#DFG: Canceling the Noise

Is there any level of suspension that you would advise Tom to accept?


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Soxfan in Fla

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Myt1 said:
We know when the ball boy took a piss but not whether an actual gauge test was done on the balls pregame or whether they were reinflatwded at halftime?

I got that right? Because if so, this is simply glorious. The league is literally a bunch of monkeys trying to fuck a football.
Yup. And sadly the media buys this crap. What a joke.
 

Soxfan in Fla

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NWsoxophile said:
Why does it look bad? Why is it weird? How would taking them in or not taking them in be indicative of anything? it takes effort to see premeditation in everything.
He's provably been told those balls don't leave your sight. So when he has to take a piss he makes sure they don't leave his sight. Nothing strange about it at all.
 

Padaiyappa

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The wishful thinking would be that the ball boy/man had the responsibility of guarding these balls and making sure they never left his site. And hence why they went into the bathroom.

The investigation will probably focus on the other home games and see if there is a trend with this guy going into the bathroom after he gets the balls from the officials...
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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Ed Hillel said:
On a more serious note, a bunch of people use their phones on the pisser. If this kid was using his phone either texting or online, those records should exist.
 
Sure, they exist, and you think this kid's parents are just going to hand over phone records to the NFL? A lot of parents would tell the NFL to go pound sand.
 

NortheasternPJ

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MarcSullivaFan said:
T&R reporting they have two sources who say that the balls were just below 12.5 when turned in and the refs [returned them unchanged]
Edit: Not sure whether they're claiming the balls were not gauged.
Which would jive with Belichicks comment of they tell the refs to set them at 12.5.
 

fairlee76

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MarcSullivaFan said:
T&R reporting they have two sources who say that the balls were just below 12.5 when turned in and the refs [returned them unchanged]

Edit: Not sure whether they're claiming the balls were not gauged.
The way I heard it, their sources absolutely claimed the balls were not gauged pre-game.
 

speedracer

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MarcSullivaFan said:
I wouldn't assume he's a child. He may be a ball man.
But is there a point at which the Patriots say "you have all the evidence you need, we have a solid alibi, you're clearly conducting this investigation in bad faith, now piss off"?
 

MarcSullivaFan

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speedracer said:
But is there a point at which the Patriots say "you have all the evidence you need, we have a solid alibi, you're clearly conducting this investigation in bad faith, now piss off"?
 
I was mostly kidding.  But no, I don't think they'll take that approach.  I think they'll give the NFL whatever it asks for, rather than be perceived as stonewalling.
 

blueguitar322

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Bill Nye the Seahawks Guy's video is now up on funny or die. More bad science complete with "the ball feels pretty much the same" and no data, spends his time talking about electing politicians who believe in climate change instead. Concludes that the Pats "probably cheated a little bit". Oh and the obligatory "Go Seahawks" at the end.

Such a missed opportunity.
 

Steve Dillard

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The Pats push for a full investigation, including depositions under oath. Starts with the refs. Don't know whether league can make refs submit to depo without subpoena power. Wonder if we'll have a ref union showdown over NFL's ability to make employees submit.
 

Devizier

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blueguitar322 said:
Bill Nye the Seahawks Guy's video is now up on funny or die. More bad science complete with "the ball feels pretty much the same" and no data, spends his time talking about electing politicians who believe in climate change instead. Concludes that the Pats "probably cheated a little bit". Oh and the obligatory "Go Seahawks" at the end.

Such a missed opportunity.
 
Honestly, Nye is treating the situation with the seriousness that it deserves. The problem isn't really him.
 

Beomoose

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NWsoxophile said:
I wonder why said locker room attendant hasn't been identified and besieged by the media yet.
Someone's holding onto that for Thursday or Friday, so 900 assholes can camp out on his lawn Saturday and get some prime video of him giving getting into/out of his car without answering questions that they can run on a loop all Sunday morning.
 

Average Reds

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Steve Dillard said:
The Pats push for a full investigation, including depositions under oath. Starts with the refs. Don't know whether league can make refs submit to depo without subpoena power. Wonder if we'll have a ref union showdown over NFL's ability to make employees submit.
How do you compel depositions under oath without litigation?
 

CantKeepmedown

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PFT reporting that the fire alarm went off at the team hotel last night. Haters gonna hate. Hopefully, the team only eats food that they are preparing. Or, maybe I'm just paranoid.
 

blueguitar322

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Devizier said:
 
Honestly, Nye is treating the situation with the seriousness that it deserves. The problem isn't really him.
 
Well he's giving deflated balls the (lack of) seriousness it deserves, but not the rampant accusations of cheating and corresponding calls for lifetime ban, removal from the Super Bowl, etc.  
 
Not to mention that he missed a golden opportunity to educate laypeople about real science, preferring instead to give into his biases - and isn't that basically his thing?
 

rodderick

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Devizier said:
 
Honestly, Nye is treating the situation with the seriousness that it deserves. The problem isn't really him.
 
