Bill Nye Patriots balls
Bill Nye Patriots balls, Bill Nye has the Patriots by the balls. When it comes to the whiteboard x’s and o’s, the wishbone formation, sweeps, bootlegs and slants, all hail The Hoodie. But Belichick looked completely out of his element when it came to offering an analytical diagnostic of atmospheric pressure on a pigskin.
Which by the way, is quite an accurate moniker for the modern-day football. Early balls were made of natural materials, like a (properly) inflated pig bladder stuffed inside of leather. Thus the nickname. Those were the glory days of the gridiron; warriors in leather helmets gathered to mash each other up, as long as someone remembered to bring the bladder of an even-toed ungulate. But we digress.
Writes the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 25: “New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick claimed Saturday that ‘climatic conditions’ were the likely culprit behind the reported underinflation of the team's footballs during last week's AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Belichick said a simulation the team conducted last week found air pressure in the balls could have dropped as much as 1.5 pounds per square inch based on the cold, rainy conditions present at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 18.”
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, doesn’t buy it. The 59-year-old science teacher, mechanical engineer and television host debunked Bill’s explanation as BS. Nye said the Patriots coach’s reasoning as to why the footballs mysteriously depressurized, deflated, shrunk, whatever… made no sense.
“I’m not too worried about coach Belichick competing with me. What he said didn’t make any sense,” Nye said on “Good Morning America.”
In a press meeting today, Belichick showed he hit the Wikipedia pages hard, using words and terms like climatic conditions (or did he say climactic?) equilibrium, and pounds per square inch.
“We found that once the footballs were on the field over an extended period of time, in other words, they were adjusted to the climactic conditions…and the footballs reached an equilibrium, that they were down approximately 1.5 pounds per square inch,” Belichick explained. “When we brought the footballs back in after that process and retested them in a controlled environment we have here, then those measurements rose approximately 0.5 PSI. So the net 1.5 back down 0.5 is approximately one PSI.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Belichick explained that rubbing ones balls in a vigorous manner, umm, may cause them to alter their natural state.
“Now, we all know that air pressure is a function of the atmospheric conditions, it’s a function of that. So, if there’s activity in the ball relative to the rubbing process, I think that explains why when we gave them to the officials and the officials put it at 12.5 [PSI] if that’s in fact what they did, that once the ball reached its equilibrium state, it probably was closer to 11.5 [PSI],” the coach said.
Nye took the air out of Belichick with a balloon demo, and then pricked him with a tongue-in-cheek jab.
“Rubbing the football, I don’t think you can change the pressure. To really change the pressure you really need one of these,” Nye said, holding up a pump with pin. “The inflation needle.” And then he added for good measure: “I cannot help but say, ‘Go Seahawks!’”
Adds the Bleacher Report: “Of course, this is not the last we will hear about this story, since nothing changed as a result of the press conference. Belichick claimed innocence, which he and the Patriots have maintained all along.” So Belichick went from playing the dumb card to being the science genius. Which Bill are you siding with in this balls to the wall debate?
Which by the way, is quite an accurate moniker for the modern-day football. Early balls were made of natural materials, like a (properly) inflated pig bladder stuffed inside of leather. Thus the nickname. Those were the glory days of the gridiron; warriors in leather helmets gathered to mash each other up, as long as someone remembered to bring the bladder of an even-toed ungulate. But we digress.
Writes the Los Angeles Times on Jan. 25: “New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick claimed Saturday that ‘climatic conditions’ were the likely culprit behind the reported underinflation of the team's footballs during last week's AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Belichick said a simulation the team conducted last week found air pressure in the balls could have dropped as much as 1.5 pounds per square inch based on the cold, rainy conditions present at Gillette Stadium on Jan. 18.”
Bill Nye, the Science Guy, doesn’t buy it. The 59-year-old science teacher, mechanical engineer and television host debunked Bill’s explanation as BS. Nye said the Patriots coach’s reasoning as to why the footballs mysteriously depressurized, deflated, shrunk, whatever… made no sense.
“I’m not too worried about coach Belichick competing with me. What he said didn’t make any sense,” Nye said on “Good Morning America.”
In a press meeting today, Belichick showed he hit the Wikipedia pages hard, using words and terms like climatic conditions (or did he say climactic?) equilibrium, and pounds per square inch.
“We found that once the footballs were on the field over an extended period of time, in other words, they were adjusted to the climactic conditions…and the footballs reached an equilibrium, that they were down approximately 1.5 pounds per square inch,” Belichick explained. “When we brought the footballs back in after that process and retested them in a controlled environment we have here, then those measurements rose approximately 0.5 PSI. So the net 1.5 back down 0.5 is approximately one PSI.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Belichick explained that rubbing ones balls in a vigorous manner, umm, may cause them to alter their natural state.
“Now, we all know that air pressure is a function of the atmospheric conditions, it’s a function of that. So, if there’s activity in the ball relative to the rubbing process, I think that explains why when we gave them to the officials and the officials put it at 12.5 [PSI] if that’s in fact what they did, that once the ball reached its equilibrium state, it probably was closer to 11.5 [PSI],” the coach said.
Nye took the air out of Belichick with a balloon demo, and then pricked him with a tongue-in-cheek jab.
“Rubbing the football, I don’t think you can change the pressure. To really change the pressure you really need one of these,” Nye said, holding up a pump with pin. “The inflation needle.” And then he added for good measure: “I cannot help but say, ‘Go Seahawks!’”
Adds the Bleacher Report: “Of course, this is not the last we will hear about this story, since nothing changed as a result of the press conference. Belichick claimed innocence, which he and the Patriots have maintained all along.” So Belichick went from playing the dumb card to being the science genius. Which Bill are you siding with in this balls to the wall debate?
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Bill Nye Patriots balls
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