Quote Originally Posted by pbmax View Post
There is no indication that the pressure was about lowering the balls to below 12.5. All the same messages can be read as an insistence on every ball being as close to 12.5 as possible. And the 16.0 comment is easily read as the consequence of getting the target wrong and the refs being blasé about fixing it.

You have to assume malfeasance to _know_ there was a conspiracy to evade the rule. That's not how evidence works.
Not true. The conspiracy usually occurs before any acts are performed.

Also "no indication" is giving a pretty favorable reading of the text messages. If all they had to do was set the ball to the minimum - per the rules- they could have done that without all the hoopla - or veiled threats (I mean jokes) about going to ESPN. Why the hell would ESPN care about setting ball pressure on the low end of the scale? Please explain how that is "no indication."