Seems pretty risky. Wonder how much the ballboy is being duked to take the fall.

didn't notice any difference, the balls seemed normal.

Duh!

whether it is his cleats, pads, or the ball.

A Colts linebacker could tell a ball was under-inflated, but Tom Brady couldn't?

balls the same inflation?

But apparently he wanted them that way.

Don't know who Tom Brady is. Don't care about his balls.

.... and I don't care about his balls.

While this whole thing has a putrid odor, but the game was a blowout and I doubt 2 lbs of air pressure had much to do with it.

But if there is a way to benefit from it, they would cheat me thinks

All irrelevant anyway

know why?



SEATTLE GONNA BEAT THEIR ASSES

I watched that sports show this morning and yesterday, the one my husband watches. He says, the balls are easier to hold on to if they're under-inflated. Whatever. I just know he looks stupid at the press conference and seems to be stuttering.

on GMA this morning. They showed how it was easier to grip when you're throwing, and it's also easier to grip and carry preventing the ball being stripped from you. I'm no super football girl, but it made a whole lot of sense.

They said the same thing. Uh, oh, he just said 'I think integrity is important' and then smiled. Cheater.

This is scandalous! The Colts probably would not have won anyway, but there is no excuse for this. Cheaters with NO integrity.

Wait until Stephen A Smith breaks this shit down. I will be watching with glee!!
There is no reason to cheat in a game yr winning. Integrity must have a new and improved definition.

he had to have known they were deflated and he said nothing. He used those balls the entire first half. He has specifically stated that he likes deflated footballs and he would have known if they were 2 PSI below regulation.

Quarterbacks are VERY particular about such things. He knew and said nothing.

Quarterbacks know their balls!!! Exactly! It's his job.

How come they said nothing?

Either he did it, or had somebody do it for him. Cheatin' cheaters gotta cheat.

Last time. They swear.

someone down when you can't defeat them fair and square--it's Rovian.

1. Do something awful, wrong, and corrupt--hide your involvement.

2. Point it out, and blame the opponent for "cheating" or "deceiving."

3. Drag their name through the court of public opinion, destroying reputations.

4. Invoke the controlling justice system (in this case the league) and demand punishment.


Isn't that basically what Rove did to that Siegelman guy down in Alabama?

Just sayin' and all.....

Don't both teams play with the same footballs? Or does each quarterback pick the footballs for their team?

He says no. Quarterbacks choose their footballs, he says.

Laugh now. You won't be later.

"I don't like anybody TOUCHING or RUBBING my balls. They're PERFECT as they are."

They just replayed the sound bite!

He's GOTTA be doing this DELIBERATELY.

I cannot stop laughing and it's not funny. Balls balls balls. Rubbing balls, squeezing balls, manipulating balls. He likes his balls like this, like that, he squeezes his balks and rubs them. I'm loving the news folks on tv talking about balls.

Lolol. Big turd he just threw out there.

You can throw the mic now!!

-- Tom Brady

Gillette #FLEXBALL

It really is unfortunate. Flex balls.

more interesting it would be great, but there is nothing juicy about it.

Amazing quotes!

However his attire from the picture shows me he doesn't take this seriously. I'm not sure he should or not but at the least he should have taken off the hat. He is 37 years old not 20. Lol.

It was the WAY he said things, not what he said. Loved it. All that stuttering.

Thanks. My anticipation is up.

If only they were on the Republicans for their shenanigans, we would be better off.

hurt - physically or otherwise.

The right people are getting called out for it.

Good to know.

(Come on, you know it's funny...)

I hate the NFL and this is all part of my grand plan to destroy the sport so America can start playing proper football.

I bet you want ONE MILLION dollars!

lunch with Aaron Lennon
GO SPURS!

Your comparing a druggie to a guy who let air out of his balls? Lol.

Some idiot did it, cuz sooner or later they had to know someone else was going to be touching Brady's balls.

I bet they blame random ball keeper number 6.

I was curious about exactly how bad the temperature change would have to be to drop them two pounds; I had done the math earlier but screwed up using gauge pressure instead of absolute pressure. Anyway, assuming the footballs were at 11psig/25.7psia at 275k/35 degrees (near-freezing rain would be more important than air temperature), Amonton's Law says they'd be at 13psig/27.7psia at...296k/73.1 degrees.

