Post by shootmenow on May 15, 2015 16:39:14 GMT -5
Jeez, even the NY Times is laughing www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/sports/football/patriots-criticize-wells-report-in-lengthy-rebuttal.html?_r=0
Patriots’ Rebuttal Is Foray Further Into Farce
MAY 14, 2015
The Patriots disputed claims about Tom Brady made in a report commissioned by the N.F.L. Credit Matt York/Associated Press
On Pro Football
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
So it has come to this. After four months of speculation and outrage, as well as an investigation costing millions of dollars and diverting attention from what would seem to be more serious matters, the focus of the N.F.L.’s air-pressure scandal has seemingly narrowed to one man — a crass, overweight jokester with a full bladder.
This was the latest contention of the New England Patriots, who said in a report issued Thursday that Jim McNally, a part-time equipment manager, referred to himself as the “deflator” only to indicate his desire to lose weight.
A report released Wednesday that was commissioned by the N.F.L. concluded that it was “more probable than not” that Brady was at least generally aware of Patriots personnel deflating footballs.
The report said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was probably aware of the deflated footballs he used against the Indianapolis Colts in the A.F.C. championship game.
Tom Brady Probably Knew Footballs Were Doctored, N.F.L. FindsMAY 6, 2015
The Patriots’ rebuttal to the investigative report compiled by Theodore V. Wells Jr. also said that McNally used a private bathroom at Gillette Stadium before the A.F.C. championship game for one minute and 40 seconds not to take air out of footballs, as the Wells report suggests, but to relieve himself. The Patriots’ rebuttal argues that 100 seconds is the length of time consistent for “a gentleman to enter a bathroom, relieve himself, wash his hands, and leave.”
From the Patriots’ standpoint, the science is indisputable. So is the fact that with each passing day it becomes harder to take the matter seriously.
This whole affair first veered toward farce before the Super Bowl, when Patriots Coach Bill Belidick said in a news conference that he was not the Mona Lisa Vito of air pressure in footballs. The saga has now slipped further, to the point that the most important issue now facing the N.F.L. would seem to be why a middle-aged employee chose to enter a bathroom — and not painful allegations that the league overlooks domestic violence, drug use and the long-term physical effects of the game.
Based on conclusions drawn in Wells’s investigation, the N.F.L. suspended Tom Brady, for four games. Brady on Thursday appealed the suspension, which will be heard by Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Brady was not shown to have deflated the footballs or orchestrated the deed, but to have been “generally aware” that McNally had “probably” deflated the balls in the bathroom. The report also noted that Brady refused to hand over his cellphone to Wells, a private citizen, for the investigation.
The Patriots countered that Brady withheld his phone on behalf of the rights of all future players who could face an investigation by the N.F.L., which has been accused of heavy-handed tactics in the past.
The Patriots’ rebuttal, which sets the team on a course directly at odds with the league, mirrored the Wells report in one way, by diminishing the impact of its arguments by including some questionable claims — most notably the deflator weight-loss argument, which only invites ridicule.
Written by the team’s lawyers, the Patriots’ rebuttal suggested that Wells led witnesses to answers that supported his conclusions, a claim certain to anger an already aggrieved Wells. On Wednesday, Wells went on a league-sponsored conference call and strenuously defended his report while dismissing questions about how much money the league paid him to produce it.
While the Wells report contained solid information, it made some assumptions — for instance, what Brady must have said in telephone conversations with an equipment manager. It used those assumptions and others to help draw conclusions that in most cases came down hard against Brady and those alleged to be his co-conspirators.
Tom Brady hired the noted antitrust lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler, who has handled significant cases for athletes against the organizations governing their sports. Credit Pool photo by Charles Krupa
Wells claimed that autographed balls and shirts given by Brady to McNally were proof of devious behavior, even though superstars in every sport spend time handing out autographed memorabilia.
“If receiving an autograph from Mr. Brady is evidence that you are being rewarded by him for his nefarious conduct,” the Patriots’ rebuttal argued, “then hundreds or even thousands of people must be part of a scheme of wrongdoing.”
In sometimes mocking tones, the Patriots matched every claim in the Wells report with one of their own, leaving readers with a bewildering amount of technical information from both sides about the air pressure of footballs.
