This past week, the New England Patriots’ dominant 45 – 7 win in the AFC championship against the Indianapolis Colts was overshadowed by balls. Soft, leathery, ellipsoid balls. Now dubbed “DeflateGate”, the New England Patriots are accused of doing tinkering with their balls. (For those unfamiliar with the finer points of how balls work, softer balls are much easier to play with than balls that are taut).

The NFL is now doing an inspection of New England’s balls to ensure that New England wasn’t secretly fooling around with their balls when the refs weren’t looking. In response to this investigation, quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have both said that they “never touched their balls during the game” and they “only have other people touch their balls”. Bill Belichick quickly corrected his prior statement, clarifying that he “checks [his balls] regularly to make sure there are no abnormalities”.

Between DeflateGate and Marshawn Lynch’s recent scrotum-grabbing antics, things are getting teste testy leading to the Superbowl. Suffice to say, this upcoming Superbowl should be nuts.