No Federal Charges Against Officer Wilson

Here's a shocker:

Justice Dept. to Recommend No Civil Rights Charges in Ferguson Shooting

 

Comments

[NKvirusedand back]

So MEL's prep school makes the top 50, but my daughter's doesn't (every one she DIDN't go to did), JFK Jr's did. So fess up DoT, OL, henry et al. Is your prep school on this list? http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/savingandinvesting/the-50-most-elite-boarding-schools-in-the-us/ss-AA8lJW6?ocid=iehp#image=51

[Extraneus]

In baseball, the home team provides all the balls.

(c) Receive from the home club a supply of regulation baseballs, the number and make to be certified to the home club by the league president. The umpire shall inspect the baseballs and ensure they are regulation baseballs and that they are properly rubbed so that the gloss is removed. The umpire shall be the sole judge of the fitness of the balls to be used in the game; (d) Be assured by the home club that at least one dozen regulation reserve balls are immediately available for use if required; (e) Have in his possession at least two alternate balls and shall require replenishment of such supply of alternate balls as needed throughout the game. Such alternate balls shall be put in play when -- (1) A ball has been batted out of the playing field or into the spectator area; (2) A ball has become discolored or unfit for further use; (3) The pitcher requests such alternate ball.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/game_preliminaries_3.jsp

[Giselle]

I think I spelled my own name wrong.

[Threadkiller]

Do all gasses have the same relationship between pressure and changing temperature?

[Some Guy]

My "prep school" was more likely to have students end up on America's Most Wanted, than any top 50 list.

[Threadkiller]

A little freon in the ball?

[daddy]

UK Daily Mail gives us this story: Everything you never wanted to know about Jeb Bush's Wife

All's I'm saying is that after 8 years of Michelle Obama, I think that if we cared at all about the mental health of the dress designers tasked with dressing The First Lady, we'd vote against Jeb Bush for President.

[NKvirusedand back]

@6:14-- I was told there would be no physics quiz at this Blog!

[NKvirusedand back]

my 'prep school's' 110 year tradition of excellence is about to fall victim to Mayor Bane's Prog nightmare.

[Jim Eagle]

My Dad, his brother and sister's school is 25 on that list. Mine would make the Catholic school list but then it wouldn't be on that list, it was upstate NY and Jesuit and hockey oriented.

Last time I checked we had 3 Nobel prize winners. And they didn't even play hockey. Go figure.

[DrJ]

Do all gasses have the same relationship between pressure and changing temperature?

Yes and no. All gasses follow the ideal gas law (PV = nRT) over part of the range of temperature and pressure. Every gas will show deviations at some point. Empirically that is accounted for by including the compressibility of the gas by using PV = znRT.

There also has been a lot of work on the P-V-T properties of gasses and liquids using theoretical models -- these are known as equations of state. When I was in grad school the joke was that every person in Thermodynamics makes a name for themselves by coming up with a new Equation of State.

FWIW, the compressibility of air in near-ambient conditions is pretty close to 1, so the ideal gas law should be reasonably accurate. Helium I think is a different matter.

[MarkO]

Did the officials check the pressure of the balls before the game? Is there are record of it? Were all the balls in the same room?

When notified of the problem, I understand the officials took balls out of play at half time and used only appropriately inflated balls for the second half. Is that true?

If the officials found more than one underinflated ball, why would they not examine all of them at half time and notify both benches?

It seems to me that deflating a ball on the sidelines would be far too obvious and exposure. When did the Pats have sole control of the balls and who had them?

It's a lovely chain of evidence case with some physics thrown in for good measure. It seems to me that if Tom wanted to cheat, he could have deflated 3 or 4 balls and marked them on the sidelines.

[Jim Eagle]

King Abdullah is dead. Long live the Kng.

[Ben]

Columba Bush has been assimilated. How can we ever forgive her for being illegal?

[DrJ]

It looks like my post on gasses and Equations of State went to the great bit-bucket in the sky. Or the site is really, really slow today.

[Danube on iPad]

Suppose the Patriots take the balls into a boiler room to inflate them. Has a rule been violated?

