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Author Topic:   Deflation-gate
ringo
Member (Idle past 412 days)
Posts: 20940
From: frozen wasteland
Joined: 03-23-2005


(1)
Message 316 of 466 (776850)
01-21-2016 12:10 PM
Reply to: Message 314 by Blue Jay
01-21-2016 10:40 AM


Blue jay writes:
It just amazes me how many ways there are to "cheat" at a sport.
Maybe quibbling about the rules is more interesting than the game itself. (Sounds a bit like EvC .)

This message is a reply to:
 Message 314 by Blue Jay, posted 01-21-2016 10:40 AM Blue Jay has seen this message but not replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 317 of 466 (777052)
01-25-2016 1:30 PM
Reply to: Message 301 by Percy
11-02-2015 8:19 PM


Re: NFL Files Brief in Expedited Appeal
n requesting an expedited appeal the NFL knew it could affect the Super Bowl
Well, we can stop worrying about this scenario.
Go Panthers!

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King
If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions? Scott Adams

This message is a reply to:
 Message 301 by Percy, posted 11-02-2015 8:19 PM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
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Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 318 of 466 (777099)
01-26-2016 8:37 AM
Reply to: Message 317 by NoNukes
01-25-2016 1:30 PM


Re: NFL Files Brief in Expedited Appeal
NoNukes writes:
The NFL requested, and the NFLPA agreed, an expedited appeal, and it will take place on Monday, February 1, 2016.
...
In requesting an expedited appeal the NFL knew it could affect the Super Bowl
Well, we can stop worrying about this scenario.
Sorry, I should have posted about this, but the period around Thanksgiving was busy here. The February 1, 2016, hearing date was announced back in early November, but a few weeks later it was changed to March 3, 2016. It wouldn't have affected the Super Bowl.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
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Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 319 of 466 (777540)
02-03-2016 10:19 AM


2015 NFL Football PSI Data Released: NOT!!
One can only shake one's head in wonderment. Roger Goodell recently appeared on the Rich Eisen show and responded to questions about football pressure. He announced that the NFL will not be making public the results from its checks of football pressure during the 2015 season. We're apparently never to know the precise procedures used to check football pressures, whether they differed from the fatally flawed procedures used during last year's AFC Championship game between the Patriots and Colts, which type and how many gauges were used, whether they're calibrated, if the NFL is taking the Ideal Gas Law into account, etc. I'll quote from various articles.
Roger Goodell: NFL didn’t keep PSI log of footballs (Yahoo! Sports):
The NFL commissioner...on Tuesday...announced the league did not keep any of the data on air pressure of footballs that officials were required to log and submit to the league office during the 2015 season.
...
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 says PSI spot checks found no air-pressure violations in 2015 (NBC Sports):
But maybe the NFL should have done a research study, and not just spot checks. After all, some scientists have come forward to say that the low PSI measurements on the footballs used by the Patriots in last year’s AFC Championship Game could have simply been a result of the footballs being used during a game played in cold weather. A thorough study might have revealed that footballs drop in pressure in games played in weather conditions similar to those of last year’s AFC Championship Game, which would strongly suggest that the Patriots and Tom Brady did not deserve to be punished for Deflategate.
The NFL, however, did punish the Patriots and is still seeking to overturn a judge’s ruling that prevented them from suspending Brady. Goodell doesn’t sound like he’s going to back down on seeking to suspend Brady, which means that if the NFL wins in court, Brady could be suspended for the first four games of 2016.
...
The Patriots would argue that if Goodell really wants to protect the integrity of the game, he should have seen to it that the league did more than just PSI spot checks.
NFL blows chance to fully understand football air pressure (NBC Sports):
It was clear when the NFL decided only to randomly check the PSI of game balls in 2015 that the league had no interest in the kind of comprehensive study that would allow the league to understand a phenomenon it apparently hadn’t even considered before January of 2015: How air pressure behaves in footballs during games. It’s now clear that the NFL has no interest in developing any understanding at all as to how air pressure works.
...
The disclosure from Goodell, coming three days before his annual pre-Super Bowl press conference, most likely means that there will be no summaries or other data released by the league regarding the 2015 measurements. Instead, by declaring that no violations were detected in 2015, Goodell turned the entire exercise into a pass/fail exam, with all teams passing.
It’s not surprising, given that a comprehensive study would have clarified the extent of the league’s failure regarding #DeflateGate, where the league blended troubling text messages generated well before the Colts-Patriots AFC title game with numbers that constituted, without consideration of the Ideal Gas Law, evidence of tampering into a conclusion that it was more likely than not that cheating happened that day. Full analysis of the PSI reading of all balls during all of the 333 preseason, regular-season, and postseason 2015 games quite possibly would have led to the conclusion that Ted Wells and company showed have reached in May: That the evidence as to whether the Patriots tampered with the footballs prior to the AFC title game is inconclusive at best.
So instead of trying to better understand how and why #DeflateGate went off the rails, the league set up an effort to check from time to time whether footballs remained within the approved range of 12.5 to 13.5 PSI. Surely, there were occasions when the balls strayed beyond those limits, especially when the Seahawks and Vikings played in arctic conditions last month. What formulas were used to determine whether the footballs were naturally or unnaturally deflated? And would those formulas, if applied to the outdoor conditions during the Colts-Patriots AFC title game, have resulted in expected PSI measurements comparable to the actual measurements generated that day by either or both of the two pressure gauges used?
Basically, the league found a way to create the impression that it has created a system for checking footballs without creating evidence that could have exonerated the Patriots, or at worst shown that Wells and his investigators failed to parlay their multi-million-dollar fee into a cracking of the case.
A full and complete analysis of the footballs in 2015 may have helped the league get to the truth. Which may have prompted the league to restore New England’s draft-pick penalty and rescind its fine. Which could be the main reason why the NFL opted not to learn everything there was to learn about PSI behavior during the 2015 season.
--Percy

