Go Seahawks!!

[Steven Vaccaro]

Steven, I ran track in high-school. In fact, I was the top 110-meter High-Hurdler in the state of Washington in 1986. I was also on the Mile Relay team. Our group, our entire team, was VERY tight. That didn't stop us from being individuals. My white track spikes were adorned with Orange and Black "Monroe Bearcats" colored laces. I wore my medal-adorned Letterman's jacket around at the track meets. Occasionally, we'd throw on some other unique details with different socks, or wrist-bands, or whatever, just to "flash" things up a bit.

NONE of that was "all about me". It was just fun.

If you got to know what Mr. Lynch does OFF the field, and, frankly, how he interacts with his teammates on the field, I think you'd understand that he's certainly NOT "all about me". Not to the extent that some apparently seem to think.

I don't like the "crotch-grab" either, but we all do things that annoy others.

Or, maybe just I do...

#GoHawks !

I dont agree. Someone like him or Ochocinco wearing a Sombrero on the sidelines are trying to be individuals in a sport thats driven on team. there is no other sport like football. Im not saying football players are better athletes than other sports. They are not. But its the amount of time spent together as a team that makes bonds so tight.

[ron1950]

as a life long dolphins fan I have no love for Belacheat and the pats....but I don't care for the west coast teams (hell I don't know why lol) but the Pats will find a way to win the game..if it snows the grounds guy will blow the snow off the area that the winning fieldgoal will be kicked from....if its too cold the balls will be deflated if its something else bellacheat will find someway to win.....lets face it, if brady craps on the 50 yard line a rose will grow before half time...

[revoltrunner]

as a life long dolphins fan I have no love for Belacheat and the pats....but I don't care for the west coast teams (hell I don't know why lol) but the Pats will find a way to win the game..if it snows the grounds guy will blow the snow off the area that the winning fieldgoal will be kicked from....if its too cold the balls will be deflated if its something else bellacheat will find someway to win.....lets face it, if brady craps on the 50 yard line a rose will grow before half time...

I doubt it will snow in Phoenix.

[ron1950]

good point...I am so disinterested in this years superbowl I didn't check where it even is lol

[revoltrunner]

good point...I am so disinterested in this years superbowl I didn't check where it even is lol

LOL...I didn't know where it was either until you said snow.
it should be a good game if both teams show up to play.
I don't like either team so its hard to get interested in the game.

[Flying Scotsman]

Oh my! the banter has started and finding some low levels of sportsmanship...cleats, leaky balls, showoffs, cheats, refs in someone's pockets, trash talking, etc....I am just looking forward to a good game, as most of this season has been full of really boring games to watch, with a few exceptions. Actually, I hope the Pats win in a close game, as Seattle is very lucky to be in the superbowl.... a Packers fan who could not believe that collapse.

Douggie

[Darin Jordan]

as Seattle is very lucky to be in the superbowl.... a Packers fan who could not believe that collapse.

Douggie

That's the kind of collapse that happens when you have the CRAP beaten out of you for 55-Minutes by the Hawks Defense.

The Packers are well aware of it... were 4-0 against them since Wilson took over as QB...

[rayzerdesigns]

gonna be hard to be inflate gate..just sayin

[keithbradley]

but we're suppose to just ignore this, which has a DIRECT impact on the gameplay??

I don't think it does. I seriously think it's intentional drama and it promotes the Super Bowl. The Pats didn't run over the Colts all game because the balls were underinflated. That's ridiculous. How did they know that the game wouldn't be decided by a Patriots 50 yard field goal attempt? Ball inflation would make a lot bigger difference in that scenario than it would during normal pass and catch.

From the Seahawks Kevin Williams:
"We haven't even really talked about it. You've still got to tackle, you've still got to cover and you've still got to rush the quarterback. It doesn't matter how much air is in the ball."

WHAT are we teaching our kids about the rules and fair game-play?

I know that's intended to be a rhetorical question, but I have to answer it anyway.
What we are teaching our kids in this regard IS very important to me. My kids play sports. They are not allowed to blame referees, accuse cheaters, or make excuses about something being "unfair". It's understood in my house that if you win, you win; if you lose, you lose. That's it. When you lose, you suck it up find out what you can do to be better the next time. You don't worry about what the other guy/team is doing, and you don't blame your loss on someone else. If the refs are "out to get you", you improve your game to the point that even the refs can't stop you, or if that's impossible, you accept that the game isn't always fair and move on. If a coach is unfair and doesn't give you the opportunities you think you deserve (playing a certain position, etc.), prove him wrong with your play. No one is going to come make sure that everything is fair for you, and that everyone gets the same opportunities, because they don't.

I have confidence in my kids. I'm proud of my kids. They have the ability to overcome, which will serve them well in life.
Some kids have the confidence that their parents will make sure everything is always "fair", and that they will still get a trophy even when they fail, because they should feel good too...we'll see how that works out for them.