The Celtics used to disable the A/C in the visitors' locker room. Violation?

[daddy]

Breaking News: Saudi King Abdullah Dies.

Let the funeral games begin.

[Jim Eagle]

daddy,

You're 2 minutes too late but at least you are a lot earlier than my usual delvieries from Uncle Fred:)

BTW, unlie UPS I saw one of your trucks turn left today.

[NKvirusedand back]

I assume Abdullah has been out of the loop for some time, so no real changes in the KSA, correct?

[Ben]

Abdullah dies and Brent crude rises 1.5% on the news after dropping 3% today. A worthy tribute to the scumbag.

[NKvirusedand back]

DrJ!!! c'mon, no physics or chem. Jeez, I'm geting flashbacks to 1974 HS Chem. I stunk that class up.

[henry]

NK, I am the product of MO public schools. Neither of my parents' schools made the list.

[Extraneus]

Do all gasses have the same relationship between pressure and changing temperature?

From the Ideal Gas Law I linked above:

The equation of state given here applies only to an ideal gas, or as an approximation to a real gas that behaves sufficiently like an ideal gas. There are in fact many different forms of the equation of state. Since the ideal gas law neglects both molecular size and intermolecular attractions, it is most accurate for monatomic gases at high temperatures and low pressures. The neglect of molecular size becomes less important for lower densities, i.e. for larger volumes at lower pressures, because the average distance between adjacent molecules becomes much larger than the molecular size. The relative importance of intermolecular attractions diminishes with increasing thermal kinetic energy, i.e., with increasing temperatures.

Maybe DrJ can add some intelligence to this, but I think different gases would only contribute very small differences at normal earth temperatures and densities such as what's inside a football at 12 or so PSI above atmospheric pressure.

[Jane]

Jeb's wife looks like a midget.

Did the officials check the pressure of the balls before the game? Is there are record of it?

Yes and they were all fine. Brady picked them 5 hours before the game, the refs checked them 2.5 hours before the game.

As far as I know only the Pat's balls were checked at half time. All for both teams were replaced, which apparently is normal, and at the end of the game all balls were fine.

[Extraneus]

And there he is before I even got that out. :-)

[Jane]

Does King Abdullah have a successor we know all about?

[daddy]

The Celtics used to disable the A/C in the visitors' locker room.

I recall hearing that Larry Byrd made sure the parquet floor in the Boston Garden was never mended proper so that he could steer opposing players to dribble on the dead spots and he could steal the ball easier.

[Jim Eagle]

NK,

With all due respect, then maybe if you are making blanket accusations based on the effecrts of chemistry and physics, you should wait until all the evidence is in before you make them.

I had a lawyer frined once tell me that if you can't argue on facts then try the law. I suggest that there is no law in regard to this issue. Let the facts tell us what happened.

[NKvirusedand back]

So, who do the Obamaniacs send to the Abdullah funeral?

[Jane]

Abdullah was one of 42 sons.

YIKES!

[Jim Eagle]

Abdullah will get Lady Gaga and the Beach Boys. Perhaps they may decide on someone more appropiate like Jackie Mason but I doubt it.

[Extraneus]

How could the officials replace the balls after finding the deflated ones? Do they bring their own regulation-inflated balls as backups? If so, why not just use those in the first place?

[Extraneus]

Abdullah was one of 42 sons.

Shouldn't the Pope comment on the immorality of that?

[DrJ]

Nothing to add, Ext, but I did find the following:

For gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, helium, or neon, deviations from the ideal gas law are less than 0.1 percent at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Other gases, such as carbon dioxide or ammonia, have stronger intermolecular forces and consequently greater deviation from ideality. Nonideal behavior is quite pronounced for any gas at very high pressures or at temperatures just above the boiling point. Under these conditions molecular volume or intermolecular attractions can have maximum effect.

In a former life I used to work with supercritical CO2 -- namely, at temperatures and pressures in excess of the critical point -- and for these the deviation from ideal behavior is enormous. Fortunately, a pretty simple EOS described the dense-gas properties, and extensive tables were available to double-check your work.

