tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/deflategate-14560/articlesDeflategate – The Conversation2016-09-16T01:05:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/652052016-09-16T01:05:59Z2016-09-16T01:05:59ZWhy do the Paralympics get so little media attention in the United States?<p>Have you heard about the 1500-meter world championship run in which <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/paralympic-sport/2016/09/13/rio-paralympics-2016-four-paralympians-run-1500m-faster-than-rio/">each of the top four competitors</a> crossed the line faster than the winner of the Olympic men’s final?</p>
<p>Or about the guy who is the <a href="http://staging.hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_PARALYMPICS_ARMLESS_ARCHER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-14-13-47-19">most accurate distance shooter</a> in the history of archery? </p>
<p>Or <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-digest-0914-20160914-story.html">the woman</a> who may win seven medals? </p>
<p>If the answer is no to any or all of these questions, then it means you probably haven’t been paying much attention to the Paralympics, the international competition for disabled athletes that follows the Olympics.</p>
<p>It also means you have something in common with the American sports media. </p>
<p>While NBC is <a href="http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/paralympic-schedule">offering more coverage of this year’s Paralympics Games</a> than it did for the London Paralympics in 2012, the absence of reporters and photographers with a U.S. passport is notable. Since Sept. 4, I have been in Rio working with student journalists from the University of Georgia and from Penn State University, where I run the sports journalism program. Our group’s assignment is to supplement coverage of the Games for the Associated Press. </p>
<p>But according to a list provided by the International Paralympic Committee, through Sept. 13, the total number of editorial and photo credentials issued to Americans – this excludes NBC – was 52. Take out the student teams from Penn State and Georgia, plus faculty, and the number drops to 29. </p>
<p>By way of comparison, for the Rio Olympics, more than 400 credentials were issued to U.S. print and photo journalists.</p>
<p>So why does coverage fall off so much for the Paralympics?</p>
<h2>Is there really a lack of interest?</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/437/614">One of the few studies</a> to look at the issue in depth, now more than a decade old, found that journalists felt audiences weren’t interested in the Paralympics, that the event was costly to cover, and that they didn’t consider the games to be real sport. </p>
<p>Certainly, attitudes have changed somewhat – and in some places – since. </p>
<p>The London Paralympics attracted <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/london-2012">2.7 million spectators</a>; Britain now has at least 56 accredited print and photo journalists in Rio, according to the IPC list, with <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/paralympics/index.html">substantial coverage back home</a>. The BBC World News has included Paralympic event stories in its morning sports report. </p>
<p>Japan has 122 accredited journalists in Brazil. Germany checks in with 99.</p>
<p>The United States, meanwhile, still lags behind – just as it <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/38b55deab3014c3982a2214bfa589fdd/chinese-dominate-medal-count-paralympics">trails China in the medal count</a>.</p>
<h2>Covering what matters</h2>
<p>So is the decision not to aggressively cover the Paralympics unwise? </p>
<p>There’s an argument to be made that it is. For one thing, the media isn’t necessarily in tune with what the public wants, or how readers and viewers perceive news events. That was evident this summer, when NBC and other news organizations were <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-17/rio-2016-social-media-goes-after-sexist-coverage/7760352">called out by consumers as sexist</a> for their coverage of female athletes – particularly the U.S. women’s teams, which won more medals than their male counterparts. </p>
<p>In addition to a possible divergence from its own audience, there’s also the issue of whether the U.S. sports media is concentrating on stories that really matter. At a time of shrinking resources, particularly among newspapers, each decision to cover something means – significantly – that something else will not be covered. Reporters can’t be in two places at once.</p>
<p>Take, for comparison’s sake, the accusations that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady cheated during the AFC championship in January 2015, a scandal and legal tangle known as Deflategate that ultimately resulted in a four-game suspension for Brady this season.</p>
<p>A search of the word “Deflategate” in the Access World News database for U.S. news sources turns up 6,823 mentions in the last year alone. Do the same for “Paralympic” and you get 3,832 mentions, many of which seem to be TV schedules or passing references in Olympic stories. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, after all the hysteria surrounding Brady, it turns out that New England won its first game on the road Sept. 11 against a tough Arizona team. After all that coverage, the Patriots didn’t even need their superstar to win. Was his case worth the resources media poured into it?</p>
<h2>Averse to advocacy?</h2>
<p>As someone who spent nearly 25 years in daily journalism before becoming an academic, I can say that, in my experience, reporters are generally loathe to advance an agenda, regardless of how noble it is. The Paralympic movement does have one: promoting awareness of disabilities to make life easier for those who have them. </p>
