Deflategate. Ballghazi. Ballmageddon. The Hindenball. The Ballston Massacre. Ball of Pigs. EBalla. Ballpox. The Ballbonic Plague. The uniBaller. Chernoball. The Assassination of Aballham Lincoln.

EDIT

I’ve re-read my own words a few times now and I want to take a step back because I think I’m overreacting hardcore and I regret that. I think I wanted it to be a thing more than it deserves to be a thing. Ultimately I think everyone might be overreacting a bit, but I can’t say it’s unexpected. After all, a team that has been caught cheating before is now under investigation for something they did in a game that propelled them to the Super Bowl. I am not surprised it’s blown up in the slightest. While I don’t think their actions had much to do with the outcome of the Colts game, I think it’s fair that it’s blown up because it calls into question every other game they’ve played.

I highly doubt anything is going to come of this. I think the Pats did it but I don’t think there is any way to prove it. The fact that the Patriots balls were underinflated while the Colts balls were fine is what defines it for me. If it was weather or normal variation the Colts balls would be affected. I think the Pats cheated. I just doubt we’ll ever know for sure. I can’t figure out how the NFL can prove tampering at this point. Belichick and Brady both deny it, and why wouldn’t they? They probably know nobody’s going to convict them. There’s no way a QB who handles balls so frequently wouldn’t notice a deflated ball, or notice the difference between halves when they used non-deflated balls. There are articles out there right now about how many QBs do as much as they can to make sure the balls feel just right for game time. QBs are picky people, I just can’t see how someone like Brady could not notice that unless he knew. I don’t buy it.

What I think ultimately happened is that Belichick is a smart man who spends a lot of his time straddling the line of finding those competitive advantages, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he occasionally crosses over that legal line. I also doubt the refs did a very good job checking the balls. Think about it, you’re a ref, would you want to sit there and rifle through all 12 balls giving them each a close inspection? They probably just check one or two casually and say “sure”. If this is the case and I wanted to deflate balls I’d stick the one properly inflated ball on top, but this is getting into speculative conspiracy territory when the fact is I have no idea. I think they did it, I think the Colts balls being fine solidifies it, but I don’t think there will ever be any real proof and at most the Pats might get fined. This whole story is kind of bizarre and I’m kind of mad the Packers have gotten away scott free from national criticism after how they totally blew that game in Seattle because all of us can’t stop talking about Balls.

I’ll refrain on further Ballchat until this whole thing is sorted out for good. It’s too easy to jump to conclusions these days and I feel bad for doing it myself.

(One last thing: saying “OTHER TEAMS DO IT TOO” is still a bullshit excuse forever because even if it’s true, that doesn’t mean you didn’t break the rules and shouldn’t be punished for it)