 |
| Tom Brady |
"Science proves Tom Brady is a cheater," LA Times
"Tom Brady a cheater? 10-year old Ace Davis' science fair project proves Super Bowl quarterback cheated in deflategate scandal," CBS News
"10-year old proves Tom Brady is a cheater, wins science fair," New York Post
Davis’ hypotheses on his three panel project display reads,
“Through various testing measures of weights (psi - pounds per square inch) of footballs, we should find that the underinflated footballs create a competitive advantage in a game.”
Even though Davis is a ten year old fourth grader, I would expect the winner of a science fair to know that pressure is not a measure of weight. Perhaps the judges should have picked up on this error, but then again, this is Kentucky, the state that has the Creation Museum. Davis continued with a problem statement,
“The National Football League alleges that Tom Brady ordered the deliberate deflation of footballs to gain an advantage in the 2015 championship game versus the Indianapolis Colts.”
That's not quite how it went. The Wells Report, commissioned by the NFL, concluded that it was “more probable than not” that New England Patriots equipment personnel intentionally violated the rules. The report also contended that Brady was "generally aware" of their actions. There was no actual direct evidence that Brady was involved nor requested the modification of air pressure in game balls. While the Wells Report offered no scientific basis for underinflated footballs, many of the technical aspects in the findings have been supported by the likes of Bill Nye and refuted by MIT Professor John Leonard.
What is certain is that the NFL performed a pregame check on all the balls provided by each team. At a news conference a referee, Bill Vinovich, said,
"We test them. It's 12.5 to 13.5. We put 13 in every ball..."
It's safe to assume that during the halftime of the AFC championship game when balls were discovered deflated on both sides, they were pumped up again. The Wells Report speculates that after taking custody of the properly inflated footballs, New England Patriots personnel probably released some air. The report does not prove that doing so gave the Patriots a competitive advantage, leading to their 45-7 win over the Colts. This last bit was the subject of Ace Davis' winning project.
A blind study by the Mythbusters tested whether there's an advantage to catching or throwing an underinflated football. Using a throwing machine to maintain consistency while tossing footballs inflated to various pressures, the researchers showed that underinflation offered no benefits when catching or throwing. Davis, his mother and sister threw footballs inflated to various pressures. Since Davis admitted that he “hates Tom Brady,” I would gather that his research wasn’t conducted in a blind fashion, that is, the throwers likely knew which footballs were underinflated.
Scads of scientists, engineers and nerds have all weighed in on the Ideal Gas Law, the relationship of pressure and temperature of gases in a fixed volume, as well as the warming rates of footballs in duffel bags to prove or disprove cheating. I tend to focus on a more rudimentary question,
How common is it that footballs lose air during normal game play?
Over the course of the 2015 AFC championship contest, footballs on both sides were found to be deflated pregame or at halftime. During the 2016 season, the New York Giants took possession of two Pittsburg Steeler balls. Subsequent testing on the sidelines revealed that both were underinflated. This occurred after the NFL instituted new rules which require each team to bring 24 balls to the Official's Locker Room for inspection two hours and fifteen minutes prior to kickoff.
When asked what he would say to Brady if he had the chance to meet him, Davis responded,
“Give me some of your money. You don't deserve it."
After posting his son’s win on social media in which he declared “Hater Level: 100,” Christopher Davis told a reporter that his son is "not a big fan of school." Ace Davis and his project are on their way to the district level science fair where I'm sure he'll perform well; after all, Kentucky isn't exactly known as a bastion of scientific enlightenment. In fact, senators from the Bluegrass State once objected to questions involving evolution on standard tests in biology. Kentucky is one of those states that was let into the Union just to connect up the coasts. It's a region of the country in which the toothbrush is appropriately named. Criminals know that Kentucky is a good place to commit crimes because everyone has the same DNA.
I usually pass on articles concerning science and technology written by the mainstream media since journalist are mostly former college potheads who can turn a phrase but can't carry a one. Like the science fair judges, the media apparently overlooked Ace Davis' overt distain for Brady which likely led to procedural partiality. His parents also seem to celebrate their son's "hater level." All this judgmental assertions and personal persecution got me thinking about the Gospel of John when a crowd gathered to stone a woman accused of adultery. Jesus said,
"He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone."
If that happened today, someone in the crowd would snatch up a rock then exclaim,
"I'm free of sin! Let's kill that ho!"
Then he would drill the rock into the woman's skull. Half the people would join in while others filmed. It would all be uploaded to YouTube by the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment