Monday marked the one-year anniversary of Deflategate, one of the most ridiculous sports controversies in the history of civilization that is somehow still making its way through the court system. And, believe it or not, talk of air pressure inside a football could dominate the headlines for a second consecutive Super Bowl.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports that the NFL is considering releasing a summary before the Super Bowl of PSI data they collected this season. The league has not committed to anything, but there is a belief that some results could be published in the two weeks between the conference championship games and Super Bowl.
A summary could be presented any way the NFL wants to present it. Game balls have supposedly been tested randomly, and the league might avoid sharing actual PSI numbers and only explain when balls were tested, whether they were within the legal limits and what the weather was like that day.
The problem with releasing actual PSI numbers — for the NFL, at least — is that league officials openly admitted they were unaware of the Ideal Gas Law when they tested the New England Patriots’ game balls at halftime of the AFC Championship Game last year. If PSI numbers were taken at halftime of an incredibly cold game like this one, the results would almost certainly show that the balls lost a significant amount of air pressure.
How would that look for the NFL and the Deflategate investigation? Say the random PSI tests showed that game balls deflated to around 10 PSI on a 20-degree day. People might then look back at the readings from last year’s AFC Championship Game and wonder what the heck all the fuss was about.
If the NFL does decide to release a summary, we can’t imagine it will be all that detailed.