Here's an opportunity to bring national awareness about science and actually help solve an issue and he's out there joking while perfectly aware that the press is turning his statements into scientific fact. Nobody forced him to speak up on the issue, he's part of the problem.
 

theapportioner

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CantKeepmedown said:
PFT reporting that the fire alarm went off at the team hotel last night. Haters gonna hate. Hopefully, the team only eats food that they are preparing. Or, maybe I'm just paranoid.
 
There needs to be a full investigation into this matter. Get the videos. Interview everybody in the Seahawks organization. Subpoena Richard Sherman's cell phone records.
 

Steve Dillard

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Average Reds said:
How do you compel depositions under oath without litigation?
It would have to be a function of the collective bargaining agreement/contract. And I bet the refs don't have that obligation. That's why we may have a situation where the Ref PA knows the failure to test is a violation, and so won't allow their guys to testify. That's why the Pats should be aggressive, offer up toilet guy for depo, and let the refs stonewall.
 

njnesportsfan

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The media should learn their lesson in covering the Richard Jewell case. As I posted yesterday, the ball attendant is not a public figure. If the media expose him and report things that turn out to be false, he can sue the media for libel and win in court. The threshold for libel for a non-public figure is not very high. 
 

theapportioner

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Steve Dillard said:
It would have to be a function of the collective bargaining agreement/contract. And I bet the refs don't have that obligation. That's why we may have a situation where the Ref PA knows the failure to test is a violation, and so won't allow their guys to testify. That's why the Pats should be aggressive, offer up toilet guy for depo, and let the refs stonewall.
 
I don't think the refs should be in trouble. The rules don't explicitly say that the refs must check every ball with a pressure gauge before every game. I doubt they are measuring each ball with a tape measure, either.
 
 

Dewy4PrezII

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PaSox said:
So if I am reading this correctly, the NFL can get its hands on the video of a kid walking into a bathroom to take a piss, but can't seem to get a video of Race Rice in an elevator?
Well, they have video of him entering the bathroom with the balls and then being dragged out, unconscious, by Ray Rice
 

Dogman

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GeorgeCostanza said:
What a bunch of mind numbing bullshit speculation. He's such a cunt.

ChickenMcNasty really giving it to him in the comment section

Why have you not considered that the reason the patriots are giving the media and nfl the middle finger is because they are the ones who know FOR SURE what happened? And they actually did nothing wrong. And you crap reporters just torpedo'd one of the most incredible super bowl match ups ever because you suck at your jobs so bad you can't find reports and quotes that painted this whole picture last weds.

Way to mail it in on your reporting.
 
Surely you can come up with a better word here.  Be  better than this.
 

BimblemansLight

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blueguitar322 said:
 
Well he's giving deflated balls the (lack of) seriousness it deserves, but not the rampant accusations of cheating and corresponding calls for lifetime ban, removal from the Super Bowl, etc.  
 
Not to mention that he missed a golden opportunity to educate laypeople about real science, preferring instead to give into his biases - and isn't that basically his thing?
Seriously- or the dangers of formulating a hypotheses depending entirely on the values of multiple unknown variables
 

8slim

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MarcSullivaFan said:
T&R reporting they have two sources who say that the balls were just below 12.5 when turned in and the refs [returned them unchanged]

Edit: Not sure whether they're claiming the balls were not gauged.
I've been saying this is what probably happened to anyone who will listen for the past few days. There was a reason BB said that they expected the refs would bring the balls up to 12.5. They submit low and let the refs do their job, so to speak. If the refs don't, oh well, it's absolutely no different than Rodgers over inflating and hoping the refs don't take some air out.

So balls that started the game at, say, 12.0, dropped a little more in he first half when exposed to the elements, normal game play, and 250 lb. guys falling on them. Huge scandal.
 

Yaz4Ever

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Dewy4PrezII said:
Well, they have video of him entering the bathroom with the balls and then being dragged out, unconscious, by Ray Rice
Outstanding.
 
I seriously can't wait for the coin toss at this point.  Enough of everything else.  King Abdullah's death brought us a brief reprieve from the national news coverage of this non-event.  Maybe Seal Team 6 can swoop in and kill Ayman Al-Zawahiri so they have something else to cover, the world is rid of a very bad guy, and I score 37 points in the death pool - win, win, win.  
 

mwonow

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Kull said:
 
Just saying that their source is setting them up to look like parrots while Florio rides off into the sunset as the guy who broke the real story. Maybe there's no journalistic integrity, but these are the big name guys and now they look like chumps.
 
King NOT looking like a chump would be news. King looking like a parrot for whoever feels like pulling his strings from NFL HQ isn't. And "integrity" isn't really PK's thing
 

NWsoxophile

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njnesportsfan said:
The media should learn their lesson in covering the Richard Jewell case. As I posted yesterday, the ball attendant is not a public figure. If the media expose
him and report things that turn out to be false, he can sue the media for libel and win in court. The threshold for libel for a non-public figure is not very high.
I don't think he can sue someone for sticking a mic near his face and saying"did you deflate those footballs?"
 

