http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ally-called-himself-deflator-because-hes-fat/
Pats: Jim McNally called himself “Deflator” because he’s fat
Posted by Darin Gantt on May 14, 2015
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Oh, here we go, this makes perfect sense.
Jim McNally didn’t call himself The Deflator because he took air out of footballs, more probably than not at the behest of
Tom Brady.
He called himself that because he’s fat.
That’s another of the arguments forwarded by the Patriots in their really long (
nearly 20,000 words) refutation of the Ted Wells Report.
The Patriots explain that John Jastremski is a “slender guy,” and usually tried to work out and bulk up. McNally is described as “a big fellow,” and was trying to lose weight.
The Patriots contend investigators had possession of the “espn/deflator” text initially, but didn’t ask McNally about it in their first interview.
“Had they done so, they would have learned from either gentleman one of the ways they used the deflation/deflator term,” they wrote. “‘Deflate’ was a term they used to refer to losing weight.”
They cite specific texts including one which read “deflate and give somebody that jacket.”
“There was nothing complicated or sinister about it,” they wrote, before going through a blow-by-blow of previous texts between McNally and Jastremski which references beer pong and women whose names were “omitted out of respect to Mrs. Jastremski.”
The Patriots suggest that the “jocular texts” undermine Wells’ suggestion that deflator was a reference to anything wrong.
And frankly, that’s as thin as Jastremski apparently is.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...reason-for-espn-text-has-got-to-be-the-shoes/
Patriots: Reason for ESPN text has got to be the shoes
Posted by Darin Gantt on May 14, 2015
In their effort to poke holes in the Ted Wells Report, the Patriots are taking some pretty big liberties with logic and reason.
As incredible as the suggestion that Jim McNally called himself the “Deflator”
because he was trying to lose weight, now they’re saying a reference to calling ESPN was in relation to his receipt of free shoes from John Jastremski.
“Mr. Jastremski had made it clear to Mr. McNally over time that his [Jastremski’s] boss would not be happy with him were he to give away sneakers to Mr. McNally,” the rebuttal reads. “That fact is quite explicit in a number of their texts. (p. 82 — after texting about possibly getting Mr. McNally sneakers and apparel, Mr. Jastremski writes: “unless Dave [his boss, Dave Schoenfeld] leaves the room tomorrow then it’ll wait till next week”).
“Getting sneakers or apparel for his friend Mr. McNally, in short, meant Mr. Jastremski would have to do so behind his boss’s back. They teased each other about whether Mr. Jastremski would get in trouble for giving him sneakers. The May 2014 McNally text reference to “not going to espn” follows his request for “new kicks,” and was Mr. McNally’s way of saying, in substance: “Hey, don’t worry about whether giving me those sneakers will get you in trouble — I’ll never tell.” . . .
“Certainly there is no way one could reasonably base conclusions that a scheme existed and was implemented to improperly deflate footballs based on these texts, particularly where ball tampering at the AFC Championship Game is belied by science, would have been illogical in concept and improbable in practice, and where it would, if anything, had disserved the quarterback.”
What may be illogical in concept is that there are people who feel this warm, yellow liquid running down their leg and are convinced that it’s just rain.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ejudged-by-league-before-wells-investigation/
Patriots: We were “prejudged” by league before Wells investigation
Posted by Josh Alper on May 14, 2015
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In
their lengthy response to the Wells Report, the Patriots argue that the league prejudged the issues related to a loss of air pressure in footballs during the AFC Championship game.
The basis for that argument is the letter sent to the team by NFL senior vice president David Gardi on the day after the game was played. In the letter, Gardi writes that the league made “preliminary findings” that the balls used by the team did not meet the standard set forth in the rules. The team says that they made those findings “with no basis and no understanding of the effect of temperature on psi” and, therefore, “had already prejudged the issues” before hiring Ted Wells to investigate the issue.
The Patriots point out that Gardi’s letter was inaccurate regarding one ball used by the Patriots measuring at 10.1 psi and that all of the Colts balls conformed to the standard, which leads them to wonder why the team was “dealing with this investigation for months based on inaccurate information.”
“The investigators were not troubled by any of these obvious errors or by the League’s failure to correct them. The inaccuracies in this letter, combined with subsequent leaks to the media that were never corrected by the League placed this investigation on a footing of misinformation, to the Patriots substantial disadvantage.”
A rebuttal of the Wells Report’s
scientific evidence by Nobel Prize winner Roderick McKinnon is also included in the report and the Patriots are clear that they believe the league worked backwards after jumping to a conclusion about what happened in January.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...the-guys-theyre-passionately-defending-today/
The Patriots fired the guys they’re passionately defending today
Posted by Darin Gantt on May 14, 2015
The Patriots have launched
long-winded defense of themselves today, nearly 20,000 words of defense.
But through all the chapter and verse they’ve cited to explain the true motives of Jim McNally and John Jastremski in this document, one question becomes more and more curious.
If these two guys are so innocent, why did the Patriots fire them?
In the league’s initial release on the Patriots’ punishment, it is made clear who did what to whom.
“Patriots owner Robert Kraft advised commissioner Roger Goodell last week that Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective on May 6th,” the league’s release last week read.
So, these two guys are completely misunderstood, a pair of hapless innocents who
didn’t want to get busted for lifting shoes and
just wanted to drop a few pounds.
Why then would the Patriots move so quickly and decisively to distance themselves?
Perhaps that can be the next installment of the Patriots’ blog.