Freeman: Goodell will Hear Brady's Appeal

Unless..... godell wants to get rid of kensil Vincent and some of the other stench in the nfl besides himself...wishful thinking...of course he is the 1st who should go

Apparently this is a provision of the NFL CBA, however it may have been an oversight by the NFLPA as most unions use an independent arbitrator... clearly Goodell raises an "appearance of impropriety"(Conflict of Interest)....

I suspect in a very perverse way the Brady/Kraft legal team welcomes Goodell as it adds to the list of "alleged improprieties" that will add credence to their federal law suit..

Goodell should recuse himself from these proceedings as it will only shed a negative light on the inner workings of the NFL...

Why did the players ever agree to give the commissioner this much power? What a joke. I can't wait to see the spiral throws Brady unleashes on this league. This will be his best season yet with the amount of anger and focus he has right now

Wow. Just wow. While, if the commish was a rational and fair human, this turn of events might lead you to think he was taking an opportunity to quash this whole mess, this is Goodell, the antithesis of rational and fair ( and human). It's probably too much to expect a crowd that can't wrap their tiny minds around simple HS physics to have plowed through Melville's Moby **** but Goodell would be well-advised to skip to the end and read. That's where Ahab (Goodell) finally catches the hated White Whale over whom he's obsessed for many years...but is drowned by the Whale and his ship (the NFL) is sunk. The Whale then carries on, having rid himself of that pesky annoyance. Goodell giving himself the job of hearing the appeal is so he can bask in the glory of being the one to catch the Whale. What next, Goodell? What next?

I just woke up and learned this. I want to puke. This is such a fix.

I hate that ass clown more every day.

If the Brady camp agrees to Goody being the arbitrator, you'll have TB12, Kessler, a couple of other NFLPA lawyers and potentially- because of how high profile it is DSmith.

For the NFL, NFL GC and Vincent will be there to explain the NFL's side. There maybe some other NFL brownshirts there as well.

All of them sitting nice and cozy around a big, oval mahogany table with leather backed chairs with Goody at the front carving the turkey. A scene only Norman Rockwell can truly appreciate.

All one big, happy family....

NashuaPats said:

I just woke up and learned this. I want to puke. This is such a fix.

I hate that ass clown more every day.

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Who is giving Goodell advice?
Is this a case of "The emperor has no clothes" and no one will speak up to him?
First you have the blatant conflict of interest (despite what the CBA allows) which has already been slapped down by the Missouri Supreme Court having stated that Goodell isn't neutral. Secondly it is a PR nightmare for the league because he appears even to the non-fan as judge, jury and executioner. The easy and smaht thing to do would be to pass it off to a neutral arbitrator to rule on. But I think his ego is preventing him from doing that and he wants to to show that he is in charge. Does anybody really beleive he is going to eliminate all penalties??? No this is like buying a house. The first offer was the penalty and the counteroffer is Goodell likely lowering the penalty to 2 games.. That is not going to fly in this case...Unfortunately for him, this isn't some domestic violence case or drunk driving case with the agent handling the appeal.... This is a case where a smart self-made billionaire owner is working with the player who likely has the most financial resources of any in the league with the top legal minds in the country to overturn this travesty. There are lawyers and then there are "white shoe lawyers" as the expression goes who work at the top firms (like Ted Wells) ...At the top of the pyramid in the rarefied air is a small subset of the top, top attorneys who strike fear into the opposing parties based on their skill, experience and acumen. Those are the Jeffrey Kesslers of the world and both Mr. Kraft and Brady can afford their services and when all is said and done, the league won't know what hit them.....
There is a time to fight and a time to cut and run... I have a feeling that Gen. George Armstrong Goodell is about to make his last stand......and the results may not be pretty for the league.....

The NFLPA openly challenged his authority and impartiality. Can't be having that now can we?
RG thinks because the media and fans are feasting on the corpse of TB12's and NE"s reputation that he is somehow immune from the truth. Apparently no one told him that what the media and fans think is entirely irrelevant. He can only uphold or entirely remove the suspension. There is no chance he does the later. This goes to court and the entire ordeal is eviscerated in a court that have actual rational actors.

I don't think he gets what's been set in motion here.

The league will be paying the price for Goodell for years. No way any commissioner gets that much power again in the next CBA. I'm sure they'll promise the next guy won't be as terrible as Goodell, but the players won't believe it. In fact, the relationship between the players and the league has deteriorated so far it wouldn't surprise me to see the next negotiations to last into the season. It seems very shortsighted that the NFL wanted someone to lord over and control players to keep them in line rather than have an ambassador that was respected.

+1. He's not an attorney, he doesn't play one on TV and I'm sure he didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...It he were bright he would seek and take legal advice to let this one go...
Get your popcorn, this is going to get interesting...

This isn't just about deciding what the appropriate punishment for an infraction should be. I get why Goodell would want power over that as he is the commissioner of the league. This is about scientific evidence refuting there ever was an infraction, it's about challenging highly questionable circumstantial evidence, and it's about malicious prosecution by the NFL. This deserves a trial. At the very least an outside judge who is qualified to hear such a case. Why is Goodell refusing that? I can only guess to avoid having a judge eviscerate him and his minions as he knows Brady would win this in a rout.

