SI's Legal Expert Michael McCann: I don't understand why Brady is being suspensed

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...pt-i-dont-understand-why-hes-being-suspended/

great article. He has done a complete 180 on this. says NFL ran a kangaroo court and that judge berman will be disappointed in the league. but he feels Brady will settle for 1 game.

The best thing he says.. Judges and lawyer give tremendous weight to testimony under oath. Mccann basically says that the more likely than not standard the nfl is using is swayed to bradys side because of his denial under oath. In other words the nfls case is so weak that bradys sworn denial under oath swings the evidence in his favor.

Anyone who thinks Brady should be suspended is an idiot.

1. There is no proof
2. The Wells report doesn't show any guilt. In fact it seems like it is written by a 'dull' child
3. We all know that Goodell is trying to re-establish power after he botched every case and has overblown this thing.
4. Goodell is a slimeball
5. The media has done an awful job of reporting this case.
6. Troy Vincent's vocubalary is awful

McCann is offering a Deflategate course at UNH this fall.
I would so love to audit that course. He (McCann) should tape it and offer it online

So if Brady and the NFL* work out a settlement I wonder if part of the settlement could include every other team being subject to an unannounced "anal exam" of all aspects of their operation during a random game.

I'm sure all the haters who say Brady and the Pats should just "shut up and accept their punishment" would have no objections.

The judge wants compromise, so TB will have to give up something, as unfair as it may be.

I just can't see him giving up on ZERO suspension.

A suspension of any length? No freakin' way.
An admission of any wrongdoing? No freakin' way.
A Fine of 50K or less? That stinks, but OK.

SalemPats said:

Anyone who thinks Brady should be suspended is an idiot.

1. There is no proof
2. The Wells report doesn't show any guilt. In fact it seems like it is written by a 'dull' child
3. We all know that Goodell is trying to re-establish power after he botched every case and has overblown this thing.
4. Goodell is a slimeball
5. The media has done an awful job of reporting this case.
6. Troy Vincent's vocubalary is awful

Click to expand...

This is all true, but unfortunately the law is blind to a lot of this. This hasn't been about guilt or innocence for a long time and certainly isn't about it now that it's in Judge Berman's court. He wants a settlement between parties and that won't happen unless Brady's side concedes somewhere.

So Brady/Kessler/NFLPA are in a tough spot here imo, they have a judge who's pushing for a settlement between parties but they know he's innocent, any 'settlement' is untenable. Do they take a game if the NFL admits no guilt, and if so how can they even take that knowing he's innocent? This is so far from 'seeking the truth' it's disgusting.

hambone1818 said:

This is all true, but unfortunately the law is blind to a lot of this. This hasn't been about guilt or innocence for a long time and certainly isn't about it now that it's in Judge Berman's court. He wants a settlement between parties and that won't happen unless Brady's side concedes somewhere.

So Brady/Kessler/NFLPA are in a tough spot here imo, they have a judge who's pushing for a settlement between parties but they know he's innocent, any 'settlement' is untenable. Do they take a game if the NFL admits no guilt, and if so how can they even take that knowing he's innocent? This is so far from 'seeking the truth' it's disgusting.

Click to expand...

So while we know it hasn't been about guilt or innocence for quite a while, but is all about restoring Goodell's image, short of an unexpected result of the court case, can we safely say that the NFL* has failed to restore Goodell's image?

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

The judge wants compromise, so TB will have to give up something, as unfair as it may be.

I just can't see him giving up on ZERO suspension.

A suspension of any length? No freakin' way.
An admission of any wrongdoing? No freakin' way.
A Fine of 50K or less? That stinks, but OK.

Click to expand...

I will add/Subtract

No Fine.

A public apology and statement he didn't direct anyone to deflate the balls.

He won't sue the league for defamation. That stinks, because I want all of the NFL*'s dirty laundry aired for everyone to see.

I think Brady is willing to give in on fine that has a precedent for something that has actually been committed. The only thing that falls into that category is his refusal to turn over his phone and the precedent is $50K.

I would think that a court would be very open to someone saying "I am innocent but willing to take a fine that is the same as the largest fine the NFL has ever given out for this issue. I am willing to do this to move things forward."

Hi,

I disagree with all of this. He's wrong.

Best,
Gary Tanguay

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

The judge wants compromise, so TB will have to give up something, as unfair as it may be.

I just can't see him giving up on ZERO suspension.

A suspension of any length? No freakin' way.
An admission of any wrongdoing? No freakin' way.
A Fine of 50K or less? That stinks, but OK.

Click to expand...

I used to think that Brady's "give" would be along those lines of accepting a fine for "non-co-operation," but now that his personal emails and all of his phone records are ricocheting around the internet, it's hard to argue that that is vaguely "fair," but I guess to get it done, he could end up having to offer that.

However, if this gets as far as the Hearing on the 12th (and I'm starting to think it won't), at that point I think Judge Berman will tip his hand as to how he is inclined to rule after getting a report from the Magistrate regarding the Settlement conferences this week and after reading the briefs that are to be filed by Friday. That's dicey for both sides, but given the way things are breaking with the massive disclosures by the NFLPA and Brady and the articles in SI and elsewhere (including the New York tabloids), I think the NFL might be starting to worry that this is blowing up in its face and that Berman is not going to be in a good mood about how the NFL has handled this when he tips his hand.

That puts Brady in a position where his final "give" might be an offer to accept Binding Arbitration at the hands of an arbiter appointed by Judge Berman, with full disclosure on the part of the NFL along the lines of the disclosure that Brady has now made. I can't imagine that the NFL would want that, so it's not out of the question that the NFL could cave and Brady could end up with no Suspension and no fine.

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

The judge wants compromise, so TB will have to give up something, as unfair as it may be.

I just can't see him giving up on ZERO suspension.

A suspension of any length? No freakin' way.
An admission of any wrongdoing? No freakin' way.
A Fine of 50K or less? No freakin' way.

Click to expand...

fixed it for you

To be clear, any fine is completely unfair, but when a federal judge demands that both sides must compromise, Tom may have to hold his nose and offer to pay a token amount (with language that the fine very specifically has noting to do with ball deflation).

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

To be clear, any fine is completely unfair, but when a federal judge demands that both sides must compromise, Tom may have to hold his nose and offer to pay a token amount (with language that the fine very specifically has noting to do with ball deflation).

Click to expand...

He did not demand that. He advised them to try to settle.
Unlike Ted Wells the judge is not going to rule against Brady because he didn't compromise something he felt was undeserved.

Troy Vincent makes Marshall Faulk look like a professor.