Semi-OT: NFL beefs up Deflategate legal team

Goodell won't let this go. It's personal for him. He will drag the integrity of the game in the gutters, as long as he wins somehow versus the Pats. He's blinded by his emotions, because he feels he was "disrespected" by the Pats.

I'm so over it all. I watch the games on mute. It was nothing to begin with, and months later, it's still nothing.

fair catch fryar said:

It's beyond weird. It's downright creepy and disturbing.

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What did you expect? Brady just beat their beloved jets after they tried everything to give them an advantage, like reinstating the speeding alcoholic.

What are the stats for a federal judge being overruled anyway? And then on such a decisive decision on 3 parts.

Goodell really needs to learn to quit when he's behind.

VectorPrime said:

What are the stats for a federal judge being overruled anyway? And then on such a decisive decision on 3 parts.

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Unless the 3 judge panel is a major outlier, there's pretty much no chance in hell that the ruling gets reversed.

robertweathers said:

Its not personal.....it's strictly business.

As has been discussed 1000 times, this is no longer about Brady and footballs.

The NFL absolutely cannot have the NFLPA with any leverage on anything- especially it's ability to discredit the NFL's ability to hand out punishment without due process.

To the NFL, dropping another $2-$3m on legal fees is less than the hundreds of millions of dollars it stands to lose in another CBA where there things like discipline are horse traded away in exchange for a greater % of the revenue to the players.

The NFL wants all the chips.

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I think that ship had pretty much sailed BEFORE the Brady nonsense. When was the last time the won in court?
I wonder what's happening re: the threat of contempt of court Goodell was facing in Minn.

Hiring these high priced attorneys to continue this ridiculous case reminds of the following quote from Troy Vincent

“Look at the amount of money being spent on legal fees for a handful of people. It’s millions and millions of dollars, and we’ve got players that are hurting. We’ve got young men who don’t know how to identify a good financial adviser. Men are in transition who aren’t doing well, and yet $8-10 million a year is spent in court fees about who should make a decision on someone, who in some cases has committed a crime.”
“Think about that logically. Wouldn’t it be better to spend our time and resources on the issues that are vital to our players — past, present and future — such as the players’ total wellness and growing the game together?”

That quote is so absurd. The NFL is going to spend well over $10 million on 0.3 psi of air in a football that every unbiased scientist says probably never happened.

PatsFanSince74 said:

I am curious as to whether any of you who have been following this more closely than myself know which Judges from the Second Circuit have been designated to hear the case, if they have yet been designated? Clement and Murphy would carry a lot of weight with any Bush 41 or 43 appointees.

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I don't believe it's been announced yet. I managed to find this file http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/caseman2.pdf/$file/caseman2.pdf which says:

The courts of appeals also differ in how they construct their panels and when they announce the composition of the panel to litigants. Some courts announce it early, while others withhold panel members’ identities so that attorneys do not spend time and effort tailoring arguments in their briefs to the anticipated panel. In the First Circuit, panel members’ identities are disclosed 7 days before oral argument; in the Ninth and Tenth Circuits, attorneys are notified of the identities of panel members on the Monday prior to the week of oral argument. In the Second Circuit, panel members’ identities are disclosed at noon on Thursday of the week before the panel sits. The Sixth Circuit identifies the panel members 14 days before oral argument. In contrast, in the Seventh and Federal Circuits, the identities of panel members are not revealed until the morning of the argument.

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A lawprof acquaintance tells me that "sit" in that case means "have oral arguments". So we'll find out the identities on the Thursday of the week before orals. We know from CA2's order that orals have been set for "no earlier" than the week of 1 February. So the absolutely earliest we'll know who the judges are will be noon on 28 January.

Deus Irae said:

Unless the 3 judge panel is a major outlier, there's pretty much no chance in hell that the ruling gets reversed.

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I tend to agree, but Clement and Murphy are a big upgrade over Pash. I'm curious whether the panel has been named.

EDIT: see post immediately above.

QuantumMechanic said:

I don't believe it's been announced yet. I managed to find this file http://www.fjc.gov/public/pdf.nsf/lookup/caseman2.pdf/$file/caseman2.pdf which says:


A lawprof acquaintance tells me that "sit" in that case means "have oral arguments". So we'll find out the identities on the Thursday of the week before orals. We know from CA2's order that orals have been set for "no earlier" than the week of 1 February. So the absolutely earliest we'll know who the judges are will be noon on 28 January.