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 320 of 466 (778880)
02-25-2016 4:46 PM


The three judge panel that will hear the NFL appeal of the overruling of Brady's 4-game suspension on March 3rd of next week has been named. Quoting the Boston Globe:
quote:
The three judges were listed Thursday on the court’s website. They are Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann, Barrington D. Parker and Denny Chin.
Katzmann was appointed to the 2nd Circuit in 1999 after nomination by President Bill Clinton. Parker was elevated to the 2nd Circuit in 2001 by President George W. Bush, and Chin joined the court in 2010 on a nomination by President Barack Obama.
The NFL has reportedly retained Paul Clement to argue the case in place of the NFL's somewhat wooden and rigid general counsel Jeff Pash, who argued the case before Judge Berman in New York last year. A ComCast SportsNet article by Tom E. Curran has this to say about Clement (colored text from original):
quote:
To appeal the case, the NFL has enlisted Paul Clement to run the show. The former U.S. Solicitor General under George W. Bush, Clement was described in 2008 as the LeBron James of the group of attorneys returning to the public sector after Bush left office . LeBron James? LeBron James.
In legal circles, Clement’s name appearing on the brief caused a stir.
His hiring signals that the NFL will take the Deflategate [case] to the Supreme Court, if necessary, to defend the contractual and inherent powers of the commissioner, Michael LeRoy, a labor law professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, told the website Law360. Clement, the site added, argued at least 77 cases before the Supreme Court, according to SCOTUSBlog statistics through the 2014 term. Between the 2011 and 2014 terms, Clement appeared before the court 24 times, more than any other lawyer besides U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who served over that time frame.
Why Clement? The NFL has a lot at stake in this appeal, which our friend Michael McCann from Sports Illustrated laid out last September when the NFL first filed its appeal. It’s not about Brady, per se, but the powers of Goodell to run the show within the confines of the CBA the players and owners agreed upon without the courts getting their hands in the soup. Berman’s ruling set a tough precedent.
Local talk show speculation is that the NFL will lose again. Myself, I don't pretend to have any special insights into how courts will rule, but in the name of all that is right and fair they *should* lose again.
--Percy

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 321 of 466 (779315)
03-03-2016 9:01 AM


