you know...
whether this ball attendant did this...Brady did this...Belichick did this...or somebody else on the NE staff did this...or it was just some freak bizarre natural phenomenon...I don't think it matters...
it happened...that's all that matters...
and it happened while in the care of the NE staff...and that matters a whole lot...
NE was entrusted with caring for properly inflated balls...to be maintained at the legal air pressure while they were in the hands of the NE Patriots...and they failed...
that's all this boils down to...
In the eyes of the public...I think this is one of those instances where they are deemed guilty til proven innocent...
while to date...NE has no explanation...and the NFL has no explanation...it still happened...that is the bottom line...and right now...unless something changes...that appears to be an undisputed fact...
NE was given 12 properly inflated balls that were returned altered...
I keep going back to this as this story really is the gift that keeps on giving.
In order for this "sting" or Ballgazi or Deflategate or Bay of Pigskins to have any legs, the league needs to show the following;
1.) What was the PSI in each of the Colts footballs prior to the game and at halftime.
2.) What was the PSI in each of the Patriots footballs prior to the game and at halftime.
Each ball should have been numbered and readings WRITTEN down for each football prior to and at halftime.
Everyone keeps saying the Patriots footballs lost PSI, but the Colts footballs did not.
Well, what PSI were the balls turned in at; if the range is 12.5 to 13.5 for league standards, what if the Colts footballs were turned in at 13.5 and the PSI was 12.5 at halftime and the Patriots footballs turned in at 12.5 and the PSI at halftime was 11.5, both lost 1 PSI of pressure, one fell in the acceptable range, one did not.
Both sets of footballs lost air pressure, one stayed within the accepted range, the other did not; the refs reinflated the Patriots footballs and used them in the second half, so any evidence that they had was destroyed, so we're now going by the word of the refs that the Patriots footballs were underflated, where is the proof?
If this was a case that was tried in a court of law, without any evidence, how can you convict someone?
Yesterday I read a report that a source claims that the footballs the Patriots used in the game in November in Indianapolis were also underinflated, as were the footballs they used in the Green Bay game.
Interesting theory, but there is one minor issue; the home team supplies ball boys to BOTH teams.
So, this is another "leak" that is pure BS.
Bottom line is this; the Patriots are viewed as cheaters due to Spygate, this is never going away, fans out there will always view the Patriots as cheaters.
Yesterday, it was reported that now Kurt Warner and Hines Ward have come out and are questioning if the Patriots cheated in the 2002 AFCCG, the Super Bowl and the 2005 AFCCG as well.
It's funny because back in 2002 after the Patriots won the Super Bowl, the country was behind them as they represented "Patriots", their colors were red, white and blue and the people were happy they won post 9/11.
Now 14 years later, the country is sick of them winning, they are wondering how they've been able to stay successful for so long in the salary cap era/free agency era; rather than seeing that they have a HOF coach and QB and an owner who wants to win and spends to that effect, people are explaining it away by calling them cheaters.
What a country.
