Deflation-gate

But the preponderance of the evidence is on the side of saying that the Patriots tampered with the ball. And a preponderance of the evidence is all that's required to punish Brady.

NFL Nation's Kevin Seifert today reports the NFL has "produced a detailed process for measuring pregame football inflation, fortified its chain of custody for balls during warm-ups and arranged for random halftime and postgame testing."

do lawyers perhaps always advise clients with significant net worths to destroy their old cell phones?

I am very disappointed by the NFL’s decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me. I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either.Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past 6 months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was probable that I was generally aware of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused. He dismissed my hours of testimony and it is disappointing that he found it unreliable.I also disagree with yesterdays narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline.Most importantly, I have never written, texted, emailed to anybody at anytime, anything related to football air pressure before this issue was raised at the AFC Championship game in January. To suggest that I destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong.To try and reconcile the record and fully cooperate with the investigation after I was disciplined in May, we turned over detailed pages of cell phone records and all of the emails that Mr. Wells requested. We even contacted the phone company to see if there was any possible way we could retrieve any/all of the actual text messages from my old phone. In short, we exhausted every possibility to give the NFL everything we could and offered to go thru the identity for every text and phone call during the relevant time. Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells already had ALL relevant communications with Patriots personnel that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no smoking gun and this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact they have zero evidence of wrongdoing.I authorized the NFLPA to make a settlement offer to the NFL so that we could avoid going to court and put this inconsequential issue behind us as we move forward into this season. The discipline was upheld without any counter offer. I respect the Commissioners authority, but he also has to respect the CBA and my rights as a private citizen. I will not allow my unfair discipline to become a precedent for other NFL players without a fight.Lastly, I am overwhelmed and humbled by the support of family, friends and our fans who have supported me since the false accusations were made after the AFC Championship game. I look forward to the opportunity to resume playing with my teammates and winning more games for the New England Patriots.

Let's say for example that some witness testified that he saw a QB let air out of footballs. Would you say that a deduction is required to interpret that evidence or an inference?Let's say instead that one of the equipment managers texted a note to that same QB thanking him for the really nice payola for deflating the footballs. Would a deduction or an inference be required to interpret the evidence?

On the other hand, it is possible to have circumstantial evidence that directly links the defendant to the murder. Fingerprints, witnesses seeing the defendant running away from the scene after some load bang bangs, etc are all indirect evidence.

A sport that has a strong following and a rather long history, like American football, is bound to accumulate regulations over the years, but you have to wonder whether the regulations and concomitant controversies will eventually become so stifling that the game loses its appeal.

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.

But text messages are easily deleted. A phone might contain evidence of those deletions. The best suggestion of good faith is Brady's claim that he tried to have the phone company produce the messages, but if there was such an attempt, it failed.

The NFL suspended Brady for four games on trumped up charges. When those charges became dubious they added a charge of destruction of his cellphone, something Brady likely wouldn't have done had the NFL not suspended him for four games on trumped up charges.