NFL's Appeal to be Argued Today
Today's the day. Today at the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York the NFL's appeal of Berman's ruling will be heard. At stake is whether Tom Brady is suspended for four games for deflating footballs.
Berman gave these reasons for ruling against the NFL (from Hurley: After Losing DeflateGate, Roger Goodell Should Be Embarrassed by Michael Hurley):
  1. Inadequate Notice of Discipline and Misconduct
    1. No Notice of Four-Game Suspension: Steroid Use Comparison
    2. No Notice of Any Discernible Infraction
    3. No Notice of Suspension as Opposed to Fine: Competitive Integrity Policy vs. Player Policies
  2. Commissioner Goodell Improperly Denied Brady the Opportunity to Examine Designated Co-Lead Investigator Jeff Pash
  3. Commissioner Goodell Improperly Denied Brady Equal Access to Investigative Files
The evidence is not in question. The evidence by which the NFL concluded that Brady was "had participated in a scheme to deflate game balls" of football deflation will not be challenged. Berman ruled that the NFL had denied Brady a fair hearing under Article 46 of the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with the NFLPA, and in court today the NFL will argue that Brady did too have a fair hearing.
Notice the way the NFL is now characterizing Brady's involvement. The Wells Report concluded that Brady "was at least generally aware" that game footballs were being deflated, but now the NFL is claiming that Brady "had participated in a scheme to deflate game balls." But enough about truth and what really happened.
The NFL will argue that under Article 46 they did too have the right to do precisely what Berman ruled they did not have the right to do when he overturned the suspension. Looking through the NFL appeal it's hard to find any argument of substance. My frequent reaction (while resisting the urge to comment on too much and make this post too long) was, "They're actually saying that with a straight face???" I encourage others to look through it and find anything of substance.
At heart the NFL is arguing that the integrity of the game is anything Goodell says it is, and that courts have traditionally been very deferential when ruling on arbitration. The NFL wants the court to consider only the provisions of the CBA (as if it alone were all the law that existed) and ignore all other US law like the FAA (Federal Arbitration Act) and the LMRA (Labor Management Relations Act), though at least this time around they deigned to mention them. They argue that the commissioner can do pretty much whatever he wants, and that the truth is pretty much whatever he says.
Strangely and unexpectedly, the NFL's brief does mention facts on page 3:
quote:
STATEMENT OF THE ISSUES
  1. Whether the district court erred by vacating the Commissioner’s labor arbitration award based on its disagreement with the Commissioner’s factual findings...

I don't recall Berman disagreeing at all with "the Commisioner's factual findings," so I don't know why they bring it up, and I don't think they do either, but in Section C the NFL brief recounts their version of the facts, even though it is all available elsewhere (the brief has extensive appendices, and of course all the filings and rulings are also available). Maybe they do it for completeness.
On page 15 they do seem to, er, underrepresent the degree of material involvement in the investigation of their lead attorney Jeff Pash.
Page 16 makes clear that the NFL is still very angry that Brady destroyed his cell phone, especially since it was on the same day he met with the Wells investigatory team.
Incredibly, on pages 21-22 the NFL reaffirms their equating of ball deflation with steroid abuse. Really?
Also incredibly, in the last paragraph on page 22 they misstate Berman's feelings about Goodell's findings:
quote:
The court acknowledged that the Commissioner’s findings... went far beyond the ‘general awareness’ finding in the Wells Report. And the district court did not question the Commissioner’s discretion...
The NFL brief is attempting to make it seem that Berman in some way legitimized or even agreed with Goodell's findings that went way beyond the Wells Report. The reality is that Berman mocked Goodell's more extreme "findings." The NFL is seriously delusional.
The NFL arguments beginning on page 29 seem their strongest. Their interpretation of the LMRA and FAA is based mostly on precedent, which seems a strong foundation for supporting their position. But also scary, because at one point they reference case law when they say, "courts must uphold a labor arbitration award if the arbitrator 'offer[s] even a barely colorable justification for the outcome reached.'" Well, I don't think they'd make up a quote from a court ruling, so I believe them, but...wow! US case law contains precedent that even if the arbitrator only makes a casual wave at honest behavior he must be upheld? Really? Given the increasing frequency with which arbitration clauses are being added to legal agreements (with your bank, with your insurance company, and of course with your lawyer) this should worry all of us a great deal.
The NFL arguments beginning on page 37 seem especially weak and speculative to me, reading almost as apologies for Goodell's poor behavior, logic and decision making. It seems by far the weakest part of the entire brief.
The arguments in court today will be very brief, and the wait for a ruling could be very long. I hear it often takes the court 10-14 months to issue a ruling, though it might be sooner since the NFL has requested an expedited process.
--Percy
Edited by Percy, : Formatting and quoting.

