#DFG: Canceling the Noise

[E5 Yaz]

Mark Daniels @MarkDanielsPJ · 15m15 minutes ago


 
Ohhh ESPN reports that Patriots locker-room attendant Jim McNally was once seen playing catch with Tom Brady. Hard hitting news here.

 

[ivanvamp]

Wow.
 

 

 
Edit:  Sorry Ed, missed your edit.

 
Oh, so where is THIS on espn.com??

 

[soxhop411]

Wow.
 

45]
 
 
Edit:  Sorry Ed, missed your edit.

ESPN has become the TMZ of sports

 

[Rusty13]

Woops.  Missed posted tweet above.  Anyway, this is hilarious. 

 

[soxhop411]

In fact tmz has more credibility than ESPN right now.

 

[Marciano490]

Curran had a tremendous takedown in article form
 
http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/curran-latest-deflategate-nugget-isnt-very-weighty

 
I hate when things get conflated into tsunamis.
 

 
And even this drip from the spigot will cause the hating masses to luxuriate like it’s a perfectly drawn bath because - in the quest to find the Patriots guilty of something … ANYTHING!!! – they take a drip and conflate it into a tsunami.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Mark Daniels ‏@MarkDanielsPJ 5m5 minutes ago
Former NFL ref Jim Daopoulos is now debunking this shows own report and says locker-room attendant Jim McNally didn't do anything unusual

 
I know some folks have short-term memory loss ... but posting the same thing someone else post 4 minutes ago is over-compensating

 

[Ed Hillel]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

 

[rodderick]

 
And this goes back to a little commented upon point when this all started ... that there were some around the league who believed the Pats were "getting away with" such practices for years, and that "establishing a pattern" would help Goodell come down heavier than the minimum.
 
If you're following the way the leaks emerge, that's what makes this K-ball tidbit of interest -- not the singular episode, but that there's allegedly a report on file from an NFL ref pointing such things out

 
Yeah, and they took the report so seriously nobody did jack fucking shit about it. If you were to investigate every single meaningless procedure of every team this closely, you'd find dozens of similar stories. This is complete horseshit unless some actual proof comes out.

 

[NickEsasky]

ESPN has become the TMZ of sports

Nah TMZ actually has legit sources. 

 

[E5 Yaz]

 
Yeah, and they took the report so seriously nobody did jack fucking shit about it. If you were to investigate every single meaningless procedure of every team this closely, you'd find dozens of similar stories. This is complete horseshit unless some actual proof comes out.

 
I'm not saying it isn't horseshit, just attempting a guess at how the NFL could spin it

 

[Rusty13]

 
I know some folks have short-term memory loss ... but posting the same thing someone else post 4 minutes ago is over-compensating

 
I know.  My bad. 

 

[E5 Yaz]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

 
ESPN Classic replay?

 

[RedOctober3829]

 

Mike Loyko @NEPD_Loyko  ·  2m 2 minutes ago

.@AdamSchefter report on OTL just DESTROYED ALL THE OTL reporting and basically points the finger at the OFFICIALs
 

 

Mike Loyko @NEPD_Loyko  ·  1m 1 minute ago

League Official was supposed to handle balls and send one off to a charitible enterprise. League Official stole balls and was fired from NFL
 

 

Mike Loyko @NEPD_Loyko  ·  1m 1 minute ago

League Officials 2 Noticed that Balls were missing went back to the locker room got different balls and gave them to Jim MacNally..

 
 

 

Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 36s37 seconds ago
Repeat. @AdamSchefter just said a league official who handled balls in AFCCG was FIRED for selling balls that were supposed to go to charity
 

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

Belichick was obviously profiting from the sales of the stolen balls. eBayGate!

 

[soxhop411]

Well things just got interesting

 

[ifmanis5]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

I don't have enough Facepalms to adequately cover this. Just. Wow.

 

[DJnVa]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

 
 
Wait, really?
 
When exactly did the NFL fire him? After the AFC title game? How'd they manage to get that investigation done so quickly?
 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Soooo....McNally, was given the non-marked K ball by a league official because the official was stealing the balls to sell on the side. 
 
Nice business you got running over there, Goodell.

 

[Ed Hillel]

So was this dude stealing all footballs, including the playing balls???
 
Is that the answer to this entire thing? Some NFL official was stealing footballs and replacing them?

 

[DJnVa]

Soooo....McNally, was given the non-marked K ball by a league official because the official was stealing the balls to sell on the side. 
 
Nice business you got running over there, Goodell.

 
 
I'm still confused as to the timing.
 
The NFL ran an investigation into this league official since the end of the AFC title game? Because surely if he was under investigation the league would not have had him working that day right?
 

 

[soxhop411]

“@McCannSportsLaw: If a rogue NFL official sold alleged Deflategate ball, Patriots can argue that's spoliation of evidence and investigation should be dropped.”

 

[E5 Yaz]

Question for clarifiacation: I'm not watching, so when it's said that Schefter "broke in" to the show, is it meant that he wasn't supposed to be there originally?