<p>And yes, there’s something in reporting culture that also finds inspiring stories a bit grating after a while. Certainly the Paralympics is <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/guides-for-blind-athletes-share-the-struggle/article_c5a4b3a6-2505-5fd6-a51e-dcd7dda455f5.html">full of them</a>.</p>
<p>But many stories aren’t uplifting, like the one about a Belgian wheelchair racer <a href="http://wtop.com/health/2016/09/paralympian-vervoort-prepared-to-take-own-life-_-but-not-yet/">who is prepared to end her life</a> when her constant physical pain becomes unbearable. </p>
<p>Then there are the stories that are simply amazing. On Sept. 14, Iran’s <a href="https://www.paralympic.org/siamand-rahman">Siamand Rahman</a> became the first Paralympian to powerlift – that is, bench press – more than 300 kilograms. His winning lift was 305 kilograms (about 672 pounds), which, according to IPC press materials, is the equivalent of two baby elephants.</p>
<p>So perhaps it’s time for the U.S. media to pay more attention to this festival, the world’s <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/30326825">third-largest sporting event</a> behind the Olympics and World Cup.</p>
<p>Craig Spence, spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee told me as much in a brief interview on the topic of American journalists.</p>
<p>“Maybe they’ll one day come to realize that it’s not just fantastic sport,” he said, “but sport that changes the world.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Affleck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An Access World News database search says everything you need to know: Type in ‘Deflategate’ and you’ll get nearly twice as many hits as ‘Paralympics.’John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/475502015-09-28T20:28:16Z2015-09-28T20:28:16ZMoney, money, money: is that what’s causing all that ails sport?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96287/original/image-20150926-17694-yles7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">FIFA, world football's governing body, continues to be embroiled in scandal.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ennio Leanza</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Elite sport appears to be broken. Scandals covering a wide range of untoward behaviours continue to be uncovered. In recent years these have included the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/17/football/fifa-jerome-valcke-suspended/index.html">FIFA corruption affair</a>, widespread <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/athletics/33948924">doping</a> in cycling and athletics, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/19/match-fixing-arrests-mafia-italy">match-fixing</a> in football and cricket, and the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/16/us/deflategate-tom-brady-patriots-nfl/index.html">NFL’s Deflategate</a>.</p>
<p>What is perhaps most telling about the state of elite sport is that the untoward behaviours are not limited to athletes alone. Rather, there are allegations of corruption throughout sports systems – including entire teams, coaches, management, doctors, sponsors, governing bodies and even governments. </p>
<p>When systems fail in other areas, such as the safety-critical domains, we look at the entire system for contributory factors. A key component of understanding how systems drift into failure is to identify who is in the system, what they do, and how decisions and actions interact with one another. This gives us a picture of how adverse events are created. </p>
<p>More often than not multiple people and organisations are involved, and there are powerful levers at the higher levels of the system. Two such intertwined drivers of behaviour are financial and production pressures: the need to make a profit and the need to produce better outputs, more of them, and at a faster pace.</p>
<h2>Financial pressures</h2>
<p>Financial and production pressures play a key role in the problems ailing sport. Worryingly, when they are prominent, it seems that inappropriate behaviour from athletes, teams and coaches at the lower levels is not only enabled and tolerated but in extreme cases is actively supported. </p>
<p>It is clear, for example, that issues such as doping are driven by far more than just athletes’ desire to win. The corporatisation of sport and financial interests of a diverse set of organisations means that winning is big business – for many. In elite cycling, for example, the financial rewards associated with victory were so powerful that a win-at-all-costs attitude was adopted – nothing was off the table in terms of achieving an edge. </p>
<p>Many within the system accepted doping as normal practice and a requirement to be able to merely compete, let alone be victorious. It is alleged that those complicit <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-one-bad-apple-a-systems-view-on-the-lance-armstrong-doping-saga-36830">included</a>, for a period, the majority of competitors, soigneurs, doctors, therapists, coaches, team managers, directors and even sponsors. At the higher levels of the system, it is <a href="http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/CleanSport/16/87/99/CIRCReport2015_Neutral.pdf">alleged</a> that governing bodies were aware and even took measures to evade the issue.</p>
<p>The financial rewards for all in the system were too great to rock the boat – the network of people and organisations was tightly bound together by financial incentive. Financial gain likely lies at the heart of most of the sporting scandals in recent history.</p>
<h2>Putting on a show</h2>
<p>Intertwined with this is the need to create bigger and better sporting spectacles. Contests have to be bigger, better, faster and more entertaining. Tumbling records and seemingly inhuman feats create spiralling financial rewards for everybody involved. Just as winning is big business, sporting spectacles and heroes are too. </p>