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 322 of 466 (779318)
03-03-2016 9:19 AM


The Brady/NFLPA Response
The response to the NFL appeal of the Brady/NFLPA team led by Jeffrey Kessler can be found here: Brief for Appellees National Football League Players Association and Tom Brady. I haven't had a chance to read it yet.
Here is the NFL's response: Reply Brief for Appellants National Football League Management Council and National Football League
Brady and the NFLPA had the right to file what is called a surreply, but apparently this is not often done, and wasn't done in this case that I can tell so far. A discussion of how the Brady/NFLPA response might have fallen for a trap appears here: The NFL’s New Deflategate Appeal Strategy: It’s a Trap!
--Percy
Edited by Percy, : Add link for NFL's reply brief and link to article about it.

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 323 of 466 (779430)
03-04-2016 9:33 AM


Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
It's like both the judges and lawyers live in an information vacuum when it comes to security concerns, and so yesterday Brady's destruction of his phone raised the most questions by the judges, and the least answers by a lawyer, in this case, Brady and the NFLPA's lawyer Jeffrey Kessler. The explanation that Brady, a multimillionaire with a supermodel wife, two young children and serious business interests, was concerned about security didn't seem worth mentioning. As has been pointed out before in this thread, when in the history of sports has a sports league ever managed to keep any information secure, and for Brady security must be a very high concern. Here's a link to the NYT article:
Supposedly the appeal is not about the facts, but Judge Denny Chin said, "The evidence of the ball tampering is compelling, if not overwhelming". He's wrong, of course. He obviously hasn't done his homework on the Ideal Gas Law, nor even thought through how unlikely it is that a professional quarterback would prefer footballs at a variety of different pressures. Here's a link to an article at Pats Pulpit:
A third-party friend-of-the-court brief filed by legal scholar Robert Blecker (I never heard of him either, but he's on the faculty of New York Law School) argues that the NFL followed a process that was "infected with bias, unfairness, evident partiality and occasional fraud." Here are links to his brief and a couple news articles about it:
Blecker also did a segment on 60 Minutes:
--Percy

Replies to this message:
 Message 326 by NoNukes, posted 03-05-2016 11:53 PM Percy has replied

  
jar
Member (Idle past 394 days)
Posts: 34026
From: Texas!!
Joined: 04-20-2004


(1)
Message 324 of 466 (779436)
03-04-2016 10:36 AM


so why should anyone care about any of this?
I can't believe any of this could possibly still be going on or that any of it is sufficient for anything other than to fill the space between the ads.

Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Replies to this message:
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Theodoric
Member
Posts: 9076
From: Northwest, WI, USA
Joined: 08-15-2005
Member Rating: 3.7


Message 325 of 466 (779482)
03-04-2016 4:09 PM
Reply to: Message 324 by jar
03-04-2016 10:36 AM


Re: so why should anyone care about any of this?
If you don't care, don't read and don't comment. We have enough trolls already.

Facts don't lie or have an agenda. Facts are just facts
"God did it" is not an argument. It is an excuse for intellectual laziness.

