#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[PhoSita]

At this point I'm mystified that anybody could say that Berman's reasoning is "questionable" or "surprising."  I think the points he discussed in the ruling have been well-developed, much-discussed, and are fairly straightforward.

Goodell punished Brady for something that is not specifically listed as a punishable offense for players in the CBA, and the punishment that he chose was drastically more severe than any written punishment guideline that the league can reference.  On top of that, there's simply no precedent for punishing a player with a 4 game suspension for either tampering with equipment or impeding a league investigation.

Munson really sounds like a league shill.

[Evantime34]

However I have no doubt that the Patriots fans will store this as yet another arrow in their largely-imagined "everyone in the NFL hates us because we're sooooooo goooooood" quiver. That is a certainty.

Largely imagined?  That went out the window around midnight after the AFC championship game, when the league, three rival teams and a law firm paid 5 million dollars engaged in a witch hunt, sting operation to stain the reputation of the greatest QB of all time and the best franchise of the current millennium.

Largely imagined. The entire deflategate debacle had/has much less to do with anything to do with The Patriots (although, as Donoghus has said throughout, the fact that they're a very well known franchise certainly escalated it) and much more to do with the national front office reeling from a series of PR blunders and circling in on an opportunity for the commissioner to reassert his authority on something that a child couldn't screw up.

The fact that he screwed it up is, of course, a whole lot of fun.

In order to get the public support behind the NFL again they needed to pick a target that was largely hated among football fans. While I agree that the NFL was trying to reassert its authority, there is no other team in the league that the NFL could attack and have it be a pr win.

It is not largely imagined, the hate is real. In fact, the hate for the Patriots is what made this a viable PR strategy to begin with. Other teams have been fined for cheating but the Patriots are the only team that consistently gets tabbed as cheaters by the general public.

[Moranis]

NFL should have never targeted Brady with so little evidence of involvement. If Goodell would have looked at things independently letting all statements and testimony be viewed in a fairly manner he would have dropped the suspension himself in the apeal. Clearly Goodell had sided with the bad investigation and didn't give Brady's legal team a fair chance to prove innocence or doubt. It's one thing to let owners gang up on another owner on little proof because all they had to state is balls were under and your staff took balls where they weren't supposed to, gas law or not you are punished. They have no proof of actual wrong doing by Brady himself except a failure to provide phone texts which proves nothing in terms on involvement.

The punishment was almost certainly born out of Brady's alleged failure to cooperate, rather than his wrongdoing.

Which is why from the beginning Brady could have made this whole thing go away if he had said something like

"It is true that I prefer the footballs to be less inflated, but I have never directed anyone to have the footballs at any level that is not within the legal confines.  If the footballs were lower than the legal limit, it was not my intent and I apologize if my preference for lower (but legal) inflated balls in any way contributed to the footballs being below the legal limits in the Colts game.  I will cooperate fully with any NFL investigation into this issue."

You know and then he actually need to cooperate fully.

Goes away with a fine.  The problem is the that is not the Patriot way.

[Evantime34]

At this point I'm mystified that anybody could say that Berman's reasoning is "questionable" or "surprising."  I think the points he discussed in the ruling have been well-developed, much-discussed, and are fairly straightforward.

Goodell punished Brady for something that is not specifically listed as a punishable offense for players in the CBA, and the punishment that he chose was drastically more severe than any written punishment guideline that the league can reference.  On top of that, there's simply no precedent for punishing a player with a 4 game suspension for either tampering with equipment or impeding a league investigation.

Munson really sounds like a league shill.

TP for this.

[D.o.s.]

However I have no doubt that the Patriots fans will store this as yet another arrow in their largely-imagined "everyone in the NFL hates us because we're sooooooo goooooood" quiver. That is a certainty.

Largely imagined?  That went out the window around midnight after the AFC championship game, when the league, three rival teams and a law firm paid 5 million dollars engaged in a witch hunt, sting operation to stain the reputation of the greatest QB of all time and the best franchise of the current millennium.

Largely imagined. The entire deflategate debacle had/has much less to do with anything to do with The Patriots (although, as Donoghus has said throughout, the fact that they're a very well known franchise certainly escalated it) and much more to do with the national front office reeling from a series of PR blunders and circling in on an opportunity for the commissioner to reassert his authority on something that a child couldn't screw up.

