We're onto Beetle and Zolak: The Midday Thread

NortheasternPJ

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Figure we'd start over. 
 
We just survived the Gresh Era, seems a lot like the week after the KC game this year. We're not here to talk about the past, we're on to Beetle & Zo.
 
As someone who spends a good amount of time in the car 10-2 going to customer meetings and a fan of Bertrand & Gasper,I can't welcome this enough. Gresh was OK during football season, but the other 8 months, brutal.
 
Him singing Everything is Awesome at the announcement and ripping (jokingly) F&M on the way out was great.
 

teddykgb

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Will be interesting to see how this show is.  Zolak is such an outsized personality that it's probably tough to pair with him.  Gresh is obviously very close with him so there was a natural rapport there.  I like Bertrand a lot, but it's always tough when these guys suddenly have 4 hours of exposure every day.
 

Patriot_Reign

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Beetle and Zolak, both employed by the Patriots via announcer and PFT.  Should be interesting when it comes time to criticize the local football team.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Patriot_Reign said:
Beetle and Zolak, both employed by the Patriots via announcer and PFT.  Should be interesting when it comes time to criticize the local football team.
 
Bertrand is no longer a team employee as i understand it. He's taking over the Pregame and Postgame on 98.5 so he'll no longer be on Patriots.com. Not that it makes a huge amount of difference.
 

Raftery

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NortheasternPJ said:
 
Bertrand is no longer a team employee as i understand it. He's taking over the Pregame and Postgame on 98.5 so he'll no longer be on Patriots.com. Not that it makes a huge amount of difference.
 
As the host of the 98.5 pregame and postgame, he will still be employed by the team. Those hosts are hired by the Pats, too. He mentioned this on Felger and Mazz today.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Patriot_Reign said:
Beetle and Zolak, both employed by the Patriots via announcer and PFT.  Should be interesting when it comes time to criticize the local football team.
 
More or less interesting than the previous show hosted by the Pats' color analyst and their pre/postgame host?  Or the incarnation before that hosted by both guys from the pre/postgame shows?
 
In other words, what's changed?
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Red(s)HawksFan said:
 
More or less interesting than the previous show hosted by the Pats' color analyst and their pre/postgame host?  Or the incarnation before that hosted by both guys from the pre/postgame shows?
 
In other words, what's changed?
 
Beetle is actually decent at his job?
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Oof. Bertrand was decent during Pats post game shows, but 4 hours of him? Dull, dull, dull. Gresh was best during football season and felt way short in others, but what he brought was better than any of the alternatives.

Bertrand could surprise us but I can't say I'm thrilled with the change.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Are people fucking high?

He made some progress when given the awesome opportunity of a SB season. 10 months ago, it was nearly general consensus that he was one of the worst personalities walking the market.

Thank Christ he's gone. I don't think he drove anywhere near as much football knowledge as people are portraying. Hell, there are two guys at his station (Zolak, Flynn) who provide better insight consistently.
 

BoneForYourJar

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Kenny F'ing Powers said:
Are people fucking high?

He made some progress when given the awesome opportunity of a SB season. 10 months ago, it was nearly general consensus that he was one of the worst personalities walking the market.

Thank Christ he's gone. I don't think he drove anywhere near as much football knowledge as people are portraying. Hell, there are two guys at his station (Zolak, Flynn) who provide better insight consistently.
Some like the guy and the energy he and Zo brought to the table, it's that simple. That he didn't have quite as deep insight into football as two former pros is neither surprising nor damning.
 

NortheasternPJ

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Zo called into one of the fill in shows today and said that Beetle admitted he's got a food problem and Zo is going to whip him into shape Rocky Style.
 

Kenny F'ing Powers

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BoneForYourJar said:
Some like the guy and the energy he and Zo brought to the table, it's that simple. That he didn't have quite as deep insight into football as two former pros is neither surprising nor damning.
 
Nobody liked him.
 
