http://youtu.be/dZFiYxI3DFM
The Science Guy sets the record straight.
In the fallout of the New England Patriots 45-7 beating of the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, talk of under-inflated footballs began circulating around the Pats organization. Doing so would have made it easier for quarterback Tom Brady to complete passes to receivers. After almost a weeks worth of investigations, the NFL concluded that 11 out of the 12 footballs used during the game were not properly inflated per league regulation, thus leading the media to dub this debacle, “deflate-gate”.
Brady has denied any knowledge or involvement in this situation, citing that he does not have any role in the preparation of the footballs prior to games. Head coach Bill Belichick, who was fined the league maximum $500,000 back in 2007 for filming the practices of opponents, was on the hot seat once again. Yesterday (January 24), Belichick held a press conference to set the record straight, telling the media that he has spent the past week learning as much as he could about air pressure, stitching, game day football preparation, rubdowns etc. For those who slept through science in High School, Bill gave a rather wordy explanation.
“We found that once the footballs were on the field over an extended period of time, in other words, they were adjusted to the climatic conditions and also the fact that the footballs reached an equilibrium without the rubbing process, that after that had run its course and the footballs had reached an equilibrium, that they were down approximately one-and-a-half pounds per square inch.”
In laymen’s terms, after the balls were in the field of play for a while, being “rubbed down” by several different players and dealing with the rainy conditions that day, the balls lost some air pressure, per Belichick’s reasoning.
Good Morning America tracked down acclaimed scientist and television host Bill Nye ‘The Science Guy’ and got his input. Nye said that Belichick’s scientific reasoning was pure nonsense.
Bill Nye:
“I’m not too worried about coach Belichick competing with me. What he said didn’t make any sense. Rubbing the football I don’t think you can change the pressure. To really change the pressure you need one of these, the inflation needle.”
Looks like Belichick is wildn’ for respect. – @Rocko_CNK