<p>This form of production pressure is undoubtedly prevalent at the higher levels of sports systems, where governments and governing bodies will go to great lengths to enhance the spectacle and fan base in pursuit of greater financial rewards. </p>
<p>Similarly, sponsors are driven by the financial rewards associated with greater exposure. This creates a powerful incentive to turn a blind eye to untoward behaviours when the peloton is reaching greater speeds, when athletes are smashing records, or when the global audience reaches billions.</p>
<p>In cycling, the <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page/Mag15Racingthedemons/cyclist-lance-armstrong-refuses-lose-cancer-espn-magazine-archive">cancer survivor</a> returning to dominate its biggest event attracted a completely new audience. It was too good a sporting story for all involved to actively shut it down.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>The fix lies in the same theories that tell us how systems fail in the first place – fundamental change is required, rather than component fixes. </p>
<p>Improving drug controls might stop one drug, but driven by the same financial and production pressures, another new and undetectable drug will emerge. Allowing the use of performance-enhancing drugs to create a more level playing field won’t work either. The financial rewards are so powerful that the playing field will simply never be level – those with more financial power and a need for bigger returns will find better ways of enhancement.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=901&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95770/original/image-20150923-25794-1h0aa1m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1133&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lance Armstrong claims he started doping following threats from above.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In cases of corruption, removing corrupt governing body officials may work for a while, but eventually the massive financial incentives will create new corruption, either at the same level or elsewhere in the system. With component fixes, sports systems will be able to adapt, driven again by the same pressures.</p>
<p>So what might fundamental change in sport look like? The reason that fundamental change is not often forthcoming is because it is tough to conceive and implement. </p>
<p>As a starting point, perhaps the very nature of sporting systems and contests needs to be examined. What, we could ask, is the purpose of elite sports? How has this drifted to where we are now? </p>
<p>Certainly the big business aspect should be scrutinised. Are the financial incentives appropriate and, more to the point, are the financial rewards distributed appropriately? Are they fed into sports at grassroots level, for example?</p>
<p>Removing or capping the financial incentives for all involved would provide a significant shift in how elite sports systems operate. In a post-confession meeting between Lance Armstrong and Christophe Bassons (the cyclist effectively outcast by cycling for his anti-doping stance), Armstrong <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/book-extract-when-bassons-met-armstrong/">told</a> how his decision to start doping was driven by managers’ threats to oust him following poor performances.</p>
<p>Driven by financial interests, the same threats are no doubt offered across most elite sports. Without such powerful financial drivers, discussions may be less about ending an athlete’s career and more about getting the athlete to where they want to be through training regimes and coaching. The incentive may shift back to what it should be – for the love of sport and the contest, not for the love of money.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Salmon receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The recent untoward behaviours in sport are not limited to athletes alone. Rather, there are allegations of corruption throughout sports systems.Paul Salmon, Professor, Human Factors, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/466522015-09-11T10:11:59Z2015-09-11T10:11:59ZIn today’s NFL, forget Super Bowl dreams – it’s all about fantasy<p>As the NFL’s regular season kicks off with a full slate of games this weekend, I did something that reflects the state of American sports fandom. </p>
<p>I picked a daily fantasy football team.</p>
<p><a href="http://fsta.org/">According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association</a>, there are a lot of others like me. The trade group says that, as of August, 56.8 million people in the United States and Canada had played fantasy sports in 2015. That’s already more than twice the number of players there were in 2009 and a significant jump from the 41 million who played last year.</p>
<p>The average player spends US$465 a year on all sports, according to the FSTA, while football is the overwhelming favorite (73%). (I don’t spend that much, by the way; thus far, I’m just a little shy of $10 in my first season playing daily fantasy.) </p>
<p>So when I think about what’s new in pro football, it’s not that Commissioner <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-nfls-claim-to-absolute-authority-struck-down-what-happens-next-47074">Roger Goodell lost to Tom Brady</a> in the Deflategate case. It’s not that my favorite team, the Buffalo Bills, changed coaches, picking up Rex Ryan from the rival New York Jets. Or that Ryan is gambling on unproven Tyrod Taylor at quarterback. </p>
<p>What stands out is the explosive growth in fantasy football – particularly daily fantasy. </p>
<p>In 2006, the <a href="https://www.fdic.gov/news/news/financial/2010/fil10035a.pdf">Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act</a> (UIEGA) banned online poker, but left out fantasy sports, even though people routinely risk money when they play. Wagering money on fantasy sports, however, was deemed a game of skill – requiring knowledge of players’ likely performances – and not a game of chance.</p>
<p>Three years later, one of the top daily fantasy sites, FanDuel (the one I used), was founded. A major rival, DraftKings, has been around since 2012.</p>
<p>For the uninitiated, daily fantasy differs from the traditional, season-long format in a number of ways. Competitors pay a fee for each game they play – as little as $2 of real money – and then get a faux “budget,” not terribly unlike a salary cap in real life. Players then select a team from a menu based on how they think real players will perform in just one game. If your team outperforms most of the others, you win money. The better your team does relative to the other competitors, the greater your winnings.</p>
<p>Daily fantasy has an advantage over a season-long format in that, if your team performs poorly, you can start all over again next week with no consequences except the bet you lost. </p>
<p>So this week, I’ll be rooting for, among others, running back Eddie Lacy of the Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions wide receiver Golden Tate and the Atlanta Falcons veteran kicker Matt Bryant.</p>
<p>If I play next week, I’ll select a new roster, taking into account player performances from this upcoming weekend (who flopped and who starred), along with favorable match-ups.</p>
<p>It’s a game that’s perfectly attuned to our <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/our-attention-span-is-now-less-than-that-of-a-goldfish-microsoft-study-finds-10247553.html">short attention spans</a>. And it’s taking off.</p>
<p>Thanks to <a href="http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2015/06/draftkings-named-the-official-daily-fantasy-sports-offering-across-espns-platforms/">a marketing deal with ESPN</a>, DraftKings is all over the network. Ahead of the season opener between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, promotions for a DraftKings contest appeared three times over a 15-minute span of SportsCenter on Thursday morning. </p>
<p>This season, Yahoo – one of the most popular season-long fantasy football platforms – is offering <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2015/09/04/fantasy-football-2015-yahoo-cbs-and-espn-adopt-different-business-strategies-to-target-growth/">a daily fantasy contest</a> for the first time. At a recent one-day conference on the future of digital sports media, fantasy sports had its own panel. </p>
<p>During the conference, Michael Beller, who writes about fantasy sports for Sports Illustrated, <a href="http://original.livestream.com/knightfoundation/video?clipId=flv_8c63f3d8-31b4-4115-baa4-838e1e7eb638">noted</a>, “That is really where it’s changed – just how many people are playing [fantasy]. Even 10 years ago it was diehard sports fans [who played], and now the one friend you grew up with who wasn’t into sports is playing fantasy football.”</p>
<p>Daily fantasy is boosting, even driving, that growth. The same panel was asked, at one point, to speculate on the ceiling for fantasy. </p>
<p>The general consensus? “Nowhere close.”</p>
<p>What’s particularly interesting about this tipping point moment in fantasy’s popularity is that it’s forcing changes in our collective perception of sports. </p>
<p>Sometimes these changes mean a new opportunity for a small set of companies; other times they’re a little worrisome on a grander scale. </p>
<p>Partly based on my own experience, I’ve witnessed a number of notable developments.</p>
<p>First, as soon as I saw the list of names available for this week’s games, I realized how little I actually knew about the roughly 1,700 players who will make opening weekend NFL rosters this season. </p>
<p>With money on the line, this dramatically increased my desire to see as many players in action as possible. And this meant suddenly flirting with the idea of ordering a big television package of NFL games, or at least making sure my cable service includes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_RedZone">NFL RedZone</a>, an offering from the NFL Network that shows, in real time, all the plays inside the defending team’s 20-yard line, where scoring is much more likely.<br>
Second, fantasy sports (and daily fantasy in particular) demands a rethinking of whether sports betting should be more widely legalized in the United States, or, conversely, whether fantasy sports should be made illegal. </p>
<p>What doesn’t make sense is the current state of affairs. Using the FSTA’s numbers, 57 million North Americans are betting $465 a year on fantasy sports. That’s a $27 billion business built on wagers made regarding sports performances by individuals, all legal thanks to the UIEGA of 2006. </p>
<p>However, because of a previous federal law, betting on the <em>results</em> of those performances – the final score of games – is illegal in all but four states due to fears of game fixing.</p>
<p>Finally, fantasy sports change how you cheer for teams. While you still may well have hometown loyalty, you also may develop a new love for a club outside your time zone because several players on it regularly are on your fantasy team or you discover the team through a fantasy game. Or, you may simply pull for the individuals on your team – who change week to week (or day to day, if you play daily fantasy baseball). </p>
<p>It all leaves fans such as myself in an awkward position as we look ahead to the first weekend of the NFL season. Instead of just shouting, in my case, the old “Go! Go! Buf-fa-lo!” cheer, a more accurate way to capture how I feel about my team’s season opener would go like this: “Go Bills! Beat the Colts! Just so long as Tyrod Taylor doesn’t outperform Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill!”</p>