I suspect BB knew this and simply kept them indoors beforehand, while Indy did the ethical thing and let them sit out on thenrack before being measured. It's a grossly unethical skirting of the rulebook but since I can't find anything that specifies the temperature at the time of certification, it would be technically legal. He seems to be onto that kind of sneakiness these days, nothing he can quite be sanctioned for but not particularly fair, either. How NASCAR/F1.

No fairses. Best to just speculate endlessly. I'd hate to have a real explaination. This is much funnier.

He just seems to have moved to standing just over the technically legal line and making neener-neener-can't-touch-me faces, since he knows his reputation and the consequent eyes that are always on him. It would be a brilliant way to do it, though..

The whole thing is tasty as hell. My husband is napping and missed the presser. He will be so sad. He is from Seattle. Poor Bill. Cheaters always prosper though, so he'll be fine as wine

Not in the more nebulous, ethical sense, but in the black-and-white violation of rule x way, I mean.

I'm a lifelong fan of Formula 1; the car builders take an outright glee in reading the rules very carefully and then doing things in a way that's completely technically legal, but obviously a flagrant violation of what the rules are meant to address. Next season, rules change, lather rinse repeat.

*If* it turns out the balls were inflated warm and then untouched, I wouldn't be able to call it a "cheat" since the rules don't specify allowable temperature differences. That being said it's laughably unethical and the rules need to be changed asap.

So, yes, I do think it is cheating in a black an white sense. They test the balls 3 hours before the game, so i don't think that's enough time for them to naturally lose that much pressure. Unless the balls were defective? Maybe that. A design flaw or improper production.

They were tested 2:15 before kickoff and removed from the game immediately on finding they were out of spec; otherwise the rules don't explicitly penalize playing with a soft/hard ball. The rules, of course, do explicitly forbid tampering with the ball after the pressure check, so it comes down to does knowing that once they cool they'll be soft qualify as tampering or does some physical action need to take place? 2 hours on the sidelines is plenty of time to cool, especially in an icy rain.

Of course, I'm sure there's a more general integrity of the game rule that could be brought to bear; it's certainly pretty low to knowingly play with deflated footballs even if they got there "legally".

I cannot wait for the investigation.

Belicheat is many things both good and bad, but he isn't stupid - physical tampering would be trivial to catch given the blanket TV coverage, the ball rack was in view of at least one HD camera for the entire game. That and he seems to be a fan of technical legalities (hurry-up receiver switches) more than open cheats these days.

Sadly we have to wait a while, the league isn't going to say anything till well after the season's over.

Pre planned by letting science work in their favor.

I'm almost entirely sure, now that I've done the math right and seen just how reasonable the initial temperature would have to be.

It wouldn't be a violation of the ball rules; the league says they were properly measured, after which nobody would have to illegally touch Brady's balls to get them nice and squishy

Now that we all know just how he likes his balls, we can help him massage them to the proper feel for his hands. I still say its magic, though. Just simple magic.

If your theory is correct.

It was the closest I could get, given the choices - the ball wasn't actually tampered with in any way, by Brady or a staffer, just handled in a "creative" fashion that made it lose pressure all by its lonesome.

I think it's at best shady and at worst grossly unethical but I can't read the rules in any way that would make it actual cheating and answerable with anything more than a sternly worded letter and rule change specifying allowable temperature changes between certification and kickoff time.

you will be recorded as a member who "did not wish to select any of the options provided."

That aside, I like your scientific approach to the question.

Changed

This day just keeps getting better and better.

With all those spikes. Remember, they scored 6 TDs.

Distraction accomplished!

On purpose? Could be.

science? Could be.

That's it. If there's never any proof.... If it doesn't fit you must acquit.

We need to have a discussion on appropriate ball use and manipulation.

n/t

Because it had zero effect on the game.

If this is such a big controversy the NFL needs to lock up all the damn balls before the game.

World is burning up, republican barbarians control the Congress and SCOTUS, presidential election in less than two years and the big issue is under inflated footballs?

