NFL 2015

[Maggot]

I know I screwed it up.

[Duchess]

Alrighty. I think I'll take a couple puffs and pretend I'm in your hotrod pushin' an 8-track tape in. Let's take all back roads.

[Donovan]

If you ain't cheating you ain't trying. We talk a good game about ethics and morals and high standards but let's face it: if a guy can swing for the fences or carry a ball faster or throw it farther or outrun everyone...we give him a pass. If OJ could still put down a 2000 yard season his old ass wouldn't be in jail. Who do we elect as our leaders? The guys who lie the best. That's the world we made for ourselves then we try to tell our kids it ain't right. ARod is still pulling in millions. Think he's remorseful?

Brady could give a shit about flat balls and frankly I'd be surprised if every QB wasn't greasing palms to make the balls exactly right for games "to their specs." Sports guys are notoriously ocd and superstitious.

[Duchess]

It feels a bit ridiculous saying someone cheated because a football was deflated. If this wasn't a big deal like so many say it isn't, why couldn't he simply have said that he likes his balls that way? Couldn't he have immediately spoken up when this became an issue and shot down all the cheating talk?

[Midwest Spy]

It is a big deal.

Brady is known for pinpoint accuracy, however, has that simply been because he hasn't been playing with properly inflated balls? Balls that are harder to hold/grip and slip from your grasp easier?

He has his millions and his Lombardi's but his legacy is tarnished.

[Jimbone]

It's inconceivable to me that one of the best quarterbacks in football history has had such accuracy and success since high school / college because he's been illegally deflating balls for over 20 years to get his edge. And that during those 20+ years, no one has ever caught him or said a word about it.

Put 10 balls of various but similar inflation on a table and pick them up. Then try to identify the ones that aren't inflated to NFL specifications. Good luck.

You want ball doctoring? How about the sticky stuff San Diego got caught putting on balls in 2012? NFL looked into it, fined them $20K. Vikings - Jaguars heating their balls in 2014, no penalty from the NFL for it.

You want not cooperating fully? Sure, Brett Farve refused to help out during a sexual harassment investigation. Wouldn't turn over his phone. Fined $50K.

The NFL, and Goodell in particular, is a joke for even entertaining 'deflategate'. But hey, I guess it beats everyone talking about Ray Rice and the domestic violence problem the NFL seems to have...hmmm, any coincidence there?

I'm not even a Patriots fan and this seems all wrong to me.

[Duchess]

I agree that deflated balls seems sorta flakey but if this is such a non-issue why not just straight up say, yeah, I did it, why deny knowing anything about it? I don't think this story would have gotten the legs it did if he would have immediately owned it.

I feel a little bad for his kids. They will be the ones who really pay for this when they have to deal with other little kids saying their dad is a cheat. That's going to be tough on them.

[Cutz]

So they are taking two picks from the NE Patriots, and fining the organization $1M. Sounds great, until you read what the report says: "In particular, we do not believe there was any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing by Patriots ownership, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick or any other Patriots coach in the matters investigated."

So after investigation we don't believe they did anything wrong, but we're going to take their picks and fine them anyway. Ridiculous.

Just because the coaches and owner may not have been aware, that doesn't mean the offending parties don't represent their organization. Management is held accountable for the actions of their company, that's common across business. It's not an employee's personal life or legal trouble that is being questioned.. a la Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson... rather an employee's workplace duties and business practices. They may not have known, but they didn't incorporate any measures to make sure there wasn't illegal activity. Any manager can tell you all about internal controls safeguarding fraud. Additionally, this is the SECOND cheating scandal that the same Patriots administration is dealing with. Same owner, same head coach.

If the Pats wanted less organizational punishment, they should have done their own investigation, FIRED the guy who was deflating balls and suspended Brady on their own, and then apologized in a statement and said they'd accept any punishment handed down by the league. Instead they sat on their laurels defending themselves, Kraft made a statement that the league would end up apologizing to the organization for accusing any sort of cheating, and they refused a second/final interview by the investigators with the guy who was cheating.

I agree that all QBs like their footballs personalized, and I even understand the mentality that everyone tries to bend the rules, but it was cheating. It wasn't that they made the balls the minimal level possible and then they lost some air... it was one guy taking the balls he shouldn't have had and deflating them beyond acceptable levels in a bathroom. If it was more innocent, they wouldn't have gone to such secret measures to do it.

[Duchess]

If it was more innocent, they wouldn't have gone to such secret measures to do it.