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Thanks. That's very useful and suggests that the NFL is just flailing around rather than reacting to a particular panel.

GaryfromTO said:

Goodell really needs to learn to quit when he's behind.

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He is just a marionette, maybe the owners want him to fail again so they have a strong reason to dump him, as if they don't have plenty right now.

Michael McCann reports that Paul Clement beat Brady-NFLPA in the 2011 lockout case. I guess I'll have to keep my ear open on Deflategate news speculation inbetween games.

Hopefully his reign of Error will come to an end soon.

Clement " So Roger....you just had to hear the appeal didn't you?"

PatsDeb said:

The ship has sailed. They should have employed these folks BEFORE going in front of Berman. .

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They are appellate lawyers and wouldn't have done much good in front of Berman, who is a trial judge.

Not sure what the point is. The Supreme Court is probably not hearing this case and the Second Circuit is not going to be impressed because a couple of lawyers who practice before the Supreme Court joined the NFL's legal team. I suppose they want a fresh perspective for their appellate arguments. Both sides will have quality legal briefs but Brady has a much better argument. The panel will probably uphold Berman's decision.

robertweathers said:

Its not personal.....it's strictly business.

As has been discussed 1000 times, this is no longer about Brady and footballs.

The NFL absolutely cannot have the NFLPA with any leverage on anything- especially it's ability to discredit the NFL's ability to hand out punishment without due process.

To the NFL, dropping another $2-$3m on legal fees is less than the hundreds of millions of dollars it stands to lose in another CBA where things like discipline are horse traded away in exchange for a greater % of the revenue to the players.

The NFL wants all the chips.

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But why go all in on a case this ridiculous? Real people (not your average NFL "fanimal" or team owner) with 1/2 a brain looking at the details of the case can easily see how stupid this whole thing is (as demonstrated by Berman during oral arguments).

Roger Goodell must be an hourly lawyer's biggest wet dream. A moron with unlimited funds and unlimited hubris.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

But why go all in on a case this ridiculous? Real people (not your average NFL "fanimal" or team owner) with 1/2 a brain looking at the details of the case can easily see how stupid this whole thing is (as demonstrated by Berman during oral arguments).

Roger Goodell must be an hourly lawyer's biggest wet dream. A moron with unlimited funds and unlimited hubris.

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I know. The NFL just doesn't see it as logically as you do.

Some ideas about motives for continuing:

• General inertia.
• The longer the case goes on, the more chance Brady is so fed up that he never bothers filing for defamation.
• If something happens to make Goodell lose his job, he'd like that to be as far in the future as possible.
• If things drag on until after Brady's retirement, maybe the NFL can drop the matter without ever admitting they had a final loss in court.
• As suggested above, the NFL will accept lesser disciplinary tyranny in the next CBA -- but they'd like to be trading that away for counter-concession, rather than have the courts just take it away from them.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

But why go all in on a case this ridiculous? Real people (not your average NFL "fanimal" or team owner) with 1/2 a brain looking at the details of the case can easily see how stupid this whole thing is (as demonstrated by Berman during oral arguments).

Roger Goodell must be an hourly lawyer's biggest wet dream. A moron with unlimited funds and unlimited hubris.

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That, too.

But, Nash, Pash and Wells are all damaged goods after the proceedings in the SDNY, so I imagine that there was a lot of pressure from some Owners on Goodell to upgrade the legal team for the Appeal to the Second Circuit. These two are heavy hitters, so Goodell will have some air cover when he loses. Of course, he'll have to explain another seven figure legal bill...but, I guess it's "easy come, easy go" at 345 Park.

I wouldn't be surprised if the NFLPA in response doesn't add another heavy hitter in addition to Kessler.

robertweathers said:

I know. The NFL just doesn't see it as logically as you do.

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But if this whole thing was cooked up to be a "power play" against the players union, it's mind boggling how ill-conceived it was. I can see taking it to the limit on something like (1) suspending Ray Rice for spousal abuse; (2) suspending Peterson for child abuse; (3) suspending Rapeburger for being a serial rapist; (4) suspending Ray Lewis for obstructing a murder investigation (and more). Instead, they decide to push the envelope on a case where your league marquee player is accused of some ****amamie scheme to deflate balls when natural causes could not be ruled out?!?!?!?!

It raises the "how stupid can they possibly be" question?