No Faith in the Moral Standards of the Players as a Group

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

air pressure doesn't make a difference? you've given us your opinion, but can you provide a blog cite to support it?

I think every quarterback likes their balls just so, and they all have been playing with them that way for a while, and so no one was getting a competitive edge. As well all remember, the first half of the Patriots-Colts game, when they were playing with supposedly deflated balls (though consider what the investigation ultimately said, as opposed to the "facts" someone leaked to Chris Mortensen after the game), was fairly close, and then the Patriots blew the Colts out in the second half with regulation balls.

What do you think?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I think every quarterback likes their balls just so, and they all have been playing with them that way for a while, and so no one was getting a competitive edge. As well all remember, the first half of the Patriots-Colts game, when they were playing with supposedly deflated balls (though consider what the investigation ultimately said, as opposed to the "facts" someone leaked to Chris Mortensen after the game), was fairly close, and then the Patriots blew the Colts out in the second half with regulation balls.

What do you think?

Didn't we already have this conversation?

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I think every quarterback likes their balls just so, and they all have been playing with them that way for a while, and so no one was getting a competitive edge.

Doesn't the first bit imply that the QBs think it gives them a competitive advantage?

I tend to agree that they are probably wrong and it makes marginally very little difference, but if you know there is a rule and that the refs attempt to enforce that rule and you make a special effort to get around that rule, that sure sounds like cheating, even if it's not cheating that matters much.

Anyway, I really do not care about this, and yet I'm now sort of defending the league and Goodell, which means something has gone horribly wrong somewhere.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Adder

Doesn't the first bit imply that the QBs think it gives them a competitive advantage?

of course it does.

I tend to agree that they are probably wrong and it makes marginally very little difference

Winning at pro sports is usually about tiny marginal differences.

As to his other argument "After we stopped cheating we still won big, so what's the big deal?"

Well I would just suggest even Nixon wasn't willing to go that far afield to justify Watergate.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

Well I would just suggest even Nixon wasn't wiping to go that far afield to justify Watergate.

Hank, this is a solid score. Your best work. Even the typo has a certain freudian fuck-you quality to it.

Congratulations, I think that makes you 1 / 82,455.

[Hank Chinaski]

http://deadspin.com/red-sox-fan-puke...ium=socialflow if you go to Fenway, remember, sit in the upper deck!

[notcasesensitive]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

TM

My blinding hatred of that guy will never end. And now he's a pre-game analyst?? FML.

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

http://deadspin.com/red-sox-fan-puke...ium=socialflow if you go to Fenway, remember, sit in the upper deck!

Like this quote: Only People Below Red Sox Fans: ISIS, Pedophiles.

Evidently the writer hasn't been to an Eagle or Jets game when the score gets lopsided.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally Posted by Icky Thump

Jet fans want him dead. Jet fans who don't use Gate D just want his right arm broken in 52 places.

This isn't really different from pre-deflategate.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

The more I hear, the better Brady and Kraft sound, and the worse Goodell looks. When I saw the news yesterday, I thought Brady was a lying idiot. But then I read that the NFL didn't ask for the phone and that he gave the NFL the list of every number he'd contacted, and that's pretty damning for the NFL. They are just trashing him to make themselves look better.

Look, Brady likes his balls deflated. His guys know he likes them deflated. They've been deflating his balls for years. He knows they've been doing it and, at the very least, encourages them to do so.

I think, from very small personal experience, that sports is the dirtiest business outside of investment banking. So, on both sides of this issue, I think there is a ton more that we don't even know about that would makes both sides look 10 times worse than they currently look.

Brady probably didn't produce everything because he didn't have to. There is definitely something damning he left out. If he did produce everything, there is absolutely no reason to destroy his phone the day before or day of his meeting with Wells. And if you buy that "I destroy my phone every 4 months and it just so happens that it was that phone's time to go" bullshit, then I don't know what to say.

