Couple things I haven't heard anyone mention:
1. How much air pressure does a ball typically lose over the course of a game? You've got a football which has been aggressively handled pre-game (legalyl), to get it "sticky" enough for the QB. Every running play, it's being slammed by 250# men running into each other - the ball's in the middle of every collision. Valve's aren't perfect; just like with Hoppy' pee-pee, you'd expect a little bit of leakage.
2. How accurate are the gauges used by the officials to measure the pressure? Old-school dials, or digital?
3. Every time I've inserted a needle to pump up a ball, a little air has leaked out. Not a ton, but enough, I'd guess, to account for 0.1 or 0.2 PSI. You can't measure the pressure of the ball without altering the pressure of the ball.
4. How certain are we that the officials actually pumped the balls up to exactly 12.5 PSI to begin with? This has never been an issue before; how precise were they being? If they know the Pats wanted the balls to be on the low end of the legal range, how do we know if they were exactly 12.5, or maybe they were 12.3 or 12.4 and no one cared?
The balls are getting warmed up as they prep them, before the officials pump them up to 12.5 PSI. Everything the Pats (legally) do to prepare the balls for the game is going to involve friction - getting the slickness off the ball's surface. So, the balls will be a little warm when they're pumped up. Maybe they aren't pumped all the way to 12.5 - maybe it's 12.4. They lose a little pressure because it's getting colder. They're being knocked around, so maybe a little air leaks out from the valve. They get checked at halftime, and a little air leaks out when they're measured. Maybe the pressure gauge is off by a small amount.
The one question that I would LOVE to have an answer on - what usually happens? Have officials ever checked the pressure on the game balls at halftime before? How did those readings compare to the pre-game readings?
There's a lot of little things, nothing that alone would account for 2.0 PSI (was it 2.0? They've said "about two." Was it closer to 1.5?). Every one of these little things, the net result is going to be a little bit pressure. So, short of some actual evidence of intent - some ballboy breaking under pressure, or a fan with a camera catching a peek at some shenanigans, or anything else - can people please just shut the **** up and let's actually talk about the mother****ing football game?
1. How much air pressure does a ball typically lose over the course of a game? You've got a football which has been aggressively handled pre-game (legalyl), to get it "sticky" enough for the QB. Every running play, it's being slammed by 250# men running into each other - the ball's in the middle of every collision. Valve's aren't perfect; just like with Hoppy' pee-pee, you'd expect a little bit of leakage.
2. How accurate are the gauges used by the officials to measure the pressure? Old-school dials, or digital?
3. Every time I've inserted a needle to pump up a ball, a little air has leaked out. Not a ton, but enough, I'd guess, to account for 0.1 or 0.2 PSI. You can't measure the pressure of the ball without altering the pressure of the ball.
4. How certain are we that the officials actually pumped the balls up to exactly 12.5 PSI to begin with? This has never been an issue before; how precise were they being? If they know the Pats wanted the balls to be on the low end of the legal range, how do we know if they were exactly 12.5, or maybe they were 12.3 or 12.4 and no one cared?
The balls are getting warmed up as they prep them, before the officials pump them up to 12.5 PSI. Everything the Pats (legally) do to prepare the balls for the game is going to involve friction - getting the slickness off the ball's surface. So, the balls will be a little warm when they're pumped up. Maybe they aren't pumped all the way to 12.5 - maybe it's 12.4. They lose a little pressure because it's getting colder. They're being knocked around, so maybe a little air leaks out from the valve. They get checked at halftime, and a little air leaks out when they're measured. Maybe the pressure gauge is off by a small amount.
The one question that I would LOVE to have an answer on - what usually happens? Have officials ever checked the pressure on the game balls at halftime before? How did those readings compare to the pre-game readings?
There's a lot of little things, nothing that alone would account for 2.0 PSI (was it 2.0? They've said "about two." Was it closer to 1.5?). Every one of these little things, the net result is going to be a little bit pressure. So, short of some actual evidence of intent - some ballboy breaking under pressure, or a fan with a camera catching a peek at some shenanigans, or anything else - can people please just shut the **** up and let's actually talk about the mother****ing football game?
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