The 2014 Running Football Thread (College & Pro)

[bayonetbrant]

I honestly feel that Kraft should give the NFL a kick in the nuts and say

So ball pressure is the one rule that is more important than all the others in the rule book that you want to enforce now fine then we forfeit and the Pats will not play in the superbowl.  Award it to the Seahawks now with an asterix

Then watch the shit really hit the fan as the sponsors and fans go ballistic with no Superbowl

Con

that would be absolutely hilarious.

[BanzaiCat]

It WOULD be frigging fantastic! But that would never happen. Money talks.

[bayonetbrant]

it's not like Kraft needs the money

[Marty Ward]

None of these are in place for this stupid rule thus the NFL cannot actually prove that anything was altered during the course of the game.  Its all speculation and finger pointing with no clear concrete path forward that was propagated by the fact that the NFL didn't actually enforce it to start with.

What a mess

Con

The fact that they were within spec before the game and not after does mean, absent a defective valve on 11 of the 12 balls, they can tell something was altered.

[Marty Ward]

The Pats should man up at and least admit that whatever happened happened when the balls were in their possession and stop trying to change the subject. They are acting like politicians instead of sportsman.

[endfire79]

Part of me wants to try and understand when the NFL follows its rules, but the other part just thinks this is all a big joke.  I think Cons post hit it spot on.
After hearing so much about ball feeling, I just can't keep a straight face anymore.

On a side note, male testicular cancer is no joke, make sure to check those out.

Bring on the lingerie bowl. 

[BanzaiCat]

I'll watch four hours of The Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet before I watch this year's Super Bowl. Watching a bunch of puppies play and the retarded referee and announcing will be infinitely more entertaining than listening to flapping heads say the same damn thing over and over ad nauseum in the twelve-year-long preshow they do.

[Con]

None of these are in place for this stupid rule thus the NFL cannot actually prove that anything was altered during the course of the game.  Its all speculation and finger pointing with no clear concrete path forward that was propagated by the fact that the NFL didn't actually enforce it to start with.

What a mess

Con

The fact that they were within spec before the game and not after does mean, absent a defective valve on 11 of the 12 balls, they can tell something was altered.

They point I was making is that this spec is a window.  I can without a doubt provide numerous ways that a product (in this case a ball) can be within spec in a controlled environment and out of spec when in play (at a customer site).  This is a basic component of quality manufacturing and quality control.

This is not limited but includes the upper and lower limits of the spec.  The absolute value, where the balls pressure recorded so that there is a record of what they had.  The calibration of the meters, the personnel who ran the test and their training, the protocol for following the test the temp at which the balls were tested versus actually used, the number of times the test was performed (each time it will alter the pressure of the ball) the error of measurement of the testing devices, the type of ball that was being used (brand new out of the box or one that had been used previously) the condition of the ball the number of lots that had been previously tested from the ball manufacturer to define the variability in their product etc etc etc

There is no record of previous testing, no base line data, no understanding of conditions, no application data, no training data no lot to lot variability testing of the balls and finally no chain of custody to ensure the balls were not altered or tampered with by anyone else.  All these are basic and I cannot emphasis this enough basic requirements to have a spec.  Without it the only spec you have is baseless speculation (see what I did there!)

Con

[bayonetbrant]

the same damn thing over and over ad nauseum in the twelve-year-long preshow they do.

there's going to be at least 2 EPL matches that morning I'll watch instead

[BanzaiCat]

Seriously, after my revelation into how the EPL works I'm considering jumping ship from the NFL.

[Barthheart]

Seriously, after my revelation into how the EPL works I'm considering jumping ship from the NFL.

HOCKEY! Switch to hockey.

[bayonetbrant]

Seriously, after my revelation into how the EPL works I'm considering jumping ship from the NFL.

HOCKEY! Switch to hockey.

there's room for both - soccer in the morning, hockey at night.  Works perfect in our household.  Well, except that our local team is crap.

[mirth]

I wish we had seen this level of consensus moral outrage when Ray Rice was punching out his wife and AP was whipping his 4-year old.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-22/why-deflategate-says-more-about-the-nfl-than-it-does-about-the-patriots

[Marty Ward]

They point I was making is that this spec is a window.  I can without a doubt provide numerous ways that a product (in this case a ball) can be within spec in a controlled environment and out of spec when in play (at a customer site).  This is a basic component of quality manufacturing and quality control.

According to the league the balls are inspected before each game, just like baseballs go through an inspection, and determined to be within the specs so they have the before measurements. If they are again measured using the same equipment, and I doubt they have multiple gauges or scales at each game, then they will have the after measurements. Absent a leaky valve these measurements are accurate enough to say something has been done to the ball. They can't say who did anything or precisely how much they were altered but say they measured 12 psi and X weight for all the balls before the game and they measured 10 psi and x-.5lb after then either there is a leaky valve or the ball was tampered with.

[Marty Ward]

I wish we had seen this level of consensus moral outrage when Ray Rice was punching out his wife and AP was whipping his 4-year old.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-22/why-deflategate-says-more-about-the-nfl-than-it-does-about-the-patriots

Are you serious? The level and consistency of the outrage was pretty much universal, as it should have been.