Since Team 600 visited the UTEP Football Equipment room last Friday to conduct our Deflated Football Test, we have been flooded with emails and comments from our listeners. One of the best suggestions we heard was to conduct a similar test, but with college or professional football players. Since there are no current NFL players living in El Paso, we reached out once again to UTEP and found former quarterback Rocky Perez and receiver Ian Hamilton. Rocky last played for UTEP in 2000, but he led the Miners that season to the Humanitarian Bowl against Boise State. Hamilton just finished his senior season and led the team with 500 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. Both former Miners, along with Director of Football Operations Nate Poss met me at the Sun Bowl to conduct our second test involving deflated footballs. Since the New England Patriots Deflategate controversy will not go away, we decided to test out three Nike game-ready footballs with the pair of ex-Miners. Two of the three balls were properly inflated to 13 pounds per square inch (PSI), while the other ball was inflated to only 11 PSI. Unlike our original test last Friday, this new experiment did provide some shocking results. A big thanks to Team 600's Isaac Marquez for filming and editing the video.

After conducting our first true "field test", it is obvious that both Rocky and Ian immediately noticed the difference between the regular inflated footballs and the deflated ball. They also preferred the deflated version because of its ease to throw and catch. Both New England head coach Bill Belicheck and quarterback Tom Brady have denied any wrongdoing and team owner Robert Kraft had the audacity to demand an apology from the NFL if their investigation does not find the team guilty of any wrongdoing. No matter the outcome of Super Bowl, XLIX on Sunday, Deflategate has become one of the biggest scandals in league history and it could permanently stain the Patriots legacy under Belicheck and Brady.

 

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