Integrity

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

-       Inigo Montoya

So, I guess we know, now. I'd wondered aloud if Deflategate was a shockingly inept attempt to frame the Patriots or it was simply that the NFL is a clown car of ineptitude.

It’s both. It's definitely both.

Indianapolis GM Ryan Grigson has confirmed that he notified the NFL of the Colts' suspicions the Patriots were doctoring the football. It starts to look like the NFL organized a poorly executed sting operation to catch the Patriots in the act of cheating.

Why weren't the football pressure readings recorded when the officials signed off on the game balls?

Why weren't the game balls gauged just before kickoff?

Why allow the first half to be played with possibly cheaty footballs if the integrity of the game is so important?

Why weren't the Colts' footballs tracked as a control for impact of temperature and humidity?

Why?

Because the NFL is a clown car of ineptitude.

Quick Aside: Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston during this week's chat answered a question about how the league punished the Minnesota Vikings for warming footballs on the sidelines. He said the Vikings were simply warned by the league. If that effort to affect the grip of the footballs only warranted a warning, why this elaborate effort to sting the Patriots? Also, are the Vikings stupid? Don't they know you need to cool the footballs to lower the pressure to make them easier to throw and catch and not fumble? Is Bill Belichick the only head coach in this league who understands the Ideal Gas Law? No wonder his team is always in the playoffs!

Here’s a thin gruel for the haters: If the Patriots did cheat, the NFL has no way to prove it. There's insufficient evidence to even prove the footballs were deflated, whether by tampering or the inevitable forces of nature; no smoking gun, no confession, no videos on TMZ. When do we find out the lead investigator is a racist?

Not that anything will matter to the haters. Hey, I get it. They're just people; people who root for football teams that lose to the Patriots. I'd say I know how you feel but I don't. I root for the Patriots. They win a lot. Because they're better than your team. Tom Brady is the greatest of all time and Bill Belichick has the Ideal Gas Law tattooed on his left bicep.

It is what it is.

But hey, I'm not perfect either. I'll admit, I'm looking forward to next year's game with the Colts. Get ready for the worst beating you've ever had, Indianapolis. Hide the children. New England will have some anger issues to work out in that game. Don't expect Jimmy Garoppolo to trot out onto the field when it's 55-0, either. Don't expect Jimmy G to make an appearance when it's 69-0. Don't expect the Patriots to stop. They won't. And I will enjoy every minute of it because now I'm a hater, too.

Oh, and if the only football that measured 10.5 PSI (they did write down those numbers, didn't they?) was the football the Colts had following D'Qwell Jackson's interception, it won't matter how many times Grigson or Chuck Pagano call it ludicrous, I'll know what happened. I'll always believe this was a set up.

Ludicrous?

I do not think it means what you think it means.