<p>Welcome to football, 2015.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Affleck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While season-long fantasy football has been around for years, the rise of daily formats has radically changed how fans watch and root for teams.John Affleck, Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/470742015-09-04T01:11:03Z2015-09-04T01:11:03ZWith NFL’s claim to absolute authority struck down, what happens next?<p>In a forceful, wide-ranging decision issued Thursday, federal judge Richard Berman issued a strong rebuke of the NFL’s disciplinary authority and procedures, vacating the four-game suspension handed down by Commissioner Roger Goodell against star New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.</p>
<p>Berman’s decision finds that the punishment imposed on Brady suffered from multiple and “significant legal deficiencies,” and must therefore be overturned. </p>
<p>Though <a href="http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13424084/nfl-deflategate-line">the saga</a> isn’t exactly over (the NFL has already announced it will appeal), make no mistake: this is a crushing defeat for the NFL and its commissioner. </p>
<p>For years, the NFL system for disciplining players has operated on one overriding premise: that the Commissioner has unfettered authority to investigate, prosecute, judge and punish players, and that that authority is beyond question, even in a court of law. </p>
<p>To critics who would accuse the Commissioner of making it up as he goes along – applying new and different standards, procedures and punishments in nearly every case – the NFL has responded with a <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/273936031/NFL-Memorandum-of-Law-Judge-Berman">defiant shrug</a>. The rights of the players, they argue, begin and end with the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). No fundamental fairness. No procedural due process. Just the Commissioner, making it up as he goes along.</p>
<p>Not any more. Judge Berman’s <a href="http://nesn.com/2015/09/read-judge-bermans-decision-to-vacate-tom-bradys-deflategate-suspension/">decision</a> in the Brady case strikes at the very heart of this kangaroo court, and it begins with a simple statement of law:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The deference due an arbitrator does not extend so far as to require a district court to countenance, much less confirm, an [arbitration] award obtained without the requisites of fairness or due process.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The NFL came to Judge Berman’s court with an audacious claim: That he had no role to play here. He was not to look behind the curtain. The court was merely a rubberstamp for the Commissioner’s decision. </p>
<p>Indeed, it’s clear that this is how the NFL views all of its relationship, whether it’s with players, reporters or sponsors. The league’s power and the Commissioner’s authority are not to be questioned. </p>
<p>It’s a powerful mythology, and even many “legal experts” <a href="http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13332578/new-england-patriots-quarterback-tom-brady-nflpa-likely-come-short-court-challenge-roger-goodell-decision">bought into it</a>, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonbelzer/2015/07/24/why-tom-brady-will-win-if-he-sues-roger-goodell-and-the-nfl-over-deflategate/">asserting</a> that Goodell’s power under the CBA was so broad as to be almost unassailable, even by a federal judge. </p>
<p>But it’s a mythology that Judge Berman rejected. Commissioner Goodell is not “free to merely dispense his own brand of industrial justice” (as Judge Berman put it). </p>
<p>He is bound by the same basic principles that guide most disciplinary procedures. NFL players are entitled to advance notice of prohibited conduct and of any potential discipline. NFL players are entitled to fair and consistent treatment. NFL players are entitled to challenge the allegations against them and to employ the basic tools for doing so.</p>
<p>Tom Brady was denied all of these basic protections. He was held to a standard (“general awareness”) created by the NFL <em>after</em> the supposed infraction occurred. He was held responsible for a policy (Competitive Integrity Policy) that by its own terms applies to owners and clubs, not players. Brady received a punishment (a four-game suspension) so severe that he could not have possibly predicted it could be imposed. His legal team was denied the right to examine a key witness (Jeff Pash) with material evidence relevant to the allegations against him. He was denied access to the very documents and witness interviews used as evidence against him.</p>
<p>Berman found that each of these denials were grounds for reversal.</p>
<p>And it’s not just that the NFL lost; it’s <em>how</em> the league lost. These are not small matters; they are the very foundation of how the NFL conceives of its relationship with its players. </p>
<p>Should <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000520654/article/nfl-officially-appeals-tom-brady-decision">their appeal</a> fail, the NFL must now allow player representatives access to all investigative materials and the opportunity to cross-examine investigators. When cases do not fit neatly within existing rules and remedies, Commissioner Goodell will find it much more difficult to make it up as he goes along, creating new rules and new punishments without notice, or invoking “integrity of a game” however and whenever he sees fit.</p>
<p>It seems clear now that the NFL’s rather bizarre pursuit of Tom Brady was nothing more than a power-play. Sensing the opportunity to solidify the authority of the owners and their Commissioner, to marginalize the players union, and to set the grounds for future collective bargaining negotiations, the NFL went all in. They staked out a position so audacious that, if they won, no player could hope to challenge that authority in the future. But it seems that they overplayed their hand.</p>
