Deflategate memories: How it happened, why it happened, reasons for pride and reasons for regret

Ten years later, a look back.

How the hell could I have forgotten?

This weekend -- specifically 12:55 a.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 19 – marks the 10-year anniversary of Deflategate. I had no idea – honestly – until Fox59’s Chris Hagan called a few weeks ago and asked if I could come on the air to discuss what happened that night a decade ago.

It’s not that I’ve tried to forget that evening/morning and that totally bizarre period in my life. I’m actually quite proud that I broke that story. Now, do I want “He broke Deflategate” on my tombstone? No. Maybe “He wrote some good shit” or “A mensch lies here.” Frankly, I haven’t given my mortality and legacy much thought, but I don’t want 45-plus years of mostly good work to be boiled down to a late-night text I received in the wake of the Colts-Patriots AFC Championship Game.

I should have known 10 years was coming up when I was invited to be interviewed for a documentary on Deflategate. I turned it down – I didn’t want to relitigate the whole thing – but I didn’t put two and two together. Oh, yeah, it’s been 10 years. Never occurred to me. Not once. Go figure.

Anyway, I’m often asked about Deflategate and I’ve got this Substack platform – thank God – and so I’m going to take you through what happened (to the best of my faulty memory).

Now, I warn you I’ve written parts of this before, specifically in my piece in The Athletic four years ago when a documentary was released on the subject. If you’ve read or heard it all before, feel free to stop reading now. Seriously, I won’t be hurt.