Are you "outraged" about deflate-gate?
I just watched a report on the Today Show where 81% of viewers in a snap twitter poll said yes to the question "if guilty should the Patriots be banned from the Super Bowl?" Leaving aside the silliness of the question, which isn't on the table as a possibility, the rest of the discussion was about how there is "growing outrage" over this. Is there? I'm probably in the minority, but this is nothing but a yawner to me as a scandal. I'm shocked, shocked, that there is gambling in this establishment. Scuffing balls happens in baseball, as does stealing signs, as does trying to get any edge possible. You catch a guy or a team, you punish them under the rules, you move on.
But I could be wrong, what do you think?
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:17 AM ^
Or stops the Colts from scoring more than 7 points.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:03 AM ^
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January 22nd, 2015 at 8:04 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:04 AM ^
I am more worried about the possibility of some outlet somewhere in the world effing this story up and reporting it as "Belichick's Balls Underinflated, Study Concludes". That would make for an interesting aside from the main event here. As for outrage over this, you won't find any eminating from me - that's just the smell of this raspberry lemonade loaf cake on the desk.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:54 AM ^
It didn't go well. From now on, I have no opinion on any Sports teams' doings.
(right LSA? ;))
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:09 AM ^
I'm not outraged and not so quick to point the finger at Belichick. Rules must be followed but there are a number of reasons the balls may be a little below the league's 13+/- psi rule. Maybe the Pats got a bad lot of balls with slow leaks. Have they checked the balls for slow leaks?
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:09 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:15 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:16 AM ^
I'm outraged that the media has once again managed to tack the word "gate" onto a scandal. Can we please as a society agree that this is so played out and refrain from using it in the future?
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:23 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:31 AM ^
Haven't we moved on to a world where every scandal has -ghazi tacked on to the end? I thought this was being called ballghazi.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^
Gate will always be tacked onto scandals because Watergate is one of the news media's favorite bed-time stories of heroic reporters taking down an evil establishment. Helps them sleep at night when their jobs have become spewing out the party line from their currently favored point of view.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:17 AM ^
"Outrage?" Nah. I save my outrage for more important topics, like global terrorism, religious extremists, and the fact that McDonald's doesn't carry the McRib sandwich all year round.
Bastards!
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^
McRibgate or McRibghazi?
January 22nd, 2015 at 11:22 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 11:50 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:20 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^
I, for one, believe that had the balls been properly inflated, the Colts would have won by a score of 7-0 and LaGarrette Blount would have had exactly 0 rushing yards! Rabble!
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:25 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:25 AM ^
Can anyone explain how this would even give the Patriots an advantage? Does the NFL check the ball inflation after every game? My guess is that every team inflates its balls with the amount of pressure that leads its QB to say he likes the "feel".
Do we have any reason to believe that balls are inflated in a manner that is intended to guarantee a specific level of inflation? Is there a machine that does it and carefully measures the precise inflation? Or does the equipment guy inflate them until the feel "right"?
Aaron Rodgers said that guys with really big hands like the ball to be more inflated. Does anyone know if Tom Brady's hands are particularly small, so that it would actually benefit him to have the ball be less inflated?
When I am inflating a football, I inflate it until it "feels right". When I inflate a basketball, I inflate it until it dribbles "right" (and even then, when I take it outside where it is colder it stops dribbling right).
There are a few posters on here who seem to say "cheating is cheating" and think they have said something. So far, all we "know" is that the balls were all inflated to about the same pressure and it was determined that this pressure was a little less than 12.5 pounds. Is that cheating or is it an equipment guy not getting it quite right?
Seems like much ado about nothing to me.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:26 AM ^
Before expressing any emotion, be it outrage, bathos, or even pathos, it might be a good idea to await the results of the league's investigation.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:31 AM ^
Nope.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:31 AM ^
This form of cheating is just disrespectful to league and opponent
Immoral men who would sneak around to deflate balls
Minimal advantage and probably should change rule to make legal
Better game with better offensive play
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January 22nd, 2015 at 8:32 AM ^
Hell, this just makes me like the Patriots more.
