Quote:
Originally Posted by nolemmings
Well, let's see what Brad says:
"I feel like my name has been slandered by using the word bribery," Johnson told Pro Football Now Wednesday afternoon, saying that he tipped equipment managers as he normally would, not specifically to scuff game balls."This has been blown way out of proportion," Johnson texted. "Rich Gannon and I had met the week of the Super Bowl and agreed to work the balls in the week of the Super Bowl, just like we would do for any other game. The balls were used by both teams and fair for everyone. I really don’t understand what the big deal is. Rich Gannon and I talked today, too, and we both laughed at the nonsense of this story.
"I never touched the balls before the game. And no one ever complained, be it the refs, players or quarterbacks. We [he and Gannon] were both fine with all the balls that we played with."
So in summary:
1. No bribery;
2. No deflation of balls, just scuff/rubbing as now allowed but not then;
3. Done with full knowledge and consent of opponent; and most importantly
4. No advantage--balls used by both teams "and fair for everyone".
Maybe that's why nobody's talking about it.
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I DON'T CARE EITHER. I only brought it up as an example to show a media double standard towards the Pats. I don't care how it's portrayed, Johnson was not supposed to do this. However, you and others seem willing and able to draw lines which make Johnson's actions OK, and the alleged actions by the Pats (key word alleged), which will likely never be proven, not OK. I also love how a line is drawn as to whether he deflated the balls or not.. how has deflating balls become the end all be all of unfair advantage? And why do you assume all QBs would prefer to have had that ball scuffed up. Whatever he may say about it, Gannon threw 4 picks in that SB. Apparently Elway always wanted game balls straight out of the box, so it would have been a disadvantage to him had the opposing QB paid someone to scuff the game balls. Johnson shouldn't have done what he did... however, I say again, I don't care that he did.
Football has just been played differently than other sports like baseball. Teams have had the ability to customize the game balls to some extent (whether legal or not), and I personally have no issue with it. I've brought it up a few times, and you can take it as relevant or non-relevant to this discussion.. but HS and college teams chose their own game balls (stamped with their logo), and that in some cases, these footballs are totally different. Hold a Wilson 1005 compared to a Wilson 1001 circa 2000, and it's a TOTALLY different football. The NFL ball Terry Bradshaw is referring to is different also. The old balls were slimmer in your hand and are definitely easier to throw then current balls.
I'm on the other side of argument, and think the NFL should just let these guys do what they want, short of using stickum, or playing with totally flat balls. Some QBs want more pressure, some want less, and I'm totally fine with allowing them to do that. Any NFL QB can throw a ball that's less than ideal (high or low pressure, worn, wet, muddy), but if one pressure feels more comfortable to him than another, it's all good to me. I think most of this stuff is mental anyway.. I think it's more important that Brady feels comfortable with the ball, and thinks it's at the right pressure, as opposed to gaining a strong advantage using a softer ball. That said, I'd be nearly certain that going forward all teams lose the ability to touch the ball prior to the game.
Per the link I'd included, stretching the rules or outright cheating are a part of this game. I'm not arguing it as right, but football is dirty as hell, and anything you can imagine would create an advantage has been tried. In saying this, I think most of those violations listed in that article had greater impact on games. I think a D line with silicone or vaseline all over their jerseys has more effect on a game, as on every play they are more likely to slip blocks, more likely to be held, etc. I think leg whipping is even worse because it jeopardizes careers. I think the level of advantage gained, or danger created, by a given rules violation should have equal impact on the way it's handled/disciplined by the league. For this reason, I just don't care much at all about the deflate gate... and had the press not blown this up, I don't think the NFL would have either.