This Super Bowl game reminds me of the matchup a few years ago between the Pats and the Panthers. The first half of that game was a bit slow, but once it got started it was one of the best SBs ever. The Panthers had a very strong running game and a good defense back then, and everyone assumed they would just run the ball. They ended up going to the air quite often and made for an incredible game. It will be interesting to see how these two teams approach the game.

[keithbradley]

New England Patriots = The Lance Armstrong of the NFL

Seattle Seahawks/Marshawn Lynch = The Hingle McCringleberry of the NFL!

[Darin Jordan]

Rules matter. Tolerances are in place for a reason. If you are found out of compliance, you are NOT following the rules. Does that NOT have consequences?

Do I really need to mention battery voltage or similar to get people to relate to what I'm trying to say?

I teach my kids to FOLLOW THE RULES.

[rayzerdesigns]

Lol...no darin..but that's society these days..it all started with the whole time out thing..no one gets a whipping these days

[Darin Jordan]

pumpedup.jpg

[T.S.Davis]

Rules are for sissies. haha

I can not believe how often we hear people in trouble with the attitude that getting caught doing something wrong is the problem and what they got "caught" doing isn't the problem. The only thing they can see is the "caught". I call it the drunk driver mentality.

Crap, we're on a "fall of society" tangent. Go Lions!..........wait they were cheated out of their chance. Never mind. Did the NFL issue and official apology to the Colts for letting NE cheat yet? That'll fix er.

[Flying Scotsman]

Darin, do not get too upset rules are rules and are meant to be broken or tinkered with, even with officials overseeing us, just ask any parent and human being! You used to be involved in motor sports, these gents just love to bend and hide their shenanigans. We are all guilty at one time or another of breaking rules, if not, you are a ?

Douggie

[T.S.Davis]

not sure I can go there Douggie. Rules are there for a reason no matter the sport. Sometimes they're dumb reasons but we still have to abide by them. If the rules suck you can question them and even take the necessary steps to change them but skirting them isn't the answer I like for myself. Not sure who started it but someone in FE used to say "stay away from the grey".

An air pressure range is a dumb rule IMO but what do I know? Who cares really? Nerf balls would have been hard to catch out there. Still a rule though so they need to comply. The Pats would have been further ahead to have said "the equipment guys did it". I suppose that's actually what Brady did yesterday. Said they were prefect when he chose them. What happened after that he doesn't know. uh huh............

[Darin Jordan]

My batteries only measured 0.2V over the 4.23 Max... No big deal, right? Don't know how that happened...

[Darin Jordan]

Doesn't matter now anyhow... time to talk football.

I REALLY wish that some of our guys would just SHUT-UP and stop provoking the Pats players... Newsflash... Kronk outweighs you by over 100lbs! He MIGHT just be a bit of a problem if you "diss" him!

[T.S.Davis]

Yeah, jam a stick in his cage. I'm sure he wont mind.

[Darin Jordan]

https://vine.co/v/OIeeDPhF6q5

[Jeff]

not sure I can go there Douggie. Rules are there for a reason no matter the sport. Sometimes they're dumb reasons but we still have to abide by them. If the rules suck you can question them and even take the necessary steps to change them but skirting them isn't the answer I like for myself. Not sure who started it but someone in FE used to say "stay away from the grey".

An air pressure range is a dumb rule IMO but what do I know? Who cares really? Nerf balls would have been hard to catch out there. Still a rule though so they need to comply. The Pats would have been further ahead to have said "the equipment guys did it". I suppose that's actually what Brady did yesterday. Said they were prefect when he chose them. What happened after that he doesn't know. uh huh............

Like when the jerk pointed out the namba nats 4 day rule. Who wrote that rule anyways? Go Packers. Oh, fyi the Enola gay has taken to the air. Read the rule book. Go packers.

[keithbradley]

My batteries only measured 0.2V over the 4.23 Max... No big deal, right? Don't know how that happened...

Or...

"I don't know why I failed that drug test. It must have been from when I sipped a teammate's drink". LOL

Sorry guys but it's pretty obvious (even to those of us here in Michigan who REALLY know how to lose year after year) that the Pats catch a lot of hate that other teams don't. Everyone loves to hate on the guys who keep winning.
They scored 17 points in the first half. The balls were re-inflated at halftime, and the Pats came out and scored 28 points. The balls were checked after the game and retained their halftime inflation levels. You say "It doesn't matter if it affects the game, it's still cheating". Hmm...that's some strange logic to say the least. You don't think motive is a relevant thing? Why would the Pats purposely conspire to deflate balls and "cheat", when they clearly scored more points with balls that were inflated to a higher pressure? Cheating to self-sabotage? They most be terrible cheaters.

