Yahoo Sports Column - This is how the NFL let deflate-gate get out of control and ridiculous

[sphen22]

A great read.

This is how the NFL let deflate-gate get out of control and ridiculous
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/this-i...-out-of-control-and-ridiculous-200459796.html

 

[SVN]

Start with this: the story didn't go big until ESPN reported about 24 hours after the game that the NFL had discovered that 11 of the 12 footballs were measured to be more than 2 pounds per square inch below the league minimum of 12.5.

That gave a subject that almost no one knew much about context, significance and potentially sinister intent. ESPN cited a nebulous "league source" at a time when it's believed no one outside the NFL office knew the actual measurements.

Of course, that story wasn't true. It wasn't even close to true. Wells' report showed that none of the footballs, each measured twice, were that underinflated.

At that very moment, the NFL had to know the story wasn't true. Yet it did nothing.

This pisses me of so much. Where the F is mort now???

 

[Hoodie]

and if it truly matter to the league, they wouldn't allow QB's to doctor the ball the way they do. Wait until someone complains about Aaron Rodgers over inflated balls (you know someone will), he openly admitted he tries to get overinflated balls in play!

 

[reflexblue]

A great read.

This is how the NFL let deflate-gate get out of control and ridiculous
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/this-i...-out-of-control-and-ridiculous-200459796.html

That is a great read, the best one yet. He ties the lose ends together and says what ive been trying to. Some of the better lines from the story, but everybody should read it.

" And what's apparent is deflate-gate was more misdemeanor than felony, a molehill that commissioner Roger Goodell's office turned into a mountain via incompetence, vengeance or both".

"So the league either created a fake story that was extremely prejudicial to the Patriots by leaking inaccurate information or someone else did it and the league office let it run wild rather than correct it with the actual air pressure measurements"

"Goodell could have looked at the pressure levels, saw that in the context of natural weather-related deflation it was fairly insignificant, doled out some kind of fine or even sanction and killed the kerfuffle in its tracks. It would have saved his league from all sorts of negative headlines and conspiracy theories."

'A good commissioner would've done just that. He's supposed to "protect the shield," not provide talk radio fodder. There is just no way Adam Silver, Paul Tagliabue or David Stern lets this go down.'

 

[lurker1965]

Even though they are Hatetriot fans, they actually make sense.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

'A good commissioner would've done just that. He's supposed to "protect the shield," not provide talk radio fodder. There is just no way Adam Silver, Paul Tagliabue or David Stern lets this go down.'

Hell, even Bettman and Selig wouldn't have!

 

[Koma]

That is a great read, the best one yet. He ties the lose ends together and says what ive been trying to. Some of the better lines from the story, but everybody should read it.

"So the league either created a fake story that was extremely prejudicial to the Patriots by leaking inaccurate information or someone else did it and the league office let it run wild rather than correct it with the actual air pressure measurements"

This is the most troubling thing and something that deserves a lot more attention. PBPF had a thread about Mortensen needing to apologize, which I agreed with, but this article clearly states a huge problem with the NFL's conduct:

Mortensen quoted a "league source." That could have been a member of the front office of a team, possibly the Colts. It also could have been someone in the NFL office. In either case, the NFL had all the halftime PSI measurements for the footballs used in the AFCCG, so even if the Mortensen got a tip from, say, Grigson, the ultimate source of that information had to be the league.

If Mortensen's source was from a team, there may have been a communication error or exaggeration about the information. In this case, the league had the correct information and chose to remain silent instead of issuing a correction.

If Mortensen's source was the league itself, then the NFL had the correct information but chose to leak information that made the Patriots look bad. Even if someone went rogue with this, the league let it stand when they could have corrected it.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see any other way to read this than that the league allowed false information to be broadcast about one of it's teams, with all the negative repercussions that entailed, and let it happen. For a league that talks constantly about fairness and integrity, that behavior is the exact opposite.

I've seen a few posts in other threads like "Stop with the tinfoil hat stuff." It's not paranoia if someone really is out to get you. Based on the information in this article, the NFL is working against the Patriots.

 

[Mack Herron]

Goodell is obviously worse than inept--he is corrupt. And when the suits are over and the dust settles, the NFL will still be corrupt. Goodell has to go.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Even more bizarre, an NFL senior vice president emailed a letter to the Patriots stating that "one of the game balls was inflated to 10.1 psi … [and] in contrast each of the Colts game balls that was inspected met the requirements."

Those assertions were untrue.

No gameball was measured below 10.5 and most were in the 11s, which is within an acceptable range of natural deflation. Three of the four Colts footballs as measured by one gauge were below 12.5, although also within the weather realm (it's uncertain the NFL knew anything about Ideal Gas Law at the time).

Wells' report brushed this off as "miscommunication" but it's quite a miscommunication.

​

Kind of a smoking gun, glad someone finally brought it up and hopefully it gains traction.

 

[Deus Irae]

'A good commissioner would've done just that. He's supposed to "protect the shield," not provide talk radio fodder. There is just no way Adam Silver, Paul Tagliabue or David Stern lets this go down.'

Tags would have picked up the phone, said something like "Bob, there's a complaint about you guys messing with the air in the footballs. Make sure it doesn't happen", and that would have been the end of it, because Kraft would have made damned sure nothing was happening.

But Tags wasn't incompetent enough to please the owners. They wanted a clown who would come down hard on the players, and that's all that really mattered to them. Unfortunately, We're now all stuck reaping what was sown with that decision.

 

[SVN]

Bruce Allen retweeted
Patriots Daily ?@PatriotsDaily 2h2 hours ago
Kessler should cite the Brady and BB PCs, when all the questions were based on @mortreport's fraudulent story, while NFL had the real PSIs.

 

[reflexblue]

Tags would have picked up the phone, said something like "Bob, there's a complaint about you guys messing with the air in the footballs. Make sure it doesn't happen", and that would have been the end of it, because Kraft would have made damned sure nothing was happening.

But Tags wasn't incompetent enough to please the owners. They wanted a clown who would come down hard on the players, and that's all that really mattered to them. Unfortunately, We're now all stuck reaping what was sown with that decision.

From what i read yesterday the all despised woody. It was Kraft who talked the other owners into voting for him. I don't think they knew what they were in for, the guys run amok, but he does keep the nfl in the news all year long.