Go Pack Go

[Mainejman]

Now that's how you win a championship game.The colts are lucky they aren't calling any pass interferences or this game would have been even uglier.Wow one word Blunt....Seattle got lucky they were out played.Pats are going to the Superbowl once again...Go Pats...mjm

[CMD]

The NFL is now investigating the Patriots for illegally deflating the footballs used, so they would be easier to catch during Sunday night's AFC Championship game. Of course, one presumes both teams did use the same pig skins. But, once again the Pats stand accused of cheating in order to win a game. Sigh.
Seattle is favored at the moment. NFC was much tougher then the AFC this year. Much as I dislike Pete Carroll and Richard Sherman, Seattle is by far the better team, IMHO, and they should win it all again. I predict the most humiliating and embarrassing loss in Brady's career. What happened to Indy yesterday is the same fate that awaits the Pats in the Super Bowl: a super beat down by Seattle and the worse loss in Patriot's history......

[SDhunter]

I feel for you Ron

[Mainejman]

Seattle got their butt whipped.They just got very lucky in the end.It definetly opened my eyes to the fact they are far from invincible.If our defence can come up with a few turnovers we will be fine.They did win but look at the stats.Not a way you want to advance into the playoffs..mjm

[Mainejman]

I would hate to think that this great of a team has to count on deflating footballs to win a game.This whole thing is ridiculous. Why do teams get desperate balls to begin with?Then if they are caught manipulating the ball its only a 25k fine.Seems the integrity of the game is worth more than a pukey fine like that.The colts player has to tell the refs the ball is low wtf....And now let's drag this out for days while you preform a witch hunt....The real crime is the fact the refs have made so many terrible calls this season that they aren't calling crucial pass interference calls anymore...Something needs to be done to help these refs out especially with today's technology...mjm

[Indiana74]

If it makes you feel better I developed an ulcer watching it

[kozman]

Peter the cheese head here. I had to wait until my tears stopped before I could post here. What can I say? Rogers was throwing the ball over our heads. Wilson was throwing the ball to us. Our running back was on the sidelines (has asthma issues). Wilson only had 25 yards rushing. We had five good plays, field goals. They had five good plays. They had more points. We had less points.  The disappointment for me is that it is very hard for a team to get to the super Bowl. May not be in twenty years.
I'll take the Seahawks. Russell played one year for the Badgers and Darrel Bevel, hawks offensive coach. also quarterbacked for the Badgers. Plus I always go with the  NFC team.

[Mainejman]

Hey it was very exciting game.I feel for rogers.He was on his way to the super bowl. On saying that Go pats!...mjm

[CMD]

Mainejman wrote:

I would hate to think that this great of a team has to count on deflating footballs to win a game.This whole thing is ridiculous. Why do teams get desperate balls to begin with?Then if they are caught manipulating the ball its only a 25k fine.Seems the integrity of the game is worth more than a pukey fine like that.The colts player has to tell the refs the ball is low wtf....And now let's drag this out for days while you preform a witch hunt....The real crime is the fact the refs have made so many terrible calls this season that they aren't calling crucial pass interference calls anymore...Something needs to be done to help these refs out especially with today's technology...mjm

  I would hope this is more sour grapes, and there is nothing to it. Now, the retired head of NFL officials weighed in yesterday and had this to say. The balls are kept together. So how in the world would it happen?  A ball boy, or somebody, had to open the bag, after the balls in the bag had been inspected, and use an air pump to release air. In front of everyone.  Or, he, or somebody from the Patriots, would have had to carry the bag away, in front of everyone, and hide somewhere to do it. Then he carries the bag back, in front of everyone. The retired head of NFL officials was of the opinion that that was very unlikely to have happened unnoticed, and would the Patriots really try it, given how risky it would be and how impossible to do unnoticed?  In his opinion, he highly doubted such a thing happened at all. The answer is supposed to be in with a few more days. The answer will be interesting, and I hope it won't have the sound and feel of a whitewash. That said, it will never go away. There are people still convinced that the Patriots coach cheated with "funny formations" in the Patriots-Ravens game. Yet, as eventually became clear, they did not cheat at all with those formations. What they did, simply, is out coach the Ravens! A crystal clear case of being out coached,  but Patriots haters will call that cheating to their graves. So, even when Belichick out coaches someone, he's really cheating.  That said, who would possibly be surprised if this actually happened? Nobody. Except, if the balls were deflated, if that's what the NFL says, I want to see the trail of evidence that proves it. I want the guy holding the air pump nailed, or I'm not buying it.

[CMD]

Well, update, and it's not good. The NFL has determined that 11 of the 12 Patriots footballs were under inflated. Don't know how that will be explained. However, they are now saying this is the end of Belichick's career. He is going to be heavily fined, and efforts are already underway to banish him permanently from the league. Man, what a shame! The Patriots had a good team, they didn 't need to do this. One columnist I read wants Indianapolis reinstated as the winner, and the Patriots disqualified for the Super Bowl. Don't know if that will happen, doubt it, but clearly the Patriots should not be allowed to play in the Super Bowl. I hope between now and Feb. 1st, the demand that Belichick and the Patriots be disqualified from the Super Bowl reaches a deafening level. This is my team, but I am so teed off at this jerk coach for ruining my team this way. What a jerk! Ban Belichick  for life. Beginning immediately!!
He finally did it. He finally cheated himself out of any chance at redemption. As far as I am concerned, although it was not the player's fault, I believe the Patriots should be abolished and thrown out of the league for good. And every single one of their Super Bowl victories should be voided!!!

