Sorta Kinda Clearing Tom Brady

The authors, who have successfully rebutted an earlier NFL investigation, think the DeflateGate investigation was too flawed to conclude with reasonable confidence that the Patriots cheated. For example:

The Wells report’s main finding is that the Patriots balls declined in pressure more than the Colts balls did in the first half of their game, and that the decline is highly statistically significant. For the sake of argument, let’s grant this finding for now. Even still, it alone does not prove misconduct. There are, after all, two possibilities. The first is that the Patriots balls declined too much. The second — overlooked by the Wells report — is that the Colts balls declined too little.

The latter possibility appears to be more likely. 

Apparently the Colts' balls were measured later during half-time, so they had more of a chance to warm to room temperature. Also, the refs were used two different gauges to initially inflate the balls before the game and then to re-check them at half-time. The gauges don't quite agree, so...

For example, there is considerable uncertainty concerning the actual pressure of the footballs. The N.F.L. official who checked the pressure before the game used some combination of two pressure gauges to measure the Patriots and Colts balls, but it is not known which particular combination.

One of the gauges, as the report notes, records pressures that are higher than the other. If the official used that gauge to measure the Patriots balls (but not the Colts balls) pregame, then those balls may well have started out with too little air, which could explain a later appearance of intentional deflation. The report, however, does not consider that possibility.

None of which proves the Patriots are as pure as the driven snow, but it creates what may seem like reasonable doubt. Or at least, give the Commissioner an excuse to cut Brady's penalty.

Comments

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Free Mumia Brady

[henry]

Pure as the driven snowplow.

what Brady sticks up his nose was not examined.

[narciso]

needs deflating:

http://therightscoop.com/washington-post-puts-out-bogus-poll-numbers-on-campus-sexual-assault/

[glasater]

Inflated balls again? Oh Dear!

[narciso]

the right degree of ridicule:

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2015/06/12/friday-fun-lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous-narrator-mocks-nyt-over-rubio-hit-piece-n2011666?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Please, new thread, stat!

[narciso]

even more air let out:

http://www.weaselzippers.us/226330-authors-of-fbi-study-backtrack-mass-shootings-not-on-increase/

[DrJ]

Tommorow's interview in the WSJ is with the President of Hillsdale College. It is worth reading.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/liberal-arts-for-conservative-minds-1434148641

[narciso]

well lets give them more then:

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/06/us-export-subsidy-program-analysis-gulf-companies.html#

[Porchlight]

Even if Saints officials offered “bounties,” there was no good evidence that Saints players were influenced by them.

1. Gregg Williams admitted to everything. 2. Offering bribes is still illegal, even if the offerees don't take you up on it or don't succeed in achieving payout.

[matt]

not again......

[Miss Marple]

I was bored tonight and didn't want to work.

I suddenly feel drawn to eBay postings.

[narciso]

I gave a few examples of mismeasuring, more significant than the Patriot kerfluffle, I could have added the cya re Bostian,

[Stephanie]

Y'all seen the below unphotoshopped pic?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHVoCtcUsAA2GYL.jpg

[Porchlight]

MM, I'm watching Antiques Roadshow. ;)

[narciso]

homer nods:

https://twitter.com/verumserum/status/609495928051888128

[Thomas Wells]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/opinion/a-crisis-at-the-edge-of-physics.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fgray-matter&contentCollection=opinion&action=click&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article

Just below the Brady article is a link to another NY Times piece that describes explanations in physics that, while elegant, aren't backed by the scientific method. It sounds as if Ted Wells Report aficionados and supporters of supersymmetry and multiverse hypotheses have something in common: Lack of proof shouldn't get in the way of insistence of the truth of what is being propounded.

[narciso]

evidence independent science, that's full vizzini,
what is their basis for that conjecture,

[Stephanie]

The reffing in that game just sucked. 0-0. BS

[henry]

Narciso, must be trans-science or something.

[henry]

Stephanie, the play was equally dull. Especially the U.S. In Sweden's penalty area.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Hahahahahahahaaahahaahahaaahhhaaaa!

[Thomas Wells]

In any event, my predictions are as follows:

(i) Deflategate: Goodell reduces suspension to two games, and Brady and the NFLPA both grimace and bear it (no filing in federal court).

(ii) Multiverse: In the first other universe validated by empirical observation, the JOM equivalent is called Just One Millenium (perhaps a more accurate moniker than the one used in our own universe).

