Quote:
Originally Posted by juanj
The practice of who supplies the footballs is to some extent ritualized by quarterback's need to practice with the exact footballs he will throw during a game. I recall reading this article about Eli Manning and I found it a revelation that his game balls undergo a long "conditioning," and there is a person whose sole job is to prepare his footballs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sp...in-making.html
As some have pointed out, this is different from baseball, where the rules about how much a ball is scuffed are very strict. Baseballs are also prepped before a game, by the way. What I find surprising is how quickly balls are substituted in a baseball game. A pitch in the dirt is not used again, nor is a foul ball, etc. etc. (or perhaps the ball is checked for scuffs and put back into the rotation if it's still playable?) |
Balls pitched in the dirt are often, but not always put into the umpires pouch to either be played or to see if they can be played again.
And 1.15 pounds is a way from the 2 psi the balls were underinflated. BTW, the OTHER teams balls were NOT low on air.
I find it odd that that the Saints, who had the LOWEST rate of roughing and other illegal flags thrown in the NFL were penalized and had their coach suspended for a year, people are trying to defend a coach, QB and team who have been caught before breaking rules.