The NFL is very precise about its game and equipment — including the number of footballs prepared for games, how much each must weigh, and who monitors them until kickoff. Wade Baldwin Jersey .One rule is very clear: Dont tamper with a football once it has been inspected for use in a game.The NFL is investigating a report that the New England Patriots used underinflated footballs in the AFC championship game while beating the Indianapolis Colts 45-7. ESPN cited anonymous sources Tuesday night in reporting the league found that 11 of 12 balls were underinflated by 2 pounds per square inch of air.Here are some things to know about the issue:CHAIN OF CUSTODY: Footballs are delivered to the officials dressing room 2 hours, 15 minutes before kickoff. The referee inspects each one, with a pump provided by the home team to adjust air pressure as needed. Footballs are required to have at least 12.5 psi and no more than 13.5 psi. Releasing air can make the football easier to grip, especially when wet. Some quarterbacks prefer a softer ball to control the spin more, while others like more air. A drop in temperature — from the officials dressing room to an outdoor field — also can cause a football to lose pressure.THE REF RULES: The referee is the sole judge of whether a ball is fit for play and marks each one approved for the game. The rule says the footballs shall remain under the supervision of the Referee until they are delivered to the ball attendant just prior to the start of the game. The referee for the game was Walt Anderson. A key question in the investigation is whether the balls improperly passed inspection or were either switched or tampered with after Andersons inspection. As the home team, the Patriots were responsible for having someone handle the footballs on each sideline.BALL CONTROL: Footballs are sent directly to teams. Equipment managers can brush them and even use a damp towel to rub off the oil used to preserve the leather to the preferences of each quarterback. The quarterbacks can even practice with the footballs during a game week as long as the footballs remain in good enough condition to pass the referees inspection as a new ball. Each team brings at least 12 balls each, so Tom Brady threw footballs provided by the Patriots while Andrew Luck handled footballs brought by the Colts.POTENTIAL PUNISHMENT: If the NFL finds anyone with the Patriots underinflated the footballs, Commissioner Roger Goodell has wide latitude for punishment. This includes a fine that can be as low as $25,000 for anyone deemed responsible for tampering with a football, even if its the head coach. Goodell could strip the team of draft picks, suspend people for unfair acts, and reverse a games result or reschedule a game.PREVIOUS OFFENSE: Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000 along with stripping the team of a first-round draft pick in 2007 for having an assistant spy on the New York Jets defensive signals by using a sideline camera.FURTHER REVIEW: Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday he expects the competition committee to study whether the rule should change, but he thinks everyone should use the same balls. It would seem to be simpler to have one set of balls, which was the case for many years, Rooney said. The officials brought the balls out and everybody used the same ball, and it seems like that would be an easy answer to this.ODDS FOR PUNISHMENT: One bookmaker — Bovada.lv — posted odds of 3-2 that Belichick could be suspended at least one game, and 15-2 that he could be suspended for the Super Bowl.___AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.___Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL Zach Randolph Jersey . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. Shareef Abdur-Rahim Jersey .Y. -- Florida Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski finally has something to show for all the pain he went through in overcoming a string of injuries that kept him sidelined for much of the past two years. http://www.thegrizzliesofficial.com/Authentic-Allen-Iverson-Grizzlies-Jersey/ . Watch the action live on TSN and listen on TSN 1050 Radio beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. The Raptors maintained their spot atop the Atlantic Friday after defeating the Wizards, 96-88, for their second win in a row.Swiss skier Sandro Viletta put in a stellar slalom run to win the gold medal in the Sochi Olympic mens super-combined on Friday. Viletta finished in a combined time of two minutes, 45.20 seconds over the downhill and slalom runs that make up the competition. The winner is the competitor with the fastest total time. Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won his third consecutive Olympic silver medal in the event, posting a total time of 2:45.54. He is the first man to win three Olympic medals in the combined. Kostelic was seventh after the downhill, a strong performance for the technical specialist. The 34-year-old won silver in the combined at the Turin Games, and silver in both the combined and the slalom at the Vancouver Olympics. Christof Innerhofer of Italy demonstrated improved slalom skills to win the bronze medal. Innerhofer has been known as more of a downhill specialist, but he tied technical specialist Kostelic on the slalom portion of the event. Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud was leading the event afterr the downhill, but finished fourth overall after the slalom, missing a medal by 0. Mike Bibby Jersey. 59 seconds. American skiers had won this event at the last two Olympic Games. Vancouver champion Bode Miller struggled through a series of gates high on the slalom course and never recovered enough speed to challenge for the podium. Teammate Ted Ligety, who won the combined in Turin, never looked comfortable on the slalom course and finished well back. Canadian Morgan Pridy had a tough go of it in his first Olympic experience. The Whistler, B.C., native was in 25th place following the downhill. During the slalom, Pridy struggled with his rhythm and finished in 2:50.03. Warm temperatures in the slalom run made course conditions slower. It seemed to be a factor in the downhill as well, with Jansruds time in the ninth starting slot not overly threatened by subsequent skiers. Through the duration of the slalom, skiers fought the soft and wet conditions, many losing the battle and scoring a DNF. Wholesale NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping NFL Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Gear Wholesale NFL Camo Jerseys Cheap NFL Hoodies Camo China NFL Jerseys ' ' '