OT: Brady's full 4-game suspension upheld by NFL

[Ouremblem]

Please read Sally Jenkins article today, in which she quotes the special counsel for MLB, John Dowd(the man who investigated Pete Rose) as saying "The entire NFL disciplinary process lacks integrity and fairness". The NFL "knew and had no quarrel with the non-production of the phone". "The NFL commissioner has denied Tom Brady the fundamental right to a notice of charge and the right to defend against it". Perhaps that's why Judge Berman in his instructions said both sides should try to solve this beneficially NOW if they hadn't tried to already. He can't be talking to the Pats. They have no leverage anymore. Is Judge Berman in his dignified way telling Roger he's blown it again & to get reasonable?

 

[pinotbear]

..and, it looks like, 3 of the 4 Colts balls were also under-inflated. There may have been more, but, the "didn't have time" to test the other 8 balls. Conspiracy! If they had, they may have found 11 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated!

 

[Ouremblem]

..and, it looks like, 3 of the 4 Colts balls were also under-inflated. There may have been more, but, the "didn't have time" to test the other 8 balls. Conspiracy! If they had, they may have found 11 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated!

Are you reading the e-mails that were freed up concerning the false report about the number of deflated balls and the fact the NFL didn't correct the misinformation? Pash looks very bad here.

 

[toadfoot]

..and, it looks like, 3 of the 4 Colts balls were also under-inflated. There may have been more, but, the "didn't have time" to test the other 8 balls. Conspiracy! If they had, they may have found 11 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated!

And 3 of 4 were under inflated despite the fact that they likely sat in a warm 72° (or warmer) locker room for at least several minutes while the officials measured and re-inflated the Patriot's footballs, which according to several studies was sufficient to raise the PSI .5 or more and according to Anderson, the Colt's footballs were initially inflated to 13.0 or 13.1.

As far as conspiracy goes there was actually at least one article that hypothesized that the officials stopped after measuring 4 of the Colt's balls not because they ran out of time, but because they were concerned that if more of them measured below 12.5 PSI it would completely blow the case against the Patriots. I personally don't buy that and I think they probably did just run out of time after spending most of halftime measuring/adjusting the Patriot's balls.

As far as I'm concerned anyone with 2 logical brain cells to rub together should realize that this whole alleged incident never happened and the Wells investigation was done with the deliberate intent of trying to show that it did. That's why I've characterized the Wells Report as akin to a grand jury indictment, which typically presents the case for the prosecutor in the most favorable light and leaves out anything that would be exculpatory.

 

[toadfoot]

Are you reading the e-mails that were freed up concerning the false report about the number of deflated balls and the fact the NFL didn't correct the misinformation? Pash looks very bad here.

And these are just the emails between the Patriot's counsel, Robin Glaser, and Pash. When this goes to federal court I would assume the Patriot's as part of discovery will be asking for any and all documents/emails/etc. relevant to this case. Who knows what that might show! This could be fun.

 

[ocoandasoc]

Brady and the Pats cheated for the entire season, not just one game. Some of those games were close, and the deflated balls could have made the difference. A couple more losses and the playoff seeding is different, and maybe the Pats don't get to the Super Bowl.
They cheated (again!), they got caught, they need to be punished.
I would have taken their Super Bowl victory away from them.
If Brady had taken responsibility like a man, and apologized (even if insincerely), he probably would have gotten a two-game suspension. But his arrogance and lack of remorse cost him two additional games.

 

[zakalex]

Who are the first four opposing teams this coming season?

 

[Kibitzer]

Ahem.

For several posters in this thread: correct placement of the apostrophe.

When referring to the footballs of either team. use Colts' footballs or Patriots' footballs (apostrophe after the "s") to indicate team possession of the balls.

To write Patriot's or Colt's footballs (apostrophe before the "s") implies possession of balls by only one player.

Apostrophes need to be placed with care (e.g., "the UConn Huskies' championships" or "a UConn Husky's MVP award").