(iii) Supersymmetry: Found to exist only in the case of Sophia Loren's, er, . . . TWO . . . SIDES.

[Thomas Collins]

I can't believe it. I inadvertently used Wells as part of my stage name. Perhaps I am a little too obsessed with psi matters.

[maryrose]

Mr Dobbs
We have returned to the land of beating the dead horse
How about some new voices on Bradygate
Without a tape showing the balls being deflated I think a two game suspension. Steelers get all the. breaks. ne

[Threadkiller]

Why did McNally and Jastremski get punished?

[Porchlight]

I could still tell it was you, TC. ;)

[Stephanie]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=983651065009030&set=gm.1662376063992706&type=1&theater

This is good.

[Jeff Dobbs]

Just think: this could be all everyone talks about at Jane's party tomorrow. TC, I'm counting on you...

[Miss Marple]

Stephanie, that link doesn't show up for me.

[narciso]

link doesn't work, Steph, multiverse, covers bearded spock, bizarro, and other alternative
worlds, Crichton posited it as an explanation for time travel, avoiding the asimov paradox, one could never return to their own timeline,

[Miss Marple]

The complete ad handy chart for discerning microaggressions. (This is not a joke; this is actually from a book!) What it should be titled is "How To Be Insulted By Everything."

http://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/seminars/Tool_Recognizing_Microaggressions.pdf

[DrJ]

For those who don't recognize the acronyms, "UCOP" is the "University of California Office of the President." It is the administrative head of all of the UC campuses. It is located in Oakland, of all places.

[narciso]

well I'm insulted by a book like that, OT, Ewok is embarking on Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49,

[DrJ]

And these days UCOP == Janet Napolitano.

[Frau 156 cm]

Miss M - that list is incomplete; it does not include being short.

[narciso]

actually that's TM, of course there are other absurd conjectures, like Peter Baker, thinking Iraq is about what Zaphod feels, Comandante Krugman, well thinking isn't the right word, is it,

[BB Key]

narc,
My daughter has a muted horn tattoo on her left wrist

[narciso]

that book had nothing to do with my nick, a very strange exercise,

[Stephanie]

Well, dang.

It was a cartoon of the fake black chick with a sign saying "Spray Tan Lives Matter."

LOL

[Stephanie]

And she's down for the count...

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/national/police-stop-investigating-rachel-dolezals-harassme/nmcLD/?icmp=cmgcontent_internallink_relatedcontent_2014_partners2

Gravy train be drying up.

[narciso]

words, fail at the elemental level:

https://twitter.com/MiaFarrow/status/609400375599329280

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

That was the link in the link which spawned my present name a couple of days ago Miss Marple.

Could they have come up with a more appropriate name than "Tool"?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

In that Mia Farrow twitter war I read lots of put downs of her idiocy but not a single convincing argument for why it is idiocy other than the absurd claim that gender is a social construct while ethnicity isn't.

What is a social construct is normalizing aberrant, disordered thinking. The resulting chaos of messed up people and social distortions (great band BTW) is inexplicable to the ideologues who deny human nature and are either at a loss when society dissolves or they celebrate its dissolution.

[Captain Haiku]

Air is amazing
Invisible, weightless, yet
Causes all this fuss

[narciso]

that is the larger point, every aberration is celebrated, it's impossible to navigate all the categories of crimethink, imcorporated in that pamphlet, what rse calls mind arson,

[maryrose]

It's Friday so it must be time for a Brady thread
It really is déjà vi all over again

[Eric in Boise now with 52% more Melanin]

Spray Tan Lives Matter

#BlackLiesMatter
#StolenPallor

[daddy]

Dumb question: do people eat bass fish, or do they just catch them for sport?

Napoleon Dynamite answers this important question:

.

[maryrose]

daddy
Where are you now

[Eric in Boise]

Napoleon Dynamite answers this important question:

So does this guy:

[daddy]

Hi Maryrose,

I'm back at Jane's house.

After Kiwi's exciting dog poop episode this morning, Caro and I decided to ride into Cape Cod for a tour of her boat. That was wonderful. Beautiful weather, and it took us an hour and a half to get there, but we had so much fun just jabbering back and forth that we never noticed the time.

