Is Brady's Appeal Against the NFL a Fight He Can Even Win?

Is Brady's Appeal Against the NFL a Fight He Can Even Win?

Ian Logue

Five months since DelfateGate started, Tom Brady remains in a battle he seemingly can't win against a commissioner who seems like he's got plenty to lose himself as this ridiculous scandal continues on.

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What this really comes down to is do the owners want a commissioner who can only make them money or are they interested in one who can help them make money AND make the correct decisions in regards to player/organizational discipline. If they are only interested in the money then I am afraid that Cuban's prediction will come true and the NFL will eventually implode. The owners need to make some managerial changes (starting with Goodell) or their entertainment on Sunday afternoons will be comparing bank statements, not watching football games.

Goodell and his minions have put themselves in a very deep hole and I do not see how Goodell is going to reduce the suspension to 0 games. I also do not get the feeling that Brady would accept anything less than 0 games. I support Brady's efforts and hope he takes this as far as he can even if that means he misses a few games at the beginning of the season. I support that effort because I truly do understand the science and logic involved in the Wells, AEI and other reports. This was a witch hunt from the get go and the ignorance of the media has fueled this into epic proportions. The ignorance displayed by the media types especially those in Massachusetts has been extremely disappointing. They are literally building a case against Brady from a few suspicious actions and couple of text messages to convince you that 2+2=5 while the science in the same report is stating the 2+2=4.

With that in mind I have a few questions for the Legal minds.

I keep hearing that there is only a small chance that Brady can bring the NFL to court over the judgement of the appeal or the appeal process itself.

1. Can Brady go to multiple courts in search of one that will allow this to be heard or can he only ask one?

2. The Science and the investigation process involved in this case clearly shows, at a minimum, that the NFL had an agenda to find guilt and not the truth. Will a judge take that into consideration when deciding to hear the case regarding the NFL appeal process or will that only be part of a Deformation law suit?

3. If Brady cannot get the appeal case heard in court is there any other way he can have his suspension postponed? I assume a deformation lawsuit would not give him the ability to postpone a suspension.

There were a lot of good points in Ian's article...Some say Goodell has to keep the punishment because they paid Wells $5 million for it (John Clayton says that). Others say the texts and the bathroom visit are circumstantial evidence even if the balls weren't deflated. Other say he might over turn it because the NFL doesn't want the story about how this all got started aired in court.

But, that's all misdirection. If Roger Goodell makes a ruling based on anything other than where the facts lead him, he is by definition not impartial and the appeals should be taken away from him.

And, for everyone who says the NFLPA gave the commissioner that right, think of it this way. If I agree to lend you my car, you take it out and drive it recklessly and at a very high rate of speed, can you say "Well, you agreed to lend it to me, so that's what you get"? No! In Goodell's case there is implied promise to use the power fairly. And, that's why I think a court might be willing to take that power away from him.

MagicMarker said:

There were a lot of good points in Ian's article...Some say Goodell has to keep the punishment because they paid Wells $5 million for it (John Clayton says that). Others say the texts and the bathroom visit are circumstantial evidence even if the balls weren't deflated. Other say he might over turn it because the NFL doesn't want the story about how this all got started aired in court.

But, that's all misdirection. If Roger Goodell makes are ruling based on anything other than were the facts lead him, he is by definition not impartial and the appeals should be taken away from him.

And, for everyone who says the NFLPA gave the commissioner that right, think of it this way. If I agree to lend you my car, you take it out and drive it recklessly and at a very high rate of speed, can you say "Well, you agreed to lend it to me, so that's what you get". No! In Goodell's case there is implied promise to use the power fairly. And, that's why I think a court might be willing to take that power away from him.

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I'm not sure your car lending comparison is accurate. Goodell owns the car now.

I am confident that the attorneys for the union and Brady have an attack planned including an unfair labor practices complaint since Brady was a named plaintiff in a prior case and has been punished unfairly for union activities. While many people outside NE are saying Brady would not sue because of fear of what would be revealed by turning over his phone, I suspect that the discovery of the communications involving the NFL would be much more damaging.

What could possibly be on Brady's phone that might incriminate him that no one else had?

One interesting other "watch what they do, not what they say" point. Brady, Jastremski and MacNally have all said nothing. That's the kind of silence lawyers ask for. Whatever Goodell rules (unless he exonerates the Patriots) this is NOT going away.

Tony2046 said:

I also do not get the feeling that Brady would accept anything less than 0 games.

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Shouldn't this be more?

You mean where the judge is also the prosector? No. If this gets into a real court, can he lose?

MagicMarker said:

What could possibly be on Brady's phone that might incriminate him that no one else had?

One interesting other "watch what they do, not what they say" point. Brady, Jastremski and MacNally have all said nothing. That's the kind of silence lawyers ask for. Whatever Goodell rules (unless he exonerates the Patriots) this is NOT going away.

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I wish ppl would stop trolling with this phone nonsense

There will be no discovery of his phone.
There is nothing on the phone to find.
And brady's phone will play zero part in his decision to sie.

The entire phone thing is contrived nonsense to begin with

PatsFans.com Article said:

Is Brady's Appeal Against the NFL a Fight He Can Even Win?