The fact that he screwed it up is, of course, a whole lot of fun.

In order to get the public support behind the NFL again they needed to pick a target that was largely hated among football fans. While I agree that the NFL was trying to reassert its authority, there is no other team in the league that the NFL could attack and have it be a pr win.

It is not largely imagined, the hate is real. In fact, the hate for the Patriots is what made this a viable PR strategy to begin with. Other teams have been fined for cheating but the Patriots are the only team that consistently gets tabbed as cheaters by the general public.

I don't think this is true -- you could have picked any massively successful franchise and done something similar: Seattle would be the most obvious example -- but I do think that the Pats history of rule-skirting did them no favors in this instance.

[JSD]

Like I've said all along, anyone who objectively looked at the evidence, timelines etc. knew this case belonged in the garbage. Glad it finally ended up there. I hope the Patriots pursue their unjustly lost picks now too. Goodell should be fired.

[D.o.s.]

NFL should have never targeted Brady with so little evidence of involvement. If Goodell would have looked at things independently letting all statements and testimony be viewed in a fairly manner he would have dropped the suspension himself in the apeal. Clearly Goodell had sided with the bad investigation and didn't give Brady's legal team a fair chance to prove innocence or doubt. It's one thing to let owners gang up on another owner on little proof because all they had to state is balls were under and your staff took balls where they weren't supposed to, gas law or not you are punished. They have no proof of actual wrong doing by Brady himself except a failure to provide phone texts which proves nothing in terms on involvement.

The punishment was almost certainly born out of Brady's alleged failure to cooperate, rather than his wrongdoing.

Which is why from the beginning Brady could have made this whole thing go away if he had said something like

"It is true that I prefer the footballs to be less inflated, but I have never directed anyone to have the footballs at any level that is not within the legal confines.  If the footballs were lower than the legal limit, it was not my intent and I apologize if my preference for lower (but legal) inflated balls in any way contributed to the footballs being below the legal limits in the Colts game.  I will cooperate fully with any NFL investigation into this issue."

You know and then he actually need to cooperate fully.

Goes away with a fine.  The problem is the that is not the Patriot way.

I would agree with this. On the other hand, I really like the Circle Jerks and I'm kind of partial to their song Deny Everything, so I'm torn.

[Evantime34]

However I have no doubt that the Patriots fans will store this as yet another arrow in their largely-imagined "everyone in the NFL hates us because we're sooooooo goooooood" quiver. That is a certainty.

Largely imagined?  That went out the window around midnight after the AFC championship game, when the league, three rival teams and a law firm paid 5 million dollars engaged in a witch hunt, sting operation to stain the reputation of the greatest QB of all time and the best franchise of the current millennium.

Largely imagined. The entire deflategate debacle had/has much less to do with anything to do with The Patriots (although, as Donoghus has said throughout, the fact that they're a very well known franchise certainly escalated it) and much more to do with the national front office reeling from a series of PR blunders and circling in on an opportunity for the commissioner to reassert his authority on something that a child couldn't screw up.

The fact that he screwed it up is, of course, a whole lot of fun.

In order to get the public support behind the NFL again they needed to pick a target that was largely hated among football fans. While I agree that the NFL was trying to reassert its authority, there is no other team in the league that the NFL could attack and have it be a pr win.

It is not largely imagined, the hate is real. In fact, the hate for the Patriots is what made this a viable PR strategy to begin with. Other teams have been fined for cheating but the Patriots are the only team that consistently gets tabbed as cheaters by the general public.

I don't think this is true -- you could have picked any massively successful franchise and done something similar: Seattle would be the most obvious example -- but I do think that the Pats history of rule-skirting did them no favors in this instance.

If in the last 4 years the Patriots had 7 players disciplined for PED do you think people would be talking about it? That is the case with the Seahawks and yet we hear nothing about it.
http://yourteamcheats.com/SEA

I'm sure all the teams in Seattle's division hate the Seahawks, but there is no way the hate for the Seahawks comes close to the hate for the Patriots.

Turn on any tv station there is and you will see players who have been beaten by the Patriots taking every opportunity to speak ill of them, this simply isn't true of other teams.