She has a beautiful 30 foot sailboat, built in 1955, that is docked in a very picturesque 200 year old Marina. It's the ship she sailed solo over to Europe and back a decade ago in, and she has been recently sanding and repainting it to keep it shipshape, so we climbed onboard and she showed me her empty paint buckets and where she had run out of paint yesterday, and I finally figured out what all the white smudges on her tanned legs were from. Much fun wandering around her Marina, and listening to her explain Marina ops: (i.e.) who owns what, launching, 'no-see-ems', where she 'Kiwis' and bathes, etc, but we had to bail out of there quick before her 98 year old boyfriend came out and clobbered me for putting' the moves on his "friend who is a girl." (BTW, Caro has purple Crocs on her boat!)

Then we zipped off to somewhere else beautiful on the Cape, where we ate marvelous scallops and clams, chased with Arnold Palmers (Ice Time and Lemon-aid mix), before she gave me a tour of a much bigger Marina. Apparently one of the Marina rules is that if you are a gal wearing real short pants you can disregard the "Do Not Enter" barriers, so Caro boldly disregarded the "Do Not Enter" barriers and led us over to some excellent viewing of the various boats undergoing maintenance, and then she explained the particulars of what the worker bees were doing. She'd point at this upright thing and that lengthwise thing, and then started spitting out Aubrey/Maturin terms like "spars, stays, jibs, yards, reefing, topsails and bosun's chairs," so casual like, that you'd swear she was Patrick O'Brian as your tour guide. Tons o' fascinating info came roaring into my ears and out the other, but even some stuck. Great fun, and you would all have enjoyed it enormously.

Then we toured Woods Hole and watched the Barney Franks ferrys ply Cape Cod to Martha's Vinyard, and we pulled out a map and she described in detail and fun the journey she and Jane had a few years back sailing to Nantucket, and she explained the challenges in dealing with headings and currents and shallows when sailing thru' the Woods Hole gap on out to Limerick-land. Her ferry's, BTW, were adequate, but IMHO didn't hold a candle to our $78 Million Ice-Breaking Ferryboat, but for folks whose Salmon can't even get it right the first molting season (like our Alaskan salmon) and have to come back a second time, I suppose it was okay:(

Anyhow, then we got headed back home and clicked on the Howie Carr Radio Show, and got so wrapped up laughing at the TPA Vote getting clobbered and the wonderful calls and commentaries, that we acted like those 2 Northwest Pilots who fell asleep en-route Minneapolis, and we blew right by whatever Sturbridge exit we were supposed to take, and we wound up 50 miles north on some traffic clobbered highway, and we didn't even notice since we were having such a fun time laughing and reminiscing about smoking pot with Robert Redford, until Caro's cel-phone rang and Jane wanted to know where the hell we were, so Caro turned on her phone Garmin and discovered we were like almost to Vermont, so we whipped around near Wooster and hustled homeward.

Then we met Jane and went out chowing at some wonderful nearby joint, (macaroni and lobster) and then upon exiting captured a frog in the parking lot as dessert for Bubbles the Python, but Jane's legal buddy Amy suggested we turn it loose in the bug garden, so we did. Then we came home and had a nightcap and the girls and Kiwi disappeared a couple hours ago upstairs, and I have tried to catch-up and sober up ever since, but have failed both tasks miserably.

G'nite.

[daddy]

.

[daddy]

QUIZ TIME: Who's got the best 'Doo?

A) Napoleon Dynamite:

B) NAACP chick:

C) Orphan Annie:

D) Hendrix:

E) Einstein:

-------------------------------------

[daddy]

The envelope please..

.

And the winner is...

Jane's dog, KIWI!!!

[Jane on Ipad]

That is NOT kiwi! Harrumph!

[anonamom]

How did I miss that yesterday morning's defecation saga was about Kiwi??? NOW I get it!

You all keep on having a great time in Sturbridge.

I was going to write "you guys," being from Michigan and all, because that is how we include multiple people, but apparently it's this week's designated microaggression used by the oppressors. So instead, I'll substitute the term far more likely to have been used by people who were slave owners.

What a world we live in!

[Extraneus]

WaPo:

New questions arise about House Democratic caucus’s loyalty to Obama

Cheers rang out Thursday evening when President Obama made a surprise visit to the annual congressional baseball game at National Park. Thousands of Democratic staffers began to chant: “O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!” More unexpectedly, Republican lawmakers and staffers, who have been locked in battle with the president for more than six years, began a cheer of their own: “TPA, TPA!” they chanted, voicing approval for Obama’s trade promotion agenda.

Obama flashed the GOP side a thumbs up.

Inside the Democratic dugout, according to several senior aides and lawmakers, the president’s usual allies were appalled by the scene: He was waving to Republicans in approval of trade legislation that most of them opposed.

