ESPN The Magazine contributors polled more than 100 players (not every player answered every question) and found a similarly sensible consensus. While 72 percent of respondents believe the Patriots were responsible for lowering air pressure of the footballs, only 16 percent said they were "upset" by it and 68 percent said they think other teams do the same thing. Sixty percent said the Patriots aren't "cheaters."
Quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension is too long, according to nearly 80 percent of the players. So it's no surprise that 88 percent said league discipline should not be determined solely by commissioner Roger Goodell.
A federal judge put the NFL and the players' union on the defensive Wednesday during a hearing over Tom Brady's four-game suspension, demanding to know what evidence directly linked the New England Patriots quarterback to deflating footballs and asking why they would have been deflated without Brady's knowledge.
Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan repeatedly asked NFL lawyer Daniel L. Nash for "direct evidence that implicates Mr. Brady" as he gave both sides a chance to state their case in the first hearing before him while at times belittling the drama of the controversy.
"Turns out, Mr. Brady did better with higher inflated balls than underinflated balls," the judge said. "You might say he got no competitive advantage."
At the hearing's start, Berman said he found "varying strengths to both sides here" and had not made up his mind as to how he might rule if the sides do not settle.
Berman has scheduled a second day of settlement hearings for next Wednesday. If a settlement is not reached, Berman has been asked by all involved to make a decision by Sept. 4
ESPN The Magazine contributors polled more than 100 players (not every player answered every question) and found a similarly sensible consensus. While 72 percent of respondents believe the Patriots were responsible for lowering air pressure of the footballs, only 16 percent said they were "upset" by it and 68 percent said they think other teams do the same thing. Sixty percent said the Patriots aren't "cheaters."
Quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension is too long, according to nearly 80 percent of the players. So it's no surprise that 88 percent said league discipline should not be determined solely by commissioner Roger Goodell.
A federal judge put the NFL and the players' union on the defensive Wednesday during a hearing over Tom Brady's four-game suspension, demanding to know what evidence directly linked the New England Patriots quarterback to deflating footballs and asking why they would have been deflated without Brady's knowledge.
Judge Richard M. Berman in Manhattan repeatedly asked NFL lawyer Daniel L. Nash for "direct evidence that implicates Mr. Brady" as he gave both sides a chance to state their case in the first hearing before him while at times belittling the drama of the controversy.
Not if they feel everyone else is doing it too, and it is not a big deal.
It doesn't change the fact that it's outright cognitive dissonance just because they are aware of it being cognitive dissonance. Everyone does this to some extent in their lives. We all have blind spots. For example, I love Led Zeppelin. I think they are one of the best and most influential bands ever plus they had, arguably, the three best musicians of anyone before or since. Led Zeppelin were also one of the biggest thieves of other artists original work that they claimed as their own. In many peoples minds this fact alone disqualifies them as being one of the all time greats. For me, I totally don't care, its a blind spot, I still think they are great. Just like Patriot fans don't care about what other fans think and no matter the evidence don't, or won't, believe any cheating was done.
At this stage I actually hope that the court proceedings find that the investigation was technically flawed in some fashion so that this whole mess will go away. Not flawed as in gerrymandered because Goodell was out 'to get' the Patriots but that there was ample evidence to warrant an investigation (which is reasonable to assume) but the technical gathering of real evidence (ball pressures) was flawed. That way Brady can claim, officially, that he's not a cheater. Similar to Richard Sherman who challenged the drug testing collection method and won on appeal but the fact is that he was using unprescribed Adderall.
The sooner this goes away the better. None of this is good for the NFL.
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
just watching the Pats/Pack pre-season game and I have to say if I was a Pats fan...I would be hoping like hell that Brady gets a reduction to his suspension because Garoppolo looks just awful...and that's against non-starters on the Pack defense for the most part.
Can someone please tell me why the teams have control over the balls on the first place? Does any other sport let the teams do this?
Soccer/Football
The ball boys who retrieve balls that go off the pitch and are supposed to get them to the players for a throw in. Those ball boys are usually fans of the home team and have been known to slow down getting the ball to opposition players when that is beneficial to the home team. link
Baseball, there are times where teams were accused of doctoring the game baseballs to minimize home runs when power teams were coming to town (the Rockies were, I think, the first to do this with league approval, but this was for all games (not just against certain teams) and it was to reduce the crazy number of home runs in the dry thin air in Colorado).
There have been rumours in basketball about it.
I hate the saying "If you ain't cheatin', you ain't trying" - I think that is a horrible ethic - but it seems in pro sports that is the way things are.
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
The ball boys who retrieve balls that go off the pitch and are supposed to get them to the players for a throw in. Those ball boys are usually fans of the home team and have been known to slow down getting the ball to opposition players when that is beneficial to the home team. link
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
Really bad news for Viking fans...
RT Phil Loadholt has torn his Achilles and is likely done for the season. Vikes are playing the Bucs at home and it happened on the 2nd play of the game.
4 years 83.25 million for a 35ish year old QB seems crazy but I would rather have him over a more expensive Andy Dalton for that tenure if I had the choice lol.
And Jerome Simpson of the 49ers has been suspended for the first 6 games.
I'm shocked! (not)
__________________
"The problem with any ideology is that it gives the answer before you look at the evidence."
—Bill Clinton
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance--it is the illusion of knowledge."
—Daniel J. Boorstin, historian, former Librarian of Congress
"But the Senator, while insisting he was not intoxicated, could not explain his nudity"
—WKRP in Cincinatti
Quarterback Eli Manning, who is engaged in contract extension talks with the New York Giants, is seeking to become the NFL's highest-paid player with his next contract, the NFL Network is reporting.
Will be interesting to see who wins the LA stadium battle. If the Chargers and Raider get the shared stadium, one of them would have to move out of the AFC West, so which NFC West team flips back to the AFC, the Seahawks?
If Kroenke wins and it's the Rams moving to LA, do the Chargers and Raiders fight each other to see which one of them can be the other tenant and leave the other one to their own devices? Sounded like Jerruh was backing Kroenke's bid yesterday. Knowing the NFL, they probably side with Kroenke and than use the vacant St.Louis market to pressure San Diego and Oakland into building new Stadiums. If they do get a stadium in LA, they'll need that attractive open market as a threat to keep making other cities upgrade their stadiums. That unused LA market got a lot of smaller cities to eat a lot of money to build fancy stadiums.
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
Will be interesting to see who wins the LA stadium battle. If the Chargers and Raider get the shared stadium, one of them would have to move out of the AFC West, so which NFC West team flips back to the AFC, the Seahawks?
If Kroenke wins and it's the Rams moving to LA, do the Chargers and Raiders fight each other to see which one of them can be the other tenant and leave the other one to their own devices? Sounded like Jerruh was backing Kroenke's bid yesterday. Knowing the NFL, they probably side with Kroenke and than use the vacant St.Louis market to pressure San Diego and Oakland into building new Stadiums. If they do get a stadium in LA, they'll need that attractive open market as a threat to keep making other cities upgrade their stadiums. That unused LA market got a lot of smaller cities to eat a lot of money to build fancy stadiums.
Is San Antonio still considered a viable market? I think you'd probably see the Chargers move out of the division. The last thing anyone needs is Raider fans and Niner fans getting into it with each other twice a year.
