Did the Patriots intentionally underinflate footballs in the AFC Championship game? We’ll know soon. The National Football League (NFL) is investigating. But there’s another matter, arguably larger than the original issue. It’s about the Patriots undercutting the investigation.
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To understand how let’s consider a hypothetical. (Spoiler alert: it’s self-serving.)
Let’s say that I’ve been accused of breaking work rules. Authorities start investigating. But before findings are released I call a meeting. I announce that I’ve conducted my own investigation. Based on the evidence I conclude emphatically that I couldn’t have done the deed. I close by saying I’m tired of the situation. It’s taking a lot of my time and attention. I won’t have anything more to say about it.
Laugh, wouldn’t you? I wouldn’t be taken seriously, would I? Why? I’m short circuiting the quest for justice.
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So why would anybody give credence to Patriots’ Coach Bill Belichick’s claim, made last week, when he took the public stage.
Defending his team in general terms would be one thing, but that’s not what he did. Saying repeatedly “I’m not a scientist,” Belichick did his best to act like one during a press conference that mimicked a science presentation.
Belichick described how he and un-named others had conducted an air pressure experiment with footballs. He provided details about what they had found. But we weren’t given all the details, including who was involved specifically and whether an independent (and objective) source conducted a legitimate experiment. Despite those problems Belichick announced firmly that the Patriots “are clean.”
Yes, but…. …it’s bogus. How so?
Say you’re on jury duty. The district attorney calls a forensic specialist to testify in the case about evidence he’s gathered and analyzed. The defense attorney puts the accused on the stand—a person without forensics background—to talk about evidence he’s gathered and analyzed independently. Whom would you believe?
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But, ah, DeflateGate gets even more farcical. Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft got into the act this week. He knows, “for sure,” that the Patriots couldn’t have possibly manipulated footballs. Nothing wrong with that: he’s defending his team. But Kraft went much further: he wants an apology from the NFL “in the event” that the League can’t find any evidence of interference. But what if it does?
The NFL is taking the deflate claim seriously. To investigate the League hired a law firm with a strong forensics reputation. That firm, Renaissance Associates, then reached out for assistance to the Columbia University physics department.
What’s the take-away from all of this? Personally, I wasn’t agitated by the possibility that New England may have used underinflated footballs. If true it stretches the rules, no question. But it would be an example of what The New York Times calls “gamesmanship.” Athletes and teams “game the system” and opposition all the time. USA TODAY (January 29) calls it “creative aggression in pushing the boundaries of the rule book.” Using underinflated (or overinflated) footballs—to fit a quarterback’s preferences—is an illustration.
Don’t think that’s right? Then professional football needs to change the rules so that game officials are the only ones who possess game-ball oversight.
But I do care when self-serving elites—the accused, no less—intervene during an ongoing investigation. It’s bad enough when players and teams bend rules on the field. It’s worse when they interfere with the justice process.
Courtesy wausaudailyherald.com
All of this is happening on the eve of the most important game of the year in the most popular sport in America.
What does that do to the Patriots’ reputation? It’s deflated.
