National Football League

Belichick turns Deflategate press conference into a science lesson

Published Jan. 24, 2015 3:57 p.m. ET

foxsports

Bill Belichick the football coach turned into Bill Belichick the science professor at the podium on Saturday.

The result was one of the most unusual episodes in the already curious case of Deflategate.

First of all, the press conference was impromptu. The New England Patriots called it for 2:30 p.m. ET. That time passed and the assembled media waited ... and waited until Belichick arrived more than a half-hour later.

He then proceeded to teach (lecture?) the gathering on what he had learned through hours of research this week since the Patriots were accused of deflating 11 of the 12 footballs used in last Sunday's AFC championship victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Here's a sampling of what he had to say:

"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, let's say 12.5 (PSI), that once the ball reached its equilibrium state it was closer to 11.5."

Some more excerpts from the Billibuster follow:

And, of course, the now-legendary reference to "My Cousin Vinny":