 

[ifmanis5]

Cris Collinsworth was right- this investigation is indeed opening a can of worms.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Mark Daniels @MarkDanielsPJ · 4m4 minutes ago


 
Mr. Kraft might want to get ready for that apology...

 

[ElcaballitoMVP]

I can't wait for that apology from Goodell. It's going to be so sweet. 

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

So much for Kelly Naqi's three weeks of reporting.

 

[Marciano490]

I can't wait for that apology from Goodell. It's going to be so sweet. 

 
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJhPLGMhRuQ[/youtube]

 

[nattysez]

So much for Kelly Naqi's three weeks of reporting.

 
Undone by less than 24 hours of reporting by Schefter.  Heckuva job, Kelly.

 

[soxhop411]

“@BartHubbuch: No way the NFL can penalize the Patriots for this now. The league's sloppiness and ineptitude would be exposed, too.”

 

[Average Reds]

 
 
I'm still confused as to the timing.
 
The NFL ran an investigation into this league official since the end of the AFC title game? Because surely if he was under investigation the league would not have had him working that day right?
 

 
At this point, I would not be surprised if the NFL hired Robert Durst.  Or asked for Charlie Manson on a work release program.

 

[Mooch]

Holy shit, this thing just keeps getting better. What a clusterfuck.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Bruce Allen ‏@bruceallen 19s19 seconds ago
So the NFL has an employee stealing charity-bound game balls, and the league and media is investigating the Patriots. Makes sense.
 

 

[tims4wins]

So much for Kelly Naqi's three weeks of reporting.

 
My exact reaction. OTL covering themselves in glory.

 

[Ed Hillel]

Question for clarifiacation: I'm not watching, so when it's said that Schefter "broke in" to the show, is it meant that he wasn't supposed to be there originally?

 
Yep, mid-report. In the middle of Volin telling viewers that the Pats lived by the old "if you ain't cheatin' you ain' tryin" motto. So delicious.

 

[E5 Yaz]

 
My exact reaction. OTL covering themselves in glory.

 
It's going to be very interesting how ESPN covers these developments the rest of the day

 

[E5 Yaz]

 
Yep, mid-report. In the middle of Volin telling viewers that the Pats lived by the old "if you ain't cheatin' you ain' tryin" motto. So delicious.

 
Thanks. If only it had been CHB ...

 

[ifmanis5]

Did you ever steal balls that were intended to go to charity? LOOK INTO MY EYES!

 

[E5 Yaz]

Schefter on NFL Insiders now

 

[Ed Hillel]

Schefter said all of this information is on video and will be in the Wells report. LOLOLOLLLLLLLLLL

 

[Stitch01]

Whole thing went from the top story to just straight up not mentioned any more on ESPN.com

 

[DJnVa]

So, are we talking league official or an actual on field official here? Like Back Judge type of thing?

 

[ivanvamp]

Schefter just broke in to OtL to completely shit all over this story! Oh man, this is amazing.
 
Apparently, the footballs McNally handed over to the ref were GIVEN TO HIM BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS. The guy that was giving McNally the ball was fired by the NFL for stealing footballs and that's why he handed him an improper football. He stole the K marked football and replaced it with another one, which he gave to McNally.
 
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA

 
So hold on.  An NFL official was stealing K-marked footballs.  So he gives McNally unmarked ones, and McNally does what is apparently not unusual at all and hands them over to the ref.  So the ref doesn't get why McNally does this, and, because he was tipped off before hand by the NFL (who were tipped off by the Colts and Ravens), he alerts Kensel, who then comes down to check the Patriots' football air pressure, which turn out to be under inflated by margins EASILY explainable by normal temperature differences and, you know, the laws of physics.
 
And yet out of all this, somehow the Patriots are "cheaters"?  
 
Holy mother of God.

 

[Corsi]

Schefter saying this was all caught on tape jibes with ElCabllito's post last week about the "theory" being that the Patriots had some of this chicanery stuff on film.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Whole thing went from the top story to just straight up not mentioned any more on ESPN.com

 
Still on the ESPN.com/NFL page

 

[pappymojo]

Is this the first time that it has been reported that a league official was fired after the Colts/Pats game?  How has this not come up beforehand?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Schefter saying this was all caught on tape jibes with ElCabllito's post last week about the "theory" being that the Patriots had some of this chicanery stuff on film.

 
I missed ElCab's post, any chance of a link to it?

 

[RedOctober3829]

This has been a joke from Day 1 and it's getting worse and worse by the minute for the NFL.  The fact that Schefter would blatantly and overtly shoot down reports being made by representatives of his own employer shows me how truly terribly this story has been reported on.  He's cleaning up this witch hunt. 

 

[E5 Yaz]

Is this the first time that it has been reported that a league official was fired after the Colts/Pats game?  How has this not come up beforehand?

 
No one told Bill Nye

 

[Harry Hooper]

Belichick was obviously profiting from the sales of the stolen balls. eBayGate!

 
Evil BB stealing $$$ from charities!!!