 

[Wally East]

Brady and the Pats cheated for the entire season, not just one game.

And how do you know this?

 

[Bigpetunia]

My, my, how worked up certain folks get over this foolishness! Well, given the irrefutable nature of Brady's guilt, it is, in fact, foolish. Guilt?? Uh huh, and unlike so many of my fellow posters, I, as is usually the case, am in a position to back up that assertion with PROOF, to wit:

Gisele, in response to the shame that Brady has brought upon his family, has putatively resorted to covering herself in a head-to-toe burqua, and is now alleged to be impersonating a Muslim in Paris! Yeah, I know, you decline to believe this. Well, my friends, just Google 'er...as Yogi himself used to say, "You could look it up!"

 

[TasteofUConn]

Precisely. It's my opinion, and just my opinion, that Goodell and others in the league office hired Wells with the explicit instructions to produce a report showing that the Patriots tampered with the footballs.

Not. Even. Necessary.
Wells did millions of dollars worth of work for the NFL prior to the unscientific garbage he produced for the deflated footballs. He knew that he was being paid to write a hit piece before his phone even rang, and he knew the real target was Brady, not the ball boys.
The newly fabricated standard of "more probable than not" that the player was "generally aware" is a standard that is so low and so loose that it rises just above "we kinda think you did it" on the BS scale. Every player in the NFL union should be supporting this appeal, because "more probable than not" that a player is "generally aware" of anything based on garbage science hit pieces promulgated by paid shills is a punitively low standard.

 

[ocoandasoc]

Ya gotta love Pats fans.
But, I guess if O.J. was innocent it's possible that Brady is too.

 

[Wally East]

Ya gotta love Pats fans.

I don't know about others but I'm not a Pats fan. I grew up as a 49ers fan (even though I lived in CT). I don't dislike the Pats but I am by no means a fan.

So. How do you know he "cheated for the entire season, not just one game"?

 

[toadfoot]

Ahem.

For several posters in this thread: correct placement of the apostrophe.

When referring to the footballs of either team. use Colts' footballs or Patriots' footballs (apostrophe after the "s") to indicate team possession of the balls.

To write Patriot's or Colt's footballs (apostrophe before the "s") implies possession of balls by only one player.

Apostrophes need to be placed with care (e.g., "the UConn Huskies' championships" or "a UConn Husky's MVP award").

You're probably going to think I'm being snarky, but I actually do appreciate the correction. I suspect that sometime long ago in 6th grade I knew that the plural possessive should be Patriots', but that was a lounge time ago;-)

 

[toadfoot]

Brady and the Pats cheated for the entire season, not just one game. Some of those games were close, and the deflated balls could have made the difference. A couple more losses and the playoff seeding is different, and maybe the Pats don't get to the Super Bowl.
They cheated (again!), they got caught, they need to be punished.
I would have taken their Super Bowl victory away from them.
If Brady had taken responsibility like a man, and apologized (even if insincerely), he probably would have gotten a two-game suspension. But his arrogance and lack of remorse cost him two additional games.

When you make statements that are categorically false and without any basis in fact you lose what little credibility you may have had. And repeating it multiple times just isn't going to make it true. If you have any evidence that they cheated even once I'm sure the league office would love to see it. In fact, so would the rest of us. I eagerly await your presentation.

 

[toadfoot]

Ya gotta love Pats fans.
But, I guess if O.J. was innocent it's possible that Brady is too.

O. J. was found not guilty. Huge difference between being found not guilty and being innocent.

 

[Kibitzer]

Sorry, friends, but I don't do links, BUT. . .

If I could, I would access a very recent column by Dan Shaugnessy in The Boston Globe, in which he very surprisingly makes the case for Brady's guilt. I say surprisingly because he will surely be castigated (I hope I used the polite verb ) by that paper's readership, mostly rabid Pats' fans.

I remain uncertain about this entire episode. I have little respect for Goodell as commissioner or Shaugnessy as a journalist but both seem to be putting their careers on the line. Can they both envy or despise Kraft, Brady or the Patriots that much?

