OT: Hurricanes Lounge XXI: Cinco de Mayo edition

[Sens1Canes2]

Also posted to NFL Draft thread -

OMG CI - Dante Fowler tore his ACL today and will miss the entire season. I mean....that's so messed up.

 

[HisIceness]

Anyone remember this commercial? I was about 10 years old when it was released, and I still remember it haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfKH1gWcsA


One of my favorite commercials lol. Not sure if anyone noticed, and not going to lie, I thought the marketing department was awful this year. Anything from the in game presentations, the social media posts, and to the TV commercials were just awful and bland....

Watching some of the stuff the Charlotte Checkers crew put together this year on most likely a much smaller budget blew away what the Canes did this year....

I do remember that commercial. IIRC it was a spoof of a Nike basketball commercial that was popular at the time.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

http://comicbook.com/2015/05/10/brad-bird-confirms-the-incredibles-2-is-his-next-movie/

Can. Not. Wait.

 

[Unsustainable]

Sometimes I don't know if it's good I'm left out of the loop or not.

Called my mom for Mother's Day, talking, and mentions in passing that she had a stroke this past week. Supposed to go for another test tomorrow.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

NFL suspends Tom Brady 4 games and fines the Patriots $1 Million
Plus, they have lost their first-round pick for 2016 and their 4th round pick in 2017.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...d-4-games-patriots-forfeit-2016-first-rounder

 

[Brock Anton]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[Brock Anton]

I decided to turn on the radio.... I'm so glad I did. Straight up gold.

 

[Oogie Boogie]

What was being said?

 

[Unsustainable]

Should have been a year.

 

[gocanes88]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

The hilarity when the Steelers (as much as I hate them) knock off the Patriots in the season kickoff game.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

jaguars beat patriots in week 3.

#bookit

 

[Brock Anton]

What was being said?

If you took away all the incoherent yelling, the gist of it was 'people hate us cause they ain't us'.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The suspension was hilarious, but the overreaction to the suspension from Patriot fans is what makes this the greatest suspension in NFL history.

 

[Sens1Canes2]

Excessive if applied with a modicum of consistency.

But it's the NFL, and it seems like they overdo it now to satiate the masses.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

Chris Criste spent over $82,000 on concessions at NY football games. As a voting American, I think I should be ashamed and outraged, but I have to admit, that that is pretty impressive even for a guy of his....

...stature.

 

[Brock Anton]

I think he should be president just because of that. That's p impressive.

 

[Joe McGrath]

Brady getting suspended for 4 games is a total joke. Patriots fans reactions are priceless though.

 

[What the Faulk]

You should see the Deflategate thread on the football board. So much defensiveness.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

This whole deflategate is ridiculous IMO. I'm not a Patriots fan at all, but I bet if you measured the footballs at most games, you'd find the readings all over the place. Didn't Indianapolis also have 4 balls that were under-inflated that game also? (I heard that, but don't have confirmation)

As a Packers fan, I know Aaron Rodgers has said he likes the balls more inflated and I bet if they measured, they'd find times, especially in warmer weather, where they are probably over the limit.

Much to do about nothing if you ask me and a 4 game suspension, without (from my understanding) any real, hard evidence is over the top.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

The 4 game suspension was less about deflating the football and more about (allegedly) lying to the NFL and refusing to cooperate with the investigation. If Brady had simply admitted that the balls were lower than the required amount in the first place, he probably would have gotten away with a fine.

 

[gocanes88]

Chris Criste spent over $82,000 on concessions at NY football games. As a voting American, I think I should be ashamed and outraged, but I have to admit, that that is pretty impressive even for a guy of his....

...stature.

I'll be in Jersey not this weekend but the next... I hope he doesn't eat me too.

 

[What the Faulk]

The 4 game suspension was less about deflating the football and more about (allegedly) lying to the NFL and refusing to cooperate with the investigation. If Brady had simply admitted that the balls were lower than the required amount in the first place, he probably would have gotten away with a fine.

A big reason for the Hardy suspension is because he didn't cooperate with the NFL either. So basically, they really want people to incriminate themselves.

 

[Novacane]

The 4 game suspension was less about deflating the football and more about (allegedly) lying to the NFL and refusing to cooperate with the investigation. If Brady had simply admitted that the balls were lower than the required amount in the first place, he probably would have gotten away with a fine.

Pretty much. Brady only hurt himself by not turning over his phone and the Patriots only hurt themselves by withholding the McNally dude from questioning.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The 4 game suspension was less about deflating the football and more about (allegedly) lying to the NFL and refusing to cooperate with the investigation. If Brady had simply admitted that the balls were lower than the required amount in the first place, he probably would have gotten away with a fine.

I HIGHLY doubt he would have gotten away with just a fine if he said that, the NFL is about image and would have taken him to task as much, if not more. Even so, if what you say is why he got suspended, that's even worse. There's no evidence (as far as I know) that shows Brady said "deflate the footballs lower than spec" anywhere in the investigation. The evidence was "he texted the equipment manager a bunch of times after it came to light", etc.. and "Tom liked to have footballs with less deflation".

Again, maybe I'm wrong, but suspending a guy 4 games without hard evidence is ridiculous. I really don't care as I'm not a Patriots fan, just an impartial observer but this is just over the top and appeasing a larger fan base IMO.

To me, this is much ado about nothing. This isn't like Lance Armstrong gaining a huge competitive advantage by doping. To me, this is akin to George Brett's Pine Tar incident (look it up for the youngins). Yes, a rule was broken, but basically irrelevant to the outcome of the game.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

If he admitted it at the time, the choice for the NFL would have been to either fine him or suspend him for the Superbowl. And there's no way they would have suspended him for the Superbowl.

There's no "smoking gun" that Brady told them to deflate the footballs lower than the required amount. However, there's a lot of circumstantial evidence that points to that conclusion. You've got the texts from the two employees, one of whom refers to himself as "the Deflator", that seem to indicate that Brady knows what's going on, if not involved himself. That makes sense. He'd have to know what's going on. He's the QB. He's the one handling the football the most. He'd know if the balls weren't up to specs if it were done without his knowledge.

In addition to the texts from the employees, you've got Brady refusing to hand over his cellphone and emails, when EVERY other person in the Patriots organization agreed to do so. Doesn't mean he's involved, but it's certainly enough to raise suspicion. There's no smoking gun, but there's enough evidence to say that it's "more probable than not" that Brady (at the very least) knew what was going on.

In addition, the investigation also found that it was "more probable than not" that this wasn't a one time event. Yeah, using deflated footballs for half a game in a 45-7 blowout isn't a big deal. But if I read yesterday's N&O correctly, the NFL believes this might have been going on since the beginning of the 2014 season. If that's the case, then the suspension + fine + loss of draft picks is appropriate.

It probably also doesn't help that the Patriots have the "repeat offender" status attached to them, after Spygate. Not sure why the Patriots feel the need to bend the rules to win, considering they're likely good enough without doing so, but if they continue to do so (allegedly), then they can't really complain about the punishments when they get caught.