[Jane]

Kevin Williamson:

About That 20-Week Abortion Bill

Very compelling.

[daddy]

Jeb's wife looks like a midget.

Jane,

I was gonna' use the term "munchkin", but I thought I'd get in trouble:)

DrK and the FOX panel agree re; Yemen, that the world is going to hell in a hand basket.

[Jim Eagle]

DrJ.

They used Argon.

[NKvirusedand back]

No NFL Law? The rules of ball preparation and inspection and even maintenance during games are all within NFL 'rules' or League instructions to teams and game officials. There is even a penalty for violating them. So there indeed explicit NFL 'law' about game balls, that's not an issue here. The NFL will issue its findings of facts and presumably fines and penalties by tomorrow, and all of these tedious factual and legal details will be laid out. Another chance for Goodell to beclown himself.

[DrJ]

Re KSA:

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud has died at about age 91, according to a royal court statement read on state television early Friday morning local time.

Crown Prince Salman has been declared king and Prince Muqrin became Crown Prince, according to the statement.

[Jane]

Ex,

(I keep talking about things I know nothing about, but I've been following)

IIRC, each team picks their balls and gives the ump enough balls to replace the ones in the 1st half with new ones in the second half.

[Some Guy]

As far as I know only the Pat's balls were checked at half time.

Did they have to turn their heads and cough?

[Jane]

Oops "ref" not "ump"

[henry]

Plus pigskingate means nobody has to talk about what will be a dull super bowl matchup.

[daddy]

Does King Abdullah have a successor we know all about?

I recall about 10 years back on a long Dubai layover when the Sheik of Dubai died. It was common knowledge of our Hotel Staff and our bartender, but he/they told us that it would not be announced publicly until the successorship had been determined, after which they could then announce it and do the p[roper mourning and transitions ceremonies. That was why happened.

I don't know enough about how the Saudi's do it to know if this guys been 'stiff' for a week already and they're just now announcing it because they figured out the successorship, or if they announce it first, and then let the funeral games begin.

Anyone know?

[Jim Eagle]

NFL law? LOL.

Who is the supreme court of NFL law - the Owners? Ha, ha.

Give it a break NK.

There are all kinds of laws but I want to know what real law was broken? Not a fraterernity's behavior standard.

We are making more out of this than we should. Lets play the games and let the best team win. Or give me back all those Yankes WS wins under A-Rod.

[Danube on iPad]

I also favor enforcing the rules. There's a rule against applying a foreign substance to the baseball; the remedy is ejection from the game. Gaylord Perry was first ejected for violating the rule after 20 years in the bigs.

In the case of the footballs, let's determine what rule, if any, was violated and who, if anyone, violated it, and then impose the prescribed punishment, if any.

[Threadkiller]

Here is a freon chart:

http://www.advantageengineering.com/fyi/289/images/refrigerant%20temps%20w%20shading.jpg

I will have to study it later.

Also, when the auto industry switched from r12 to r134 they had to use a different material for the barrier wall of the hoses. R12 was a larger molecule that some of the components that made the blend called r134.

Some of the molecules in the r134 blend would make it through the barrier ment for r12. This caused all sort of problems.

Maybe they picked a leaky gas to top the ball off.

Hopefully I didn't misuse "molecule," Dr J. :-)

[Captain Hate]

Kevin Williamson:

About That 20-Week Abortion Bill

Very compelling.

Yes it is. I am not a zealot on abortion but if that chinless two-bit attorney thinks that we're "a nation of cowards on race", I don't know what the proper word is to characterize the massive evasions implicit in the term "pro choice".

[Stephanie De Nile is a river in Progtopia]

Pubegate?

Is Instagram Pubic Enemy No. 1? The photo-sharing site has been heavily criticized for deleting the account of Australian styling agency and online magazine Sticks and Stones, apparently over the pubic hair visible in this photo, reports the Daily Dot. Agency co-founder Ainsley Hutchence describes the photo of two sisters in swimsuits as one of the most natural she has ever posted and says a male equivalent would never have been censored.

...

"She notes that with a Justin Bieber ad made specifically for Instagram, pubic hair was actually Photoshopped in."

Photoshop in pubes on Justin Bieber. LOL. Is that a banana in his pocket, too?

http://www.newser.com/story/201573/instagram-bans-account-for-showing-models-pubes.html

[henry]

Daddy, the Saudis have a Crown Prince (Salmen) and a backup to him who both moved up a step in the depth chart. Any games are for who is next at #3.

[Threadkiller]

Since NASCAR was mentioned please feel free to look up Smokey Yunick and see what the rules meant to him.

Later.

[DrJ]

They used Argon.

I'm pretty sure that Argon follows ideal gas behavior pretty well.

[daddy]

Thanks Henry.

Liz Cheney just said the one to watch in the new hierarchy is the son of the Crown Prince you mention, who apparently has already been wielding a lot of power and is up and coming.

[Extraneus]

Thou shalt not shave the pubis.

[Captain Hate]

There's a rule against applying a foreign substance to the baseball; the remedy is ejection from the game. Gaylord Perry was first ejected for violating the rule after 20 years in the bigs.

I sat in the bleachers a number of times when Perry pitched and the way the ball dropped, when he allegedly loaded it up, was just incredible particularly at a high speed. I have no idea how he did it because, for whatever reason, they could never detect any illegal substance.

He didn't have to do it many times to get inside the heads of the hitters because they were completely off balance as far as anticipating where the ball is going and hence at a distinct disadvantage. I guess I should have admired him for his craft and guile but ultimately I thought he was a jerk.

[Skoot]

SuperBall gate is of little concern to me but it seems the spec is lacking if it doesn't allow for a + - condition during the game. If not, it's a "don't care".

Unless the league can produce tangible evidence that somebody tampered with the balls it's nonsense and the Pats should tell them to f off.

And then go put Russell Wilson in need of some Ocare.

[pagar]

This may be why we're getting deeper in debt.

http://www.steynonline.com/6769/were-gonna-need-a-longer-motorcade

"accompanied by 65 agents of the United States Secret Service to at least one of the events."

[Giselle]

--Jeb's wife looks like a midget.--

Little People, Big World.

[Giselle]

--They used Argon.--

Considering the score the Colts should have used krypton.

[NKvirusedand back]

As you acknowledge JiB, NFL by-laws and League rules are the 'law' of the League and enforceable by contractual obligation. You believe the NFL laws to be a sham and a joke that they only honor in the breach. I personally agree with that. And that's a shame, the rules for the USA's top sport are a sham and a joke. Baseball too had dark days pre-1919 and post - Fay Vincent when the owners decided keeping up with the NFL was more important than the Game. Baseball has buried the facts about PEDs, but they did clean up the game during the past decade with real testing. So I am comfortable being a baseball fan, not the NFL.

[Ignatz]

I'm not feeling transgendered normative anymore.

[Stephanie De Nile is a river in Progtopia]

Had the stress test today.

So I go in and they do a ct scan and the electrodes don't register a reading so they adjust them and the tech says "there you are we were beginning to think you were an artifact." Nerd humor.

Move to nuclear where they do the stress test and they insert the iv station and the tech says this will make you feel weird as she starts the injection of the stimulant. They ask me a few questions and I totally zone out. Evidently my BP shot through the roof and then totally crashed. When I came to they said I was out for over a minute and I notice they have the chair reclined and my feet elevated. The radiologist is ashen and says that's never happened to her before and the nurse says "watch when she stands up there's gonna be a brown stain on the back of her lab coat." Everyone relaxes and they inject the radioactive stuff and shuffle me off to watch Belichick on espn for an hour then I go get a pet scan and go home.

All in all a really fun day. NOT. at least I didn't make the 25% that have to do the stress test twice - her coat might have been toast then.

[Captain Hate]

What rule did the Redskins and Cowboys violate here?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/cowboys-redskins-statements-salary-cap-hits-reveal-nfl-161347029.html

[daddy]

Thanks Pagar,

65 Secret Service Agents sent to protect Hillary for a speech she gave in Saskatchewan?

Gad.