All joking aside, the NFL (as well as many other organizations) is FULL of cheaters. So much time is spent trying to fool the other guy...trying to find an advantage...skirting the rules, and/or breaking them if you can get away with it. I honestly don't think the Patriots were trying to get an edge by deflating balls. I think the notion is quite silly and can only be held by someone who has either never played the game, or at the least forgotten it. I maintain that if it was an advantage, the NFL would have had everyone doing it a long time ago, as well as my high school team for that matter. I am absolutely positive though, that the NFL is full of PED use. Anabolics and amphetamines may only show up in the press from time to time when someone gets caught, but that doesn't mean it isn't widespread throughout the organization. The Seahawks should know, they've had more guys busted for PEDs since 2011 than any other team in the league.
Pete Caroll was not only stripped of a national championship for cheating at USC, but he's been at the helm of the Seahawks during several PED scandals and multiple fines for conducting illegal mini-camps and practices. I personally think he's a good coach, but lets not pretend that the devil is in Foxboro letting the air out of footballs to get an edge that clearly doesn't exist.

[Flying Scotsman]

On the button Keith, I could not have said it better. As we are all guilty of bending and breaking rules....just watch any driver on the road. The point of taking drugs though is very valid and one that I abhor. GO PATS GO!!

Douggie

[Doby]

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/201...egate.teamcoco

[T.S.Davis]

I think the notion is quite silly and can only be held by someone who has either never played the game, or at the least forgotten it.

hehe I've never hit myself in the head with a brick either. Can I have an opinion about that having never done it? Same argument I used to get from the burn outs in high school. "You never tried it, how do you know?" Never shot myself in the foot before either.

I'm not buying that the lower pressure did jack either but I just heard a guy on the radio saying that the ball boy had an "existing relationship" with Brady and that he took it upon himself to deflate the balls............um.......what? Soooo.........then based on his history with Brady he knew to dump a few pounds from the balls secretly behind closed doors on his own when nobody was looking? um.......what?

Now there is no way the balls deflated won any games for them but they believed it did. Why do it otherwise? Behind closed doors? When nobody was looking? They felt it was advantageous, knew it was a rule violation, and so handled it discreetly.

No Jeff, not the same as a race management rule. 4 days vs 5 days didn't give anyone an advantage. Real or perceived. The number of days didn't affect performance of the boats. Real or perceived. It would be more like finding someone ran 5s in P after they had already beat everyone and then when they got busted saying "well........it's a dumb rule anyway".

[keithbradley]

I think my statement works for your brick analogy as well Terry. You can have whatever opinion you want, but if your opinion is that it doesn't hurt at all, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you've likely never been hit in the head with a brick. If you had, you wouldn't have that opinion.
I don't think they believed that inflated balls helped them win games. I think you could likely have pulled balls from a number of games throughout the year from other teams and find that maybe those balls weren't within spec either. It's an arbitrary rule that no one has cared about until now.

[Darin Jordan]

Now there is no way the balls deflated won any games for them but they believed it did. Why do it otherwise?

Are you sure about that??

http://killerinfographics.com/data-b...late-gate.html

[T.S.Davis]

Yep, that makes sense but I think it's safe to say that my opinion would be that the brick would hurt. That opinion would be based on experiences other than actually hitting myself with a brick. By that same token, I can deduce that a ball with less pressure is easier to grip for throwing and easier to catch when it gets there. I can deduce that without having played professional football in sleet and snow with 250 pound monsters running around trying to dismember me. Just a hunch. Few can claim experience that equates to what these guys go through at that level.

I guarantee your right on the balls of other teams being off sometimes. However, if we checked the balls of those other teams at the beginning of the game and then checked them mid way through the game I would expect that they would still be pretty close to the same. Maybe 1% difference? Bold speculation on my part as I've never checked the actual pressure on a football ever. Not even as a kid.

I'm not much of conspiracy theory guy but why now? Why did the NFL check the balls and make a big deal of it at this particular time, with this particular team, on this large of a stage, with their wining-est QB maybe ever, leading into their biggest money maker of the year? Unless......................they knew there was an issue and had been ignoring it all season. A tip from someone? What? I have no clue. It's almost too easy to be true. Like they were setup. Rogue ball boy trying to bring down the big dogs? I

After all the screw ups on and off the field that the NFL botched in the last year......they're all bent about ball inflation? "Oh, we have to get this right" What ever. Bafoons.

GO COMMERCIALS! I don't really care who wins.

[T.S.Davis]

Are you sure about that??

No I guess I am not sure. Maybe this is the NFL's inspiration for making a big deal out of it now. I never thought about actually holding onto the ball after you catch it or have to run with it.

[Jeff]

No Jeff, not the same as a race management rule. 4 days vs 5 days didn't give anyone an advantage. Real or perceived. The number of days didn't affect performance of the boats. Real or perceived. It would be more like finding someone ran 5s in P after they had already beat everyone and then when they got busted saying "well........it's a dumb rule anyway".

See Terry, this is where your lack of understanding of the rules comes in. As long as doesn't affect you, it doesn't matter. By adding one more day of racing your attendance was down and everyone got so tired you decided to skip a whole round. Every class that did not run that round was affected as well as every participant in it. Whether you agree or not it affected the outcomes of the races.