You're all on drugs.
 

steveluck7

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Yeah... probably smart to have Zo go completely old school tough guy "drop your nuts and get back into the game" on their 1st show together, esp. with CHB joining today after his comments on CSN on Monday night. created the perfect controversy to get people to listen in
 

NortheasternPJ

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RedOctober3829 said:
It's only been a few days, but I'm a big fan of Zo and Beetle.  Beetle balances out Zo's energy level and keeps him on task pretty well.  Looking forward to listening to them more often.
He's once again a voice of reason for a show. This time it's his show so he may not check out like on Felger and Mazz. It's obvious from his comments over the last week he was just done with them and gave up
I've really enjoyed the show so far. But I'm a Beetle fan so that's to be expected.

Have they announced a new partner for Gasper?
 

HomeBrew1901

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NortheasternPJ said:
He's once again a voice of reason for a show. This time it's his show so he may not check out like on Felger and Mazz. It's obvious from his comments over the last week he was just done with them and gave up
I've really enjoyed the show so far. But I'm a Beetle fan so that's to be expected.

Have they announced a new partner for Gasper?
What has he said?  Haven't had a chance to check out the show
 

NortheasternPJ

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if you're referring to the Felger and mazz part of hat post its a lot of Zolak calling him out on Felger and mazz stance in shit like Chencelor last year, Pats are cheaters Etc. Beetles basically been saying nothing and letting those things go. On the first day of the show he referenced he gave up on them a couple times In a polite way.

As for Voice of reason he's been standing up to for Zolak being a moron on concussions and going after CHB for being a moron about edelmans comments.
 

RedOctober3829

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NortheasternPJ said:
if you're referring to the Felger and mazz part of hat post its a lot of Zolak calling him out on Felger and mazz stance in shit like Chencelor last year, Pats are cheaters Etc. Beetles basically been saying nothing and letting those things go. On the first day of the show he referenced he gave up on them a couple times In a polite way.

As for Voice of reason he's been standing up to for Zolak being a moron on concussions and going after CHB for being a moron about edelmans comments.
He needs to stand up to Zo for saying Ortiz is slighted by people paid more than him in the locker room.  An aging DH does not get as much as younger players.  It's just the way it is.
 

TheRealness

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I've found myself tuning in when I can between 10-2. I really like Beetle. Glad he got his own show, and him and Shank going at it was great radio. 
 

NDame616

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I listened to a bit of the back and forth with CHB. It genuinely made me mad because I could only imagine how much better F&M would've been with Beetle actually pressing them....
 

TFP

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Zolak is a phenomenal twitter follow. He's a complete meathead but he's hilarious and just loves every second of life.
 

RedOctober3829

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Sinistas said:
Bertrand calling for Chia to get canned...Today. Yeesh.
Not exactly a stretch to say that.  Every part of the organization should be evaluated.  My feeling is that if the coach goes the GM should go as well and vice versa.  We don't want a Jets situation where a new GM doesn't get to pick the coach.
 

BigJimEd

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Been listening to these guys much more lately since MFB is horrible. Didn't think you could get downgrade from Mut but they managed with Benz and Fauria is just bad.
Show with Beetle is pretty good. Much better than with Gresh even when talking about football.

That said had to turn it off today. They were going off on the jury and were so completely ridiculous. Luckily the Sox game was on.
 

steveluck7

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and Zo was trying to be poetic and bring it full circle with gems like "wow, he's in a white van, kinda like how he was in a white audi SUV that day on his way to gilette" and "so this guy goes from sitting on a bus getting state police escorts to games to sitting in a van with police escorts to prison"
 

Gambler7

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I was nervous about this move but I have to say I'm enjoying the program. Very easy to listen to during the day. They have good chemistry. The show is better than what it was. 
 

Harry Hooper

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Beetle was generating some weird takes on Kraft's MMQB comments today. Hit on the "week or so" one, and rejected Zolak's pointing out the link to the upcoming league meetings. Then he fixated on getting Betts out of the leadoff spot as a top priority to fix the Sox offense and compared Farrell's pitching to Cruz Friday night to Grady's 2003 Game 7 one. What happened to this guy?  
 
M

MentalDisabldLst

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Beetle and Zo had former Patriots LT Matt Light on the show, who is an extremely smart guy (engineering at Purdue) and had plenty to say.
 
