Patriots' Deflate-gate no surprise

Local columnist

link Karl Terry

Every Super Bowl needs a drama line. Why not Deflate- gate this year?

Unless you’ve been living beneath the turf in the old New York Giants Stadium with Jimmy Hoffa, you’ve no doubt heard that the New England Patriots have been accused of cheating during the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday.

Specifically, they’re accused of using game balls that were improperly inflated that could have given Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady and his receivers a slight advantage in gripping the ball during a cold and rainy game.

This probably wouldn’t be a big deal except 11 out of 12 game balls that had been inspected by referees 10 minutes prior to the game turned up under-inflated. Oh, and the fact that the Patriots are known for cheating, especially in the playoffs...

At this point you may be figuring out the author of this column roots for a team not featured in this year’s Super Bowl and just ready to throw rocks from the sidelines. Yes, you’re right.

As a Denver Broncos fan I had two teams in the playoffs I didn’t want to see make the Super Bowl — that’s right, those teams are the Seattle Seahawks, who beat my team last year in the Super Bowl and Brady’s Patriots, who have kept us out of the big game way too many times.

I know from personal experience that footballs can become deflated during a game. I know this from playing football on a field infested with goat head stickers. Playing with a flat football gave you good grip but it didn’t always throw or kick so well. We remedied that problem with a wonder product of the late 1960s and '70s called Never-Leak. We put it in our bicycle tires and it worked great on footballs, too.

The footballs and basketballs filled with the stuff didn’t leak but that didn’t stop them from a serious wobble created by the goo inside, especially noticeable on cold days. It also didn’t solve the problem of catching a ball with the goat heads still embedded in the ball. That’s a pain Tom Brady’s receivers have never felt.

I don’t believe Brady or New England Coach Bill Belichick took an inflation needle to the balls on the sideline because we would have seen video footage of the crime by now. The cameras are never off those two men during a game.

I also don’t think they directly instructed someone else to do it. But I do think the pattern of doing whatever they think they can get away with is ingrained in the organization.

Fining Belichick a half-million dollars and a draft pick after the Spy-Gate scandal a few years ago when the Patriots were caught video taping the opposing team’s sidelines during games didn’t change the culture there and the only thing that might make an impression would be to some way punish them in the Super Bowl. But that’s not going to happen.

I think I might actually end up cheering for the Seahawks next Sunday. Just don’t expect me to cheer on Seattle’s controversial cornerback Richard Sherman. It’s easy to make a one-handed interception with a flat football.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at: [email protected]