<p>This decision is a serious blow to the power of the Commissioner. Had the NFL prevailed, the union would have been forced to expend significant capital to rework the disciplinary system during the negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement. (The current CBA expires in 2020.) </p>
<p>Now it’s the NFL that’s on the defensive. Perhaps the league will have to give a little to claw back the disciplinary authority lost in Judge Berman’s court.</p>
<p>It’s a public relations nightmare. It’s a self-inflicted wound, the product of arrogance and avarice.</p>
<p>And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>H. Brian Holland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In going after Tom Brady, the NFL went all-in – and now must face a new reality.H. Brian Holland, Professor of Law, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/402952015-05-19T09:55:19Z2015-05-19T09:55:19ZWhy do students cheat? Listen to this dean’s words<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81881/original/image-20150515-25422-wb7mwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students are encouraged to cheat when they see people getting rewarded for dishonest acts in society.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=m2hkBT-owjM4jGMetng7Ig&searchterm=students%20cheating&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=129150578">Hand image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: Since the publication of this article, the University of Florida terminated Chris Loschiavo’s employment when it learned he used his UF work computer account to purchase pornography.</em> </p>
<p>Cheating in college has been with us since the inception of higher education. In recent months, cases of cheating, including <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/large-scale-cheating-allegations-rock-stanford-campus/">large-scale</a> <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/harvard-cheating-scandal-dozens-students-shared-answers-plagiarized-final-exam-article-1.1148725">cheating at elite colleges</a>, have led to considerable turmoil. </p>
<p>Many of these behaviors could well start to take shape right at the level of high school. A survey conducted by renowned academic integrity researcher <a href="http://www.business.rutgers.edu/news/work-retiring-professor-donald-l-mccabe-inspires-award-promote-academic-integrity">Don McCabe</a> shows how widespread the problem is in high schools.</p>
<h2>Large-scale cheating</h2>
<p>In a survey of 24,000 students at 70 high schools, McCabe <a href="http://www.business.rutgers.edu/tags/332?page=1">found </a>“64% of students admitted to cheating on a test, 58% admitted to plagiarism and 95% said they participated in some form of cheating, whether it was on a test, plagiarism or copying homework.”</p>
<p>Statistics for cheating for college students are much the same. <a href="http://www.glass-castle.com/clients/www-nocheating-org/adcouncil/research/cheatingfactsheet.html">Surveys</a> indicate as high as 70% of students report some kind of cheating in college. These survey results, which have remained consistent over time, represent a variety of behaviors. </p>
<p>So, what could possibly lead to such behaviors?</p>
<p>As Director of Student Conduct, I have been responsible for addressing these behaviors for the last 16 years. I have also served as president of the <a href="http://www.theasca.org/">Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA)</a>, an organization of over 3,300 professionals doing student conduct work at over 1,800 institutions across the US and Canada. All these positions have given me unique insights into the issue of cheating beyond my institution. And I can say these results are not at all surprising to me. </p>
<p>Students cheat for a variety of reasons: </p>
<p>It can be an intentional, calculated decision in order to get ahead. Often, it is motivated by the path to success that they see around them – people cheating without incurring any real consequences.</p>
<p>From politicians cheating, to corporate scandals such as <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/us/enron-fast-facts/">Enron</a>, to the <a href="http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/steroids_baseball.shtml">steroid scandal in Major League Baseball</a>, to the <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000493052/article/kraft-on-deflategate-this-has-been-very-disturbing">NFL’s “deflategate,”</a> our students are surrounded by examples of dishonest acts.</p>
<p>What’s worse, society seemingly rewards these individuals for their dishonest behaviors. Students then come to believe that dishonest behavior is rewarded and often do not hesitate to engage in it. </p>
<p>My experience shows students engage in a cost/benefit analysis that goes like this: “If I cheat and don’t get caught, the reward is an ‘A’ in the class, admission to a graduate/professional school of my choice or a great job. If I get caught, it isn’t as bad as what Enron did, so the consequence won’t be so bad.”</p>
<p>The example we set as a society is what I have found to be the most significant reason for students cheating. </p>
<p>This also gets combined with a pressure to succeed. These students have grown up in a culture where even the team that scores the least gets a trophy. So they are not prepared for failure. </p>
<p>When they believe they are going to fail (which nowadays is often anything less than an “A”), students will do whatever it takes to avoid it, because they don’t want to let others (often family) down.</p>
<h2>High schools are not teaching research</h2>
<p>Another reason for student cheating is being unprepared for college level work. Over my many years addressing the issue of plagiarism, I have seen student after student who has written a research paper and not given proper attribution. This is not because they were taking credit for someone else’s words, but simply because they were never taught how to write a research paper. </p>
<p>I have had many conversations over the years with students who truly don’t understand how to write a research paper. So much of high school these days is teaching to the large number of standardized tests. As a result, learning how to research is being lost. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81884/original/image-20150515-25415-1ojvlgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">There could be many reasons behind cheating. At times, it could be poor time management skills.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/students+cheating/search.html?page=3&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=231503050">Man image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>Also, students aren’t being taught how to paraphrase. So, they just cut and paste from the articles they read on the internet – it is easy, quick and takes very little effort to do this.</p>
<p>Some others don’t have any confidence in their own thoughts. So when given the chance to write a paper in which they must share their own ideas, they simply go to the internet and cut and paste someone else’s words or ideas, thinking they are worth more than their own. </p>
<p>I once had a student who cut and pasted large parts of her paper from the internet. When she was asked why she did it, she stated that the author had said what she wanted to say much more eloquently. She said she was afraid of changing it using her own words, as it could be an incorrect interpretation. </p>
<p>This student lacked confidence in her ability to interpret what she read and then translate it in her own words. Another student once shared that he didn’t know as much as the author he took his information from. He concluded, “Why would the professor want to hear the student’s own thoughts?” </p>
<p>This has been a potential downfall of teaching to the test, as many of our secondary educators are being forced to do – students aren’t able to think and problem-solve for themselves. </p>
<p>And when they are forced to do so, they simply take someone else’s ideas.</p>
<h2>Cheating could be a cry for help</h2>
<p>Some others cheat because they have poor time management skills. College work is challenging, and some students underestimate how long it will take them. When they run out of time, they panic and take a shortcut. </p>
<p>Sometimes these students also have inappropriately prioritized social or extracurricular events over their academic work.</p>
<p>Finally, some students cheat because it is a cry for help. I will never forget a student I met with many years ago for a cheating case. </p>
<p>He admitted responsibility and accepted the consequence of a failing grade in his class. I felt convinced that he truly learned from this incident. However, within the week, he was accused of engaging in the very same behavior in the same class again.</p>
<p>This was very early in my career, and I was ready to remove him from our institution. However, as I found out more, I learned that his girlfriend had just broken up with him, his grandmother (to whom he was very close) had recently passed away and his mother had been recently diagnosed with terminal cancer (I did actually have proof of every one of these events). </p>
<p>The combination made it impossible for this student to focus on his academics. While these incidents certainly didn’t excuse his behavior, they helped explain why he made such bad choices. </p>
<p>He was afraid to ask for help. It was only when there appeared to be no other option, did he open up about what he was dealing with. I was able to hold him accountable appropriately while also making sure he had access to the resources that would help him address his current emotional state. </p>
<p>He went on to graduate from the institution once he was able to get his life back together. Had his faculty not bothered to address the behavior, he would have likely dropped out. </p>
<p>I have never forgotten the lesson this student taught me. </p>
<h2>What can administrators, faculty do to help?</h2>
<p>I learned to ask more questions. Now, I try to dig a little deeper when trying to find out why a student made a certain choice. Additionally, it has shaped how I present to faculty on the importance of reporting cheating. </p>
<p>So often I hear from faculty either that they don’t want to be the reason a student gets into trouble, or that they shouldn’t have to deal with these issues.</p>
<p>When I tell the story of this student, it reframes for faculty the importance of reporting. It really isn’t about getting the student in trouble; rather, it is about making sure someone with training can interact with the student to help and set the student up for success when dealing with life’s challenges.</p>
<p>When faculty see it as potentially helping the student, they become much more willing to report. </p>
<p>Cheating is a challenge for our society, both at the high school and college levels. We need to remember, however, that it is rarely a thought-out, premeditated act. More often, it is an impulsive act. </p>
<p>To have a real impact, we need to address the underlying issues.</p>
<p><em>Tomorrow: Students cheat for good grades. Why not make the classroom about learning and not testing?</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Loschiavo is affiliated with the National Center for Higher Education Risk Management and the Association for Student Conduct Administration.</span></em></p>Surveys show that 95% of high school students and 70% of college students are involved in some form of cheating.Chris Loschiavo, Associate Dean, Director Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/365812015-01-22T16:04:54Z2015-01-22T16:04:54ZFootball physics and the science of Deflategate<p><a href="http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-beginners-guide-to-deflategate/">News reports</a> say that 11 of the 12 game balls used by the New England Patriots in their AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts were deflated, showing about 2 pounds per square inch (psi) less pressure than the 13 psi required by the rules, so it seems that the most bizarre sports scandal of recent memory is real. But there are still plenty of questions: why would a team deflate footballs? Could there be another explanation? And most importantly, what does physics tell us about all this?</p>
