Report: Goodell rejected NFLPA motion to recuse himself (Update:NFL says no decision has been made)

[PatsFanSince74]

Goodell is, delightfully from my perspective, between a rock and a hard place on this. And, ironically, it's Kraft who put him there.

If he turns the Appeal over to an independent Arbitrator, the very best he can hope for is a reduced Suspension; even many haters say that four games is over the line. But, there's at least a 50% chance that the Suspension will be overturned entirely, exposing the Wells report for the sham that it is. However, if even part of Brady's suspension is upheld by an Arbitrator who is viewed as fair and objective, then the likelihood of a litigation by Brady is much lower if not close to zero. So, is Goodell willing to gamble on partial vindication by an objective arbiter? Or does he decide that the risk is too great that an objective observer will toss the whole mess out the window? I wouldn't want to have to make that decision.

On the other hand, if Goodell keeps the Appeal under his control, there is no way that he can overturn the entire Suspension without completely undermining the credibility of the Wells report. So, he is left with the choice of keeping the four games in place or reducing it to two games or maybe one game. At that point, Brady's lawyers will smell blood in the water and, even with the Suspension reduced to one game, the likelihood will be high of Brady's taking the League to Court with a lengthy, embarrassing and damaging Discovery process that will include all communications between and among the NFL, the Ravens and the Colts, as well as the requirement that members of all three of those organizations have to testify under Oath and peril of perjury.

It's pretty much a lose-lose proposition for Goodell.

I still wish that Kraft had pursued his own Appeal and am angry that he did not do so, but in some ways it can be argued that he has set Goodell up.

 

[Plunkett2Vataha]

Guys, maybe I'm uninformed on how electronic communications work. And maybe I'm uninformed on how discovery works in court. I keep on reading about turning over phones and how the League would be embarrassed and shown to be duplicitous in their dealings with Brady and the Patriots. With all the money the League has, why wouldn't their phones be scrubbed of all incriminating information that would be damaging to the League? In dealing with discovery in court proceedings, can the phones be sent to CIA-level experts to see if any communications were erased from the phone or communications companies, much like Lois Lerner had done to here hard drive? I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but I don't trust the League Office at all and they have many millions at their disposal to try and "protect" themselves.

 

[eom]

Guys, maybe I'm uninformed on how electronic communications work. And maybe I'm uninformed on how discovery works in court. I keep on reading about turning over phones and how the League would be embarrassed and shown to be duplicitous in their dealings with Brady and the Patriots. With all the money the League has, why wouldn't their phones be scrubbed of all incriminating information that would be damaging to the League? In dealing with discovery in court proceedings, can the phones be sent to CIA-level experts to see if any communications were erased from the phone or communications companies, much like Lois Lerner had done to here hard drive? I'm not trying to be a contrarian, but I don't trust the League Office at all and they have many millions at their disposal to try and "protect" themselves.

well, I don't know too much about it, but you can always physically destroy anything, regardless of what form the communication is in.

as for simply deleting stuff in the conventional manner, I think the deflator actually did that and wells recovered it using some kind of software.