Semi-OT: NFL beefs up Deflategate legal team

These buffoons look so foolish I laugh at them.

I can't imagine how funny they are going to look if Brady is the MVP of the regular season and the Super bowl. This with so called properly inflated balls.

Koma said:

That's another in the multitude of annoying things about this situation. Berman's decision basically said that the entire process that NFL used to arrive at a 'guilty' verdict was unfair. That's not a technicality.

A technicality would be if the NFL had rock-solid, indisputable proof, but the judge tossed it all because one of the the league's attorneys forget to sign some form.

The question these media folks should be asking was, if the evidence was so strong, why did the NFL have to 'rig' their system to get the verdict they wanted?

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Berman gets overruled about 8% of the time, which is actually high for that circuit. However, the NFL has been losing player discipline cases 100% of the time in Goodell's recent tenure, which puts the Berman ruling in more favorable context.

Additionally, key admissions by the NFL attorneys should doom this appeal. As I opined elsewhere, unless the draw for the appellate trio is an exceptionally bad one for unions, there's no way in hell the NFL will win this appeal.

raduray said:

That's ridiculous. It's rumor and innuendo with no basis in fact. I can't believe they put that in their brief, since the NFLPA lawyers will have a field day with thtat.

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So these high priced legal minds are resorting to the same arguments that crazy internet trolls are relying on?

raduray said:

I had an email exchange earlier today with my niece who lives in London. She and her boyfriend are going to the game in London this weekend and in the thread I mentioned that NE had just defeated the Jets. Her response was "Wonder how the Pats cheated their way out of that one!". Disheartening, to say the least. I'm going to walk her through my Ideal Gas Analysis when I see her over the holidays. She's an economist and should be able to understand the high school level algebra required. But will she have an open mind? After all, she's a Jets fan.

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Man, don't take this away from her. She's a Jets fan. She needs something to feel good about. Throw a little charity her way and let her keep on believing.

memento said:

Jaws and McNally most likely signed away their right to sue to get reinstated. Whatever chance for a defamation suit there is won't be apparent until the present case runs its course, depending on how it's ruled.

My latest hope is the way the NFL worded their briefing opens the door to how they measured the footballs and why their treatment of the pressure guages.

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A decent lawyer could probably get that thrown out . . . since there's no CBA for coaches/staff.

SteveGrogan said:

I'm surprised the ****ing union and Roger Goodell cannot find a way to meet somewhere in the middle on this while the NFL still has any leverage at all? At least clearing Brady and letting a different case go to arbitration or something. Let the player get on with it, he's 38 and lighting it up and this is the history of the game you're ****ing with over contracts. I absolutely hated Derek Jeter more than anything in the world but man he was one of the best Yankees of all time and there's no way I would have wanted to see him sidelined over some nonsensical **** toward the end of his career.

If it weren't for the obviously money dropped passes the guy would be on track to an 80% completion rate at age 38. It should be pretty frickin' clear deflated footballs isn't part of the equation.

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While your idea of coming to a middle ground is certainly reasonable, I have no thoughts on what kind of compromise they'd be able to agree on. Aside from maybe ONE game, there weren't any then, and I'd have to think there are way less now.

Taking it one step further, what incentive does Brady have to meet somewhere in the middle? He's already won. In this case, I respectfully disagree with your statement of "while the NFL has any leverage at all." They don't have the slightest bit of leverage. That ship sailed at the end of August, and possibly even a couple of weeks prior to that when it was obvious that Berman was openly questioning their process.

Patriot Missile said:

These buffoons look so foolish I laugh at them.

I can't imagine how funny they are going to look if Brady is the MVP of the regular season and the Super bowl. This with so called properly inflated balls.

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That may be getting way too ahead of ourselves, but yes--they would look even more foolish. That said, they wouldn't care in the least. Goodell is going to stick to his claim that Brady knew about the deflation in the AFCCG and he's going to exhaust every avenue available while doing so.

I seriously can't believe that we actually had posters here who thought he was going to sheepishly drift off into a corner and throw his arms up in defeat. That thought was completely ridiculous after what happened this past spring/summer.

chasa said:

the nfl is spending millions and millions on something that goodell abused. all that ****head needed to do was have a neutral arbitor

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But then he would have lost earlier than he did. Plus, many federal judges (unfortunately) are rubber stamps that just affirm the decision below them, so Goody the Abuser had a better chance to rule the way he did and hope for a rubber-stamping judge. Luckily for Brady, Berman is not one of those, and now it will work to Brady's advantage and Goody is the one who has to fight the rubber-stamping judges at the 2nd Circuit level. Not only that, but Berman wrote a well-reasoned opinion backed up by the evidence and the CBA, so the rubber stamp will be easier to apply.

Analyzing NFL’s appeal of Deflategate ruling

Second, the Second Circuit has affirmed Judge Berman’s decisions at a high rate. According to data I found through Westlaw’s excellent judicial reversal report service, 204 of Judge Berman’s decisions were appealed between 2000–15 and 159 of them (78%) were affirmed. Only 17 of those appeals (8%) led to the Second Circuit reversing or vacating Judge Berman’s decisions, with even fewer appeals leading to remand (which means a new hearing) or partial affirmation. These numbers closely track the average percentage (8%) of reversals of private civil cases by the Second Circuit between 2013–14. Bottom line: Second Circuit judges seem to favorably view Judge Berman, who has been a federal judge for 17 years, since they very often agree with him. While we do not yet know which three judges will hear the NFL’s appeal and thus we do not know whether those judges may be more pro-management than pro-labor, Judge Berman’s favorable track record before the Second Circuit works against the NFL.

Goodell is more stupid than i ever thought. TBs performance has basically negated any of the worst anti-Brady haters. You would think that they would say we can only look dumb by appealing, but hey it's the NFL.

SalemPats said:

Goodell is more stupid than i ever thought. TBs performance has basically negated any of the worst anti-Brady haters. You would think that they would say we can only look dumb by appealing, but hey it's the NFL.

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"The Cheatriots have just found a new way to cheat."

NFL fighting enormous odds throwing a Hail Mary here in a desperate grab for power. Could be a spectacular fail that might cause the owners to rethink their stooge.

Mack Herron said:

NFL fighting enormous odds throwing a Hail Mary here in a desperate grab for power. Could be a spectacular fail that might cause the owners to rethink their stooge.

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Well, now my Christmas list is complete.

SalemPats said:

Goodell is more stupid than i ever thought. TBs performance has basically negated any of the worst anti-Brady haters. You would think that they would say we can only look dumb by appealing, but hey it's the NFL.

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This is only going forward because enough owners want it to.

It isn't just Goodell.

I can't imagine the karma that the football gods are raining down on the haters is helping much.

Certainly the Ravens, Colts and Cowboys owners are not likely to back off.

If Goodell had any intelligence, he would've thrown Kensil under the bus along time ago and said people in his office acted in bad faith and he's fixed it.

Instead, Goodell is trying to affirm the owners power by using one of the worst possible cases -- this will likely have the reverse affect and lead to owners having even less power -- either by court order or by negotiation in the next cba.

If the suspension is upheld take solace in the fact BendOver Bob said sorry to the fans for trusting Goodell. Remember to ignore any / all future hugs and warm converations between BendOver and Goodell because as noted he apologized for trusting the same guys whose ass he continues to kiss.