<p>For New England fans, the first priority is a search for an innocent explanation. After all, party balloons and car tires deflate during cold winter weather, so might a simple temperature difference be responsible for the change in inflation pressure? </p>
<p>The physics principle known as the ideal gas law tells us that a reduction in temperature leads to a reduction in pressure. The pressure of a confined gas multiplied by its volume is proportional to the number of molecules in the gas multiplied by the temperature. Maybe you remember the equation PV=nRT from your schooldays. So if you cool a gas while keeping its volume fixed, the pressure must decrease.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69751/original/image-20150122-12100-1q31j84.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Footballs on ice… what will happen to the pressure?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chad Orzel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>But we don’t need equations to check this: we can demonstrate it directly. I got a couple of old footballs from Union College’s athletic department, pumped them up and popped them in the freezer. After a night in the cold, the pressure was around 2psi lower, just like the Patriots’ footballs — from about 19psi at the start (I slightly overinflated the balls by using the tire pump in my car) down to about 17 psi. </p>
<p>Of course, the temperature difference involved was a <em>little</em> extreme — from about 68F in my office, down to about -10F in the freezer. So, you can use temperature changes to produce the pressure change seen by investigators, but the temperature required would’ve matched the legendary <a href="http://www.profootballhof.com/history/decades/1960s/ice_bowl.aspx">Ice Bowl of 1967</a>. Last Sunday’s game was played in pouring rain at about 50F, so unless they did the pre-game testing of the balls in a sauna, or the post-game investigation in a meat locker, thermodynamics alone can’t get the Patriots off the hook.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/69764/original/image-20150122-12110-vlt7vs.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pressure dropped after a night in the deep freeze.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chad Orzel</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Assuming that the balls really were deliberately deflated, then what would be the reasoning? Would the lower pressure make the ball lighter and more aerodynamic, allowing longer, more accurate passing?</p>
<p>This is another question easily answered with the ideal gas law — the volume of a football doesn’t change very much with pressure, so deflating it by 2psi requires reducing the amount of gas inside by about 15%. But air is, by definition, very light. The air in a fully inflated football accounts for only about 10 grams of its mass (about 2.5% of the total) and deflating it would reduce that by maybe a gram or two. (This also explains why the officials didn’t notice anything funny during the game — the change in weight from the missing air is too small to notice, particularly in bad weather, where rain probably added more to the mass of the ball than the deflation took away.)</p>
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<p>And again, we have experimental confirmation of this — a 2006 episode of the TV show <a href="http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/football-helium-fly-farther/">Mythbusters</a> replaced the air inside a football with helium to see if that would allow a kicker to boot the ball father. The mass reduction of swapping helium for air is far greater than that for a 2psi reduction in pressure, but the Mythbusters found no gain in performance — in fact, air-filled balls might be slightly better, as the extra mass makes them somewhat less susceptible to air resistance.</p>
<p>In the end, the reason for deflating a football owes more to physiology than physics. A slightly deflated ball is a bit softer, making it easier to grip the ball to throw it and reducing the bounce when it hits the hands of a receiver, making it easier to catch. We can see this even with frozen footballs — although the cold makes the leather stiffer, the balls had noticeably more give when squeezed than before they went in the freezer. In cool, rainy conditions, where the ball becomes wet and slippery, this works to the advantage of the quarterback and receivers.</p>
<p>The most puzzling aspect of the story, though, is the scoreboard. The Patriots won the game 45-7, thoroughly outplaying the Colts in every aspect of the game. The tiny advantage they may have gained from a better grip on the ball can’t explain such a lopsided outcome. If the Patriots were that much better, why risk punishment by tampering with the footballs?</p>
<p>That question, alas, isn’t one the ideal gas law can answer. For that, you would need to understand the psychology of Patriots coach Bill Belichick, and <em>that</em> is a mystery much too deep for physics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/36581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chad Orzel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>News reports say that 11 of the 12 game balls used by the New England Patriots in their AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts were deflated, showing about 2 pounds per square inch (psi…Chad Orzel, Associate Professor of Physics, Union CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.