Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Speaking Of Deflated Balls

The big news in the sporting world today is the punishment handed down by the National Football League against the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and poster-boy quarterback Tom Brady for illegally reducing the air pressure in footballs during the AFC title game.

Said pressure reduction, AKA 'Deflategate,' enabled Brady to get a better grip on the ball, resulting in more accurate passes. Since each team uses their own footballs, that means their opponents, using legally inflated balls, were at a disadvantage.

NFL suspends Brady four games for 'Deflategate,' fines Patriots
The National Football League came down hard on the New England Patriots on Monday for their role in Deflategate, suspending star quarterback Tom Brady for the first four games of next season and fining the franchise $1 million.

The NFL also said the Patriots will forfeit their first-round selection in the 2016 draft and a fourth-round pick in 2017 for using under-inflated footballs in last season's AFC Championship game.

The suspension and fine were considered severe compared to previous NFL sanctions and carried greater weight by being levied against one of the most popular players in the league and the Super Bowl champions.
One reason for the harshness of the sanctions is the pattern of behavior of the principals, ranging from prior rule-breaking to arrogance and obstinance.
... the NFL's vice president of football operations who handed down the sanctions, said he was influenced by the Patriots' 2007 Spygate scandal and the lack of cooperation by Brady and the Patriots.
While this may be a big deal to some folks, to me it's more of a 'meh' moment.

After all, there's a more significant figure out there with substantially more deflated balls....



Gulf leaders back out of Camp David summit in 'snub' to Obama
Many Gulf heads of state have said they will not attend this week's summit of US and Arab leaders at Camp David.
Their substitution with more junior leaders is seen by some analysts as a rebuff to President Obama's talks with Iran over its nuclear ambitions.

4 comments:

Well Seasoned Fool said...

"meh" +1

Wouldn't stand in a court of law. Two different brands of needles used, two different test results, and no clear indicator of what was used.

Randy said...

+2...lol @ deflated/obama

Old NFO said...

They could have been honest up front, paid the $25K fine and been done with this... Tough, they got what they deserved. Re BO... Michelle doesn't give him his very often. Only when SHE is in the mood...

CenTexTim said...

To be clear, IMO Brady and the Patriots are guilty as charged. I consider it 'meh' news because this country has much bigger problems to address.

And yes, NFO, Mooch owns the balls in that family.