I've transcribed / paraphrased most of the interview, which I thought was one of the better, more-enlightening things on the whole Ballghazi saga, because it came from someone with inside information but no axe to grind or image to protect.
 
The clips are up on the show's page.
 
Part 1:
 
(Lead-off quote) "...and I'll tell you, Felger and Mazz should be the first ones I should call, because I would love - just LOVE - to combat the idiocy of those two." -- Matt Light last night
 
 
- Talking about Charlie Weis stories: "He would go into the food line, and the bacon would be out, and remember the bread that was underneath the bacon to soak up the fat?  Charlie would take the bread, and make a bacon sandwich with it, with the eggs."
 
 
Q (Bertrand): "We've been doing this 4 hours a day for 2 weeks, other callers, other stations... you get numb to this thing.  You've been digesting this thing since the beginning of it.  What's the biggest problem you have with all of this?"
 
A (Light): "...My overall take on this is, if you get led down a path by a group like the media... the media was force-fed the only thing they could possibly digest, and that was directed and orchestrated by the guy that should have been thinking about what was in the best interests of the NFL.  If Roger Goodell had been doing any number of things at the very beginning of this, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
 
So, we can talk about a lot of different things that led up to this, but first you have to go back to Day 1, and look at it from a different perspective.  If I was anybody else and had no knowledge of what happened within the organization, didn't know any of the people that had been called into question, didn't know their integrity, their character, what they stand for, what they've done - if I didn't know any of those things, I would probably look at it through their same set of eyes."
 
 
Q (Zolak): "Do you think the air in the football is important?  12.5, 11.5, whatever that number may be?"
 
A: "You know what's crazy?  I had never, in my life, ever before thought about it.  Now Zo, you used to get them ready -"
 
(Zolak): "I was a QB for 8 years.  I've never stuck a gauge in, though the rule changed in 06-07 when Tommy & Peyton petitioned the league to be able to prep their own footballs.  But everybody would do something different, because no two hands are alike, every football is different.  People keep thinking it's the squishability, the hardness of the football, but what's more important is the strings on the football, we'd throw some out just on the strings alone.  I never knew about PSI until this past January.?
 
A: "Imagine what a golfer does, have you ever heard a golfer get into their inside mind, what they do to their balls?  The prep is complicated.  It's absurd to get into the pressurization of a pigskin, it had never been brought up in my mind.  But it has to be important, right, because they have rules about where that pressure has to fall.  So to answer your question, yeah, I think it is important.  But Zo - you know, a guy like Tommy at that level, think of how much attention is put into that prep.  I mean, he's NUTS about that."
 
(Zolak): "I call him type-A.  Being around him, everything's gotta be his way.  The word he uses when he says 'I approve the balls, they're perfect'.  He's got them exactly the way he wants them."
 
(Light): "Exactly.  Talk to a Dan Connolly, Dan Koppen, Ryan Wendell... when he had to go out there and do 4 million snaps, and Bill's squirting water on the ball, he's got to get everything just perfect.  Their hands are on the ball."
 
(Bertrand): "Here's a quote from Tedy Bruschi and Damien Woody...."
 
(Tedy Bruschi, via tape): "This is what I believe: Tom Brady would not tell anyone to do anything illegal.  I know Tom Brady, I know his integrity, I'd vouch for his integrity up and down.  He would not ever tell anyone, to implicate themselves or do something illegally, that would circumvent the rules of competitive play.  That's who he is, that's what I believe."
 
 
(Woody apparently disagrees with Bruschi)
 
Q (Zolak): "...but you don't believe Tom had anything to do with this?"
 
A (Light): "There's no doubt in my mind, none whatsoever, that Tom is 100% innocent of anything that's been talked about.  The guy wouldn't do that!  He puts so much into everything that he does, it's been done at an exceptional level from day 1 with him.  If you're going to call someone's character and integrity into question, what do you base it on?"
 
 
Q (Bertrand): "You go back to Spygate, now there's people sitting around who think -you're- a cheater, because you were there during that era.  What's your response to that, and how much could videotaping another team's signals help you during a football game?"
 
