Oh, no. I don’t like the Pats but I don’t have a dog in this fight. My question is why is football the only sport that lets the teams provide the balls? While I’m sure Gaylord Perry would have loved the opportunity to supply his own baseballs to pitch with, there’s good reason not to let him do this.
You don’t have to Mozart to appreciate that one.
Because in football, I don’t think it matters nearly as much. Scuffed up balls, overinflated, underinflated, whatever. The condition of the balls plays way less of a role to outcome than in a sports like baseball. Each team has their own footballs, groomed exactly to how they want them to be. The only reason this is a story is because it’s the Patriots, and "OMG BELICHEAT! CHEATRIOTS! ".
Aaron Rogers actually volunteered to the announcers at a game a few weeks ago that he actually prefers overinflated balls and they try to overinflate as much as they can get away with, and sometimes the refs take them out of play. But since it’s not the Patriots, it’s completely ingored because it’s just good ol’ gamesmanship. And that was a straight up admission- the current “scandal” is just a result of a Colt player giving a ball to the ref saying I think this is underinflated. so obvioulsly, CHEATERS!!
Sorry for the rant, carry on.
I watched the whole AFC Championship game on Sunday, and by the end of the game it was clear which team was playing with deflated balls, and it wasn’t the Patriots. 
I don’t think the Pats did any tampering - pressure in the balls drops as they get colder. The balls are checked two hours and fifteen minutes before kickoff (they have to be inflated to 12.5-13.5 psi) and then set aside until game time. In Foxboro on Sunday, the temperature was 53 °F (285 K) 3 hours before kickoff, closer to freezing (273 K) at kickoff, and probably less than that (268 K?) by halftime. If you have a constant mass and volume of a gas, the pressure scales linearly with temperature (in kelvins). A ball that was inflated to 12.5 psi during the pregame check would have been 12.0 psi at kickoff and 11.8 psi at halftime without any tampering at all. If the check was done indoors (293 K), the difference is even bigger.
ETA: Ravens fan, if that matters.
I thought that might be the case. In any event, if the league cares about the ball pressure, why not store them in a heated chest during the game? Or give the least senior official something to do and reinflate those that need it at halftime.
Which is because the Patriots have cheated in the past. They won’t get any benefit of the doubt and something minor like this will be an issue precisely because they’ve cheated in the past.
As much as I don’t like the Pats, this seems like a non-thing. The biggest issue to me is that Belichick came into the game with one plan: run Blount as hard as he can and beat the Colts on ground, just like they have done for the last two years with Gray and Blount.
Underinflated footballs play no part in that plan.
Storing them in a heated chest is probably against the rules. There was a bit of a tiff about footballs being heated in a game in Minnesota earlier this year when it was 12 degrees. Both teams were sternly reminded not to do it again.
And yet somehow this national broadcast, where Aaron Rodgers was quoted as saying he likes to over-inflate the balls he uses never got any reaction. (text only, but you can find the file with Nantz and Simms discussing this if you need to hear it yourself.)
Because teams are allowed to manipulate them to match any preference they might have. There are guidelines, of course, but within those guidelines teams have license to do whatever they please to them.
I’d want flat balls so someone on my team could stuff it down his pants and stroll inconspicuously into the endzone.
In baseball the home teams can manipulate the ball park by watering the grass to slow down infield hits, cutting the grass to a height that either speeds up or slows down a ball or lets it bounce higher, etc, tailored to their teams particular strengths and weaknesses.
I believe the home team supplies the balls in baseball. There was a big to-do a few years ago when it was learned that the Colorado Rockies kept their balls in a humidor to keep them from drying out in the high altitude.
The humidor was installed in 2002, apparently with no controversy. The recent (2010) controversy was to ensure the team didn’t use balls from the humidor when the Rockies were pitching, and “juiced” balls when the other team was on the mound. As long as everyone is using the humidor balls there was no controversy.
Boston Herald:
Report: NFL found 11 Patriots footballs were under-inflated by 2 pounds
Yeah, I can see how having flat balls would allow more room for the football. But be careful what you wish for.
On the other hand, that’s what I call taking one for the team.
Cripes, man, Virgil Livers has not played in the NFL for freaking ever, why do you have to bring that up?
The Patriots are idiots, and repeat idiots.
- A disappointed Pats fan
They may buy them but the umpires are in control of them and they have to be approved balls. The umpires personally mud them up before the games so they’d see any funny stuff if the team tried to pull it. Plus, in baseball you don’t have the two teams playing with different balls.