Listening to the idiots on talk radio and truthfully, most of the lawyers being spoken too, who if they were any good, probably wouldn't be speaking on talk radio, is kind of funny.
Berman is the Judge, he is the final say, unless he really screws something up, in which case there is a slight chance that his decision will be over turned on appeal and sent back to him. Berman could decide today that it is a $50 fine, or no fine, or 4 days or whatever he wants. It is his decision. He is also in the spotlight. This is a very high profile case and he doesn't want to screw up, and get his decision overturned. That is an embarassment, especially in a high profile case like this.
My personal feeling is like last year when the Pats played the Colts in the playoffs. Before the game, I was pretty sure the Patriots would kill the Colts, but I wouldn't have bet $50,000 on it, because any team can win on any given Sunday. It is the same thing here, Judges make cooky and wrong decisions all the time, but usually they make the correct one.
So, to me this seems like a slam dunk for Brady. There is nothing wrong with saying that Goodell can be an arbitrator. If he is impartial on an item, why not. That doesn't mean he can act as an arbitrator when he is embroiled in the middle of the investigation. This is a conflict of interest, and is illegal in labor law. All other things flow from there. It is great to have a clause that states in the best interest of the game, but if you can't prove anything happened, how can you punish someone with that? I imagine Berman looks at these things and as any intelligent person would do, says this is obviously wrong and can't stand. So then he and his clerks spend the next couple weeks writing up reasons why that is so. Reasons strong enough so he won't have to deal with this stuff again, or be embarrassed if something is sent back to him.