[Donovan]

I saw a link this morning to all the nfl teams and how many times they'd been caught cheating. If I can find it again I'll post it. If it was anybody but the hated Patriots it wouldn't be such a story.

[Cutz]

If the Superbowl Champions were caught cheating, it'd be a huge deal no matter which team.


BTW Duch, if you're trying to buy single-game tickets, they go on sale in like 10 minutes.

[Jimbone]

They may not have known, but they didn't incorporate any measures to make sure there wasn't illegal activity. Any manager can tell you all about internal controls safeguarding fraud. Additionally, this is the SECOND cheating scandal that the same Patriots administration is dealing with. Same owner, same head coach.

Safeguarding fraud? That's the responsibility of the NFL Officials (game umpire and referees) who are tasked with making sure there isn't illegal activity going on (from a team who already has a cheating scandal).

They lost track of the balls, their testing and management of them was weak at best, and they have no measurement record of the balls prior to the start of the game. The League was even given a heads up that someone thought there might be a problem with the balls, and the NFL still didn't see it important enough to do their part to maintain the 'integrity' of the game.

I haven't heard of the disciplinary or punitive actions for the officials who failed and essentially helped the Patriots 'cheat'. The NFL has been silent on that oddly enough.

Based on that, The Jimbone Report finds it 'more likely than not' that the officials were in cahoots with the Patriots organization until halftime *wink wink, nudge nudge*

The whole thing is nonsense. It should have been a $50K fine and a non-story. But you're right, since it was the Patriots, and the eventual winner of the Superbowl it's a huge deal.

[Blindgreed1]

If the Superbowl Champions were caught cheating, it'd be a huge deal no matter which team.


BTW Duch, if you're trying to buy single-game tickets, they go on sale in like 10 minutes.

This.

[Duchess]

BTW Duch, if you're trying to buy single-game tickets, they go on sale in like 10 minutes.

Thanks for thinking of me. I got an alert about it yesterday, I think it was.

Someone who cares about me is always trying to buy me tix and I'd love to be able to take him up on the offer but it's really difficult for me to find someone to go with, none of my girlfriends are ever interested but I will be taking my annual road trip up there for open training camp though. Can't wait!

[Cutz]

I used to love the Lehigh training camp. I think I got B-Dawk's autograph his rookie year when I was like 12. My G-ma used to live up there, so that's how I really got started as a fan. Actually when we sold her house a couple years ago, we sold it to the tennis coach from Lehigh U where they used to hold camp.

Course these days I'm nowhere close, so no training camp for me. Maybe I'll head up to Chiefs camp again this year and rabble rouse. Find Andy and heckle him. Anybody got a Maclin jersey I can borrow? But yeah, got a pair of tickets for Dec 26^th against the Redskins. Looking forward to it greatly. We do the whole Thanksgiving at her fam, Christmas at mine deal.

[Duchess]

I used to love the Lehigh training camp. I think I got B-Dawk's autograph his rookie year when I was like 12. My G-ma used to live up there, so that's how I really got started as a fan. Actually when we sold her house a couple years ago, we sold it to the tennis coach from Lehigh U where they used to hold camp.

Course these days I'm nowhere close, so no training camp for me. Maybe I'll head up to Chiefs camp again this year and rabble rouse. Find Andy and heckle him. Anybody got a Maclin jersey I can borrow? But yeah, got a pair of tickets for Dec 26^th against the Redskins. Looking forward to it greatly. We do the whole Thanksgiving at her fam, Christmas at mine deal.

I never had the opportunity to go up to Lehigh but I've heard about it. All good! Well, except for Coach Reid's son dying up there. This will be my third TC at the Linc. I'm psyched! I think it's fun & exciting, it makes my heart pound with anticipation and I always have fantastic seats in order to outstanding pix. Last year I was close enough I could have leaned over and blew in Shady's ear.

Sorry, no Maclin jersey. The 3 that I do have are no longer on the team.

[Jimbone]

They don't do camp at Lehigh anymore?

[Duchess]

Nope. That ended with Andy Reid.

[Jimbone]

Too bad. I got there twice when I lived in the Lehigh Valley. It was fun... but I'll be they do more cool shit for the fans in Philly anyway.

[Cutz]

They do like 3 open practices at the actual stadium now. A much better atmosphere, but way less access and there's a lot less fan interaction overall, even the website has cut 90% of their coverage over the past 3 years. I haven't even heard Eagles Live do call-ins for their shows and they used to do that 2-3 times a show a few years back.

Not trying to complain tho. It's just change. I can handle it.