Posted on 08/21/2015 9:41:24 AM PDT by detective
The news last night that Giants co-owner John Mara declined to get involved in the Tom Brady settlement discussions arises from a potentially intriguing reality. With the request for Mara’s involvement coming from the court, why would Judge Richard M. Berman be going over Commissioner Roger Goodell’s head?
On one hand, the explanation could be that Judge Berman has become exasperated with the NFL’s stubbornness regarding settlement. Earlier this week, the league was still insisting on the NFL Players Association and Brady agreeing to accept the major findings of the Ted Wells report and acknowledging the powers used in this case before even commencing a discussion regarding a reduced suspension.
(Excerpt) Read more at profootballtalk.nbcsports.com ...
The simple answer is the Judge realizes that Goodell and the NFL are lying and have no case.
But the Judge does not want to rule. He wants the NFL to settle. He realizes Goodell can not be trusted so he wants to get the owners to talk sense to him.
The whole case against Brady is phony. Hopefully the judge will rule quickly.
Phony or not, its certainly not worthy of a 4 game suspension...its not like he knocked his wife’s teeth out or nuthin...just deflated his balls some....
“NFL’s stubbornness regarding settlement.”
I understand and appreciate Brady’s position if he truly believes he is innocent. But that seems to me to be the real stubbornness in settling. The NFL would make a deal, but Brady, believing he is innocent, will not make any deal that includes an admission.
The NFL is a plaintiff in the suit.
Goodell is their CEO, and as such, he speaks for the league.
This judge is abusing his authority.
Regardless of your feelings about Deflategate, this is how it shakes out.
“I understand and appreciate Brady’s position if he truly believes he is innocent”
He is innocent. Air pressure will decrease as the temperature decreases. A wet football will also have lower psi than a dry one. The decrease in air pressure is consistent with footballs measured in a warm room and then taken out into cold weather.
The entire Wells report is bases on a game day employee spending about a minute in the bathroom before the game.
There is no proof whatsoever that the balls were manually deflated. There is no proof that Brady was involved.
Tom Brady is innocent. He should not settle. Hopefully, he will win.
The NFL should just admit they are wrong.
I’m just surprised that this stupid shyt is still going on.
A player only gets to play so many games. Losing some of them on a false charge is a pretty heavy thing. Plus there’s the admitting guilt. And the fact that the rule says $25k fine. There’s a lot of good reasons for Brady to fight. Of course after last year’s kerfuffle Goodell really needs to land on a white player with a good reputation and not look like he’s playing favorites. I think after Kraft accepted the punishment Goodell really thought Brady would take the deal for 1 or 2 and everybody saves face. He didn’t realize that Brady has no interest in Goodell’s face.
Berman is trying really hard to not rule on the case. He thinks the sides should figure it out. But he’s also given strong indications that he thinks the NFL is kind of crazy on this. Not sure checking with Goodell’s bosses is really over stepping. His job is to get information and rule, owners are a source of information.
You’re right that he wants them to settle, but it’s not because they’re gonna lose - in fact, its just the opposite. Overturning the arbitration would violate every bit of relevant case law on the topic, and thus would be swiftly overturned itself on appeal. The NFL knows this, which is why they’re demanding full acceptance of guilt.
The case is about Goodell abusing his authority, being both involved in the investigation and then the “neutral” arbiter. It should also be about four other teams facing lesser penalties over the last two seasons for breaking the same rule.
This is not an independent arbiter. This the the league owner, the one who orchestrated the phony charges, the phony Wells report and the dishonest media leaks against Brady. This is a phony charge and it violates the every rule of evidence and procedure.
Again, though, the players agreed to it specifically, that RG has sole final authority in these cases. Its been established that once the agreement is in place they are bound to it, even if the arbitration itself is flawed.
there’s a good article on ESPN that lays it all out. I can’t post the link now because I’m on my crappy phone, but give it a look.
That game day employee(James McNally)lives in the same town I live in NH. I have met him and know people that have been friends with him for 40 years. He went in the bathroom to urinate prior to going out on the field.
He has been a game day employee of the Patriots for 30 years. His life has been turned upside down. For weeks he could not go to his house because reporters were camped out on his street.
This whole thing is about the NFL coming down on a star white player so the would not be accused of being racist.
I think Judge Berman—if he rules against the NFL—could literally cause the entire current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NFL owners and the NFLPA to effectively crumble—and it could lead to some sort of labor action that could effectively stop the NFL season.
I commented specifically about the NFL being characterized as stubborn in wanting to settle. They want a settlement. Because Brady proclaims his innocence, he will refuse any settlement that requires him to admit wrong. I am not saying whether he is innocent or guilty, rather, I am commenting on the stubbornness issue.
The NFL released false leaks that the footballs were deflated far more than they actually were. The Wells Report was not independent(Wells claimed attorney client privilege), Brady's representatives were not allowed to question NFL officials involved in the Wells report. The Wells report included no evidence of wrongdoing in the game in question.
The judge does not need to overturn the arbitration process, he only needs to show that in this instance it violated due process and was fraudulent.
There’s loads of proof that Brady refused to cooperate with the investigation. That’s the reason for the suspension. Everything else is a distraction.
L
I disagree. His ruling would probably be narrow and limited to this case.
But the judge clearly does not want to interfere in the arbitration process. He knows the ruling against Brady was fraudulent but he is reluctant to set a precedent regarding arbitration.
He wants the NFL to settle. He does not trust Goodell. That is why he wants to get the other owners involved. He wants them to talk some sense into Goodell.
“There’s loads of proof that Brady refused to cooperate with the investigation”
There is nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that requires Brady to surrender his cell phone. Wells was not to be trusted and Brady was right not to give him his private information. Brady did give out much information that he was not required to.
The whole cell phone thing is a distraction leaked to the media by the NFL in a way to make Brady appear uncooperative.
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