I think I'm more mad at Brady's legal team than anything else. Letting what's his face lead the CA2 proceedings. That was what lost them this. As soon as the NFL hired the big guns, Brady's legal team should have gotten Olsen. They must have thought justice, being right, and the universe was on their side. When will anyone learn that money talks in this country and justice is really just the guy with the deepest pockets...
I completely agree - though it's also clear how it happened in hindsight.
The issues as presented from the start were all about procedure - all the legal experts correctly explained that what the courts were examining was not Brady's guilt or innocence but whether or not Goodell had the authority to do what he did, without evidence or cause and in moving the goal posts as Arbitrator, with a new requirement/penalty related to the new 180 degree turn in position of now requiring Brady's phone
This was a blatant rope a dope if there ever was one - though it wasn't until Berman released information to the public - which I think demonstrated his clear disdain he held for the NFL's version of justice and fair due process - did the case begin to be about the lack of evidence that the NFL actually had - and really began to show just how deep corruption in the NFL went
Bear in mind at this juncture Brady's attorneys were focused on procedure - not guilt or innocence - though the facts certainly illustrated that and Berman found in favor of Brady and the NFLPA with a slam dunk chiding of Goodell's brand of industrial justice
Yet even here, Berman kept his ruling to procedure and the lack of fairness leaving a few other items of legal note off the table in case the appeals court remanded it to him on appeal
Upon appeal, Brady's attorneys - now riding high with the notion that the District court is seldom over-ruled, and that Berman's decision was SO strongly worded in Brady's favor, then once again did what all legal experts suggested they should - focus on the legal reasons why Berman's decision was correct - not whether Brady was guilty or innocent
Unfortunately in this case the NFL itself presented their brief recapping what technically they shouldn't have - their lies and half truth version of what transpired leading them to find Brady guilty. This fiction was apparently believable to the 2nd circuit judges - or at the very least they were making a legal point of saying, "As judges, we're bound to accept the word of an arbitrator as truth"
Obviously the Chief Justice disagreed with the two others - but armed with the NFL's brief with their version of the story of Brady's "guilt" and Brady's attorneys arguing about more arcane legalities to affirm Berman's decision, that miscalculation clearly came back to haunt them
In some respects I do understand - I think they are limited in the length of their briefs and Brady's attorneys chose to use their space to affirm the legalities of Berman's decision - rather than illustrate just how corrupt and unfair Goodell was. Perhaps they figured that could all be covered with amicus briefs filings, though those only really poured in after some of the judges questions made it sound like they ACTUALLY believed the NFL's version of the story.
Hindsight is 20/20 but this was such a miscarriage of justice from the start, I think that should have been a consistent component every step of the way - yet from start to finish, with the exception of Berman himself seeking info on just how unfair the NFL's procedure was in this case, Brady's and the NFLPA attorneys paid little attention to the proof of his innocence
Instead they focused on why Goodell did not really have the authority to do what he did - technically the right route, but in hindsight - clearly the wrong one - especially since that's an argument they stood a greater chance of losing, compared to all the evidence proving Brady's innocence.