Brady Unlimited III: Wolverines in the NFL & NFL News

[Hannibal]

How would you know that from studying tapes?

[WM Wolverine]

Sideline tapes that show Patriots support staff deflating balls.

[Mike]

I once saw a guy commit blatant holding and not get called for it. He should be suspended for cheating.

[Hannibal]

Sideline tapes that show Patriots support staff deflating balls.

I would be shocked if anyone would be stupid enough to be caught on tape doing this.

Either way, Brady got a severe suspension based on a "probably".

[Mike]

Twice as many games as Ray Rice, for the record. You know, the guy who knocked his wife out cold with a brutal right cross and had the whole thing captured on video.

[Hannibal]

To be fair, there is a big difference between policing off the field behavior vs. policing on the field behavior. The role of an employer in preventing domestic violence is questionable.

[iam416]

I've been assured this will only be in the news cycle for a day and the NFL will have egg on their face.

[Mike]

It's only in the news because the Whoopie Goldbergs of the world keep talking about it and Roger Goodell has an axe to grind with Robert Kraft. This is 2% about football and 98% peripheral nonsense.

[iam416]

Goodell has an axe to grind with Kraft? C'mon. Now you're just being silly.

[Mike]

And it's shit like this that pisses me off, not Deflategate. In the immortal words of George Carlin, "I don't have pet peeves, I have psychotic fucking hatreds". High on that list is phony patriotism. Apparently NFL clubs collect millions of taxpayer dollars to stage their "Hometown Heroes" events at NFL games. Because, you know, it costs the team a lot of money to put some guy on the scoreboard for 10 seconds and prompt everyone to give him a standing ovation.

Which NFL teams got your federal tax dollars?

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/05/which_nfl_teams_are_getting_your_federal_tax_dolla.html

Falcons Pimp Soldiers For Profit

http://www.ajc.com/news/sports/falcons-braves-pimp-soldiers-profit/nmDZS/

The Falcons stand to collect $600 million in public funds for their new stadium but couldn't help themselves from accepting another $1 million from the National Guard "for executing rights and benefits focused on National Guard marketing, branding and recruiting initiatives.” That's right. It's a recruiting/marketing initiative to honor veterans of recent wars at NFL football games. Therefore, the NFL club should be compensated for the military leaching on the NFL brand. Afterall, the team could have been showing a paid commercial for McDonald's on their video boards instead of some poor sucker who is unwittingly being taken advantage of. Again.

And here's a move that would make Dave Brandon well up with pride:

The National Guard paid for members to take photos with Jets players 'for promotional use for recruiting and retention purposes for the NJ Army National Guard'

Paying millionaires to get their photo taken with military personnel. It just warms your heart.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3074411/Defense-Department-paid-5-4million-NFL-honor-veterans-games.html

[Jeff Buchanan]

I've been assured this will only be in the news cycle for a day and the NFL will have egg on their face.

It's still In the news. My mistake but it's not because it's sports news. It's entertainment news. It's food for gossip TV.

I'm in the camp where (1) whether there was actual tampering with the footballs in a way that varies significantly from the normal mechanism for measuring and dealing with this is in question. I do understand the rules but I don't think there was any kind of strict enforcement routinely throughout the NFL seasons or in this particular game where it is alleged. (2) the NFL should not convict on the basis of probables. It should find for breaking the rules on certainty. I don't think the NFLPA is going to let this go unchallenged if Goodell upholds any kind of punishment for Brady.

Finally, I don't think this is an entirely black and white issue. We'll see. I am definately not in the camp that is thinking Brady cheated.

[iam416]

Brady cheated. The only question is severity/appropriateness of the punishment.

Brady is more or less an employee of the NFL. An unionized employee. It's not a conviction or anything to do with criminal court. It's a violation of league rules. The NFL, I'm sure, applied to the correct standard, your pontifications notwithstanding.

As for Brady's chances, the CBA expressly contemplates Goddell as a person who can hear appeals. Typically, the only way you win in court on a decision by a person/body agreed to in a CBA is to show some sort of egregious bias. That is to say, Courts won't/can't stick their nose into CBA matters if the the process has been handled according to CBA rules and without bias.

I don't know what Goddell will do. But, IMO, Brady will absolutely miss time this season unless Goddell entirely vacates Vincent's punishment.

[froot loops]

Goodell has some crazy power and the players and the owners gave it to up to him. Inexplicably, he has amassed more power as the years have gone. Every crazy investigation in which the league gets egg on their face seemingly results in Goodell having more power. Brady has retained a dream team of lawyers for this featuring Kessler and he's very good against the league.

Kessler is going to have to find some loophole to get around this. The previous changes in league discipline has happened when Goodell overstepped his bounds under previous policy(Rice, AP and maybe Greg Hardy). That and the fact that he has relinquished authority to a neutral party. Goodell isn't delegating the appeal so that is out the window.

It seems like the main thrust of the appeal is trying to get Goodell to testify in the case in order to embarrass him or to get himself to recuse himself. His testimony in the Ray Rice was a stumbling embarrassment. The arbitrator in that case had stated that if Goodell had given Rice a large suspension in the first place, the sentence would have stood. But since he had the initial 2 gamer, it had to stand.

The whole problem is Goodell has the power. The best hope for Brady and the Pats to get the penalties reduced is for someone to intervene on both sides behalf to get this game of chicken called off. If it isn't the win will be of the Pyrrhic kind.

[Prime2]

The League is full of cheaters, most egregious below.

I guess it is a feeble and petty attack against an NFL dynasty, owner and QB that have made the rest of the NFL look ridiculous and incompetent.

Over a 1/2 pound of air? Really? Drag this bush-league run NFL publicly through the mud. I suspect there are plenty of owners that want no part of this.

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com...ry-of-cheating

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-sh...135901897.html

[Jeff Buchanan]

talent, Points taken ......

Violation of the rules. I don't think it is certain that Brady violated the rules. Kessler is going to argue this if I understand what has been written about his approach so far.

I understand this is not a court of law. I understand Brady is an employee. Regardless, there must be due process. I suspect ( don't know) that in part, this is what the NFLPA will base their complaint on.

I also understand that the courts do not like to interfere in institutional proceedings unless it can be shown the institution did not follow their own procedures or otherwise did not follow a reasonable standard of due process. A civil court would here that if I understand correctly what they will and will not here.

I can't speak to a failure of due process claim in this. I don't know enough of the details but if there is even a sliver of a fuck up in this regard, Kessler is going to find it. I do think that it appears that the league has selectively applied the ball pressure rule to a particular QB and not to other QBs.

I would think this is going to be a central claim on Brady's behalf by his lawyers and this goes to a failure of the NFL to uniformly follow the same procedures it has established for ball pressures across the league.