"But not punishing a guilty player properly the first time around shouldn’t be corrected by punishing a potentially innocent player to make a statement. Ask anyone why they think Goodell won’t eliminate Brady’s suspension and the answer is always the same: he can’t because of how it will make him look after the millions spent on the Wells report and everything else that’s transpired along with it.

And honestly, that’s really the bigger problem with what’s going on here."

- See more at: http://www.patsfans.com/ian/blog/20...-he-can-even-win/?sc=rss#sthash.fVgvFEer.dpuf

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I'd love to see this re-run as a guest commentary on some mainstream national outlet if there's any way to submit it

That paragraph alone should be hammered home to all the owners

It should be clear even to those who are insanely jealous of the Patriots that Goodell needed to change the headlines and perception of himself, and likely told Wells what his verdict should be

The only problem was that Wells did an awful job, hoping that the shere quantity of his report would overwhelm the obvious lack of quality

I'll be the first to admit that with the exception of the lack of evidence that the footballs were actually deflated, the circumstantial evidence would make those unfamiliar with NFL football preparation (the employment of a "deflator" for example) believe Brady to be guilty

But of course that's IF it were proven that the footballs were deflated... it appears "more likely than not" that the footballs were properly inflated and not tampered with

That small fact doesn't seem to stop most from continuing this witch hunt

When you say wells did an 'awful job' i'd agree it's not very convincing if you actually read through it and think about it, but it's pretty substantially convincing to a lot of people considering it's condemning a guy using a bathroom

It's actually been pretty effective in launching the narrative around something that didn't happen.
Doubt anybody could've come up with much better

PatsFans.com Article said:

Is Brady's Appeal Against the NFL a Fight He Can Even Win?

Ian Logue

Five months since DelfateGate started, Tom Brady remains in a battle he seemingly can't win against a commissioner who seems like he's got plenty to lose himself as this ridiculous scandal continues on.

Continue reading...

Click to expand...

Ok i just gave you the click.
Now any chance you could repost that so i can read it w/o popup ads breaking my browser?

Brady's "win" will be as a player with a pissed off union, IMO. remember, pitiful goodell could not get the deal done and had to call in Kraft. the union is now seeing they got took, Kraft got took, the right hand man Vincent just berated them and he's dirty as hell, in fact he stinks, the league and goodell's minions stink, their 49 vice Presidents stink, it all stinks to high heaven.

If it was only Brady, I would think he's have a tough time. Defamation is hard to prove and they agreed to the dictatorial ground rules.

But it's not only Brady and it's not only the patriots, it's the INTEGRITY of the league and professional football on the line.

The infestation of vermin is being exposed to the light and it's not pretty. Even if all punishment were lifted, could you trust that playoff games or even the Super bowl would be fairly competed under this corrupt administration of bloodsuckers sucking the money of the players and owners alike. 49 Vice Presidents.. It's obviously just a scam to siphon off as much money as possible to "friends" of goodell as he goes profit first, player safety second an INTEGRITY non existent.

We've all seen it in cities where political machines turned into patronage dumps for family, friends and criminal types like Troy Vincent. Who knows how bad it will get if they have to wait years til the player contract is up. It's time for Brady and the union and the owners, when they see the sh*tstorm coming, to give the NFL a goddamn good enema and start fresh.

I think we already have seen that the NFL front office mouth breathers are willing to anything to try to disrupt the NEP during the playoffs. They did it in the middle of a playoff game and they did it right up until the start of the Superbowl. How the Pats were able to maintain focus and triumph will be the story told for generations after all the BS is put to bed.

Brady has no chance to win his appeal and it'll be for the best if he doesn't get any sort of reduction. Any attempt at compromise on the leagues part will make Brady's lawsuit more difficult.

Unless the reduction is down to the $50K fine they hit Favre with, it won't make any difference. The punishment is so over the top and the evidence is so very flimsy that there is no way that it is all not overturned.
Roger is in a corner and there's no way out for him. His only hope is to stand firm, let the courts overturn it for any number of reasons and he shrugs his shoulders and says "I tried." This is where Kraft caving so early pizzes me off.

RayClay said:

If it was only Brady, I would think he's have a tough time. Defamation is hard to prove and they agreed to the dictatorial ground rules.

But it's not only Brady and it's not only the patriots, it's the INTEGRITY of the league and professional football on the line.
...............................

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A few things come to mind.
1) The moment Goodell clams that Wells was "independent" he opens up any communication between the league office and Wells during the investigation. That part of discovery has to scare the h*ll out of the suits on Park Avenue,
2) Since Brady was a named plaintiff in the previous suit, any claims of retaliation potentially brings in the Feds and the Dept of Labor...Keep in mind that Democratic administrations tend to side with unions which bodes well for Brady if it comes to that.
3) This is looking more and more like a 21st Century version of the Dreyfuss Affair when an innocent man was railroaded despite the evidence and only when Emile Zola write the classic J'accuse did it unravel. We need our Zola to blow this sham apart....It certainly won't be any of the NFL's partners who won't bite the hand that feeds them....CNN? Fox News? MSNBC??? PBS?? Nat Geo?

Goodell won't admit he is/was wrong...so i don;t see him winning this 100%..i say he gets 2 games

A lot of ppl thought brady couldn't win down 2 td to balt and down 10 in the 4th qtr.

If there's 1 guy in the world i don't bet against it's brady