Goodell is completely full of shit. Wells, although thorough, left a hole big enough for the Patriots to drive a truck through, but Goodell can't give the golden boy a pass because he's already mucked up so much over the last few years. And the other owners will be furious because everyone knows he and Kraft are close and Brady is the face of the league.

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'm not sure why you think Kraft is pretentious, an asshole, or surrounded by ass-kissers.

Are you joking? All of his public statements have been so over-the-top ridiculous ("I'll just stand over here and wait for an apology from Goodell, the league, the USFL, the CFL, the Arena football league, and the XFL") that he's come off as a truly pretentious billionaire, out of touch with anyone without access to his luxury box. This whole, "I'll sue everyone until the punishment is lifted" attitude is ridiculous. He initially said he'd live with whatever the punishment was because he felt like he owned Goodell and then reneged after Goodell had to prove that he doesn't. Kraft is an ass. Goodell is an ass. And Brady is an ass, because he's lying his ass off.

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I have worked on something adverse to him, and he struck me as capable and dangerous, and not any of those things.

? I don't see how the way I described him cancels out the qualities you just listed.

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

It certainly turns me off the whole sport.

If this is what turns you off, I'm shocked.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Some guy I follow on Twitter pointed out this am that every ESPN panel on this issue is a reporter and three guys who used to get beaten by Brady.

Insightful. Who hasn't been beaten by Brady? It's not really a panel if the only person sitting there is Eli Manning.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

No one who really thinks about believes that the air pressure of the balls ever really made a difference, but I guess it's fun for people to decide that he has been cheating.

This is absolutely unfucking true and it makes me think you're as delusional as the idiot Southies who call into sports talk radio. It's easier to throw and it's easier to catch, especially in cold weather conditions. Just stop it.

Different quarterbacks prefer different levels of psi for a reason. If it made no difference, this whole thing never would have happened.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I think every quarterback likes their balls just so, and they all have been playing with them that way for a while, and so no one was getting a competitive edge. As well all remember, the first half of the Patriots-Colts game, when they were playing with supposedly deflated balls (though consider what the investigation ultimately said, as opposed to the "facts" someone leaked to Chris Mortensen after the game), was fairly close, and then the Patriots blew the Colts out in the second half with regulation balls.

What do you think?

I think there is some logical dissonance in what you're saying.

Quarterbacks like their balls a certain way. There is a legal range within which it is okay to manipulate the footballs. Brady goes below this range. But because the rule allows for a range, Brady was not gaining a competitive edge even though he goes beyond what others are allowed? That makes zero fucking sense.

The fact that the Patriots blew the Colts out is dispositive of nothing. If I prefer a tacky basketball and I play with one that is tackier than regulation and I beat your ass with my ball and a regulation ball, that does not mean I don't have an advantage when I play with my ball. It means I'm much better than you.

And the real question is, how much of an advantage did Brady get when he played with deflated balls the game before against the Ravens in cold weather? How about the receivers?

Whatever. You'll say, "There's no evidence of deflated balls in any other game." I'll say, "Right. This was the first time." I'll point to the fact that Brady's guy's nickname is The Deflator and they seem to have an understanding that he will be rewarded for deflating the footballs. You'll say it makes no difference or it's only because it's the Patriots and they're so successful that anyone cares. I'll say that's ridiculous. You'll quote someone. Hank will lose his mind. And then we'll go around in circles again.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Adder

I tend to agree that they are probably wrong and it makes marginally very little difference

Even if it makes no difference in how a quarterback throws, a deflated ball is easier to catch. That is not even debatable.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by notcasesensitive

My blinding hatred of that guy will never end. And now he's a pre-game analyst?? FML.

We should watch pre-game together. I fucking hate him with the fury of a thousand angry suns. And they let him lecture other players on moral issues. I want to destroy everything within 30 feet when this happens.

TM

eta: 6 in a row! Wonk city!