#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[mgent]

Lol.  When this thread was created, I would have never guessed it'd reach this many pages.

If this isn't the biggest case of "much ado about nothing" then I don't know what is.

[knuckleballer]

Lol.  When this thread was created, I would have never guessed it'd reach this many pages.

If this isn't the biggest case of "much ado about nothing" then I don't know what is.

All because some highly paid NFL execs forgot their 9th grade science.  Just watch Berman's ruling get appealed and this thing go on for another two years.  Fun fun.

[Surferdad]

Lol.  When this thread was created, I would have never guessed it'd reach this many pages.

If this isn't the biggest case of "much ado about nothing" then I don't know what is.

Agreed. Mostly driven by dislike for the Pats. 

Couple of psi of air pressure, and children are starving in Africa. Geez.

[JSD]

Couple important points:

- Roger Goodell is a clown.

- ESPN is a joke.

- Patriot haters live in a land of make believe.

[JSD]

[danglertx]

Didn't the NFLPA agree to have a "biased" arbitrator though?  Doesn't that separate this from other arbitrations?

No, they agreed to let Goodell hear the appeals.  Nowhere did the NFLPA agree to have a biased arbitrator decide their cases.  But, lets say they did.  Lets say the CBA states, "Goodell will hear all appeals and his bias toward one side or the other is not a factor."  The NFL would still lose because federal law says an arbiter can't be biased.  Just like you can never contractually agree to waive negligence, you can't agree not to follow federal law. 

When given the opportunity by Berman to defend Goodell as an impartial arbiter, Nash simply said Goodell wasn't required by the CBA to be impartial.  True, but federal law does require him to be impartial and to boot, the CBA doesn't mention his impartially at all.  Ambiguous language in contracts are to be construed against the side who wrote them.  I assume that would be the NFL in this case.

The more I think about this case, the more I'm leaning toward not only will Brady win at least a new arbitration hearing with an impartial arbiter, but that this is the only possible outcome.

[Smokeeye123]

While it looks good now for the Patriots, I wouldnt be surprised at all if the NFL won.

[Moranis]

Didn't the NFLPA agree to have a "biased" arbitrator though?  Doesn't that separate this from other arbitrations?

No, they agreed to let Goodell hear the appeals.  Nowhere did the NFLPA agree to have a biased arbitrator decide their cases.  But, lets say they did.  Lets say the CBA states, "Goodell will hear all appeals and his bias toward one side or the other is not a factor."  The NFL would still lose because federal law says an arbiter can't be biased.  Just like you can never contractually agree to waive negligence, you can't agree not to follow federal law. 

When given the opportunity by Berman to defend Goodell as an impartial arbiter, Nash simply said Goodell wasn't required by the CBA to be impartial.  True, but federal law does require him to be impartial and to boot, the CBA doesn't mention his impartially at all.  Ambiguous language in contracts are to be construed against the side who wrote them.  I assume that would be the NFL in this case.

The more I think about this case, the more I'm leaning toward not only will Brady win at least a new arbitration hearing with an impartial arbiter, but that this is the only possible outcome.

Um, you can waive negligence in most states.  happens all the time in fact.

Goodell is biased and the NFLPA knew it.  That is what happens when you let the original decision maker be the arbitrator.

[Roy H.]

Couple important points:

- Roger Goodell is a clown.

- ESPN is a joke.

- Patriot haters live in a land of make believe.

- As do the fervent Patriots supporters

- Tom Brady isn't particularly credible

- The "deflator" and "I was referring to selling season tickets" excuses are laughable

Very few folks are viewing this one neutrally.

[Roy H.]

Um, you can waive negligence in most states.  happens all the time in fact.

Yeah.  I think the general rule is that you can't waive professional negligence -- i.e., malpractice -- beforehand, but general negligence is waived frequently.

[BballTim]

I've read most of the brief that the NFLPA originally submitted.  It seems to me like they've got a very strong case re the arbitrator lacking impartiality and lack of notice for the punishment (i.e. not based in the CBA).

  I haven't fully read any documents, but from what I read the "lack of notice" argument has been successfully used by the union in the past, but it was for cases where the league set a new rule in place after an incident occurred and then tried to punish the transgression under a rule that didn't exist at the time it occurred. That doesn't seem to be what's happening here.

From my understanding of it, the "lack of notice" issue here is that the Wells report cites the investigation pursuant to the competitive integrity policy.  The problem is that this particular policy applies to non-playing personnel and the players don't receive notice on this policy.

  Thanks.

[JBcat]

Couple important points:

- Roger Goodell is a clown.

- ESPN is a joke.

- Patriot haters live in a land of make believe.

- As do the fervent Patriots supporters

- Tom Brady isn't particularly credible

- The "deflator" and "I was referring to selling season tickets" excuses are laughable

Very few folks are viewing this one neutrally.

This is off topic. Just pointing out I find it interesting when people are fans of 1 team in a region, but not another team in another sport in the same region.  I know plenty of people like this, one in particular with a strange mix of Yankees and Jets fan, but likes the Celtics and Bruins. 

[kozlodoev]

The more I think about this case, the more I'm leaning toward not only will Brady win at least a new arbitration hearing with an impartial arbiter, but that this is the only possible outcome.

Is this case about confirming the arbitration or confirming the suspension?

[colincb]

The more I think about this case, the more I'm leaning toward not only will Brady win at least a new arbitration hearing with an impartial arbiter, but that this is the only possible outcome.

Is this case about confirming the arbitration or confirming the suspension?

Both, if Berman kicks it back to arbitration and the second arbiter decides on the merits of the case and the penalty. Berman can't impose his theory of the right outcome on the case. He can determine procedural issues and arbiter impartiality/honesty.

[knuckleballer]

Couple important points:

- Roger Goodell is a clown.

- ESPN is a joke.

- Patriot haters live in a land of make believe.

- As do the fervent Patriots supporters

- Tom Brady isn't particularly credible

- The "deflator" and "I was referring to selling season tickets" excuses are laughable

Very few folks are viewing this one neutrally.

The explanations for "deflator" and "I was referring to selling season tickets" aren't laughable.  These texts were selected out of thousands over an 8 month span.  You can be suspicious of the explanations, but to dismiss them entirely is hardly reasonable.