Rolling Stone talks with Portnoy, Finn, and Dowd about Deflategate

[QuantumMechanic]

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/features/the-persecution-of-patriots-nation-20150910

It's an interview with Barstool's David Portnoy, the Globe's Chad Finn, and DeflategateFacts's John Dowd about what happened and how Pats fans feel (mostly the latter).

BTW, Portnoy and Finn do feel that "something" happened:

Portnoy:

[M]ost Pats fans aren't sitting there thinking he's a choir boy, but it was more like, "This is clearly like this because it's the Patriots," just because they don't like Belichick or Brady, and that's what's caused so much fervor among Patriots fans. We have to defend this to the death because it wasn't a neutral investigation and [Goodell] wasn't a neutral arbitrator. It was clear that this was basically a set-up.

Finn:

I think the more reasonable fans look at it and say, "There was a culture of gamesmanship with the way the quarterbacks handle the footballs here."

 

[BradyFTW!]

So apparently these guys think McNally snuck into a bathroom to deflate a bunch of balls by ~0.4 PSI each, a difference that is imperceptible to human touch? I get moderating your opinion to appeal to a wider audience, but the position that they're taking here makes no sense.

Erase McNally's deflator text from existence and this viewpoint doesn't exist. That's how ridiculous this whole thing is. The same people declaring the case open and shut based on that text, of course, simultaneously ignore the other text where McNally used deflate to explicitly refer to weight, and the text where Jastremski told his fiancee the balls were supposed to be 13 PSI.

 

[Concussion Protocol]

The same people declaring the case open and shut based on that text, of course, simultaneously ignore the other text where McNally used deflate to explicitly refer to weight

What text referred to weight?

 

[Hoodie]

Chad Finn has lost his mind. You can argue whether allowing QBs to doctor the balls is the right thing but how is that gamesmanship? It's perfectly legal to do it so where is the psychological advantage? I don't think Brady's watching Eli and thinking, I'll bet his leather is softer than mine.

 

[NashuaPats]

"Generally speaking, most (if not all) Pats fans believe that Brady probably did something, in the sense that every single NFL quarterback likes his footballs with a particular feel and grip." Bullsh*t!

 

[Oswlek]

After bickering with some guys on another board, I went back and read some of the Wells report recently and was surprised to notice something that I had overlooked before. All of the texts that appear to indicate a deflation scheme occurred within a week after the Jet game. "Big needle", "only thing deflating is his passer rating", "balloon" - all of those were texted in the aftermath of Tom going ballistic about overinflated balls.

Seriously, who hasn't had some friendly banter behind their boss' back after a similar melt-down? Don't those texts sound exactly like something you might have said in that situation?

I'm disappointed in myself that, even though I never bought what Wells was selling, he was still able to slip that past me. Those texts were the one remaining piece that made me think something might have happened, and I should have seen through them sooner.

EDIT: I'm aware that the "deflater" and "deflate and give someone that jkt" texts weren't in that timeline, but the context provides no support that they mean anything insidious.

 

[PatsLoad]

What text referred to weight?

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...hat-jkt-synchronized-to-packers-game.1120188/

 

[Sicilian]

After bickering with some guys on another board, I went back and read some of the Wells report recently and was surprised to notice something that I had overlooked before. All of the texts that appear to indicate a deflation scheme occurred within a week after the Jet game. "Big needle", "only thing deflating is his passer rating", "balloon" - all of those were texted in the aftermath of Tom going ballistic about overinflated balls.

Seriously, who hasn't had some friendly banter behind their boss' back after a similar melt-down? Don't those texts sound exactly like something you might have said in that situation?

I'm disappointed in myself that, even though I never bought what Wells was selling, he was still able to slip that past me. Those texts were the one remaining piece that made me think something might have happened, and I should have seen through them sooner.

EDIT: I'm aware that the "deflater" and "deflate and give someone that jkt" texts weren't in that timeline, but the context provides no support that they mean anything insidious.

