You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
DEFLATE GATE.
With the Superbowl a week away, the propaganda machine is revved up like a teenage boy at the prom.
DEFLATE GATE? It’s raw hide Water Gate. It’s CSI about PSI.
Everyone knows that winners never cheat and cheaters never win. But that’s a fairy tale. Cheaters win all the time and it kind of sucks.
A football under inflated by half a pound. At 1st glance that seems like a so what. It’s not like you’re pulling aces from the bottom of the deck.
A half of pound of air in a football? That’s not cheating is it?
I would say yes.
If a football is softer, it’s easier to hold. If it’s softer it’s easier to catch. If one team is using an under inflated football and the other team is not, the team with the pig skin with less air has an advantage.
In politics more hot air gives you the advantage. Apparently in the NFL less air is the key.
HEADLINE: 11 of 12 footballs used by the Patriots against the Colts in the AFC championship game were under-inflated.
If true, the Patriots cheated. If the Patriots cheated, they had a competitive advantage.
Did it make a difference? On the field? To the legacy of an elite organization?
The Patriots won by 38 points. Did half a pound of air help the Patriots ass whoop the Colts by 38 points?
Maybe, but probably not.
The Patriots would have beat the Colts if they played with oven mitts. The Colts left their hearts in Denver the week before.
The Colts looked like microwaved cheese before the game started.
I’m hardly surprised they laid an egg.
The Colts were a cream puff melting in the hot sun of the Patriot’s glow.
I’m not sure half a pound of pressure made Tom Brady’s passes more accurate, but they might have.
I’m not sure it helped the running back squeeze the ball tighter on tough runs at the goal line, but it might have.
The bigger issue for me is why?
Why did the organization feel the need to do it?
Prior to the game, the officials checked the balls. The officials give those balls back to the teams to use throughout the game. What happens to those properly inflated balls after the team takes possession is on the team.
NFL officials now believe the footballs that were properly inflated before the game were under inflated by a pound or so by game time.
An under-inflated football is easier to hold, easier to throw, easier to catch.
The weather was wet and an under-inflated ball could be a competitive advantage in wet weather.
An ESPN commentator said “Was it worth it?”
The Patriots were the better team on Sunday.
“Was it worth it to their legacy? to be known as cheaters?”
Getting to the Super Bowl should be a celebration of accomplishment. 32 teams tried to punch their ticket.
Only the Patriots and Seahawks are going to the show.
And now Patriot players and this organization are subjected to conversations about deflated footballs instead of accomplishments.
So what? Big deal?
This is not the 1st time the Patriots have been penalized for cheating.
A few years ago, the organization and Bill Belichick were fined for Spy Gate, accused of stealing the Jets defensive signals.
Why did they need to do that?
It would now appear the man inside the hoodie a serial cheater? Instead of bust in Canton, he should have a mug shot in the Foxboro Post Office.
Super Bowl week is all about the hype.
Oh there’s going to be hype all right.
This is going to be a major story that burns like chilli you don’t stir.
This story is going to monopolize the conversation like an only child at Christmas.
Deflate Gate is going to stink and ferment and fester.
It’s going to stink like skunk and soil the integrity of the moment.
By media day, the questions will rain down upon the Patriots like an avalanche of uncomfortable.
It’s going to feel like someone washed their jocks with lawn fertilizer.
What should be fun for the guys, answering silly questions in a media circus will instead feel like persecution.
Did you cheat? Why did you cheat? Is your coach a maniacal serial cheater?
Instead of answering questions about the game, the guys are going to be answering questions about integrity and honor.
Media Day is going to turn into a cathedral of allegations where sinners are cast out of heaven by the high and holy media.
Deflate Gate is going to chafe like a blow up doll at a sex addiction clinic.
The issue is not going away.
Should Belichek get fined? Fired?
He should be forced to go to a 12 step program for addicts and liars.
He should be forced to do charity events for the cub scouts and made to recite the oath.
Maybe the NFL should make Belichick wear an orange jump suit and pick up trash on the side of the interstate.
At the end of the day, Half a pound of air could weigh heavily on an organization under fire.
Life’s Crazy™