Why would NFL officials inspect footballs and then put them back into the hands of the teams, well before kickoff? It sounds ridiculous.
The NBA doesn’t take a game ball and let each team handle it during warm ups or practice and then hand it back over for the game. A single ball is used and neither team touches it until the opening tip.
Major league umpires rub down dozens of balls before games, and those balls are kept in their possession until game time when they get put into use. Of course, you can’t over inflate or under inflate a baseball and a hockey puck doesn’t take air either.
But the solution to this under-inflated ball deal is simple. Inspect the balls and then keep them in your possession. There’s no reason why either team should be handling the footballs once the inspection takes place.
Beyond that, this story has taken on a life of its own. Let’s figure out the punishments, if any and move on. The Patriots didn’t throttle the Colts 45-7 last Sunday because the balls they were using had less air in them.
Here’s my thoughts on inflate gate!
mark cusumano says
I think the whole thing is ridiculous. The real blame should lie with the failure of the NFL. But what really irks me is the self righteous sanctimony of the American sports media. We are the most Machiavellian people on the planet who judge eachother by money and success and in the NFL that’s winning. So all of sudden we are concerned about fairness? Knock it off! They have him guilty before all is done. Talk about being unfair! The media are the worst offenders in their lazy and irresponsible reporting. Even if slick billy was at it again its up to those who make the rules to ensure compliance proactively. Here we had 11 of 12 balls purportedly under inflated; if they were all branded, end of story, as the NFL morons allowed this to happen. Oh and by the way its a game and even if Bill did it, he was having his fun pushing the envelope and I love it when he does. Because it supposed to be fun!. No?