#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[Cman]

Wetzel has a column out on the anniversary of Deflategate. I think it is quite good. He includes some nuggets that I had missed.

However, once Ted Wells' report was published last spring, including an appendix showing Exponent's work, actual scientists started doing what actual scientists do: review the conclusions of a new study.

As time has allowed more serious analysis to come in, the results have been an overwhelming destruction of the conclusions of Wells, Exponent and the consulting work of Princeton professor Daniel Marlow.

It's been from all directions: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (multiple studies), Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Chicago, Boston College, the University of Nebraska, the University of Illinois, the University of New Hampshire, Bowdoin College, Rockefeller University, where a Noble Prize winner couldn't have lampooned it more viciously, and so on and so on.

Then there were unaffiliated retired scientists, climate experts, professional labs, even the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, which crushed the science of Wells' report. A fourth-grader in Sacramento discredited it for her school science fair.

And these are just some of the ones that received media attention.

One of his main points is that the scientific community is basically UNANIMOUS in its discrediting of the "science" done for the Wells report.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/1-year-after-deflate-gate-ballooned--science-shows-shame-of-it-all-073316233.html

[JSD]

Destoyed cellphone? The only person that has destroyed evidence is Roger.


Wetzel again:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl-s-missing-data-on-air-pressure-is-another-black-eye-in-deflate-gate-saga-025852568.html

"Now the New England Patriots are no longer able to point to specific, NFL-generated data that proves Ideal Gas Law, not human tampering, caused its footballs to lose air pressure in the 2014 AFC championship game.
That study was supposed to be the franchise's best chance to introduce new information that might allow the return of the 2016 first- and fourth-round draft picks, plus $1 million, the league docked it for deflate-gate."

Goodell is an absolutely brilliant liar, deceiver, DB.

Give the Patriots their darn pick back! Enough is enough!

[mef730]

No idea how accurate this article is, although news coming from the first round turned out to be pretty accurate. They're saying that this one isn't going as well for Brady:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/deflate-gate--a-tom-brady-suspension-is-back-on-the-table-222215947.html

Two things that stuck out in the article, which was decidedly pro-Brady (other than the conclusion that the judges were frowning on his case):

Until Thursday the basic rule of deflate-gate is that the more someone independent – lawyers, scientists, professors, obsessed fans, journalists, etc. – studied the case the less they believed in Brady or the Patriots guilt, or at the very least saw the NFL's case as a house of cards.

The less someone knew, the more they were convinced of guilt.

and

While a slew of scientists have weighed in with their opinion in support of Brady, using scientific experiments to show that time and weather, not a locker room attendant with a needle inside a bathroom, most likely led to varied air pressure measurements, two of the Court of Appeals judges, Denny Chin and Barrington Parker Jr., seemed less sympathetic and repeated many of the NFL's facts and arguments of the case, including ones that have been scientifically debunked.

bolding mine.

Mike

[danglertx]

The thing is, the evidence in the case isn't at issue before the appeals court.  What is at issue is was Berman wrong on the law in citing notice and other failures on the NFL's part.  I can't see where they can say all of Berman's findings were not in accordance with the law, especially the one about a witness not being allowed to testify who edited the Well's report.  There is precedent for overturning arbitration awards during such instances so saying Berman was wrong on that is pretty hard to fathom.

[mef730]

Agreed. I'm just frustrated that the difference between "the truth" of the issue and "the legal answer" aren't necessarily the same thing, and that so few people seem to care.

Mike

[csfansince60s]

Agreed. I'm just frustrated that the difference between "the truth" of the issue and "the legal answer" aren't necessarily the same thing, and that so few people seem to care.

Mike

Welcome to the world of jurisprudence!

[rocknrollforyoursoul]

No idea how accurate this article is, although news coming from the first round turned out to be pretty accurate. They're saying that this one isn't going as well for Brady:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/deflate-gate--a-tom-brady-suspension-is-back-on-the-table-222215947.html

Two things that stuck out in the article, which was decidedly pro-Brady (other than the conclusion that the judges were frowning on his case):

Until Thursday the basic rule of deflate-gate is that the more someone independent – lawyers, scientists, professors, obsessed fans, journalists, etc. – studied the case the less they believed in Brady or the Patriots guilt, or at the very least saw the NFL's case as a house of cards.

The less someone knew, the more they were convinced of guilt.

and

While a slew of scientists have weighed in with their opinion in support of Brady, using scientific experiments to show that time and weather, not a locker room attendant with a needle inside a bathroom, most likely led to varied air pressure measurements, two of the Court of Appeals judges, Denny Chin and Barrington Parker Jr., seemed less sympathetic and repeated many of the NFL's facts and arguments of the case, including ones that have been scientifically debunked.

bolding mine.

Mike

So according to the NFL (and these two judges, apparently), facts that are not facts are still facts. Got it.

Regardless of what the applicable laws are in this case, the case should be thrown out, lock, stock, and barrel, simply because of how asinine the whole thing is.

[PhoSita]

Man am I sick of Deflategate.

[Fafnir]

IT LIVES!!!! 

[Fafnir]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15353950/tom-brady-new-england-patriots-four-game-suspension-deflategate-reinstated-appeals-court

[kozlodoev]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/15353950/tom-brady-new-england-patriots-four-game-suspension-deflategate-reinstated-appeals-court

I'd be curious to read the entire ruling.

[Cman]

Curious what the next step is for Brady. Can he appeal?

[Roy H.]

That should have been the ruling from the beginning.

[Roy H.]

Curious what the next step is for Brady. Can he appeal?

He can, either to the full Circuit (very doubtful he wins) or the Supreme Court (almost zero chance they even take the case).

[kozlodoev]

Full ruling, for the interested:

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/nfl_ca2_20160425.pdf