Roger Goodell, NFL rolling dice by appealing Deflategate ruling

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/09/17/roger-goodell-deflategate-appeal-tom-brady-judge-berman-ruling


Mike McCann article on the NFL appeal, the process, impact if NFL fails. Berman's success rate at having his decisions upheld is quite high.

I'll have to wait to hear Munson's crisp legal opinion on this before I decide. Munson is known for being very accurate in these matters.

venecol said:

I'll have to wait to hear Munson's crisp legal opinion on this before I decide. Munson is known for being very accurate in these matters.

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Only Munson can give us the real lowdown as he freed himself from any of those pesky ethical obligations by getting disbarred.

It would only be fair if Berman hears the appeal of his own ruling.

In all seriousness, I'm having a hard time putting 2 and 2 together. The NFL reinstatement of the 2 employees that supposedly did the deflation is an acknowledgment that such actions did not exist. But they are still trying to suspend the person who might have known that such actions did exist?

nabwong said:

In all seriousness, I'm having a hard time putting 2 and 2 together. The NFL reinstatement of the 2 employees that supposedly did the deflation is an acknowledgment that such actions did not exist. But they are still trying to suspend the person who might have known that such actions did exist?

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Interesting take.. I've been told that their reinstatement means that the NFL doesn't care that the Patriots cheat. It's unfair. It's ruining the integrity of the game. The cheatriots can get away with anything. Football isn't fun anymore.

venecol said:

I'll have to wait to hear Munson's crisp legal opinion on this before I decide. Munson is known for being very accurate in these matters.

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FreeTedWilliams said:

It would only be fair if Berman hears the appeal of his own ruling.

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Any coincidence that this happens right after the kravitz story?

Smear, file legal documents, repeat.

That was a very informative article by McCann. The bad news is that the NFL MIGHT actually win this, and how painful would that be. The good news is much longer. First the chances the NFL might win, are low. Second the chances of this being adjudicated this season are nil. Third, even if the NFL wins, Brady will STILL have several legal options.

It's unfortunate that the NFL chose this path. It really is self destructive. Only the truly delusional mind of Roger Goodell would opt for a strategy which has a low chance of success and a high risk of negative consequences. In the meantime it will only become clearer and clearer that nothing happened the night of the AFCCG. The only one who deflated any balls that night was physics.

We will probably talk about this topic for the rest of the day, but hopefully by Saturday it will pass into the background where it will lie like a slow ticking bomb, ready to blow up what's left of Roger Goodell's credibility. Now isn't THAT a pleasant thought.

Funktopus said:

Any coincidence that this happens right after the kravitz story?

Smear, file legal documents, repeat.

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venecol said:

I'll have to wait to hear Munson's crisp legal opinion on this before I decide. Munson is known for being very accurate in these matters.

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In a way, you're right.

If Munson comes out with a strong prediction against the league, we should all be very worried.

nabwong said:

In all seriousness, I'm having a hard time putting 2 and 2 together. The NFL reinstatement of the 2 employees that supposedly did the deflation is an acknowledgment that such actions did not exist. But they are still trying to suspend the person who might have known that such actions did exist?

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its all about still protecting the integrity of the league with these people.

sure getting the two MAIN suspects in all of this crap unsuspended and reinstated brings up moral issues such as nothing ever happened and how all of this was really a sting operation.

but hey

integrity.....

A useful USA Today piece:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2015/09/17/deflategate-appeal-tom-brady/72364324/

And of course it's worth following @wallachlegal on Twitter.

nabwong said:

In all seriousness, I'm having a hard time putting 2 and 2 together. The NFL reinstatement of the 2 employees that supposedly did the deflation is an acknowledgment that such actions did not exist. But they are still trying to suspend the person who might have known that such actions did exist?

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This is exactly what I was thinking. The 2 alleged guilty parties whom the NFL claims the PATRIOTS suspended, had to go through the NFL to be reinstated (though they have to have different roles), and though thought of as guilty parties, still get reinstated.

In the long run, only Patriot's haters and I'm sorry to say, morons, believe the Patriots cheated in this case. Any sane, normal person who can actually read AND comprehend what they are reading, would see that Deflategate is a complete travesty. Even David Letterman, a huge COLT'S fan, said upon reading the Wells Report, "could this be any more vague". It's no surprise that a judge saw right through this. A judge THE NFL hand picked.

Hopefully before the NFL appeal gets going in court, they will get some readings from this season, and realize the appeal is a waste of time. Though I'm not holding my breath that the NFL would admit weather decreases PSI or other teams besides the Pats have lower than 12.5 PSI readings.

One thing I thought of, is during this appeal process, can the NFLPA lawyers subpoena the NFL for readings of football pressure from the 2015 season ?

scott99 said:

This

Hopefully before the NFL appeal gets going in court, they will get some readings from this season, and realize the appeal is a waste of time. Though I'm not holding my breath that the NFL would admit weather decreases PSI or other teams besides the Pats have lower than 12.5 PSI readings.

One thing I thought of, is during this appeal process, can the NFLPA lawyers subpoena the NFL for readings of football pressure from the 2015 season ?

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There is no way you are getting accurate,honest readings from the league in "random" games. No way will they test balls in NE,Denver, GB or Buf in cold weather. They ought to test the same ball before,during and after the game but it is not the plan. Only independent testing will prove there was no tampering. The league has to much invested, I.e. "Sunken cost"
Expecting honest readings from the league? Nope, not gonna happen.

nabwong said:

In all seriousness, I'm having a hard time putting 2 and 2 together. The NFL reinstatement of the 2 employees that supposedly did the deflation is an acknowledgment that such actions did not exist. But they are still trying to suspend the person who might have known that such actions did exist?

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Ah, my young padawan. Learn the ways of the Dark Side you must. Logic and reason exist there do not.

patfanken said:

That was a very informative article by McCann. The bad news is that the NFL MIGHT actually win this, and how painful would that be. The good news is much longer. First the chances the NFL might win, are low. Second the chances of this being adjudicated this season are nil. Third, even if the NFL wins, Brady will STILL have several legal options.

It's unfortunate that the NFL chose this path. It really is self destructive. Only the truly delusional mind of Roger Goodell would opt for a strategy which has a low chance of success and a high risk of negative consequences. In the meantime it will only become clearer and clearer that nothing happened the night of the AFCCG. The only one who deflated any balls that night was physics.

We will probably talk about this topic for the rest of the day, but hopefully by Saturday it will pass into the background where it will lie like a slow ticking bomb, ready to blow up what's left of Roger Goodell's credibility. Now isn't THAT a pleasant thought.

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PFK - The likelihood of the NFL winning is extremely slim (as you state). One of the things that was overlooked is that Berman actually provided 7 different points of issue with the NFL. The 2nd CA would have to over-rule all 7 for the NFL to win. Furthermore, there were at least 3 other items that Berman chose not to rule on at the time, giving him AMPLE ammunition to rule against the NFL a 2nd time if the nearly impossible happened and the 2nd CA over-turned his ruling.

What is clear is that the only people who tampered with the balls during the AFCCG are Colts Personnel.

venecol said:

I'll have to wait to hear Munson's crisp legal opinion on this before I decide. Munson is known for being very accurate in these matters.

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I would stipulate he is very accurate on these decisions. Much in the manner my wife is accurate if we are lost.

I'll ask which way should be go, left or right. Whatever direction she chooses, if you go the other way you will be correct 95% of the time.

We've seen Berman's track record on appeals -- but I wonder what fraction of his decisions get appealed in the first place?