A (Light): "I don't know if there's anything else that people hang their hat on, but to me, the Spygate thing feels like the #1 thing people hang their hat on.  If people talk about New England and deflategate, they say 'well, it's very apparent they have a history of this based on Spygate'.  There's several things you understand happen with an organization when you're a player, and there are some things you NEVER hear about.  And I had NEVER heard about the filming of an opponent's sideline when I was a player.  What I heard, I heard from Bill when he addressed the team, I heard 'here's what we're going to be going through, here's exactly what happened, here's where the problem lies', and the one takeaway I had was, 'we do everything we can, we study every single opponent, we study their tendencies, and we do it by the book.  Do we go right up to the line?  You bet you do, that's why we're successful, because there's never a stone that doesn't get turned over.'
 
But to your point, Spygate, I look at it as this: it's not like you cheated on your wife.  You may have sent a text to an old girlfriend, but you didn't cheat on your wife."
 
 
(Bertrand): "...But you were told, and there's a lot of people who think this Wells report was written the way it was, because you were told to stop and you didn't stop and it's happening again!"
 
(Zolak): "And there was no warning with this.  Where's the harmonious job of the commissioner to go to the Patriots on Tuesday and say, 'hey, someone's bitching about you guys taking care of the footballs a certain way.  Can you get to the bottom of it, Robert or Bill, and fix this, or we're going to send the memo again.'  And they didn't, so it seems like this sting was set up."
 
(Light): "Roger Goodell came in from day 1 to come in and prove a point.  Go back and look at Roger's first weeks as the commissioner, and his goal was to set that standard that when it comes to discipline and integrity, we are NOT going to compromise.  So I would say this: aside from that I've got a lot of issues with how he's handled a lot of things, he comes from the camp of, 'let's make sure that the court of public opinion is what we consider FIRST' - he's worried about what other people are going to say, what the media and other owners are going to say - instead of, as every other leader I've seen in every organization, saying 'this is how we do business'.  There's a very big difference in those two things, you're either a leader or you're not.  I'll give you an example: I got fined for a fight with Channing Crowder."
 
(Bertrand): "That was an awesome fight.  Took your helmet off and started swinging it."
 
(Light): "It was a great time.  I really enjoyed it.  Had a cast on my hand too.  That moment happened, and was it good for the NFL?  No.  Was it something we want to have out there?  No.  But hey, I play the game of football so I don't go to jail when I fight people.  I actually really enjoy it, and it's a violent sport.  And cause the guy was an absolute idiot, and they had many chances to stop that situation way ahead of time."
 
(Zolak): "What do you mean by that?"
 
(Light): "Well, the guy was making references to a family member of mine, all game long.  Now listen, I'm the guy if you ask anybody that - there's been articles written from the Super Bowl that I tried to talk trash to him all game long, it didn't work, I finally gave up.  Now, I never say a word, mainly because I'm breathing too hard.  Quarterbacks get a lot of things thrown at them from the linebackers and stuff, all game long.  Linemen too.  Now a defensive end, or a linebacker in this case, in Channing Crowder, was saying things that were so despicable, and so loudly, and for so long, and in at halftime too - and now, in Miami, both teams go into the same endzone, right? - the whole way in, and the Ref was between us.  And the whole game, the Ref was there.  And at a point in the NFL under Goodell's guidance where they weren't going to allow things to be said... at that point in the game, they could have done a bunch of things to just kill it.  They chose not to.  They got to a point in the game where he actually removed a guy on the extra point and took his place right over me, and you know as well as I do, Zo, that on an extra point it's literally just an opportunity to kill whoever's in front of you if you're a D-lineman.  So as an offensive lineman, I take one step, and I get pummeled by not one or two but literally three guys, with another guy pushing behind him.  I told my good buddy, my sidekick Russ Hochstein, 'bear down, buddy, it's about to get real.'  And he gets pummeled, because I don't think he got the memo.  And I scoot back and here's Crowder of course right there right in my face, and I pop his helmet off, we get it on, the thing happens.
 
