5 Things on a Friday: Oh Balls!

Billions of dollars rest on the
perception of a fair game.

Sorry for the focus on #deflategate this week.  As I wrote on Facebook yesterday, the Wells Report and yesterday's rebuttal from the Patriots "has all my favorite things: conspiracy, incompetence, leadership failure, conclusions drawn before facts are gathered, football (!), endless/meaningless detail, and a healthy dose of mathematics."  I'm absolutely fascinated.  The whole thing is ludicrous at a level that is unusual even for the NFL.  On top of that, though, there's an infinite variety of detail and counter-detail in the various arguments, none of which actually proves anything.  So we're left with people reading into this whatever they want.

It's a mirror.  Lawyers, reports -- people who use words -- universally seem to think that the Wells Report contains damning evidence.  Meanwhile, scientists and engineers -- people who use numbers -- look at the science and scoff incredulously.  Not surprisingly, Twitter is trending anti-science.  What is surprising -- at least to me -- is the number of media outlets that keep reporting on the meta-news of public opinion.  

Who cares about public opinion?   This is a matter of actual fact.

But, of course, Roger Goodell cares about public opinion, perhaps more than actual fact.  He's got a brand to protect.  And so here we are.