Damn.

More bread and circuses please!

is Gisele.

of both the balls just being inflated enough to pass whatever inspection they do, and then temperature change worsened it.

It could be that Indianapolis is saying that in a case of sour grapes and cast doubt upon whether or not the Patriots won fair and square.

It could be that something nefarious went on.

Bottom line: Come next Sunday, you can bet everyone under the sun will be inspecting the pressure and if the Patriots have a bad game, then I'm sure many will be mollified that they lost. If they win, then they will be vindicated by most people.

Seriously, though, how did it take *THIS* many games, this far into the season for someone to bring this up as a possibility? How long has Brady been playing football ... and this is just *NOW* becoming an issue? It's entirely possible, but considering how badly the Colts got slaughtered, I don't blame them for trying to come up with an excuse.

Either way, you can be sure that come next Sunday, it won't be an issue - they will be checked repeatedly. (Don't referee's handle the ball between plays though, and *nobody* has noticed this until now?)

Probably after Tom Brady smugly threw out the rule book quote on him the week before.

Remember no one said anything about the illegal signal stealing until a disgruntled ex-Patriot decided to rat them out. The NFL is a pretty closed lip community. They generally don't tell each others secrets, but the rumor they were skimping on the ball inflation appears to have floated around to at least a few teams. (If you can believe that rumor). So we can assume if that rumor is true then it is something they do intentionally for whatever reason. As players have said, "I don't see how it truly changed the outcome of the game." But hey "read the Rule Book Brady"... I say John Harbaugh got them back pretty good. It will be a long two weeks of cheating stories.

he would be able to tell.

when I realize that not having television service does present certain challenges.

The coach did his this morning, and he said basically 'ask Brady". Then Brady did his, and balls, balls, balls. It might be online now.

Hopefully from this thread you can learn what happened.

It's funny hype, this Ballgate thing.

A lot of people (especially fans of teams that keep losing to the New England Patriots) don't like that they seem to keep doing both little and big things that indicate they cheat.

They might still win any way. They're a great team.

But if your favorite team lost a close game to them (and many teams have), then you are pretty mad about it. Hope that helps a bit.

Maybe it was his wife who deflated his balls?

He seems like a guys that handles his own damn balls.

Is that fair to say?

Very unscientific.

Your trolling job on the Lounge was one of the most evil things I've seen online and obviously had malicious intent for payback, all for something that is and has been a legitimate news story, whether you like it or not.

For me, it wasn't that much of a story, but it was and has been legitimate nonetheless.

I'm still pissed at how you fucked with me and the malicious way you went about it.

Against my better judgment (my fault, it's true), I posted to your troll post in the Lounge about Brady, and my comment was simply that I didn't deem him invincible since I saw him choke in the 2008 Super Bowl. I didn't even see the 2012 Super Bowl where he supposedly choked again.

Reality is that I don't give a flip about the Patriots. I am geographically separated from them, I know only some distant relatives there, I don't know if I can even get the games on my cable. I literally have only watched them once or twice, one time being the 2008 Super Bowl when they lost. So my opinion of him was that was he wasn't invincible. End of story.

You kept your thread active in the Lounge for at least 24-hours after my comment, and you were answering many others. You had plenty of opportunity to answer my post, but you didn't.
You obviously held back until you could begin your assault on me -- depending on the outcome of the game.

Game Day: Immediately after the final interception, my SO turned the game off and we came in to watch a movie. IMMEDIATELY after I opened my laptop, I saw your post, which was literally SECONDS after the interception. You OBVIOUSLY had waited with malicious intent to answer my post so that you could troll me. I answered you once with a terse but appropriate reply, as I didn't agree with you, but you were going the Fox News route of the misinformation bullyhorn and you obviously planned your post right after the moment of the interception, because it looked like Patriots were losing.

I really don't appreciate you sitting on my fairly benign post to use as an opportunity to get your sick revenge. At least now I know why the Patriots are so ridiculed. You've made me see the light as to why they are hated. Thanks for that, at least. What you did is truly the dark side of the internet.

he's just being a whistleblower about the Patriots.

They pretended they didn't understand the reference.