Now, I get a call from Roger of course, and I get ejected - of course, that's how these things happen.  When you get ejected and you put a stain on the game like that, you stop a game because you throw a helmet clear across the field because you're a little wound up, you're getting a call.  And I told Roger, "Look, I don't need a big brother standing up for me.  Your guys had their chance to make this right, they chose not to, and it ended up in that.  So do what you gotta do, but - 'oh, what did he say?' - well, you ask THEM [the refs] what he said, I'm not going to go running to you.'  When it's all said and done, he calls me and says 'It can go one of two ways.  Either you call everybody and tell them what was said, how it all went down, or I fine you guys the same amount of money, basically saying that, if I don't fine you, they're going to have a field day with this in the media.'  So again, he's not leading, he's worried about perception.  And again, I wouldn't ever do that, I can handle my own situations.  But thank you for the fine, Roger.  I got 15, he got 15, and we called it a day."
 
 
 

Part 2:
 
Q (Zolak): "You've expanded on this, you don't think Tom Brady was involved in any deflation of footballs.  Does that mean you don't think any balls were deflated at all?  What do you think happened with JJ, McNally (or Burt, as you knew him), and what do you make of their text messages?  The Wells Report was crap, it has a lot of holes in it, it wasn't right down the middle, and I don't think there was a lot there he concluded that was backed up with good evidence.  But I do think the text messages were the one thing in there that was presented that's kinda hard to get around if you're the Patriots, and they seem to be having some problems getting around them with some explanations.  So what do you make of that?"
 
A (Light): "Let's start with the deflation side of it.  I dont' think there was anything done to those footballs.  And again, it comes out Sunday night, it was Bob Kravitz - one of the Colts' owner's friends - he makes the statement back in the beginning, comes out with this, then the Media gets all over it on Monday, Tuesday all over it -"
 
(Bertrand): "And you can't forget the Mortensen report that 11 of 12 balls were more than 2 PSI below the league minimum."
 
(Light): "And we'll get to that.  But you have to remember the history.  Had the league said anything on Monday?  No.  Had the league said anything on Tuesday?  No.  At which point, the Patriots contact the league.  And at this point in the game, you have to understand what happens within an organization (I went to 5 super bowls), you can't fathom what a typical week is like under a Bill Belichick team.  So on Monday, most people envision a situation in which the organization is running around with their hair on fire saying 'oh my gosh, we gotta do this, we gotta do that'.  You know what they were doing?  They were getting ready to prep every one of those guys on how to deal with your family members, how to deal with tickets, reviewing the last game, 'let's figure out how to improve on the performance there, beating the tar out of the Colts', because Bill never lets up on that end of it, right?  And that would just be a normal work week, people can't understand what a normal work week for Bill is unless you're there.  And keep in mind, the team's sole focus is winning the super bowl.  The goal of the season isn't to go to the super bowl, it's to win it.  So they're gearing up for it.  
 
On Tuesday, one of the people on the organization, calls the NFL.  You know what the response was, from the NFL, who is supposedly leading an investigation that they know nothing about?  'we're going to issue a press release - stand by.'  That's Tuesday.  On Wednesday?  No press release, no word.  They didnt' say what they were investigating, how they were investigating it, nobody had ever seen or heard anything about the pressurization of a pigskin.  On Thursday?  League-mandated press conference for every single player.  You have to make yourself available to the media.  What in the world would you tell your guys, if they were forced to stand in front of a firing line, because they have no protection?  Because they have no idea what's being investigated, what they're being accused of.  Remember, the league hadn't said a single word.  So again, go back to the leadership within the NFL.  At what point would that ever be acceptable within any organization?
 
Tommy gets up, he makes his statement, people have a problem with what he said.  You have to understand the absurdity in a QB's mind - and by the way, is he a little eccentric?  Of course he is.  Is he a different duck?  Of course he is.  I tell people this all the time, he's not a 'man's man', he's not going to go shooting in the woods with me.  Tommy doesn't want to go down that road.  I mean no disrespect.  Tom grew up with three sisters.  He has more feelings than I do.  He really does.  If you know Tom Brady, you admire that, because he's very sincere, everything's very well-thought-out.  TO think that a guy who's that focused on winning and doing his job literally, getting questioned on something he knows nothing about.  So don't judge his response.  The NFL then, on Friday, issues their press release.  And not one thing is brought up about the pressure within the football.
 