This message is a reply to:
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NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 326 of 466 (779576)
03-05-2016 11:53 PM
Reply to: Message 323 by Percy
03-04-2016 9:33 AM


Re: Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
The explanation that Brady, a multimillionaire with a supermodel wife, two young children and serious business interests, was concerned about security didn't seem worth mentioning.
Perhaps that's because in the legal world, destroying evidence is generally inexcusable. Judges understand that people sometimes do value security and have what they consider good reason not to retain records, but often those excuses carry little weight in the court room. Sanctions for destroying evidence can include penalties such as monetary fines, assuming that destroyed evidence was in favor of the other side, or even having the judge rule in favor of the other side.
When corporations sue each other, often their trade secrets, whose value can dwarf the value at stake for Brady, are central to the case. The courts make provisions for evaluating those issues without the information becoming public or even known to the parties. If the participants find that they cannot make the needed information available in court, then often they lose the case.
Given the fact that the NFL had no subpoena power, Brady might well refuse to voluntarily give up the information to the NFL upon request. And the NFL trier of facts is free to make inferences based on the refusal. Brady can offer reasons to counter such refusals. No fifth amendment rights are involved here because it is a civil case.
But destroying the information so that it cannot even be turned over in a court case is something I can readily understand being unforgivable to the judge.
Just another take on things. My point here is that the judges are not necessarily idiots here just because they don't mention Brady's security. They simply don't in the course of things, give such excuses much weight. Surely Brady's lawyers knew that even if Brady did not.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King
If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions? Scott Adams

This message is a reply to:
 Message 323 by Percy, posted 03-04-2016 9:33 AM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 327 by Percy, posted 03-06-2016 9:35 AM NoNukes has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 327 of 466 (779596)
03-06-2016 9:35 AM
Reply to: Message 326 by NoNukes
03-05-2016 11:53 PM


Re: Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
I understand, but that doesn't change my opinion. It should be safe to assume that the judges read the briefs and know that the NFL already had all the text messages. And assuming the judges don't live in a vacuum, they also know that sports leagues have not demonstrated any expertise for keeping information they gather secret, be it drug test results, closed door hearings or any confidential information at all. By turning his phone over to the NFL Brady had every reason to fear not the public release of text messages relevant to Deflategate, but of text messages and other personal information related to him, his business dealings, and most particularly his family.
Since the NFL is not an extension of the court system, destroying his phone to prevent it from coming into the hands of the demonstrably incompetent NFL is not a defiance of the law and the court system but a demonstration of extremely appropriate prudence.
I think if the process that generated the Wells report were examined that it would reveal just how incompetent the NFL is. By what process did the precise text of text messages from Jastremski and McNally make it into the Wells report? How many computers were those text messages downloaded to? How secure were the computers and phones and other devices that were involved in producing the report? How many people read and interpreted them to see if they were relevant to Deflategate, and who were they? How many people were involved in discussions about which to quote in the Wells report, or how best to edit down text messages that dealt with Deflategate but also some other subject, and who were they? Were any of these discussions, whether by cell phone or in person, in public places? Were any emails or texts discussing these topics insecure? The notes and access to witnesses that Brady was denied during his hearing might have been informative about this, but in any case, Brady had every cause for concern, and the court should understand that.
The court should also understand that the illogical nature of what the NFL is asserting brings their competence into further question. To draw an analogy with cooking the books, how much sense would it make for a business to change the numbers in ways that hurt them rather than helped them? That's what the NFL is asserting when they claim that Brady wanted football pressures modified so that they varied a great deal (by more than 1 PSI) with the inconsistency making them more difficult to handle, instead of balls at a consistent pressure, the same pressure as when he selected precisely those balls prior to the game.
Blecker's suggestion that the appeals panel remand the issue back to District Court where the information and witnesses withheld by Goodell during the original hearing would be available seems a good one.
The consensus of the local sports media here is that the panel will vote to overturn and that Brady will appeal to the Supreme court. I have no guesses myself about how the panel will rule.
--Percy
Edited by Percy, : Typo.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 326 by NoNukes, posted 03-05-2016 11:53 PM NoNukes has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 328 by NoNukes, posted 03-06-2016 11:19 AM Percy has replied

  
NoNukes
Inactive Member


Message 328 of 466 (779602)
03-06-2016 11:19 AM
Reply to: Message 327 by Percy
03-06-2016 9:35 AM