Ali
2 hours ago
why isn't the NYT reporting this so called scientist - Roger Mackinnon - is a) not even a physicist 2) runs a company that is bank rolled by...
Eugene Gorrin
2 hours ago
Here's what the NFL should do in rebuttal to the Patriots rebuttal:Strip the Patriots of the Super Bowl Championship and declare the...
Don't Bother Me
2 hours ago
The farce is you pretentious New York clowns pretending that lowering the weight of a ball by less than that of a dollar bill made the...
The Wells report asserted that the footballs the Patriots used in the first half of the A.F.C. title game in January were, in general, significantly underinflated, while the four footballs the Colts used that were measured conformed to the guidelines.
The Patriots countered by emphasizing that only four of the Colts’ balls were measured and offered theories about why their own footballs were underinflated at halftime. Perhaps it was because the Colts kept their footballs in garbage bags on the rainy sidelines and the Patriots did not. Perhaps it was because the Patriots’ footballs were measured first, and during those 10 minutes the Colts’ balls reached equilibrium in the warmer confines of the referees’ locker room.
The Patriots also noted how they had the ball for most of the first half, especially at the end. Therefore, their footballs — the N.F.L. lets each team use its own — were subjected to far more physical abuse. Could the underinflation have been caused, the Patriots wondered, by the “different number of times” the balls were “crushed under the weight of players being tackled”?
Hmmm. Finally, the Patriots contended that league officials initially leaked inaccurate figures that said the Patriots’ balls were egregiously below the minimum air pressure at halftime. In addition, the Patriots suggested that the real and less damaging air-pressure figures were intentionally suppressed to minimize their effect on the public, and only released in conjunction with more damning text messages.
“One can only speculate,” the Patriots said, “why it was so important for the league that the accurate halftime information be withheld from the public until it was ultimately part of a report that downplayed the science and instead relied on selective texts.”
The texts themselves, of course, are at the core of the matter. So, just to add context, the Patriots provided a few more texts in their report, such as this one from McNally: “Whats up dorito dink.”
Perhaps that will be the epitaph for this affair, if it ever ends
Patriots’ Rebuttal Is Foray Further Into Farce
MAY 14, 2015
The Patriots disputed claims about Tom Brady made in a report commissioned by the N.F.L. Credit Matt York/Associated Press
On Pro Football
By DAVID WALDSTEIN
So it has come to this. After four months of speculation and outrage, as well as an investigation costing millions of dollars and diverting attention from what would seem to be more serious matters, the focus of the N.F.L.’s air-pressure scandal has seemingly narrowed to one man — a crass, overweight jokester with a full bladder.
This was the latest contention of the New England Patriots, who said in a report issued Thursday that Jim McNally, a part-time equipment manager, referred to himself as the “deflator” only to indicate his desire to lose weight.
A report released Wednesday that was commissioned by the N.F.L. concluded that it was “more probable than not” that Brady was at least generally aware of Patriots personnel deflating footballs.
The report said Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was probably aware of the deflated footballs he used against the Indianapolis Colts in the A.F.C. championship game.
Tom Brady Probably Knew Footballs Were Doctored, N.F.L. FindsMAY 6, 2015
The Patriots’ rebuttal to the investigative report compiled by Theodore V. Wells Jr. also said that McNally used a private bathroom at Gillette Stadium before the A.F.C. championship game for one minute and 40 seconds not to take air out of footballs, as the Wells report suggests, but to relieve himself. The Patriots’ rebuttal argues that 100 seconds is the length of time consistent for “a gentleman to enter a bathroom, relieve himself, wash his hands, and leave.”
From the Patriots’ standpoint, the science is indisputable. So is the fact that with each passing day it becomes harder to take the matter seriously.
This whole affair first veered toward farce before the Super Bowl, when Patriots Coach Bill Belidick said in a news conference that he was not the Mona Lisa Vito of air pressure in footballs. The saga has now slipped further, to the point that the most important issue now facing the N.F.L. would seem to be why a middle-aged employee chose to enter a bathroom — and not painful allegations that the league overlooks domestic violence, drug use and the long-term physical effects of the game.