[knuckleballer]

NFL should have never targeted Brady with so little evidence of involvement. If Goodell would have looked at things independently letting all statements and testimony be viewed in a fairly manner he would have dropped the suspension himself in the apeal. Clearly Goodell had sided with the bad investigation and didn't give Brady's legal team a fair chance to prove innocence or doubt. It's one thing to let owners gang up on another owner on little proof because all they had to state is balls were under and your staff took balls where they weren't supposed to, gas law or not you are punished. They have no proof of actual wrong doing by Brady himself except a failure to provide phone texts which proves nothing in terms on involvement.

The punishment was almost certainly born out of Brady's alleged failure to cooperate, rather than his wrongdoing.

Which is why from the beginning Brady could have made this whole thing go away if he had said something like

"It is true that I prefer the footballs to be less inflated, but I have never directed anyone to have the footballs at any level that is not within the legal confines.  If the footballs were lower than the legal limit, it was not my intent and I apologize if my preference for lower (but legal) inflated balls in any way contributed to the footballs being below the legal limits in the Colts game.  I will cooperate fully with any NFL investigation into this issue."

You know and then he actually need to cooperate fully.

Goes away with a fine.  The problem is the that is not the Patriot way.

I would agree with this. On the other hand, I really like the Circle Jerks and I'm kind of partial to their song Deny Everything, so I'm torn.

Yes, I've noticed you are trolling Patriots fans for your own enjoyment.

[EDITED]No need for that

Edit: I didn't mean it as an insult.  I was just kidding with him.

[Donoghus]

For those keeping track;  Mort hasn't tweeted yet today.

[Forza Juventus]

However I have no doubt that the Patriots fans will store this as yet another arrow in their largely-imagined "everyone in the NFL hates us because we're sooooooo goooooood" quiver. That is a certainty.

Tons of people hate Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City and all the dominant soccer clubs. why? because they always win.

I hate all the english clubs because they have more money than the other leagues and it's largely undeserved, not because they always win, which they don't. Even mid table clubs are loaded because of their tv deal. I hate Barcelona because they are treated differently than all other clubs when they act shady. I don't hate Real Madrid but I don't like the way they treat their players.

[kozlodoev]

The most entertaining part in this has been the war of words between certain morning radio hosts and a NY Post columnist. Talk about a battle of the hacks.

[Donoghus]

The most entertaining part in this has been the war of words between certain morning radio hosts and a NY Post columnist. Talk about a battle of the hacks.

No winners there although I think Bartie Boy takes trolling & faux outrage to a whole 'nother level.

[kozlodoev]

The most entertaining part in this has been the war of words between certain morning radio hosts and a NY Post columnist. Talk about a battle of the hacks.

No winners there although I think Bartie Boy takes trolling & faux outrage to a whole 'nother level.

He does, but Callahan and Minihane are just insufferable. I still wonder why anyone would agree to call into their show.

[D.o.s.]

NFL should have never targeted Brady with so little evidence of involvement. If Goodell would have looked at things independently letting all statements and testimony be viewed in a fairly manner he would have dropped the suspension himself in the apeal. Clearly Goodell had sided with the bad investigation and didn't give Brady's legal team a fair chance to prove innocence or doubt. It's one thing to let owners gang up on another owner on little proof because all they had to state is balls were under and your staff took balls where they weren't supposed to, gas law or not you are punished. They have no proof of actual wrong doing by Brady himself except a failure to provide phone texts which proves nothing in terms on involvement.

The punishment was almost certainly born out of Brady's alleged failure to cooperate, rather than his wrongdoing.

Which is why from the beginning Brady could have made this whole thing go away if he had said something like

"It is true that I prefer the footballs to be less inflated, but I have never directed anyone to have the footballs at any level that is not within the legal confines.  If the footballs were lower than the legal limit, it was not my intent and I apologize if my preference for lower (but legal) inflated balls in any way contributed to the footballs being below the legal limits in the Colts game.  I will cooperate fully with any NFL investigation into this issue."

You know and then he actually need to cooperate fully.

Goes away with a fine.  The problem is the that is not the Patriot way.

I would agree with this. On the other hand, I really like the Circle Jerks and I'm kind of partial to their song Deny Everything, so I'm torn.

Yes, I've noticed you are trolling Patriots fans for your own enjoyment.

[EDITED]No need for that

Edit: I didn't mean it as an insult.  I was just kidding with him.

I'm not trolling anyone? I take bemused satisfaction in the way that personal fandom affects the interpretation of sports events.