deflategate:the final word

[backwoodsbob]

We are all debating if Brady Cheated or if Billicheck knew or whatever but there is a more basic question....why are we asking this?

We football fans want to see the best football players in the world play at their best so why are we putting arbitrary rules on how the players are allowed to inflate a football?

If Brady likes the football at 11 PSI so what?
If Payton likes the ball at 9 PSI so what?
If Stafford likes the ball at 15 PSI so what?

If we want to see the best players in the world at their best,let them have at it.A ball at 11 PSI is supposed to be easier to grip so let them do it.A ball at 9 PSI will be even better...so what?

Remove the artificial rules and let the best players in the world play at their best

[PeteSelman]

1. That's effectively what they do.

The QB is allowed to set up the ball how they like it. Every quarterback in the league does it. That's why you don't see any of the coaches doing their college stuff complaining about it, they just want this nonsense to go away because they all know and allow it.

The whole "scandal" is sour grapes from a bunch of whiners.

[Journeyman]

2. Absolutely. What need have we for standardized rules in organized sport? . . .

I always knew I'd play better if I had a spike attached to my helmet, something like the Germans wore in WW1. Damn few defensemen would have been able to bring me down if I'd had a lance at the ready. And how much better I'd have been, and how much more exciting my team would have proven, had we been able to truly "stick it" to the other team.

Yeah. Let's jettison the rules so we don't have to wonder if we're playing within them.

[backwoodsbob]

3. yep that is exactly what I said

PSI in a football is just like letting players kill each other with spiked helmets.

Glad to see you got it.

[MannyGoldstein]

33. Speaking as a former defenseman...

My rocket-propelled grenade would have smitten your Hun-imitating ass.

[underpants]

4. I was playing with my balls at work today

We got 4 basketballs a nice rack and a pump yesterday. Our rec center is going to re-open next month. I set the PSI to 8.


I agree with you BTW

[KingCharlemagne]

12. I do not think this sounds like you think it sounds. :) Sort of reminds me of

"Superman gets into Clark Kent's pants every morning."

[underpants]

15. Whaaaaa?

[MohRokTah]

5. You do NOT have an even playing field with different ball pressures.

The only way to have an even playing field is under the current rules. All balls MUST BE INFLATED within the same range.

12.5-13.5 PSI

No more, no less.

[backwoodsbob]

7. how so?

wouldn't letting each qb play with a ball at the PSI he likes be the most fair?

[indie9197]

11. On running plays he would call for the one inflated to 5 psi

so the running back won't fumble it!

[MohRokTah]

13. No, it woudl not. eom

[Iggo]

22. No. Both teams playing with the same ball would be the most fair.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. you're exactly right

[indie9197]

14. They just need to add that the pressure be measured on the field- right before the game

to keep teams from pumping them up and measuring them in the sauna

[MohRokTah]

17. Do a check before any ball enters play. eom

[indie9197]

18. Good idea! eom

[DanTex]

6. Why stop there? As long as we're making regulations optional...

What if Brady likes his football a little smaller, you know, easier to grip. And while we're at it, why the weird oblong shape? I think it would be easier with something like a baseball, much smaller and denser. Easier to throw and easier to catch. Why the "artificial" rules about the shape and size of the ball. Let the best players play their best with whatever kind of ball they think is easiest.

[backwoodsbob]

8. why stop there?

let the linemen have tanks and let the defense have nukes.

The PSI in a ball isn't a big deal

[DanTex]

9. Apparently the PSI actually is a big deal.

[mythology]

20. Not according to the Patriots

If it didn't matter, why did they lower the pressure? Why did Brady lobby to have the rule changed so that both teams got to bring their own footballs?

You don't get to break the rules that you find inconvenient. For example, try doing 85 in a 65 mph zone and telling the cop that you prefer the speed limit be higher. See if they buy that as an excuse.

Cheating is cheating. Unfortunately both the Patriots and the Seahawks cheat. The Patriots by using a needle to deflate the football and the Seahawks by using needles to inflate their bodies (and no I don't believe the Seahawks players when they claim they took Adderall since the NFL doesn't announce what substances a test is failed for).

