Why Brady has to fight this to the bitter end.

[NJPatsfan26]

The issue then is the media will just make up stories as they see fit and feed the pig good times.

 

[Tuck]

I think this thread makes a great point. Mark wahlberg was booed on Jimmy Fallon's show this week when Fallon brought up Brady and Wahlbergs friendship. I'm surprised Brady's sponsors are hanging in their with him at this point. Brady is backed into a corner and has to go for a full exhonoration if he wants to keep his endorsements on.

 

[MagicMarker]

Yep....public opinion is that Brady is guilty.

Another question for the lawyers....I don't believe briefs have EVER been submitted after the appeal. Why this time? What does that mean for either side?

I wonder how much any of this matters. The league knows what it stands to lose if it goes to court. Nobody else does. If Brady is exonerated, it probably means the league really has something to hide.

 

[DaBruinz]

IMHO, the best way for Goodell to come out of this is to throw Kensil, Gardi, Vincent and the Colts under the bus. Best thing for him to do is to say that those three, along with Grigson, conspired to frame the Patriots. That it was only after hearing items from Brady that Goodell went back and had NFL Security review emails of those 4 that he realized the sham that had been perpetrated.

Now, I know that Goodell would never do this, but that is really the only way he keeps this out of court.

 

[PATSNUTme]

Public opinion is fickle so I'm not worried about that. The haters of other teams will grasp at anything to demean the Patriots and TFB.

If TFB had nothing to do with the deflation of the footballs ( if there was any deflation of the footballs), then he should fight it all the way. If it means, in the end, he miss mid or end of seasons games, so be it. He has given the Patriots and the fans so much over the years, that we can live with whatever happens.

 

[MagicMarker]

Public opinion is fickle so I'm not worried about that. The haters of other teams will grasp at anything to demean the Patriots and TFB.

If TFB had nothing to do with the deflation of the footballs ( if there was any deflation of the footballs), then he should fight it all the way. If it means, in the end, he miss mid or end of seasons games, so be it. He has given the Patriots and the fans so much over the years, that we can live with whatever happens.

I think this reflects our sentiment pretty well. That should tell you that if Goodell believes this will all blow over for Patriots fans any time soon, he's seriously mistaken.

I live in Seattle, and one commentator from a national radio station said he thought Seattle had gotten over the Sonics being moved. The local guy had to say, no, they haven't gotten over it and are still mad about it after seven years.

 

[supafly]

I'd love to get an opinion from the lawyers here. Obviously, defamation suits are hard to win.

Doesn't this particular case, with the NFLPA involved from the beginning, lend itself to a much more winnable and damaging [to the NFL] unfair labor practices, or some such suit, with Brady just being the principal example of what the league cannot do to a player?

This could include Kensil and Blandino and anyone, including meathead, who has fixed evidence, made false charges, ruled differently in similar cases etc.

Thoughts?

I don't have the expertise to answer your question, but speaking solely as a fan who has nothing more than an opinion just like you, I believe that we'll see something close to what you've suggested in terms of unfair labor practices, but in the framework that the NFLPA outlined in their letter from a month or so back.

I believe that was regarding some of the imbalance of power that Goodell currently has, as well as the fact that Troy Vincent does not have the authority to dole out any type of punishment. These seem to be the angles that they've chosen to attack. The biggest obstacle, of course, will be the fact that there is currently an agreed upon contract in place that both parties have been agreeing to for decades, in terms of this particular subject matter.

As Terrell Owens once said, "get your popcorn ready."

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I think this thread makes a great point. Mark wahlberg was booed on Jimmy Fallon's show this week when Fallon brought up Brady and Wahlbergs friendship. I'm surprised Brady's sponsors are hanging in their with him at this point. Brady is backed into a corner and has to go for a full exhonoration if he wants to keep his endorsements on.

In fairness Jimmy Fallon's show is taped in New York City. Brady would get booed there even if he had just saved orphans and puppy dogs from a burning building. Also remember these shows have directing, when to clap, when to boo etc.
As far as sponsors/product endorsements, there's a lot of nuance to that industry. Financial, economic, national demographics of the target audience are of primary importance. And with Brady accused only of cheating to win -- not spousal abuse, murder, telling a non PC joke -- it isn't evoking the kind of thing that will give people a visceral 'turning away' from a product.

For example, Uggs. Is the average Uggs buyer at most a casual watcher of NFL football? Are they someone who probably thinks the NFL has lots of 'bad boys' and they have a sense that 'it's normal for NFL players to be causing some sort of trouble' (maybe they are right)?

 

[SVN]

I have been wanting to say this the entire week, but I wasn't sure where to post it, so I started a new thread to get it out. If a mod wants to move it to a more appropriate thread, feel free. But we are kind of in our POV is is obviously biased, even if our evidence is sound.

Early in the week I happened to catch a new show on the USA network called Mr Robot. It's about a socially damaged young brilliant hacker, who is a tech geek by day, and by night hacks bad people land makes them pay. It is actually a very good show with a interesting premise and I recommend it highly. But that's not why I'm posting.