Here's what you do know, the exact facts of the case - I got them written down, hand-written in my notes, I'm old-school, I'm an engineer - so 12.5 is where Tommy wants his footballs, can we agree on that?  Based on what we know, which is very little... keep in mind, these are all things, if you're the commissioner of the NFL, and you were at the owner's house the night before, and you chose not to say anything to the owner like 'hey, if you guys have any hand in anything, I'm gonna come down on you and I'm gonna crush you.' And -"
 
(Bertrand): "Do you think he knew?"
 
(Light): "Hold on, and - what?  Of course he knew."
 
(Bertrand): "I don't think he did."
 
(Light): "Are you out of your MIND?"
 
(Bertrand): "Matt, I think the only reason we got to this point is because Goodell didn't know.  Because if he did know, this wouldn't have happened."
 
(Light): "If he did know, what would he do?"
 
(Bertrand): "He would have told Robert.  I believe he would have.  He may not have been loyal to his players, but he's loyal to his owners."
 
(Light): "Let me tell you, there's one reason why he wouldn't tell him.  The guy's name is Jeff Pash.  Do you think he wields a little weight in that organization?  I've sat in meetings, I know what happens with that guy.  Go back and look at the CBA and some of the dealings, OK?  Let's play the what-if game.  If he didn't know, then shame on him and shame on his leadership for having people within his organization that didn't bring it up.  So that point, let's just step aside, right?
 
And let's say he doesn't know. So if they're going to go after a team, and they're not going to tell the owner.  That's fine, because some people say, 'hey, you're going to tell your wife you know she's cheating before you catch her in the act'?  That's fine, let's go down that road.  Would you not then make sure you knew every single detail of what's going to happen, and would you not have a single process put in place to handle this very scenario?  Would you not leave anything to chance.  You would leave nothing to chance! --"
 
(Zolak): "-- I think you would check the balls prior to the game, a record of what they were."
 
(Light): "I think you would have your own gauges, you would write it down, you would direct every single person that - if you're going to gun for someone, you wouldn't approach it this way, that's why it's so absurd.
 
You want to look at these balls?  Here's the truth.  12.5 for the Pats' balls.  You want to know what the first 4 balls were, the difference in pressure, that was the difference, if we agree on 12.5 is where he wanted them, if we agree that 13 was the number for the Colts, the difference - 0.20.  The first ball he tested for the Colts, what its difference was?  0.15.  Second ball for the Patriots?  0.55.  This is my engineering side of me, I love looking at the facts of this.  You know what the Colts' second one was?  0.75.  This is the difference in pressure, which is greater on theirs.  0.70, for the Pats' third ball.  For the Colts?  0.80.  For the fourth ball?  0.95.  Theirs?  0.95.  They tested 4 of their balls, 4 of ours, our first 4, they're almost identical.
 
Now, does it go on?  1.0, 1.05, 1.15, 1.15, 1.30, 1.50, 1.60.  Who's to say the rest of their balls didn't follow the same line?  If you look at a trend line..."
 
(Zolak): "I've been saying all along, they haven't been able to prove anything with the measurements."
 
(Light): "So why in the world wouldn't it all stop right there?  Remember, you've all been funneled in one direction.  And now it's coming out - oh, the league actually asked the Pats to suspend [JM & JJ].  And did that come out a long time ago, when everybody said 'why would they suspend them if they didnt' do anything wrong'?  These are the Cold Hard Facts, and these don't lie.  And that's where it all should stop, because the rest of it is speculation, the rest of it is this fairy-tale world in which the commissioner lives."
 
 

Part 3:
 
(Bertrand): "OK, what about the text messages, what do you think?"
 