[nilesobek]

10. Outrageous OP.

You must not have played much tackle football because the more inflated ball is harder to throw and catch. Also, the ball bounces off player's helmets and shoulder pads more easily if the ball is inflated, resulting in more turnovers.

Brady is going to have to play fair. The Patriot win streak is over. Its not an arbitrary or artificial rule. The inflated footballs will be bouncing of Patriot helmets and pads into the Seahawks waiting hands.

Brady and Belicek are going to have to prove they belong. On a level playing field at a neutral site with regularly inflated football.

"So what?" you say? Seahawks took the high road on this inflation scandal. Its the Patriots doing all the whining to the rest of America, who saw what they did. Take your opinion about this to other sports. You want to raise and lower the NBA baskets because some players would like them lower? That's what you are saying, in effect. The fact that they had to cheat just shows how pathetic and bankrupt the Patriots organization is.

[R B Garr]

25. Yes, Seahawks have taken the high road. It was two other teams

who complained. The Seahawks just happen to be their next opponent.

[Xipe Totec]

16. What if they want to play it with a baseball and a tennis racket? Can we still call it football? nt

[hifiguy]

21. Sure, but it's gonna be a lot harder to kick the puck

for a home run.

[jberryhill]

19. And so what if they like to use steroids

Last edited Fri Jan 30, 2015, 11:06 PM - Edit history (1)

I'd personally like to see the pharmaceutical Olympics. Get the drug companies to sponsor teams, try out new performance enhancing drugs, and you can watch them perform with the strength and lack of pain to literally tear their own limbs off.

[pnwmom]

28. Players that have done that have been suspended. That would be appropriate in this case, too.

But it will never happen.

[IDemo]

23. I think we should give fieldgoal kickers a remote

to let them widen the goalpost uprights until it suits them.

[R B Garr]

24. Tom Brady seems to like the Rule Book when it benefits him:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/11/brady-to-ravens-study-the-rule-book/

“I don’t know,” Brady said. “Who knows? Maybe those guys gotta study the rule book and figure it out."

[onenote]

26. The rule is inherently arbitrary

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be a rule.

But how is it not arbitrary to allow balls to vary by 1.0 psi, so that one team playing with a 13.5 psi ball and the other playing with a 12.5 psi ball is okay, but a difference of 0.1 psi is not okay if one team has a 12.5 psi ball and the other has a 12.4 psi ball?

If there's going to be a rule, shouldn't it be an exact number with no variation?

[MannyGoldstein]

29. There's no such thing as an exact number in physical systems

There's always a range.

1.0 lb is probably reasonable to account for weather changes during the the game - temperature, barometric pressure, etc.

[onenote]

31. There is no reason the balls can't be exactly the same out the door.

If conditions outside cause variations so be it. But it makes no sense to allow a 1.0 psi variation when the balls are under the same controlled, indoor conditions before the game begins.

[MannyGoldstein]

32. They can't be the same

but maybe they could be closer, say, within 0.1lb. But that's a guess.

For example, IIRC, inflating a ball causes it to heat up a bit. So a minute after inflation, it will likely be at a slightly-lower pressure.

But I'm being a nit-picking physics weenie here, and probably not even a good one. I agree with your basic point.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. think it's to allow some degree of

Discretion...but you raise a good point. The thing is the range wasn't good enough for new england. They really only wanted the control of the balls to allow them to cheat. Did you see the news about the statistician who calculated that after the rule change the pats fumble percent went way down?

[pnwmom]

27. Right. If the Patriots want to change the change the game rules on their own, without telling

the competing teams, so what?

[rufus dog]

30. Not logical

So a running team can have 10 footballs at 6 pounds, 1 at 12 and 1 at 15

Run run run NEVER FUMBLE, oh need to pass, put in the 12 psi ball, Need to kick a FG put in the 15 psi ball

WHAT THE FUCK, NEED A FG FROM 65 Yards! THROW IN SOME HELIUM!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

36. think I agree with you. you make sense

But first suspend NE from Sunday for cheating.