At the last company I worked for, I used to draw (VERY poorly) these little cartoons in MS Paint about co-workers, bosses, things happening in the company, etc. They gave a few friends there and myself a chuckle, but I shudder to think if any of the targets found those out of context. Some of them seemed downright mean if there wasn't a specific 6-degrees-of-separation, private conversation that led to my brain thinking them up.

 

[patman12]

"Generally speaking, most (if not all) Pats fans believe that Brady probably did something, in the sense that every single NFL quarterback likes his footballs with a particular feel and grip." Bullsh*t!

I agree with him in the sense that Brady did something but that something is what was allowable within the rules. Brady did nothing suspicious or nefarious.

 

[BradyFTW!]

What text referred to weight?

The one about deflating and losing the jacket.

 

[Concussion Protocol]

The one about deflating and losing the jacket.

Oh, OK, gotcha. That one is confusing. Probably not about weight though, since Jastremski is thin. Most think it had to to with the jacket he was carrying around on the sideline in GB. That one is bizarre. Maybe it means "calm down"? Certainly didn't help Wells' angle.

 

[NashuaPats]

After bickering with some guys on another board, I went back and read some of the Wells report recently and was surprised to notice something that I had overlooked before. All of the texts that appear to indicate a deflation scheme occurred within a week after the Jet game. "Big needle", "only thing deflating is his passer rating", "balloon" - all of those were texted in the aftermath of Tom going ballistic about overinflated balls.

Seriously, who hasn't had some friendly banter behind their boss' back after a similar melt-down? Don't those texts sound exactly like something you might have said in that situation?

I'm disappointed in myself that, even though I never bought what Wells was selling, he was still able to slip that past me. Those texts were the one remaining piece that made me think something might have happened, and I should have seen through them sooner.

EDIT: I'm aware that the "deflater" and "deflate and give someone that jkt" texts weren't in that timeline, but the context provides no support that they mean anything insidious.

I re-read some of those texts as well and picked up on something I hadn't before.

"I have a big needle for you" followed by "Tom must be working your balls over hard". Originally, I picked up on the second comment, but not the first.

This was toilet humor. Wells took jokes about penises and testicles and determined it was about a tampering scheme. It's insane. And the report is designed to be so misleading it went over (just about) everyone else's heads.

 

[oldrover]

This is a surprisingly good article.






At least, I didn't want to go all Frank Pantangeli after reading it.

 

[upstater1]

Oh, OK, gotcha. That one is confusing. Probably not about weight though, since Jastremski is thin. Most think it had to to with the jacket he was carrying around on the sideline in GB. That one is bizarre. Maybe it means "calm down"? Certainly didn't help Wells' angle.

He was wearing a big puffy coat.

 

[NashuaPats]

He was wearing a big puffy coat.

It happened immediately after GB score their devastating end of half TD and everyone was upset. I agree with Concussion Protocol that McNally was most likely telling him to calm down. That absolutely hurt Wells' argument as it shows him using the term "deflate" in a context that had nothing to do with delfating footballs.

 

[shmessy]

I re-read some of those texts as well and picked up on something I hadn't before.

"I have a big needle for you" followed by "Tom must be working your balls over hard". Originally, I picked up on the second comment, but not the first.

This was toilet humor. Wells took jokes about penises and testicles and determined it was about a tampering scheme. It's insane. And the report is designed to be so misleading it went over (just about) everyone else's heads.

Who cares if he used the word "Deflator" to mean that he deflated footballs?

He could deflate (or inflate, or microwave or sautee) footballs to his heart's content BEFORE being checked by the officials on gameday.

Just because he deflated footballs doesn't mean that he did it AFTER the officials' gameday check.


The 3 Card Monte by the NFL on this term is the crux of the their successful brainwashing of America.

 

[Hoodie]

At the last company I worked for, I used to draw (VERY poorly) these little cartoons in MS Paint about co-workers, bosses, things happening in the company, etc. They gave a few friends there and myself a chuckle, but I shudder to think if any of the targets found those out of context. Some of them seemed downright mean if there wasn't a specific 6-degrees-of-separation, private conversation that led to my brain thinking them up.

I feel the same way. My texts are usually just stupid jokes but if someone decided to use them against me they may not be incriminating but they certainly wouldn't make me look good.