I think we're not so far apart, I think as long as something outside the rules is handled equally that's ok.
Spygate was certainly against the rules, but I think it was a big deal made of very little. Since all teams tape, and even from the approved places the signals are probably visible to anyone with a good camera there shouldn't be anything there. A coach that doesn't think he needs to change his signals often is probably going to have those signals read even if it's by a bench guy who's paying attention. (One baseball book I read gave a limited look at how Varitek changed his pitch signals every inning with a formula that involved the inning and I think score or something. Very complex, and a bit of a surprise all the pitchers could follow it. )
And yeah, the evidence against the Pats looks bad. I'm a fan and convinced they did it. But to see the related problems swept aside and ignored is .......vexing. The rule is poorly written, as it doesn't account for temperature change which is high school level physics.
It's poorly enforced, with hardly any oversight of the checked balls after the first check. That could be solved with a simple sticker over the hole, but there's nothing. And some of the texts used as evidence indicated that one group of refs deliberately overinflated. Was it because they knew some would be let out? Basically working around the rule breaking without dealing with it? Or ......what?
And it's enforced with lousy equipment. The gauges used are apparently cheap sporting goods store ones supplied by maybe the refs, maybe the team. There wasn't much agreement between the gauges used at halftime. One read low and those readings were taken for the report the other gave readings that were much more borderline and were sort of ignored. A guage that's truly accurate costs a fraction of what one superbowl ring costs and yet nobody uses one?! That's pretty poor. (I've sold those gauges and have a friend that did calibrations on them for years 15years ago a very nice one was about $1000, an extremely good one that was capable of being NIST traceable as accurate was closer to 10K)
Heck, there's even a company that has a ball right now that self inflates to the correct pressure.
So the rule needs revision.
But the NFL also needs its Darth Vader. Someone for everyone to get worked up about to take attention away from some other harder to fix problems.
It sort of reminds me of what an ex Yankee player said about Steinbrenner. He checked the attendance figures first every day. If the Mets drew more he'd say something crazy about a player or coach which got him lots of press and more attendance. But he only said stuff about the guys who were stars and tough enough to take it. Never the marginal bench guy who might be hurt by it in some way.
Would it even be news if it was the Titans or Bucs? Yes, it should be, but nobody would complain, and it would probably just be a minor fine and a "hey knock it off" letter if anyone did.
Of course the Falcons and Browns got some solid punishment for their rulebreaking but it's not quite the news the deflating thing has been. Of course they were 7-9 and 6-10, so it's difficult for most people to get crazy about it.
Steve B
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordstan
That's OK with me. Cheating is cheating and should not be tolerated by the league for any team. If they are going to let teams slide on things then there will always be claims of unfairness when someone is actually punished. If no one in league management thinks a certain action is illegal or unfair, then why not repeal or amend the rule to reflect actions that create unfair play.
As far as the Colts balls are concerned, if the league found evidence that someone on the Colts purposely deflated them in a preplanned manner, then I agree. Considering one of the trainers on the Patriots was called "The Deflator" made it a little bit more in your face giving the rules a big middle finger. If there is evidence the Colts had something similar, I have no problem punishing them as well.
Brady, of course, made it worse for himself by not cooperating with the investigation. Everyone knows that taking the fifth amendment is not an admission of guilt, but pretty much everyone assumes that it is. Him refusing to cooperate was seen by the league and many others in the same way. He certainly has the right to have some righteous indignation believing that the league singled him out unfairly if he wants, but people also have the right to make judgement about him and his complicity in the situation by those actions.
|