A day later, the Democratic team threw the president a curveball by blocking his high-stakes bid to win fast-track authority to complete a sweeping, multinational Pacific Rim free-trade accord. For Obama, who has staked enormous personal credibility and political capital on the effort, the loss on Friday represented a major setback on a key presidential priority and renewed questions in Washington about his relationship with the House Democratic caucus.

Oh brother.

[Extraneus]

Republican operative sentenced to 2 years in landmark election case

Under questioning from U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, Tyler Harber said: “I’m guilty of this. I knew it was wrong when I did it.” But Harber said he was not motivated by greed or a lust for power — he simply wanted to win an election and believed that what he was doing was a common, if illegal, practice.

“I got caught up in what politics has become,” said Harber, 34, a resident of Alexandria.

Harber, who managed the unsuccessful 2012 congressional campaign of Chris Perkins in Northern Virginia — admitted in February that he helped create a super PAC and arranged for it to buy $325,000 in ads to help Perkins’s campaign, then lied to the FBI about his misdeeds. Federal prosecutors hailed Harber’s guilty plea and sentence as “an important step forward in the criminal enforcement of federal campaign finance laws,” and they indicated that they are ramping up scrutiny of the close ties between political campaigns and their ostensibly independent supporters.

...

“I think the department is trying to deliver a very clear message that it affirmatively wants to bring criminal-coordination cases and it is simply looking for the right opportunities to do so,” said Robert Kelner, who heads the political law practice at Covington & Burling.

Kenneth Gross, a former associate general counsel at the FEC, called the department’s posture “a shot across the bow.”

“This shows they are willing to venture into areas of criminal enforcement in the 2016 election, beyond what they had done previously,” Gross said.

I wonder if any Democrats might offer the "right opportunity."

(Just kidding.)

[Janet]

We wouldn't want any coordination. It's not like the "war on women" was used by Dems., the MFM, abortion groups, feminist groups,...
No coordination there.

[James D.]

The thing about the article Ext links is that the guy knew he was breaking the law. And there's this from the article:

In addition to admitting illegal coordination, Harber conceded that his super PAC — which was donor-funded — paid $138,000 to his mother’s company for work that was never performed and used $118,000 of that cash for personal expenses.

No question that's a real crime. And, were I one of his donors, I would be totally onboard with nailing him to the wall for it.

But I want to see Dems who do the same things on a vastly bigger scale get punished as well. If what this guy did warrants 2 years in jail, Hillary and Bill ought to be in jail for about 2 centuries.

[Beasts of England]

I was just checking in for daddy's scatological status and all I got was Brady's balls...

[Marlene on the phone]

Sounds like the Sturbridge meet up is lots of fun!
Beautiful day in the Maine woods.

[Jack is Back!]

What the hell is going on in Dallas?

Guy pulls up to Police HQ in an armored van and shoots up the joint.

[Jack is Back!]

Standoff in Hutchins, TX at a Jack-in-the-Box parking lot.

Looks like the guy is pissed about losing custody of his son and blames the cops.

[Extraneus]

Rachel Dolezal Once Told A Student She Did Not Look Hispanic Enough For A Class Activity.

In the first round of Fishbowl, the student said Dolezal sought out a volunteer of Hispanic background to be questioned.

The student, who told BuzzFeed News that she identifies as Hispanic, grew up in a Spanish-speaking country, speaks the language fluently, and, while she has light skin, believes she has a “pretty solid experience of what it’s like to be Spanish.” She raised her hand to participate.

“I think we should ask another student,” the student recalled Dolezal saying in class.

The student asked why she could not participate.

“Rachel said I didn’t look Hispanic,” she said, and that her instructor “doubted that I could share experiences of racial or ethnic discrimination because I didn’t have the appearance of looking Hispanic.”

[Jack is Back!]

The Daily Mail:

The armoured van is believed to be a 'Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle and Troop Transport' sold last month by Georgia-based Jenco Sales Inc.

Zombies!

[henry]

That was a real Van? Next you'll tell me the x-ray glasses I never ordered from comic books work as advertised.

[Beasts of England]

Ye of little faith, henry!

[Jack is Back!]

henry,

Scroll down for the van. It's real:)

http://heavy.com/news/2015/06/dallas-police-shootout-shooting-suspects-texas-attack-armored-vehicle-car-video-explosives-suspect-injuries-photos/

[Beasts of England]

Clearly we need to enact some common sense armored van restrictions.