In the link, Mark Steyn tells us that when the Queen of England does the same thing, she does it with just a handful of bodyguards.

So who does America send to the funeral of King Abdullah? James Taylor?

[centralcal]

I agree - Mrs. Bush looks like a midget.

The new Saudi King Salman per twitter is in ill health, suffering from Alzheimers. Oh boy.

[Stephanie De Nile is a river in Progtopia]

So who does America send to the funeral of King Abdullah? James Taylor?

I vote Barbra Streisand. :)

[Captain Hate]

65 Secret Service Agents sent to protect Hillary for a speech she gave in Saskatchewan?

Tammy Bruce was talking about this earlier today. I assume most of them are there to protect Slick from lamps being thrown at him.

[NKvirusedand back]

Salary Cap rules, as interpreted by the League Comissioner and enforced by the powers the teams gave to the Commissioner in League by-laws. If the Commisioner exceeds or violates his authority, the by-laws provide for a dispute resolution process. In reality, the owners mostly police themselves informally. But in matters like SpyVideoGate and salary cap shenanigans where one owner attempts to get an advantage over the other owners, the majority will have the Commissioner do their dirty work. Not so much of that since Al Davis lost touch with reality. How many times did he sue Rozelle and Tagliabue?

[henry]

Send Chucky Schumer.

[Captain Hate]

How do you violate a non existent cap with deals which were all submitted to and approved by the league?

[Cecil Turner]

Okay, I know I swore never to do public arithmetic, but . . .
Assuming volume remains constant (close enough for gov't work I'd guess) the equation devolves to P=kT, so a 70/50 temperature ratio would result in a 530/510 modifier(+460 to convert to Rankine) which gives about a .96 ratio or a 12 psi ball from a 12.5 start. By my calculations, it'd take about 147 degrees to lose two psi from a starting point of 12.5. Anybody else check the professor's double-ought ciphering?

[NKvirusedand back]

When the Commissioner so rules within his authority. If the League members find the Commisioner to be abusive and violate their due process rights, they can dismiss the Commissioner. Instead these guys pay him $40M/year. Go figure.

[Cecil Turner]

Oh, never mind. You gotta use total pressure (add in 14.7 before the calculation, then subtract it out at the end). The prof got it right, and I shoulda trusted him. (Jethro wouldn't have, though, and I aspire to double-nought status.)

And again, eschewing public arithmetic is obviously the wiser course.

[Janet - healthy and jolly as a joker!]

Wonderful link at 6:50, Jane.

this bit made me smile - "I had the uniquely American experience of playing high-school football in West Texas (for what was the losingest team in our district’s history; we were everybody’s homecoming game, and I still expect to experience pain every time I see a mum),..."

and Amen, Captain - "but if that chinless two-bit attorney thinks that we're "a nation of cowards on race", I don't know what the proper word is to characterize the massive evasions implicit in the term "pro choice"."

[Skoot]

Everything leaks. Even glass to metal seals have a leak rate. What's allowable per the rule. Do they check them all again at halftime every game? And if some are off so what. Replace them. And I'd want contemporaneous data sheets and photo's of every serial number with the gauge reading at the t minus 2 hr collection.

I'm guessing 2 psi (if that's correct for all I know it's 0.2 the way people misreport basic data)is significant, > 6 sigma delta, but maybe it's not. I don't know.

If I were to tamper with the balls that's how I would do it, the loss rate. If there is no allowable loss defined and no control lot, good to go.

[Ben]

"If I were to tamper with the balls that's how I would do it, "

Oh! Wish you had edit control.

[Captain Hate]

Here we go:

http://weaselzippers.us/211885-former-sen-evan-bayh-feinsteins-aides-first-spied-on-the-cia-and-swiped-documents/

[Danube on iPad]

"Or give me back all those Yankes WS wins under A-Rod."

I think the number would be "one."

Guys, guys: it's the Toy Department. Loosen your underwear.

