#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[celticsclay]

When did I say the Brady thing would be the only outcome?

My guess on the Patriots front was that they'd lose their fourth rounder and be fined a relatively insubstantial amount of money.

Twice in this thread you have bumped your own comment about your predicted outcome (self-back patting on the internet is something I am surprised you did). The thing you keep bumping only mentions Brady so it was unclear what your predictions on the total outcome of the case would be. Brady missing two or 4 games is not the important part, losing the first rounder part is. By repeatedly bumping your prediction for Brady, a lot of people could read it that you are implying you think that is the most important outcome.

[D.o.s.]

Mostly I bump it so I don't have to type out those faces, and also because both times it's been an appropriate response to what Donughus has posted.

[celticsclay]

¯\_('=')_/¯

[D.o.s.]

See, the football was supposed to be like this:
<#>
¯\_("0")_/¯


But instead, the football was like this:
<~>
¯\_("0")_/¯

And now everyone is all like this:
¯\_(;_;)_/¯

[mef730]

Rich Levine on why Kraft surrendered.

Ouch, this makes some sense:

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/in-defense-of-robert-kraft-and-the-new-england-patriots

Mike

[Eja117]

It would be hard for me to disagree more with that article. Either you care more about the Patriots or you care more about the league. If you care more about the Patriots then when the league tries to mess with you out of envy then you have to fight back and say "If I go down you're going with me. You want to shoot nukes? I got em too." I wanted  a scorched Earth campaign. Mutual guaranteed destruction got us through the cold war. It worked because it was mutually guaranteed. Now we just have "If you make a report and call us cheaters enough without lots of evidence we will back down".

This thoroughly invites the NFL to do more of this to the Pats and they will.

The NFL is that guy that says "I'm shocked SHOCKED to hear there is game ball tampering in this league and I will expect a full investigation and punishment"

"Here are your Vikings and Aaron Rodgers game balls"

"Oh thank you".


Yeah. Kraft needed to go all out on that. And he backed down.

Dear Kraft. If you care more about the NFL than the Patriots then sell the team now to someone who doesn't. Because we don't need an owner like that.

[Moranis]

The problem with the article is that Kraft knew those were his only 3 options since he started talking about fighting and not backing down.  Kraft put all the fans into a frenzy and then backs down.  It is totally and utterly Kraft's fault.

[D.o.s.]

I think there is some merit to the idea that the NFL weren't actually looking to find the Patriots guilty of anything when they launched the investigation, and were instead just doing it to appease the Colts and go "by the numbers." It would explain Kraft's initial reaction, the kissing and making up, as well as the shock from both sides when wrongdoing was discovered and punishment was rendered, respectively.

[Eja117]

On the Pats Facebook site right now almost every single comment in going against Kraft. He deserved it

[Donoghus]

Who knows.  Not sure if we'll ever find out if there was some sort of "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" deal behind close doors (which I'm thinking there is something there) to put an end to Patriots end of this. The league botched this from Day 1 & its sad that it all came down like this. 

The Brady thing is a whole other matter.  Sounds like the NFLPA is hellbent on getting this thing to court and to fight Goodell's powers.  The Brady & Peterson cases seem to be their perfect chance to go at it.

[Eja117]

Tony Maz is going all out on Pats fans right now. He and I are enemies now

[colincb]

Who knows.  Not sure if we'll ever find out if there was some sort of "wink-wink, nudge-nudge" deal behind close doors (which I'm thinking there is something there) to put an end to Patriots end of this. The league botched this from Day 1 & its sad that it all came down like this. 

The Brady thing is a whole other matter.  Sounds like the NFLPA is hellbent on getting this thing to court and to fight Goodell's powers.  The Brady & Peterson cases seem to be their perfect chance to go at it.

Kraft did the smart thing. He would not have much chance to win and even if he had won, he'd be undermining his financial interests and his power. As we saw in the Donald Sterling case against the NBA, owners give up a lot of rights contractually to the league to have a shot at a franchise. In so doing, the discretion given to the Commissioners under league by-laws is very difficult to overcome. Franchises are enormously profitable for their  long-term appreciation in value and potential owners are willing to give up rights to get them.

Kraft also knew the Brady case would continue to move along and Brady has a much better chance to win.

[knuckleballer]

I think there is some merit to the idea that the NFL weren't actually looking to find the Patriots guilty of anything when they launched the investigation, and were instead just doing it to appease the Colts and go "by the numbers." It would explain Kraft's initial reaction, the kissing and making up, as well as the shock from both sides when wrongdoing was discovered and punishment was rendered, respectively.

The Colts measured the intercepted ball at 11.45 and the balls averaged 11.49 using the gauge the ref said he used.  The Ideal Gas Law says the balls should be down just over 1 psi putting them at just under 11.50.  I know they think a different gauge was used, but they only determined that weeks later after Exponent began running tests.  So why did they open up a multi-million dollar investigation to begin with?  Why did they allow the media to report false information exaggerating the psi drop?  Why did the NFL tell the Patriots the balls were as low as 10.1? 

I think this was a witch hunt from the start.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah, I think it was a witchhunt too. The problem was that they were looking for Bette Midler and found Martha Corey, if you follow.

[GetLucky]

I think Kraft screwed the fans here. One of two things happened: 1) Kraft knows the Patriots cheated, in which case the team cheated 2) Kraft realized that he would lose money and possible good reputation if he went any further, in which case he shortchanged the fans by speaking so decisively and not going all-out against this.

Either way you look at it, it's not very positive. My dad is absolutely livid. He's even thinking about bringing his Dan Marino jersey out of retirement and rooting for the Dolphins again