In the opening set up the kid is narrating his view on the world. It's about how the big corporations really control things.....and control us, the one percent of the one percenters. How nothing is what we perceive it to be. About how our heroes are often deceivers, Then they flash to pictures of Lance Armstrong, Bill Cosby...... and TOM BRADY.

So despite a complete lack of evidence, based on premise that 1 or 2 PSI of a football actually IS cheating,, an artfully orchestrated smear campaign, and the suspension of belief in science, fairness, and justice, Tom Brady is now firmly ensconced in pantheon of cheaters and liars. He has now become an epitome of deception and cheating, so much so, he can be used on TV as a prime example.

I don't know. Maybe the writer is a Jet fan. But the point is, if Tom even contemplates a future where the first thing anyone associates with him isn't "deflategate cheater", then he HAS be COMPLETELY cleared of this slander, if not by the league, then the courts. He CANNOT accept anything less. A 1 game concession might seem in the short run the best solution, but THAT won't take that picture off the TV show. ( BTW - nwhen the day comes that he IS finally exonerated, I will write a letter to that show demanding they cut the reference, and make a public apology to Tom.)

I'm actually surprised his father's head hasn't exploded by this league orchestrated smear campaign. (included the "league source" who stated the other day that Tom's responses weren't convincing) You had to be expecting that one.

Just saw the show now and I was cringing when they showed cosby and held my breath if they will stoop low to show brady and they did . Disgusting! And some are saying in earlier videoes it was mel gibson who they replaced with brady . Thanks Goodell and wells

 

[SVN]

I've seen Mr Robot and I don't recall the Brady reference. I must have blocked it out.

There's a pretty good post in another thread here (I'll see if I can find it) that puts a political/racial spin on the whole fiasco. He made some good points.

http://www.boston.com/entertainment...-steve-jobs/nNOSZynCyXxlbQVUv6wRtK/story.html

 

[eom]

In fairness Jimmy Fallon's show is taped in New York City. Brady would get booed there even if he had just saved orphans and puppy dogs from a burning building. Also remember these shows have directing, when to clap, when to boo etc.
As far as sponsors/product endorsements, there's a lot of nuance to that industry. Financial, economic, national demographics of the target audience are of primary importance. And with Brady accused only of cheating to win -- not spousal abuse, murder, telling a non PC joke -- it isn't evoking the kind of thing that will give people a visceral 'turning away' from a product.

For example, Uggs. Is the average Uggs buyer at most a casual watcher of NFL football? Are they someone who probably thinks the NFL has lots of 'bad boys' and they have a sense that 'it's normal for NFL players to be causing some sort of trouble' (maybe they are right)?

If I knew any uggs buyers maybe I could answer that

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

If I knew any uggs buyers maybe I could answer that

Good reply.
While I think in general his future endorsement possibilities are hurt, his current specific endorsements may not be. According to a article in CNBC from about 9 months ago, sales of Uggs' men's product lines have risen 140% since signing Brady to accounts for 130 million in sales. While not massive sales that isn't small time either.

Like you I don't know of any man who has mentioned buying or wearing Uggs. Granted it is entirely anecdotal, however, I suspect male NFL football fans may not be Uggs' buying demographic. If that's the case would Brady being accused(railroaded) of deflating a bag of footballs have an impact on that demographic?

 

[1960Pats]

http://www.boston.com/entertainment...-steve-jobs/nNOSZynCyXxlbQVUv6wRtK/story.html

Apparently I blocked it out. The movie was still okay.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

So many separate but not unconnected issues here.

Brady has to sue if he is not exonerated 100% on his involvement in the deflation that never occurred on the day of the AFCCG. I know that. You know that. Even Roger Goodell knows that.

If he is exonerated, he'll have to decide how much of a penalty he's willing to swallow for his real or imagined "non-compliance" with the request that he hand over his cell phone records in the interests of making this all go away. The "Favre standard" is $50,000. I believe the CBA limit on a fine to an individual player is $250,000. Since Brady makes more than that for playing a single game, I don't see how he can accept even a one game suspension for said trumped up offense.

The damage to his reputation has been done and there's no way even complete exoneration is going to undo most of that. I have to leave it to lawyers who specialize in this matter as to whether he, as a public figure, would have a reasonable chance of prevailing in a defamation suit. If he does, I think he should sue the League and related parties for an absurd amount of money. But, I'll be surprised (pleasantly) if that avenue is realistically open to him.

The NFLPA negotiated a bad deal with the NFL when it gave virtually unlimited power in these regards to the Commissioner. If Brady is exonerated 100% on his involvement in "Deflategate," his interests will no longer be 100% aligned with the NFLPA. In short, it's in the PA's best interests that Brady not be exonerated.

Brady will, unfortunately, have to spend a lot of his time post-retirement rebuilding his reputation in the minds of all but fans like ourselves and a few wise outside observers like Sally Jenkins.

I just hope the entire thing doesn't leave him embittered. His career has been far too transcendent for that to be its outcome. It's too bad that neither Richard Ben Cramer nor David Halberstam are still alive to write his definitive biography. It's a job that shouldn't be left to the hacks that turn out most "Sports Biographies."

 

[Pyerardi]

I agree. TB12 MUST fight it all the way.
The show sounds interesting but now I will never watch it.