RedOctober3829

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DeJesus Built My Hotrod said:
How long until someone suggests that there is some sort of high-tech PSI gauge/deflating needle hidden in the bathroom?  I say its behind the seat cover dispensers.   Thank me later Dawkins/Carter/Brunell/Aikman et al.
Hidden just like the gun in the bathroom in The Godfather
 

jacklamabe65

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E5 Yaz said:
It wouldn't look good Because
if you're accused of something, and then
after that it's found
the person who would be the one to do the deed
happens to always go to the
one place
in the stadium , every time , where he
could do it with no witnesses,
that
doesn't look good. Doesn't prove shit,
but I don't want this ending
with "have suspicions but nothing
could be proven "
I want
a full exoneration.
I want
to be able to stick it to every last one
of these weasels and
watch them stammer.
I don't want
to deal with years of
" they got off but
everyone
knows they did it"
bullshit.
And a ball boy with
a habit of always
taking his ballsack
to the shitter would not
be a good look.
 
Burma Shave
Brilliant. And in verse form to boot. 
 
You have become our Bard, my friend.
 

wiffleballhero

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In the simulacrum
djbayko said:
 
The thread title was "Ballghazi: #inflatethis -- Mark It Zero" four days ago, maybe more.  If you mean post-piss media leak, then yeah, it was inevitable.
Well, in an earlier part of the discussion on the absurd nit-picking about the details of PSI and the rules, I linked to this:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyFpOp8Ft0Q
 
maybe 150 pages ago actually and before the Yahoo article stole it (but I've always been a bit of an achiever).
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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8slim said:
I've been saying this is what probably happened to anyone who will listen for the past few days. There was a reason BB said that they expected the refs would bring the balls up to 12.5. They submit low and let the refs do their job, so to speak. If the refs don't, oh well, it's absolutely no different than Rodgers over inflating and hoping the refs don't take some air out.

So balls that started the game at, say, 12.0, dropped a little more in he first half when exposed to the elements, normal game play, and 250 lb. guys falling on them. Huge scandal.
 
I don't event think the balls had to be submitted low with intent for what BB said to make sense.  It could be as simple as the team doesn't do anything in the way of gauging or measuring the balls.  They go by feel then tell the officials that if they measure low and need more air, to only pump them up to the minimum.  If the refs then also go by feel and don't bother to inflate them...oh well.
 

JimD

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Apologies if this was covered already in the thread, but why did the referees give both the Patriots footballs and the Colts footballs to a NE ballboy?
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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JimD said:
Apologies if this was covered already in the thread, but why did the referees give both the Patriots footballs and the Colts footballs to a NE ballboy?
 
Because there are no Colt ball boys at Gillette Stadium.  Home team provides the support staff in their own stadium.
 

Steve Dillard

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JimD said:
Apologies if this was covered already in the thread, but why did the referees give both the Patriots footballs and the Colts footballs to a NE ballboy?
I'll check again, but I saw a suggestion that the ball-attendant is an NFL official, not a "NE" ballboy.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Posted purely for the amusement.  Lou Merloni showed up to Media Row wearing this...

 
And apparently is getting hassled over it.
 
Lou Merloni @LouMerloni
Convention Center security got one look at my shirt and are now busting our balls and won't let us in Radio Row. #EmbraceTheHate
 

Don Buddin's GS

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Anyone who has ever been behind the scenes at a major league sporting event knows that everything is done according to the countdown clock. It is a routine that is basically set in stone. Everything--warmups, when to come out of the tunnel, players chapel, the works--is according to that schedule.

So Stevie the Ball Attendant goes the officials locker room just before the game to get the bags of balls, right on schedule.

The refs tell Stevie to relax, as the start of the game has just been delayed by 10 minutes.

Stevie leaves and figures "Hey, I got an extra 10 minutes, I have time to take a whiz now!"

And who were the geniuses that decided to delay the start of the game by 10 minutes.

The NFL.

Your move, Rog.
 

DJnVa

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Madmartigan said:
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think it's doable. All you'd have to do is line them all up on the floor, put a pin in each one for 1-2 seconds, and throw them back in the bag. Also, just to play devil's advocate here, if the guy's taking a piss then why not leave the balls outside the bathroom?
 

Skipping right over the fact that if you deflate for, say 2 seconds, not 1.5 (because it's VERY easy to do that in your head, right?) the balls are too deflated. Or if you go .8 seconds, and not 1.2 then it's not enough, and you take 3 seconds to figure out our next move AND YOU'VE BLOWN YOU TIMELINE!!!
 
Come on folks.
 
90 seconds here:
 
Not only is it just less than 2 seconds of deflation per ball (already at 22-25 seconds), each ball has to be set aside, so you don't double up. So add in a second or two per ball to fish from bag, a second to situate and insert needle, a second to set aside after deflation, and another 2 seconds per ball to put BACK in bag and it's easily 8 seconds per ball at an absolute fucking minimum. That's 88 seconds if you didn't have any fuck-ups. Leaving him 2 seconds to close and lock door, set Colts bag down, unlock door, and leave.
 
Stop looking for shit that didn't happen.