Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take

Let me preface this column by making one thing very clear: I hate fans of the New England Patriots. Actually, scratch that. I hate trying to talk about sports with fans of the New England Patriots. I don’t hate the team—not even close. How can you resist the sultry stare of Tom Brady, the earth-shaking vibrations of a Gronk Spike or the mesmerising bounces of Vince Wilfork’s stomach after he celebrates a sack? No. What I can’t stand is being immersed in a group of people who are so spoiled from success. Older Boston fans know the agony of the pre-Brady/Belichick era, the drought of the Red Sox and the Celtics’ fall from glory. It’s all Boston-bred fans that go to school here—the 21st century fans whose first memories of sports include the Pats’ Super Bowl dominance and the Red Sox snapping their streak. All the Boston fans here can take solace in the fact that even though the Celtics are having a bad year, the Pats are playing for the chip or that even though the Sox collapsed this season, the Bruins are still on their way to the playoffs. Boston fans don’t appreciate success: they expect it, and as a fan of the Atlanta Hawks, a team that’s finally hitting its stride, to have New Englanders ignore their success because “the Celtics just won the title a few years ago” is infuriating.

That said, I know how it feels to have your wins marginalized. This recent “inflate-a-gate” is ESPN’s attempt to try and stir the pot in the two week gap between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. The “controversy” began after Brady threw an interception to D’Qwell Jackson who threw the ball to an equipment manager for the Colts. The equipment manager, noticing that the balls were slightly deflated, told this to the Colts’ HC Chuck Pagano. This is all that most media outlets chose to report on: the fact that the balls were slightly deflated. What they didn’t mention are a few other factors that played into the whole story.

Firstly, not only did the refs inspect all of the balls prior to the beginning of the game, they also inspected the balls again at halftime, found that some of the balls were under inflated, and switched them out for proper balls. All of these things have been confirmed by the referees, and although it raises into question the timing of the alleged deflation, it’s very clear that the balls were inspected by the referees, held onto until the beginning of the game and then returned to the Patriots just before the game began. There were over 80 cameras present at the game, filming from all angles. If there was deflation in the balls during the game, it would’ve been captured on film. This calls into question the thoroughness of the refs’ inspection. The refs were also handling the balls on every play and are the ones responsible for maintaining the pressure of the balls. Nevertheless, after the balls were switched out at halftime, the Pats outscored the Colts 28-0.

Secondly, the amount balls are inflated is something that has been tampered with in the past with no consequence. There have been plenty of instances where the balls have been scuffed up or tampered with. Terry Bradshaw stated in his book “It’s Only a Game” that “Some teams...would let out a couple of pounds of air [from the ball] to make it easier for the quarterback to grip it. A little less air would make the ball spongier. It was what might be called a perceived advantage—both teams played with the same ball.” The Buccaneers’ QB Brad Johnson admitted that he paid $7500 to have the balls scuffed up before the game. One could argue that these are examples from an older era where both sides had the benefits of tampering, but just this season, Aaron Rodgers mentioned how he preferred to overinflate his balls and leave it up to the refs to deflate them prior to the game. Most of the time, they wouldn’t.

Of course, breaking the rules is breaking the rules, and if the Patriots were caught breaking a rule, then they should be punished accordingly. No matter how stupid the rule may be, for the time being, it’s still a rule. However, the way I see it is the NFL has two options: either stand firm on their stance on uniformity of balls and provide their own supply for every game or let the teams adjust the pressure and wear on each of their own balls. There’s an argument both ways for the latter. There are already specialized balls designed for kickers, and they’re allowed to scuff and inflate the balls however they want. Each QB is different, too, so shouldn’t they be given discretion over the inflation of their balls? On the flip side, this could lead to some sneaky strategy with the balls. Using specific balls for specific plays. A team could have a set of under inflated, fumble-free balls for run plays and over inflated balls for deep bombs. At the end of the day, no matter how you stand on the issue, everyone just wants ESPN to shut up and talk about the actual football leading up to the Super Bowl instead of what happened in a blowout game.