on?” He calls a meeting and they discuss what could have happened. Everyone who had anything to do with preparing the footballs is adamant that no tampering had occurred.

Ernie Adams, who hadn’t slept through the PV=nRT lecture in high school, then chimes in. He comments matter-of-factly that footballs will always lose pressure when they cool down. They also gain pressure when they heat up. That’s also true for a balloon that you buy at the grocery store on a cold day. That’s also true of the tire pressure in your car. That's science, folks. Maybe that is all that is going on here?

Ernie Adams then does the math. He says “Bill, at halftime it was 48 degrees. A football that is at 12.5 psi at 72 degrees, when cooled to 48 degrees, will be at about 11.3 psi. That will happen every time, just by the pressure/temperature relationship. With the cold rain, it may even be more. What kind of pressure drop did they see?”

Bill Belichick says “I don’t know what they saw, Ernie. They aren’t saying. But… let’s try it. Let’s do it right though. Let's go through the whole routine from the beginning, just like we would do on game day, from how the footballs are selected and prepped, pumped up, and then how they are brought outside on a cold day. Let’s see what happens”

What they found, what happened, and what always happens, is that a football cooled over 20 degrees drops in pressure by over 1 psi. It just does. Bill says “Damn, Ernie, I am glad that you didn’t sleep through that ‘PV=nRT’ lecture in high school like the rest of us did!”

Still, the media frenzy continues unabated. 24 hour coverage. Pundits deem the Patriots liars and cheaters. Kensil leaks info continually, "facts" that implicate the Patriots in wrongdoing but that later are shown to be not true or slanted. Irsay helps with the leaks too, probably still without any comprehension of the science.

In the end, though, the science is the science. The "pressure drop with falling temperature phenomenon" is confirmed in universities, in high schools, in middle schools, even in grade schools everywhere. Anyone with a football, a pump, a gauge, and a refrigerator observes that, indeed, a football cooled over 20 degrees drops in pressure by over 1 psi. It just does.

But Roger Goodell had slept through the PV=nRT lecture too. He doesn’t “get it” or at least he does not understand it well enough to ever begin to explain it. He decides to bring in Ted Wells to investigate.

Over more than 3 months, Ted Wells reconstructs what I have described above. It’s complicated because Kensil, Grigson, Pagano, Irsay, and Harbaugh are not so eager to step up and confirm their roles in initiating and escalating the mess.

The final conclusion: While there was no vast conspiracy against the Patriots, there was indeed a trap set by Kensil & Grigson. Why? Well, they were not trying to make stuff up. They genuinely thought that they were onto something, at first, even though they were not. Kensil & Grigson & co-workers were not driven by evil intent. Contributing factors, though, were ignorance of basic science and a deep hatred for a superior opponent.

What were the punishable misdeeds? There was mishandling of game day footballs on the part of Kensil & Grigson & co-workers, improper measurement, improper inflating, and general behavior that circumvented the authority of the game-day officials, who were not involved in the operation. There was even a side story of a corrupt person who was selling charity footballs. Then there were the multiple damaging and false leaks to the media, traceable to Kensil for the most part.

The outcome? The charity football stealer is fired. After the Wells report is issued, Kensil is fired for his multiple instances of circumventing the authority of the game-day officials and especially for the leaked false information. Grigson, Pagano, and Irsay get a stern lecture and their organization even gets a fine for working with Kensil and for not alerting other, more neutral, NFL personnel with their suspicions.

The Patriots get their apology from the NFL for the damaging and incorrect leaks. The apology is well-deserved, for they did nothing wrong.

But an egg simply cannot be un-fried. The apology is not discussed for weeks on ESPN. It is not the lead story on all of the major news networks. CNN does not lead their world news coverage with “the deflategate apology”.

The legions of Patriot haters, in the end, conclude “I cannot believe that the NFL let them get away with it!”

Because haters are going to hate, facts or not.

<wipes away tears>

That was beautiful! I bet that it's also very, very accurate

 

[scott99]

I must have ADD, I quit after the first 2 paragraphs.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

lol at the "dislikes"

Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Harbaugh.

Don't mind them.. that's a lot of words to read all at once when you're comprehension skills are at a 3rd grade level


You da man PBPF!

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Looks like an obvious troll, PBPF. I wouldn't think twice about it.

One of them does have douche in their name, after all

 

[Danger Zone]

Once again Ill say THIS DIDN'T NEED ANOTHER THREAD.

You rehashed the same exact thing every thread here has rehashed. The patriots didn't do anything wrong, The colts and ravens are whiney idiots.
The league dropped the ball
Kensil is a jet loving, patriot hating scumbag.

We know all of these things. WHY CREATE ANOTHER THREAD?

The wells report is going to be about what the league did wrong.

1.)The refs don't record the measurments of the balls
2.)A league employee was stealing footballs
3.)The league was alerted to potentially low inflated balls and gave no warnings
4.)Kensil commited career suicide by trying to run a sting DURING THE AFCCG
5.)The refs didn't notice anythign wrong with the balls during the game
6.)The ref not in charge of handing off balls to enter the game, handed off a ball to enter the game
7.)Members of the league leaked information

First.

Mods are more than capable of moderating their Front Page.

Second.

You do realize you don't have to tattoo every Thread title that comes up on the Front Page on your ass, right? Save yourself some pain. Don't worry about these things, especially during the off season.

Third.

And perhaps the most important. @Palm Beach Pats Fan took his findings, worded it such a way that even a golden retriever could understand the math, emailed Peter King, got a phone call back, talked to him and in the end, managed to be the first person in the history of DeflateGate to actually break through some of the utter ignorance surrounding the reporting of this issue. In his MMQB, Peter King quotes Palm Beach Pats Fan at great length and acknowledges the possibility that maybe the Patriots arent cheaters. It was the first time sign of hope Patriot fans had that maybe logic and reason could see us through.

So what did you do during all this?

 

[tom444]

[QUOTE="There will be new threads on this until the outcome, good to refresh and frame the issues..[/QUOTE]

Yes, that's it. It's an open wound and it's going to generate discussions, points of view, so on and so forth, until it heals.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

I must have ADD, I quit after the first 2 paragraphs.

You missed a good read! I have ADD and I loved every word of it