[narciso]

the Huntress does have a way with words.

the Panetta Review, which was the key to that report, is typical of the intelligence
product that Sen. King was touting, wrong, illogical and out of date,

it's striking how the novel I've been referring all week, centers on a Ba'yah council, (succession committee) back in 2011, with a very thinly veiled antagonist

[Captain Hate]

This may or may not come in handy at the sentencing:

http://weaselzippers.us/211862-de-blasio-praises-top-ny-democrat-after-hes-charged-with-taking-millions-of-dollars-in-bribes-calls-him-a-man-of-integrity/

[Dave (in MA)]

In 2007 the Pats got in trouble for videotaping from the sidelines during a game, against league rules that specify that it can only be done from certain areas of the stadium.

This shows why the league doesn't allow videotaping from the sidelines.

[narciso]

Yes, cue the Who:

In November 2002, Prince Salman said that his country was not responsible if "some change the work of charity into work of evil".[32][clarification needed] He stated that he had personally taken part in the activities of those organizations.[32] He also added "I know the assistance goes to doing good. But if there are those who change some work of charity into evil activities, then it is not the kingdom's responsibility, nor its people, which helps its Arab and Muslim brothers around the world."[32]

[MarkO]

"He missed the tag. He missed the tag!"

[Ben]

Sports, especially amateur (guffaw !) have been perceived by the public as sanctified ground. Despite the above and underground betting empire, it's seen as the one thing a normal guy can rely as true and genuine. When the White Sox scandal broke, it broke many hearts including one newsboy who asked 'Tell me it ain't so, Joe'

Yeah, the kid was a Chicago fan, but I still think many who lost their cherry that year never recovered. We keep hope alive though.

[narciso]

the new crown prince, who is a youthful 69, was Bandar's predecessor as Spy chief,

[narciso]

the candidates they proffer to us, are at
best blanc mange,

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/01/22/saral-palin-lights-up-shot-show-n1946902?

[Stephanie De Nile is a river in Progtopia]

Jim Gray says the nfl needs to hire ball watchers.

[narciso]

a parallel to consider, which isn't terribly reassuring, Sadat was supported by Kamal Adham, who eased him out of the Soviet orbit, his successor Prince Turki
was less sympathetic to this trend

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/01/egyptian-leader-el-sisi-at-davos-islam-is-in-need-of-religious-revolution/

[rich@gmu]

evening all ...

Salman is the last of the politically active Sudairi Seven. about 80 (and their is one younger brother who has been sidelined). Abdullah was from a different faction of the royal family.

Yikes.

[narciso]

the last time there was a transition, to King Abdullah, was when the first phase of AQAP had been quieted down, before the breakout, and the Gitmo transfers, Al Shehri, Al Rubbaish, et al, that replenished the organization,

[Janet - healthy and jolly as a joker!]

This is funny...related to absolutely nothing. https://scontent-b-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10931111_10152668195318581_4886787674818866586_n.jpg?oh=98dd2a2f4816f09e39b984337b3c4dea&oe=55646C75

[Jane on Ipad]

Are you guys watching Megyn?

1. Walker is on talking foreign policy (and doing well)

2. He follows John Bolton who made me want to hide under the bed.

[rich@gmu]

Abdullah was crown prince and regent because Fahd had had a stroke and wasn't even in the Kingdom for the last years of his life (think he died in Switzerland).

[rich@gmu]

Jim Gray would probably want to be the ball watcher ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-fIn2QZgg

no one linked this yet ...

[Jane on Ipad]

That made me laugh Janet.

[rich@gmu]

great link Janet ... cute kitty ...

[narciso]

lol, that kitten will be waiting a while,

[boatbuilder]

Since my good friends NK-- who claims he doesn't watch the NFL and doesn't care about it anymore but is really just a bitter Jets fan--and CH, who is a Browns fan (need I say more), and Miss Marple, a Colts fan-- have had their say, I feel that it is only fair that I, a Proud Patriots Fan, rise in their defense.