Anyhow, Dan gives us lots of food for thought and readers may or may not find it to be digestible.

Check it out.

 

[Wally East]

Sorry, friends, but I don't do links, BUT. . .

If I could, I would access a very recent column by Dan Shaugnessy

That's where I stopped reading (figuratively, not literally). Shaughnessy is the worst. So often, his columns were just so poorly reasoned. I literally haven't read him in over a decade but I'm betting it's a safe assumption he's only gotten worse, not better.

But, I read this column. Here is the link.

He has gotten worse. This column has nothing but hectoring Patriots fans to agree that Brady is guilty because the NFL says the Brady is guilty. That's it. That's the whole column.

More interesting, are the emails from February between the NFL and the Patriots where the Patriots ask the NFL to correct the incorrect initial report about 11 of 12 balls being deflated. The NFL refused because ... something something reasons.

 

[pinotbear]

Ya gotta love Pats fans.
But, I guess if O.J. was innocent it's possible that Brady is too.

Nice touch, equating the bloody slaughter of two people with the slight loss of air pressure in some footballs.

 

[Uhuru]

O. J. was found not guilty. Huge difference between being found not guilty and being innocent.

Why all this hoopla about deflate-gate? It's not like a Patriot killed someone or several people in separate incidents.

Oh, wait...

 

[Paul1969]

Sorry, friends, but I don't do links, BUT. . .

If I could, I would access a very recent column by Dan Shaugnessy in The Boston Globe, in which he very surprisingly makes the case for Brady's guilt. I say surprisingly because he will surely be castigated (I hope I used the polite verb ) by that paper's readership, mostly rabid Pats' fans.

I remain uncertain about this entire episode. I have little respect for Goodell as commissioner or Shaugnessy as a journalist but both seem to be putting their careers on the line. Can they both envy or despise Kraft, Brady or the Patriots that much?

Anyhow, Dan gives us lots of food for thought and readers may or may not find it to be digestible.

Check it out.

NO PROOF !!! NONE

 

[Husky25]

Everyone knows what role Dan Shaugnessy plays in Boston. It is not surprising at all that he has a negative take at all vs. Brady and he will not be castigated. He's playing a part a everyone who reads him knows it all too well.

 

[UConnCat]

Interesting column by Sally Jenkins:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...da3b02-3666-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.html

 

[Kibitzer]

The NFL owners should have listened to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2011 when they considered, then voted overwhelmingly (only the Steelers dissenting) to approve the CBA.

And what did the Steelers object to?

They opposed the unilateral authority to be granted to Commissioner Roger Goodell when handling disciplinary problems.

Ryan Clark was the Steeler player rep for the NFLPA and he argued in vain.

The Steelers have had three coaches in 47 years (and just signed Tomlin to an extension). The Rooney family has owned and run the franchise since the birth of the NFL. They have more Super Bowl victories than anybody. By comparison, all the other owners are Johnny-come-latelys. Other owners should have respectfully listened to their wise counsel in 2011.

Well, they didn't and now you can bet your best inflated NFL football that they regret it. Especially Bob Kraft.

 

[Kibitzer]

I got belatedly interested in "Deflategate" and a little research led me to the importance of an explosive - and false - report on ESPN by Chris Mortensen, apparently planted by Mike Kensil, an NFL VP. The gist of this report was to the effect that the Patriots deflated 11 of 12 footballs. This shameful manipulation of ESPN started the whole kerfuffle.

Mortensen's falsehoods were soon reinforced by Steven Smith on ESPN as he dropped the "Brady destroyed his cellphone" bomb, citing unnamed NFL sources.

Mort recently canceled a much-ballyhooed appearance for an interview on Boston sports station, WEEI. No wonder.

A separate thought. It is remotely possible that Brady's four game suspension may be delayed. If so, the Pats could lose their star QB during crucial December games. Just sayin'.