[henry]

Beasts, at least a waiting period. That one sold on Wednesday.

[Beasts of England]

Without a federal background check, I'm sure.

[Skoot]

The van apparently failed the Barret .50 caliber test.

[Jeff Dobbs]

No turd report?

[Ben Zaynus]

(_!_)

.oOo.

[Ben Zaynus]

(_!_)
`/|\
/ | \

[Skoot]

NYT:

Mrs. Clinton has yet to put forth a clear rationale for her candidacy since announcing in a brief online video that she would run for the Democratic nomination...

...though the forecast of scattered thunderstorms could affect turnout...

it's the weather, yeah that's the ticket.

and Master Hillary has been honing her skills at the Shaolin Temple

She has defined her campaign as taking on “four fights,”

She's going to need all seven when Master Mayor Mike upends her apple cart.

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

As I recall, after NAFTA was passed the US experienced ~14 years of exceptional economic expansion and low unemployment with rising wages above entry level jobs, interrupted by a very mild recession.

The one export from Mexico that the lefties seem to endorse wholeheartedly, illegal immigrants, is the one most responsible for low wages among the lower rungs of the ladder.

Why is it lefties are citizens of the world in all ways except trade? Perversely, it's not because free trade doesn't work, but because it does.

[Ben is DANA GILBERT WARD FUKWAD]

Apparently the perp didn't know about Kevlar, and Dana Gilbert Ward wasn't aware that sexually assaulting his own children is illegal.
Touche. Someone told me Dana Gilbert Ward assaulted 3 students.

[daddy]

No turd report?

Jane says to tell you that Kiwi pinched another loaf this morning. Sez it was "light brown, and juicy."

She'd tell you herself except that she and Caro are whipping up Guacamole and chicken stuff.

TMI?

[Cispigmented Heteronormative Microagressive Ignatz]

Could we stop with the pedophile crap already?

[anonamom]

Apparently, letting children lacking self control to be undisciplined isn't working out too well in St. Paul.
(And it sounds like they are encouraging the teachers to racially profile the students!)

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/06/02/minnesota-teachers-revolt-against-5-years-of-white-privilege-training/

[AliceH]

is there a known problem with the narcisolator? Mine was working but now it isn't. Or, rather, some bits work (so it's definitely installed, active and being invoked) but the core code (the trollhammering function) stopped either yesterday or day before.

I'm using FF v38.0.05

[Rocco]

Here's how I see it...1. The Ravens told the Colts to complain about the footballs because John Harbaugh was mad Tom Brady told him to “learn the rulebook” after whining about our formations. 2. The NFL planned on checking the air pressure of the footballs before the game started. 3. The NFL risked letting the Colts play at a disadvantage in the AFC Title game if they truly thought the Patriots were gaining a competitive advantage because they wanted to trap Belichick. 4. There was only 1 ball that was 2 psi under and that's the ball that was intercepted by Jackson, the only ball they touched. The rest were 1 PSI underweight which is to be expected. Is it a strange coincidence the 1 ball they had access too was the only one that was 2 PSI’s underweight or was there foul play involved? 5. Former Jets Executive Mike Kensil who was with the Jets when Belichick bolted for the Pats is the current NFL Director of Operations. He has a long open grudge against the Patriots and was on the sidelines for the Indy game. 6. The NFL leaked false information about this investigation saying all the balls were way underweight to Chris Mortenson and then refused to comment on it any further to put the Pats under a cloud of suspicion. This sets off a week long firestorm of accusations and the leaks. The last 4 times the Pats have played the Colts, they outscored them 189-73...deflated balls, really? Goodell can't find the Rice tape but he can produce a tape of a ball boy going into a bathroom for 90 seconds. They hate us cause they ain't us! GO PATS! I think I'll name my boat the Bella Chick after the greatest coach that ever coached the game. And I love the new banner hanging in Indy.

[Cecil Turner]

I don't really want to get into this again, but . . . this is completely wrong:

The report, however, does not consider that possibility.

The report considers that possibility at considerable length, with various permutations of which gauge was used when. The "Colts balls declined too little" argument is similarly flawed.

It's impossible to tell exactly how much the balls' pressure should have declined, because the time spent in the warm room wasn't measured. But the "too little" argument is based on the assumption they were measured at field temperature, which is obviously false. That's why the difference in pressure change was the main finding (and why it matters how long between the measurements of the Pats and Colts ball, which is the defense the Nobel guy made, is more on point).