1) Before Sunday night, had anyone ever heard that there was an NFL rule that governed the inflation pressure of the balls? Why had their never been any controversy or issue in the last 50 years of NFL football? Because the league doesn't care--the rule is simply a guideline, to ensure that the balls are good to go.

2) Does anyone really think that Bill Belichek deliberately orchestrated the manipulation of the footballs after the refs examined them so that he could gain the alleged slight advantage which might accrue from the minimally softer feel of the ball, as opposed to perhaps spending his considerable evil manipulative powers on more important things like drugging the Colts linebackers, salting their Gatorade, and stealing their game plan? He is in your heads, folks.

3. How many of you know that there are (at least) 4 different sets of balls used for each game--actually more? Each kicker for each team gets to select, work with and provide for the game his own preferred footballs, as does each QB. Why is this the rule--because the league wants their players to perform at their best--what that means is that the QB's are basically given carte blanch to do what they need to do to make sure the balls are comfortable for them. This means that Aaron Rogers pumps his footballs way up, as he told Simms and Nance, and Tom Brady deflates them, as he's made no secret that that's the way he prefers them. They sand them, soak them, bake them and dry them. All allowed and in fact encouraged by the league.

Is anyone aware of any record of the refs ever rejecting the balls that the team gives them before the game? Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Why is the specification a 1 lb. range rather than a specific spec.?

Why hasn't the NFL issued any findings yet? What the hell are they waiting for? They have all sorts of camera shots from all sorts of angles of every part of the game, including the sidelines. They haven't even talked to Brady yet. They know who the refs were, the ball boys, the equipment people--how complicated can it be? My uninformed (and pom-pom waving) guess--the pre-game ball check does not and did not involve guys in lab coats armed with calibration devices and pressure gauges--it involves the side judge, or one of the less important referees, looking at the balls, squeezing them and saying "OK." (The refs, like Belichek and Brady, have a lot of stuff to think about and take care of leading up to the game). Hence the balls that were given to the refs before the game, checked and given back to the Pats were the same "underinflated" balls that were used in the game. Because it really wasn't a big deal.

That Colts guy who said he thought the ball was soft when he intercepted it so he took it to the refs seems to contradict his teammates who say they first thought about and allegedly complained in November (when they also got their asses whipped, by the way) and the others who say they were tipped off by the Ravens. This was a set-up a la George Brett and the pine tar. Nobody cared about it until they thought they could use it, when they needed to, to throw the Pats off their game. Too bad it didn't work out that way.

If the NFL had complaints before the game from anyone that the balls were allegedly being manipulated, then shame on the NFL for not cracking down (if that's really a threat to "the integrity of the game") before the game and issuing a loud and clear edict that no ball tampering in any fashion would be tolerated-or if you prefer the inside job, a timely word to the wise from Goodell to Kraft that the gig was up and knock it off. Instead--assuming the NFL was told (and if this is so awful, why wouldn't the other teams have complained before?)--they decided that they wanted to catch the Pats in the dastardly act--on National TV in the second-biggest game of the season (OK third) thus guaranteeing a full-blown circus and another serious PR problem for the league? I don't think even the NFL is that dumb (although their conduct of the "investigation", on the heels of the Ray Rice thing, does give one pause)

Occams Razor says the refs didn't test the balls, just approved them. No conspiracy, no scandal, no unfair advantage and, yes, nothing to blame Darth Hoodie for.

Having gotten that off my chest I am heading out for several drinks. Good night all.

[Captain Hate]

In other Sooper Bowl snooooze, apparently the NFL is contemplating fining Marshawn Lynch mega bucks if he doesn't give in to the media extravaganza and give three interviews. And that apparently means three not nonsensical repetitious responses.

I'm of two minds about this. On one hand it can arguably be stated that part of what he's being paid for is to make himself available for this crap no matter how painful/useless he finds it to be. On the other hand, what do they really expect from him? He's not very smart or personable and for there to be expectations of something reasonably rational or insightful is Mission Highly Improbable.

Welp I guess we'll see what happens.

[narciso]

If Goodell was less of preening popinjay, I'd have more confidence in the league,