The NFL just may have more integrity-of-the-game issues than you think.
According to an ESPN report on Sunday, the league is now investigating the Atlanta Falcons, for allegedly piping synthetic crowd noise into their homefield, the Georgia Dome, during the last two seasons.
According to the report, the Falcons may have been pumping crowd noise in during their opponents' offensive possessions, when they were trying to call a play. It has yet to be determined if this caused a true advantage for Atlanta, which went just 6-10 this past season, 3-5 at home. Still, Atlanta could draw a fine, or possibly lose a draft pick.
A Falcons spokesman told ESPN that the team is cooperating with the investigation.
The Falcons mystery comes as the league continues to deal with the New England Patriots DeflateGate controversy, which saw Bill Belichick's team caught with 11 of 12 footballs that came in below the NFL's minimum air pressure at halftime of the AFC championship game. New England remains under an investigation led by Ted Wells.
This is not the first time an NFL team has been accused of pumping artificial crowd noise into the stadium. During the 2007 season, the Pats accused the Colts of pumping crowd noise into the RCA Dome, although Indy was never subject to an investigation.
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Damien's note: I saw a poll that indicated more than 50% of sports fans believe the Patriots cheated in the AFC championship game. There was, however, no indication that all these fans believe the team should be severely penalized. When millions of dollars are at stake, Americans have come to believe people will cheat. That explains a lot about our political reality, huh?
Sad and -- worse -- unsurprising.
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