Re: Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
ince the NFL is not an extension of the court system, destroying his phone to prevent it from coming into the hands of the demonstrably incompetent NFL is not a defiance of the law and the court system but a demonstration of extremely appropriate prudence.
I would suggest that destroying the phone was apparently not wise given the reaction of the judges. Doing so was completely unnecessary as a step to keeping the phone out of the hands of the NFL or anyone else's hands absent a court order. Just lock the thing up in a safe controlled by your attorney. And defiance of the court system is not an issue. The issue is destruction of evidence regardless of whether there is an order to preserve the evidence. How do you think a judge would react if you sued your doctor for malpractice and it turned out that he threw out your medical records when you asked for them.
The NFL is not an extension of the court system. I indicated that not giving the phone to the NFL was understandable but risky. But destroying the phone is a different matter, given the fairly high probability that the issue would end up in court. If Brady's lawyers advised Brady to do that, they gave him particularly bad advice. That single action could result in losing the case on the merits. Brady could have accomplished his goal by simply refusing to hand over the phone. And of course, as was easily predictable, the matter is in an appellate court.
I think if the process that generated the Wells report were examined that it would reveal just how incompetent the NFL is.
I am not going to argue the details of the case again. I am aware of your belief that the NFL is stupid. I just wanted to point out a small legal point, and I've done that.
Edited by NoNukes, : No reason given.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also in prison. Thoreau: Civil Disobedience (1846)
History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. Martin Luther King
If there are no stupid questions, then what kind of questions do stupid people ask? Do they get smart just in time to ask questions? Scott Adams

This message is a reply to:
 Message 327 by Percy, posted 03-06-2016 9:35 AM Percy has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 329 by Percy, posted 03-06-2016 2:01 PM NoNukes has replied

  
Percy
Member
Posts: 22392
From: New Hampshire
Joined: 12-23-2000
Member Rating: 5.3


(2)
Message 329 of 466 (779625)
03-06-2016 2:01 PM
Reply to: Message 328 by NoNukes
03-06-2016 11:19 AM


Re: Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
NoNukes writes:
I would suggest that destroying the phone was apparently not wise given the reaction of the judges.
No argument there - even Jeffrey Kessler admitted that before Berman. But Brady had legitimate fears of the dangers to him and his family should his cell phone data be compromised, and legitimate fears that the NFL would be a likely instrument of that compromise, and that must be recognized by the court.
Too many people keep forgetting that this is supposed to be about deflated footballs, something that likely never happened. Even the NFL has stopped citing its supposed evidence of deflated footballs. Its becoming increasingly clear that the NFL's pursuit of Brady is a vendetta having nothing to do with the "integrity of the game." To uphold the NFL now by elevating to top level importance matters having nothing to do with football deflation makes no sense.
While the appeal is not about evidence, the evidence has to be examined to understand how badly Goodell violated his responsibility to be impartial and fair. If the judges consider what Brady did when deciding whether to uphold Berman, then they have to look at what Goodell did, too. Brady's destruction of his cell phone looks more and more like justifiable paranoia now that we can see the lengths to which the NFL will go in pursuit of their own internal power agendas.
--Percy

This message is a reply to:
 Message 328 by NoNukes, posted 03-06-2016 11:19 AM NoNukes has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 330 by xongsmith, posted 03-06-2016 2:15 PM Percy has seen this message but not replied
 Message 331 by NoNukes, posted 03-07-2016 12:57 AM Percy has replied
 Message 334 by xongsmith, posted 03-07-2016 1:48 PM Percy has seen this message but not replied

  
xongsmith
Member
Posts: 2578
From: massachusetts US
Joined: 01-01-2009
Member Rating: 6.8


(1)
Message 330 of 466 (779627)
03-06-2016 2:15 PM
Reply to: Message 329 by Percy
03-06-2016 2:01 PM


Re: Appeals Hearing: Concerns About Phone
Percy ends his post with:
Brady's destruction of his cell phone looks more and more like justifiable paranoia now that we can see the lengths to which the NFL will go in pursuit of their own internal power agendas.
No one is paranoid! They just have a heightened sense of awareness.

- xongsmith, 5.7d

This message is a reply to:
 Message 329 by Percy, posted 03-06-2016 2:01 PM Percy has seen this message but not replied

  
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