If you "grant this finding for now" then somebody tampered with the footballs. Either the Colts aired 'em up, or the Pats let air out. In that case, any rational person with a clue is going with McNally in the bathroom with the needle.

[(A)Nuther Bub]

Loved your trip report, daddy. Wotta day! Can't wait for tomorrow's journal.

Jane thinks that's not Kiwi but she doesn't know what fun you had doing Kiwi's coif after the ladies had gone to bed.

[boatbuilder]

I was going to say nothing at all and just look smug, but then it occurred to me that nobody can see my expression.

Cecil--"any rational person with a clue" apparently is going to ignore the fact that the science says that either no deflation occurred, or the Pats balls-which were undeniably measured at colder temps than the Colts balls-- were at most .3 PSI under at a maximum.

Doesn't Occam's Razor suggest that nothing nefarious occurred?

[Jane]

Rocco check your mail!

[Rocco]

I'll be there Jane...just need your addy

[Cecil Turner]

Doesn't Occam's Razor suggest that nothing nefarious occurred?

a) "at most .3 PSI under at a maximum" assumes they were measured at field temperature (i.e., no warming in the room)--that's not a fact, it's not even plausible--we know they warmed, just not how much;

b) My clearly stated assumption was to go with the authors' "grant this finding for now" . . . which is a significant difference in deflation.

This ain't rocket surgery . . . if there was in fact a significant difference in deflation, then the balls were tampered with. Nobel guy whose name I've forgotten (MacKinnon?) had the correct argument: a significant difference wasn't proved to a scientific certainty. He didn't claim--as these guys apparently do--that a significant difference wouldn't mean anything.

[Rocco]

Professor Belichick ended Bill Nye's career when he donned his labcoat, stepped into the lab and in 3 days proved that imbecile wrong! Is there anything this great man can't do?

[Cecil Turner]

Rocco wins. I got nuthin'.

[Jane]

It's in the email

[Rocco]

Got it Jane, thanks

Professor Belichick

[MarkO]

"any rational person with a clue" is a poor excuse for actual evidence.

Assume there is evidence, now tie that to Brady's "General Awareness."

Of what?

[Rocco]

American Enterprise Institute finds Wells Report 'deeply flawed'

The study's abstract (a one-paragraph summary of its findings) is below:

In the current “Deflategate” controversy, the New England Patriots have been accused of illicitly deflating footballs before the start of their 2015 American Football Conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. The National Football League and the lawyers it hired have produced a report — commonly known as the “Wells report” — that has been used to justify penalties against the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady. Although the Wells report finds that the Patriots footballs declined in pressure significantly more than the Colts balls in the first half of the game, our replication of the report's analysis finds that it relies on an unorthodox statistical procedure at odds with the methodology the report describes. It also fails to investigate all relevant scenarios. In addition, it focuses only on the difference between the Colts and Patriots pressure drops. Such a difference, however, can be caused either by the pressure in the Patriots balls dropping below their expected value or by the pressure in the Colts balls rising above their expected value. The second of these two scenarios seems more likely based on the absolute pressure measurements. Logistically, the greater change in pressure in the Patriots footballs can be explained by the fact that sufficient time may have passed between halftime testing of the two teams' balls for the Colts balls to warm significantly, effectively inflating them.

Mike Kensil's vendetta

NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent has said that Grigson contacted V.P. of game operations Mike Kensil (pictured) during the AFC championship, after a football that had been intercepted by linebacker D’Qwell Jackson allegedly seemed to be underinflated. That makes Kensil, a former Jets employee with a reputation for having an anti-Patriots bias, a prime candidate to have gotten the phone call from Grigson before the game.

Does anyone really believe that after the love Kraft gave Goodell over the Rice fiasco that Goodell wouldn't have, at the very least, informed Kraft that an investigation was underway? This was a sting operation without Goodell's knowledge started by that crybaby Harbaugh and his ex coach, Pagano.

[Rocco]

Now I don't know anything about Twitter or Tweets but if this Tweet by Bob Kravitz was made at 9:55, that's 8 minutes before the game ended.

Mike Kensil A league source? Before the game even ended?

[Rocco]

And another before the game ended

[Rocco]

But...the rag Kravitz works for wants us to think those Tweets were made shortly before 1:00 am. Click on the red lettered link, "tweet reporting the news" Oops!

http://www.wthr.com/story/27881499/source-tells-bob-kravitz-that-patriots-may-have-deflated-footballs-against-colts