On January 23, 2015 a new low was set in the trivialization of media.  The Wall Street Journal, America’s largest, and generally best, newspaper, devoted the entire back page (D8) of one of it’s sections to the burning issue of whether – in a 45-7 playoff victory, the New England Patriots, under-inflated the footballs from by 2 pounds per square inch. 

Please keep in mind that, like any other day, on January 23 there were murders, rapes, important political developments, new scientific findings, technological break-throughs, bankruptcies and the whole array of other issues affecting over 300 million Americans and billions of people around the globe. But somehow the Journal thought that “Deflategate” was worthy of blanket coverage, with 3 separate articles. As Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady said, “This is not ISIS.”