I love that all they care about is winning, and they play that way too. Fuck all the bitch ass teams content to wallow in mediocrity. IF the Patriots can find an advantage they will exploit it.
jdon
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:34 AM ^
As a Colts fan...I want it to go away. They could have played with bowling balls, and we still would have lost. Bottom line: The better team is going to the Super Bowl. Besides, Seattle would have pooped on us anyway.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:36 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:36 AM ^
Excellent Casablanca reference.
To answer your question: no. Fake outrage and people finding a way to complain about a team they already hate. Spygate was a big deal. In my opinion 9/10, this is 1/10.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:36 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:10 AM ^
If you could care less, then you clearly care somewhat.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:38 AM ^
It's a yawner and frankly, a slight advantage does not overwhelm the ritual sacrifice that took place last week.
That said, the Patriots do have a history with this sort of thing(or fine, Patriots homers, perhaps a history of being slightly more blatant about their cheating than other NFL teams) and I can see people getting a little tired of hearing about this "great organization" constantly pulling these shennanigan's.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:39 AM ^
Were you "outraged" when Kenny Rogers got caught cheating in the 2006 World Series Tigers fans? Should the Tigers have been fined or had draft picks taken away?
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
Every gambler knows that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:44 AM ^
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January 22nd, 2015 at 8:47 AM ^
...but any hint of scandal having "-gate" in some not so clever name.
And no, this isn't a shot at the OP, because once everyone is saying/using the term...you almost have to use it in order to name that topic of coversation. Plus Patriots Ball Deflation Scandal is too long, sounds funny, and most of all...it's nowhere near as catchy.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:56 AM ^
I saw this referred to as "Ballghazi" somewhere. We may see the gradual replacement of-gate with-ghazi, which would be good as the latter connotes scandal of a farcical nature.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:47 AM ^
No.
This is just because the media doesn't have anything to talk about but hockey, basketball, and college basketball right now and those sports aren't at exactly the most exciting part of their season.
The Super Bowl is the only thing going on and they know they can't just say "Are Tom and Bill the best evar?!" and "Seahawks DEFENSE" nonstop for 2 weeks.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:52 AM ^
There are two sides to this; Patriot-haters who want to make this a big deal out of this and everyone else who do not give a fuck. Also, the Today show conducting a "poll" on how people feel about this is just piling on more bullshit since participation will naturally skew to the haters because, as we've already pointed out, everyone else does not give a fuck.
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:56 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 8:57 AM ^
I am outraged that people keep calling it "deflate-gate."
STOP ADDING "GATE" TO EVERYTHING.
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:04 AM ^
Any other team than the Pats and this would be a non-issue.
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
Not an HR contributer but am a consultant who works in areas including corporate compliance, and the key to following the rules is to first read the rules.
Nowhere does it say forfeiture is the penalty. According to the rulebook below, the Commissioner has the option to punish as he sees fit based on severity of the unfair act. While you or others may feel that forfeiture is the right action and that's your perogative, the process for handling an unfair act is clearly defined...
"The Commissioner’s powers under this Section 2 include the imposition of monetary fines and draft-choice forfeitures, suspension of persons involved in unfair acts, and, if appropriate, the reversal of a game’s result or the rescheduling of a game, either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary act occurred."
Considering the Pats won 28-0 after the balls were replaced, I doubt the severity would every merit forfeiture of the game.
C'mon doc, don't they make you read lots of books and stuff in school?
January 22nd, 2015 at 11:18 AM ^
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
and the everybody does it arguement is as stupid applied here as anywhere else.
Also, if everybody does it, then why haven't we heard of this before with other teams? Bellichek is a cheater and should be banned next season (just like Sean Peyton).
January 22nd, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/bucs/bucs-qb-johnson-paid-to-have-footbal…
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January 22nd, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^
Here's what made that link worth reading:
"I paid some guys off to get the balls right," Johnson said. "They took care of them."'
That did not come out right.