(Light): "So can we first say that there are things when you put in an email, or you put in a text, they just don't come out right.  What's implied in written word can be very difficult to decipher based on who it's coming from.  Couple that with the fact that if you knew these guys - locker room antics, I mean, I used to love having fun in the locker room. I would bust everyone's chops, we'd be singing Moustache Men out of practice, if Tommy did a photo shoot with *goats*, and he's on a horse and hanging out of the saddle, I'm taping that to my back and we're going to practice and having fun with it.  So now, these text messages that everybody has a problem with - keep in mind, a lot of them came a YEAR ago.  The one about 'The Deflator'.  Did you have this in your mind a year ago?  When you think about this, a lot of people think that this all happened *recently*, right?  I just wanted you to say that it happened last year.  And then some people say, well, this has been goign on forever, right?
 
So that's May of last year.  And if you think about the rest of the texts, let's not forget that a lot of them, if you're those individuals, they don't improve your relationship with Tom Brady, right?  They're talking about how he's a whiny little baby, F Tom, everything has to be perfect... when you work for somebody like Tom, or like Bill, there's a bit of a love-hate relationship.  There's a time when you get tired of being told something and getting yelled at.  If you've ever seen Tom go off on a receiver, or a lineman - trust me, I've had some *awesome* conversations with him - that's what happens when you're all trying to push to do something at an extremely high level.  Those guys love to poke fun at it.  As a matter of fact, they were talking about how they were blowing the ball up greater than anything Tommy would ever want, right?  A watermelon.  So to think that they would then poke fun and say, hey, because Tom wants these balls at a lower pressure because you're pumping them up crazy just to piss him off, we're going to call you 'Deflator' - is that a stretch?  Is that totally out of the realm of what could have possibly happened, with a bunch of guys who hang around together every single day, and love to bust each others' chops and have a little fun?
 
Now listen, again, if you've been led down the path that the league wants you to be led down, because they don't want to lead from the front, then you'd definitely come to that conclusion.  I get that, and I respect it.  But I know these guys, and you can't forget that these are human beings.  A guy like McNally, do you think he has any motive other than to serve?  Ten dollars an hour, comes in for a few hours every year, loves hanging out, loves the camraderie, do you think he would come from an evil place to do something crazy?"
 
 
(Zolak): "But Matt, speaking of the realm of possibility, is it out of the realm of possibility that McNally took those balls into the bathroom, let some air out of them because he knew that Brady wanted them that way, the team realized that's probably what happened, and that's why they suspended both the ball boys.  It all kinda ties together.  So if they didn't do anything wrong, and were only doing it to appease the league, I mean - the team doesn't do that.  [dramatic tone] They're Americans!  They don't negotiate with terrorists!  No, we're not going to suspend these guys, they didn't do anything wrong! [/dramatic]
 
So to me, it's within the realm of possibility, that yeah, something happened, Brady didn't have direct knowledge of it, but something happened, the team realizes something happened.  So yeah, we'll suspend these guys, and can't we all just get along?"
 
(Light): "So look, I think anything's in the realm of possibility.  I'm a realist, people can make mistakes, even terrible mistakes.  But there's no way that THAT mistake you're referring to, letting air out of the balls, whether it's under Tommy's direct order or one individual's decision to do so, there's no way that happened.  And the evidence bears that all out.  And why in the world would you suspend somebody if they did nothing wrong?  Well that's been solved, the league finally came out and admitted to the fact that they were the ones that requested that the Patriots suspend those guys."
 
(Zolak): "The league requested a lot of stuff and the Patriots told them to go screw, so why acquiesce about that one?"
 
(Light): "After the fact, right?  Remember the timeline.  when they asked to suspend them, there was still a part of this investigation that thought 'ok, we're all playing nice in the sandbox, we're not getting out of control.'  At some point, within anything like this where it's so skewed and so ridiculous, the organization - and by the way, this isn't the norm, typically the team would just take the lumps and say 'it's crazy, but we're not going to get into this match of saying he-said-she-said and defending our position, we know what happened.'  It's so absurd that people like Robert have said things, which is totally out of the norm, and have had to go defend their team because it's so ridiculous.
 
And by the way, what's it going to hurt?  OK, so, we suspend the guys.  They're still going to take care of these guys.  What would be the - If they didn't suspend them, and then the league immediately came out and said "well, we asked them to suspend them and they wouldn't do it!", what message does that send?  So to them, there wasn't a huge downside to just doing what the league directed.  But now, did the league say anything about that until today?  Has anyone?  Everyone was led to believe that the organization, on their own, took it upon themselves to suspend these two individuals.  That's NOT what happened."
 
