Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NFL Releases Deflategate Report

Posted by timothy on from the now-watch-your-language dept.

_xeno_ writes: You may remember back in February that Slashdot covered the NFL asking Columbia University for help investigating Deflategate, a scandal where the New England Patriots were caught deflating their footballs in order to make them easier to catch. The Patriots claimed this was simply a result of the weather, while their opponents disagreed. Well, it's been months, but we finally have our answer: the balls were, in fact, knowingly deflated by the Patriots (to no one's surprise). And while science can explain a little deflation, it cannot explain the amount of deflation seen during the game. Which isn't stopping Boston fans from attacking the science. The report stops short of certainty, though, concluding rather that deliberate underinflation was "more likely than not." Not everyone agrees that a conspiracy is necessary to account for the measured pressure readings.

4 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. "More probably than not" is a legal term by _xeno_ · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's a report written by a lawyer. "More probably than not" is a legal term meaning "guilty in the civil sense, but not in the criminal sense." Essentially the lawyers writing the report are saying "yes, they're definitely guilty, but I'm not willing to say this meets the standards of criminal justice."

    --
    You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    1. Re: "More probably than not" is a legal term by jmac_the_man · · Score: 5, Informative
      This isn't true. "More probable than not" is the standard that the NFL judges violations of the Playing Rules by. It approximately means "we've proven guilt sufficiently for us to impose punishment."

      In the American legal system, the analogous state is "guilty."

      Wells didn't have to get to "beyond a reasonable doubt," the standard for a criminal investigation, because that would be gilding the lily. The NFL can impose punishment at "more probably than not."

      This is all explained on the first page of the Wells Report.

  2. Re:Game balls by Kadagan+AU · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem originally wasn't related to inflation, it was about how well the balls were scuffed or "broken in". Teams wanted to be able to do that themselves, so that they knew they would be easier to grip. The league set standards allowing the ball to be inflated between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI, which doesn't allow a lot of room for "preference".

    --
    This space for rent, inquire within.
  3. Re:Boston fans... by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

    It was really sad to see him struggling to read a few simple sentences. He didn't fail college. College failed him.

    If someone cannot read a few simple sentences, it was not "college" that failed.