“It doesn't matter why I was wrong. That doesn't matter. What matters is that I was wrong.”
Pivot Podcast · Tech Strategy & Big Tech · October 2026
King recalls confirming a 2015 Deflategate report that turned out to be wrong, since footballs lose pressure naturally on a cold day. He called his managing editor at Sports Illustrated and offered to resign. He was told no, but says he would have deserved it.
Transcript
…it. But Jesus, I covered it for 40 years. I wrote more words than anybody in the history of the Sports Illustrated franchise, magazine, and internet. I'm going to F some things up. There's no question about it. But I don't know. I tried to be as honest. I tried to be honest every day I did the job.
…they felt you had in your work. There was one point where you talked about stepping away from Sports Illustrated. I think maybe it involved Ray Rice or Spygate. Can you take me into that story and why you would feel so strongly that you thought you might need to step away from Sports Illustrated? I
…the reason I was wrong is that on a very, very cold day, footballs would naturally deflate, which I certainly didn't know at the time. I don't think anybody knew at the time. But it turns out that I was wrong. And when I found that out, I just wrote, I called the managing editor at Sports Illustrated, Chris Stone, and said, I will offer my resignation because I deserve to be criticized for this. It doesn't matter why I was wrong. That doesn't matter. What matters is that I was wrong. And so I said, I will offer my resignation if you want it. I'll write my resignation right now and give it to you. And he said, no, no, no, no. It's understandable. I know why what happened happened. But I did want people to know that we have to stand behind what we report. That's all there is to it. Whatever the reason for what we report, we have to stand behind it. And if we're wrong, you…
Peter, what is your relationship with Coach Belichick now? I know at one point.
I haven't talked to him since 2006. And the reason I haven't talked to him is that I felt and still feel to this day that he knew exactly what he was doing when he videotaped the New York Jets sidelines in violation, in clear violation of what the NFL rules were. And I wrote that and I said it. And…
As you talk about Coach Belichick and his personality not really having much to do with winning the success of a team, I was just going through the books. And what I like to do with books is just open a random page. And the page I opened kind of takes us back to the segment we just did on the…
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