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

you dont need a pump to release air from the ball
all you need is the needle tip from the pump
that needle tip is only about 1.5" long and can easily be concealed

[CMD]

sneakygroundbuzzard wrote:

you dont need a pump to release air from the ball
all you need is the needle tip from the pump
that needle tip is only about 1.5" long and can easily be concealed

  Thanks, guess that's exactly what they did. Somehow. They won't remove the Patriots from the game, so we can only hope Seattle humiliates them. And here's hoping both the head coach and franchise is banished from the league, and all titles voided.

[CMD]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/01/patriots-deflate-ball-super-bowl-disqualified-penalties-sanctions

"Cheat on a test in school? You fail, no questions asked.
Cheat on your taxes, the IRS will find you. It won’t be pretty.
Cheat on a World Cup bid and, well, you probably get awarded that World Cup, but that’s neither here nor there.
The New England Patriots cheated in the AFC championship. As such, the team should be disqualified from the Super Bowl.
Deflating 11 of 12 balls in Sunday’s game, as has been reported by ESPN, is a major violation and something that had a great effect on the game. Given the number of deflated balls, it’s almost impossible this was accident, meaning that someone in the New England organization willfully tampered with the rules to give his team an advantage. That’s cheating.
The penalty should be simple: Ban ‘em.
  Of course, it’s not realistic to disqualify New England from the Super Bowl. What’s the NFL going to do, bring back the Colts to replace them? Hold a loser-bracket between Denver and Indianapolis? That’s not feasible. Just because the Pats should be DQ’d doesn’t mean they will or could.
But, again, they should. The evidence is all there, assuming Chris Mortensen’s report is correct. Former NFL referee Gerry Austin was on Mike and Mike this morning and said officials check the PSI of all footballs two hours before the game. At halftime, New England’s footballs (each team has different balls during the game) were found to be two-to-three pounds lighter. Someone deflated the balls. There’s no debate here."
----------------------------------------
My team, but I can't argue with the above sentiment. He's right, there will be a Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl, but at the very least the league has to ban Belichick for life, and not simply a hefty fine. Unless it's proven that he himself did not know it was happening I suppose.

[CMD]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/opinion/berman-patriots-deflate-gate/

Story highlights
Reports the Patriots used deflated balls create existential crisis for John Berman
The lifelong Patriots fan asks how he can still root for a cheater?
John Berman is the co-anchor of CNN's "Early Start" and "@THIS HOUR" and a lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN)Shame on me.
If the reports are true, and somehow the New England Patriots deflated 11 balls in the AFC Championship Game, then shame on me.
Screw them, and shame on me.
I am 42, and have been a New England Patriots fan for 42 years, plus nine months when you include that prenatal season. (While your mother was listening to Mozart, mine was listening to Gil Santos talk about Jim Plunkett.)
In fact, at this point in my life, I essentially do only three things: 1) Anchor at CNN, 2) help raise twin 7-year-old boys and 3) root for Boston sports teams. And if I am being honest, the one I am best at is No. 3. I am a really good Boston sports fan. There are few better. And the Patriots are ruining all my hard work, debasing my skills and tainting the hours upon hours of joy that fandom gave me.
This is an existential crisis. How can you root for a cheater? How can you award malfeasance? How can you cheer a con? You can't. At least you shouldn't. I shouldn't cheer for the Patriots. I know that, no matter what my genetic coding says.
I am not going to dwell on the specifics of the accusations, or the physics of what advantage you get from deflated footballs. The fact is, if the reports are true, the balls the Patriots used had way too little air in them. Well below what the league allows. Well below what the rules allow. And if they did it deliberately -- and I am struggling to think of any way it could have happened otherwise -- there is a word for that: cheating. They cheated. And how can you root for a cheater? You can't. At least you shouldn't. I know that.
For all the Patriots playoff games this year, my sons and I have all donned our No. 12 Tom Brady jerseys. We wore them because Brady is so darn good, so darn handsome and so full of the values of hard work and perseverance that you want your sports icons to embody. Or so we thought. Did he have any knowledge or any involvement in deflating footballs? Oh God, I hope not. But can I guarantee you that he didn't? Nope. Not even close. So how can I wear his jersey for the Super Bowl? I can't. At least I shouldn't. I know that.
The worst part of this is, deep down inside, I might have known all this already. The Patriots have a history of pushing the limits. (Do I now really just have to call it cheating?) They were penalized and sanctioned for illegally videotaping an opposing team. I managed to compartmentalize that, buy my kids their Patriots gear and cheer for them anyway, perhaps hoping that it was some kind of anomaly. It doesn't look like it was. Not today.
I know football is just a game, and the Patriots demolished the Colts 45-7, and clearly would have beaten them even if they played with a ball made of marshmallow fluff. But that just makes it worse. They didn't need to cheat.
Look, no one needs to cheat. It is a choice, and it is the wrong choice. And it is not a choice I want to condone somehow -- tacitly or otherwise -- to my 7-year-old boys. I have spent so much emotional capital and enthusiasm raising them as Patriots fans while living in New York, and now I am beginning to regret it. I fear I have led them down the path to the dark side. Maybe they can still be saved.
I can't. Being a sports fan is not a purely rational thing. Do I want the Patriots to lose the Super Bowl? No. I am just not wired that way. But I know I should. And that is why I am ashamed. Angry and ashamed.
Read CNNOpinion's new Flipboard magazine.
Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.
Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion.

[sneakygroundbuzzard]

im not a pro football fan by any means of the word "fan"
however i do believe that the QB had to know the balls were low on air
even if he didnt know that some one was deflating them
you cant tell me someone who has handled and thrown as many footballs in his lifetime as a pro QB
that he cant tell by the feel of the ball the differance in a filled ball to one with low air pressure
i spent 25 yrs as an auto tech, i can look at a car tire and tell if its low on air when most average folks have no clue that it is
jmho