IGX

louburr wrote:They inflated the ball in the sauna, they lost psi in the cold. Technically no rules were broken.

buckethead wrote:Missing something. Each team uses their own footballs.

Ryan wrote:

louburr wrote:They inflated the ball in the sauna, they lost psi in the cold. Technically no rules were broken.

Bill Nye says bullshit.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/bil ... ar-AA8zn0l

climber511 wrote:Pro Football is what a billion dollar industry? And they can't figure out how to get and keep 2 dozen footballs ready for a game?

Phaedrus wrote:Please, integrity of the game matters, folks.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2014/st ... ources-say

Lynch is no stranger to fines. In November, he was fined $50,000 for not talking to the media and another $50,000 that was being withheld by the league from the 2013 season that was contingent upon his future cooperation with the press.

Turdacious wrote:

Phaedrus wrote:Please, integrity of the game matters, folks.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2014/st ... ources-say

Lynch is no stranger to fines. In November, he was fined $50,000 for not talking to the media and another $50,000 that was being withheld by the league from the 2013 season that was contingent upon his future cooperation with the press.

Not talking to the media carries the same fine as sending them a Wiener pic.

At this late point in the NFL's season from hell, we shouldn't be surprised by anything. And yet, it was still stunning last night to see Patriots owner Robert Kraft crashing Bill Belichick's Super Bowl press conference to make a defiant, finger-wagging demand that Roger Goodell and the NFL apologize for the league's handling of Deflategate. "If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team and in particular coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure the past week," Kraft said, referring to the inquiry being led by attorney Ted Wells. "I am disappointed in the way this entire matter has been handled and reported upon."

For Goodell, Kraft's public offensive signals a potentially troubling twist in a relationship I explore deeply in GQ's February issue. In the piece, I quote one veteran league executive telling me Kraft is "the assistant commissioner." In recent days, Kraft and Goodell's bond has become a subject of intense controversy after photos surfaced of Goodell socializing at Kraft's house on the eve of the AFC Championship game, prompting Seattle's Richard Sherman to assert that Goodell has a conflict of interest in ruling on Deflategate.

It all goes back to 2006, when Kraft supported Goodell's candidacy over league attorney Gregg Levy to succeed Paul Tagliabue. The following year, Goodell came under fire for his mysterious decision to destroy evidence in the league's Spygate investigation. Kraft, in turn, has been a crucial ally throughout Goodell's stormy eight years on the job. "I think Roger has done better than any of us could have wished for," Kraft told ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. in 2013. As a member of the NFL's compensation committee, Kraft is responsible for Goodell's controversial $44 million pay package. Kraft also works alongside Goodell on the elite broadcast committee, negotiating the multi-billion dollar television deals that make the NFL a profit machine. In the wake of the Ray Rice episode, Kraft privately lobbied owners to come out in support of the embattled commissioner.

While reporting the piece, I heard many stories of Kraft receiving preferential treatment. One executive noted how Goodell seemed to jump to answer his cell whenever Kraft called. "Sure there's special rules," one league source said. "It's the unwritten secret." At a golf tournament last year, one source told me, Kraft is said to have called NFL headquarters and requested to be interviewed on the NFL Network. Within minutes, NFL producers in the broadcast truck were told to put Kraft on television. "Nobody else would have pulled that card," the source said.

Kraft was reluctant to talk to me while I was reporting. One person close to Kraft told me that he was tired of being Goodell's defender in public. The truth, of course, is that Goodell works for him. However Deflategate unfolds, the commissioner will need to tread carefully. His job security has always depended on the support of the 32 owners. And Kraft, a savvy billionaire who turned a $172 million investment in the Patriots into a $2.6 billion empire, appears to want to remind the commissioner that he is nobody's assistant.

Phaedrus wrote:New opinions?

me wrote:meh. No problem believing that the Patriots did it. Don't really give a shit. If the NFL wants to make sure that teams don't fuck with the balls they could, you know, provide the balls... I get that the QBs like to dictate just precisely how scuffed up their game balls are, but if you allow the teams to provide the balls you're inviting a certain amount of fuckery.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:I'm a biased Pats fan but wondering what it was in the text messages or evidence that would lead someone to believe that Brady directed these guys to let air out of the balls to below the minimum PSI reading after the refs had already checked them.

Phaedrus wrote: "More probable than not" isn't really that damning after four months of investigation. If they had anything more than that, the result probably would have been more than what amounts to a slap on the wrist for a guy (Kraft) worth billions and a shortened season for an aging quarterback during which the backup gets a few needed reps in.