(Bertrand): "But if they didn't nothign wrong, and the team believes they didn't nothing wrong, why would you ever go along with that?"
 
(Light): "Well, if your boss said, hey, the guy that works under you?  I know you're managing him, but this is what we suggest you do... would you not maybe give it some consideration?  What's the downside?  OK, we'll let this blow over, we can focus more on winning football games, or focus more on the draft, if we just - OK, we'll give you that, league.  We'll make it up to them, there's no downside to them personally, really no downside to the organization, they know what happened.  OK, we'll go with what you say, boss.
 
Now, is it in the realm of possibility that they could have deflated the balls?  It's absolutely impossible.  I'll go back to my numbers.  Based on, literally, THEIR recorded numbers of what they actually put it out.  point-2-0, the difference.  Look at the first 4 balls which is exactly the same as the Colts' balls.  If he let air out of the ball, it would have to be a FAR greater number than this!  If both balls have the same difference in pressure, then how in the world could you let pressure out of one ball and not have it be a much greater number?  It's absurd to think that these numbers don't show exactly what happened in this case."
 
 
(Bertrand): "So why did they only test 4 of the Colts' balls?  They ran out of time?"
 
(Zolak): "I think from a science perspective, the whole thing is flawed.  THey don't have recorded measurements from the start of the game, they didn't measure all the Colts' balls.  You match whatever science they brought up, whatever common sense, or someone who studied engineering at Purdue - throw this part of it out.  But if you're going to remain open-minded as to, well, what is within the realm of possibility here?  you have to allow that maybe something happened.  I think it's only compounded by the fact that the Patriots were OK with suspending these guys because they think maybe something happened too."
 
(Light): "The suspension side of it - the league TOLD them to suspend these two people."
 
(Zolak): "But the league isn't really their boss.  The Patriots kind of look at themselves as being the boss of their own organization, the league is up there dictating and mandating a few things, but do you think that Robert Kraft sits down there in Foxboro and says, Roger Goodell is my boss?  Is that the feeling among people at the Patriots?"
 
(Bertrand): "Let's get the chain of command right.  Roger works for the owners."
 
(Light): "I hear what you're saying, but again, do you want to rock the boat?  Do you want to create issues?  If you're the patriots' organization, what's the downside?  The court of public opinion had already been ruling for weeks and weeks and weeks.  What's the downside?  The league asked you to.  If you don't do it, what message is that sending?  You're playing the lesser of two evils, right?
 
Again, it doesn't matter to them.  OK, hey, fine, you're going to suspend the two guys, whatever.  We're going to get to the bottom of this, we're going to prove out on this thing.  Which is basically what you're seeing happen right now.  Has it ever happened like this before?  Have you ever seen anything so absurd that the owner of the best franchise in the NFL goes toe-to-toe with the commissioner?  It's never happened before, because it's absolutely absurd."


 
Figured I'd leave it here for posterity, rather than make people dig through the madness of the Ballghazi threads.  In any event, great, even-handed job by Bertrand & Zolak.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 13, 2002
28,535
right here
What's the name of the song they use for the show intro? I feel really dumb that I can't come up with it and it's driving my slightly bonkers
 

PeaceSignMoose

Member
SoSH Member
Dec 13, 2006
1,745
Boston
The Napkin said:
What's the name of the song they use for the show intro? I feel really dumb that I can't come up with it and it's driving my slightly bonkers
 
Unless they've changed it over the last week, it's Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine.
 

Haunted

The Man in the Box
SoSH Member
Aug 23, 2006
6,196
I stopped listening to TSH at night not long after he took over for DA.  He was the ultimate "look at the box scores and then make up the rest" analyst.  His Bruins discussions were awful, and his negative trolling was obnoxiously transparent.  Felger is a brilliant troll.  Jones is no Felger.
 
PLUS what I really hate.. IS his cadence... WHEN he talks.  The weird emphasis ON prepositional phrases specifically IS really off-putting.  Not everything.. HAS to be so declarative.