Based on conclusions drawn in Wells’s investigation, the N.F.L. suspended Tom Brady, for four games. Brady on Thursday appealed the suspension, which will be heard by Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Brady was not shown to have deflated the footballs or orchestrated the deed, but to have been “generally aware” that McNally had “probably” deflated the balls in the bathroom. The report also noted that Brady refused to hand over his cellphone to Wells, a private citizen, for the investigation.
The Patriots countered that Brady withheld his phone on behalf of the rights of all future players who could face an investigation by the N.F.L., which has been accused of heavy-handed tactics in the past.
The Patriots’ rebuttal, which sets the team on a course directly at odds with the league, mirrored the Wells report in one way, by diminishing the impact of its arguments by including some questionable claims — most notably the deflator weight-loss argument, which only invites ridicule.
Written by the team’s lawyers, the Patriots’ rebuttal suggested that Wells led witnesses to answers that supported his conclusions, a claim certain to anger an already aggrieved Wells. On Wednesday, Wells went on a league-sponsored conference call and strenuously defended his report while dismissing questions about how much money the league paid him to produce it.
While the Wells report contained solid information, it made some assumptions — for instance, what Brady must have said in telephone conversations with an equipment manager. It used those assumptions and others to help draw conclusions that in most cases came down hard against Brady and those alleged to be his co-conspirators.
Tom Brady hired the noted antitrust lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler, who has handled significant cases for athletes against the organizations governing their sports. Credit Pool photo by Charles Krupa
Wells claimed that autographed balls and shirts given by Brady to McNally were proof of devious behavior, even though superstars in every sport spend time handing out autographed memorabilia.
“If receiving an autograph from Mr. Brady is evidence that you are being rewarded by him for his nefarious conduct,” the Patriots’ rebuttal argued, “then hundreds or even thousands of people must be part of a scheme of wrongdoing.”
In sometimes mocking tones, the Patriots matched every claim in the Wells report with one of their own, leaving readers with a bewildering amount of technical information from both sides about the air pressure of footballs.
Ali
2 hours ago
why isn't the NYT reporting this so called scientist - Roger Mackinnon - is a) not even a physicist 2) runs a company that is bank rolled by...
Eugene Gorrin
2 hours ago
Here's what the NFL should do in rebuttal to the Patriots rebuttal:Strip the Patriots of the Super Bowl Championship and declare the...
Don't Bother Me
2 hours ago
The farce is you pretentious New York clowns pretending that lowering the weight of a ball by less than that of a dollar bill made the...
The Wells report asserted that the footballs the Patriots used in the first half of the A.F.C. title game in January were, in general, significantly underinflated, while the four footballs the Colts used that were measured conformed to the guidelines.
The Patriots countered by emphasizing that only four of the Colts’ balls were measured and offered theories about why their own footballs were underinflated at halftime. Perhaps it was because the Colts kept their footballs in garbage bags on the rainy sidelines and the Patriots did not. Perhaps it was because the Patriots’ footballs were measured first, and during those 10 minutes the Colts’ balls reached equilibrium in the warmer confines of the referees’ locker room.
The Patriots also noted how they had the ball for most of the first half, especially at the end. Therefore, their footballs — the N.F.L. lets each team use its own — were subjected to far more physical abuse. Could the underinflation have been caused, the Patriots wondered, by the “different number of times” the balls were “crushed under the weight of players being tackled”?
Hmmm. Finally, the Patriots contended that league officials initially leaked inaccurate figures that said the Patriots’ balls were egregiously below the minimum air pressure at halftime. In addition, the Patriots suggested that the real and less damaging air-pressure figures were intentionally suppressed to minimize their effect on the public, and only released in conjunction with more damning text messages.
“One can only speculate,” the Patriots said, “why it was so important for the league that the accurate halftime information be withheld from the public until it was ultimately part of a report that downplayed the science and instead relied on selective texts.”
The texts themselves, of course, are at the core of the matter. So, just to add context, the Patriots provided a few more texts in their report, such as this one from McNally: “Whats up dorito dink.”
Perhaps that will be the epitaph for this affair, if it ever ends