My take? This decision is a mixture of ego and attempting to call the Pats bluff. War is being threatened by the Patriots and Goodell is standing by his hard ass stance daring the Pats to blink first and waiver from their position. Plus there really aren't too many other options. He also probably believes himself to be the only one who can save face for the NFL.

I don't think he realizes how much smarter the Patriots franchise is than the whole league, including the NFL FO. Chess versus Checkers...

Anyone think this big A-hole will have the balls to show up at the stadium opening night? If so I certainly hope all my fellow pat fans make him so uncomfortable, if he speaks boo so loud you can't hear him, Hell just boo anytime he comes in sight, or someone come up with the best chant I also truly hope Kraft is hearing the fans, if no brady no banner raise and no celebration. I hope the fans screw up the nfls whole opening night celebration, all that pregame hoopla.

Goodell would have read the rebuttal prior to making a decision on taking on Brady's appeal himself, yes? This leads me to come to one of two conclusions:

1. He is positioning himself as some sort of white knight to revoke the suspension and hang Vincent out to dry at the same time (seeing as he's placed him in the scapegoat position to begin with), or
2. He genuinely believes that the Wells report holds water and that he stands a chance of winning - in which case one must question his sanity?

The rebuttal is so clear in its derision of the findings and subsequent proof of no guilt on the part of Brady (or anyone else for that matter, except the Colts ball boy, Kensil and the other officials, Dean Blandino etc. etc.) that Brady would surely take this as far as he needs to to completely clear his name (none of this "reduced suspension" garbage - he's either guilty or he's not).

See you in court, Roger.

Sfpat said:

Either Goody is ready to raise the white flag or this is going to federal court

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Goodell is a real-life version of Humpty Dumpty. Unphucking real!?!?!

ANGR89 said:

Anyone think this big A-hole will have the balls to show up at the stadium opening night? If so I certainly hope all my fellow pat fans make him so uncomfortable, if he speaks boo so loud you can't hear him, Hell just boo anytime he comes in sight, or someone come up with the best chant I also truly hope Kraft is hearing the fans, if no brady no banner raise and no celebration. I hope the fans screw up the nfls whole opening night celebration, all that pregame hoopla.

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David Ortiz was not censored out when he said "This is our f'ing city" because it was so appropriate. They should also not censor out 70,000 fans screaming f u Roger in unison because it too is so very appropriate.

VJCPatriot said:

Recent Missouri Supreme Court decision came down stating it would be inappropriate for the Commissioner to hear grievances by employees of the NFL because the Commissioner can't be impartial:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...court-invalidates-commissioner-as-arbitrator/

Whatever Goodell decides could be subject to a lawsuit on this issue alone, using the Missouri decision as a blueprint for a legal argument against him handling the appeal personally.

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Yeah, seems like a slam dunk on appeal; makes you wonder why that was ever agreed to in the CBA in the first place. If Goodell can act as both judge and appellate judge then...what's the point of having the appeals process?

No, this needs to go to an independent arbiter, and I believe it will. Goodell will 'stand strong' for the 'honor and integrity of the game' and either not reduce the penalty or reduce it to 3 games; then the NFL will get HAMMERED in court.

Brady2Moss said:

Anyone else at the point where they just dont give a F anymore? I really don't care I feel like I'm in a bad sitcom.

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I'm worn out, to be honest...I feel like the regular day-to-day has been turned on its head with this story; first the story itself and figuring out what the hell may have happened, then the long wait, then the biased report, terrible ruling, and rebuttal...tens of thousands of words, sniping in the media. And all along, some of my best friends are certified Patriots/Brady haters, so I've been trying to keep things honest and give them a glimpse of just how biased this whole thing is.

End of the day the penalties suck but I could honestly live with them IF it meant Brady's and the Patriots names were cleared on this, that we had definitive proof that nothing happened that day. Because that's gonna be the lasting aspect of it; the Pats will still win the East regardless of a suspension, the picks hurt but the team's already stacked. Clear their name and I'll be happy.

Oh, and Goodell has to lose his job. God, are you listening?

As many have predicted the national media just going with the deflator explanation. At the start of the today show that's how they showed their coming up. So I don't expect anything good from goddell, I'm sure he's hearing how many people across the nation support brady being suspended. It's just pathetic that someone with a big name/voice don't have the balls to report the other side.

ANGR89 said:

As many have predicted the national media just going with the deflator explanation. At the start of the today show that's how they showed their coming up. So I don't expect anything good from goddell, I'm sure he's hearing how many people across the nation support brady being suspended. It's just pathetic that someone with a big name/voice don't have the balls to report the other side.

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If Goodell believes that public opinion will have any bearing on legal proceedings, then he is truly an idiot. Let the national media laugh all it wants, at the end of the day, it's all about what happens in court