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Note: No "hard news" here, so if that's what you're looking for, move on, but some of you might find this interesting.
To make a long story short, I was by sheer coincidence, assigned today to Jury Duty in the NY State Supreme Court building, which is literally around the corner from the Moynihan Federal Building. I was dismissed at around noon and spent the afternoon with the media outside the courthouse covering the proceedings in Judge Berman's courtroom and chambers.
As some of you know, I've been posting my impressions of Berman based on my relationships with folks in the NY media and legal worlds. I think they have proven to be "right on the money."
After I was dismissed from my jury duty, I wandered down towards the SDNY building and by happenstance ran into a buddy from one of the national media outlets, who escorted me into the bullpen where the print and camera media were assembled.
I guess I looked rumpled enough that the Federal Marshall supervising the area just assumed, because I was hanging with my friend, that I was another reporter and ignored me for the entire afternoon when he was busy kicking "civilians" out of the area.
I stayed there the entire day and,literally, positioned myself so that I was ten feet from Brady when he entered his vehicle after exiting the courthouse. He came up on me too quickly and I was too busy yelling "Tommy. We love ya. One more for the thumb, Tommy!" to get a picture of him, but I do have a kickass photo of his truck leaving the area.
Looks like I'd better not quit my day job, huh?
So, here are some impressions:
I had a full profile view of Brady just as he started to "relax" and take his game face off as he was getting into his SUV and he looked like he had been through a long, hard day. I hope he heard my shout, but I think he was probably too preoccupied to notice anything but the welcoming interior of the Suburban. Kessler looked wiped out too and Yee was clearly exhausted.
I was also very impressed by how solicitous the Federal Marshalls were of Brady as he was leaving the facility. They made sure his vehicle was positioned so he could enter it with absolutely no interference by the media or any idiots in the public (I was probably the only member of "the public" who was even that close to him) and were clearly making sure by phone and text with Brady's people that "everything was OK" before they even let Tommy walk out of the Courthouse. I guess you could say they were "just doing their job," since they were responsible for his safety until he entered his vehicle, but the feeling one got was that it was more than that. There was a sense of "respect."
I spent a lot of time chatting up and overhearing the conversations of the reporters in the pen, who were getting real time updates every few minutes from their colleagues in the courthouse. With just one exception, they all felt that the NFL had taken it on the chin (probably a Jets fan and I got into a brief argument with him and then backed off because I didn't want to be "outed" as a civilian in the press space).
Berman, acting every bit the way I thought he would, hammered hard at the Wells report. Suggesting that he saw no direct connection between Brady and the alleged activities during the AFCCG and even going so far as to say it "troubled" him. I can't wait to see the transcript.
Kessler's one big concession (laying the grounds for a settlement???) was that Brady could have handled the cell phone stuff better. He said some very interesting things and I'm looking forward to reading the transcript.
Berman made a couple of jokes about the cell phones and Brady himself, but, according to the reporters, Brady was clearly in no mood for jokes. I imagine that the session in Berman's Chambers was quite tense.
Some guy was tweeting partial information from the media area inside the building, but outside the courtroom, but nobody among the working press seemed to be paying it much heed. I think it got a lot of unwarranted attention in the board's thread on the day. I think he was going on second hand information.
The bottom line consensus among these relatively cynical media types was that it had been a bad day for Goodell and Co. and a pretty good day for Brady.
I ran into Gary Myers and asked him how he thought it had gone in the courtroom. His first response was a dismissive "interesting," but when I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, Gary, I'm sure it was 'interesting'" he said "OK. I think the judge was trying to make both sides uncomfortable." I think that's probably as fair a read as we'll get from an NY media guy who is beholden to his local constituency and also that he probably didn't want to spill his article tomorrow.
Sal Palantonio was ubiquitous and I thought his report on HSPN tonight was one of the strongest "pro Brady" things I've seen.
ABC was all over the place and their national news tonight spun the day that Berman had said he saw no "smoking gun" connecting Brady with any wrongdoing. I think for once some of these people were "doing their job!"
There were a few idiots there in "Deflated Football" hats. One of them was wearing a Kearse Jersey and I asked him why he though Kearse failed to set the pick on Butler. He walked away.
So, all in all, a really interesting day. Glad I was there and also glad that I had a chance to shout some support to Tommy. Surprisingly, the audience was generally supportive and Goodell was booed a lot more than Brady.
I'll post a few pics in another message if any of you are interested.
As I said, just impressions and no hard news, but the impression I had was that today went as well as could be expected. I look forward to reading the transcript when it is released.
To make a long story short, I was by sheer coincidence, assigned today to Jury Duty in the NY State Supreme Court building, which is literally around the corner from the Moynihan Federal Building. I was dismissed at around noon and spent the afternoon with the media outside the courthouse covering the proceedings in Judge Berman's courtroom and chambers.
As some of you know, I've been posting my impressions of Berman based on my relationships with folks in the NY media and legal worlds. I think they have proven to be "right on the money."
After I was dismissed from my jury duty, I wandered down towards the SDNY building and by happenstance ran into a buddy from one of the national media outlets, who escorted me into the bullpen where the print and camera media were assembled.
I guess I looked rumpled enough that the Federal Marshall supervising the area just assumed, because I was hanging with my friend, that I was another reporter and ignored me for the entire afternoon when he was busy kicking "civilians" out of the area.
I stayed there the entire day and,literally, positioned myself so that I was ten feet from Brady when he entered his vehicle after exiting the courthouse. He came up on me too quickly and I was too busy yelling "Tommy. We love ya. One more for the thumb, Tommy!" to get a picture of him, but I do have a kickass photo of his truck leaving the area.
Looks like I'd better not quit my day job, huh?So, here are some impressions:
I had a full profile view of Brady just as he started to "relax" and take his game face off as he was getting into his SUV and he looked like he had been through a long, hard day. I hope he heard my shout, but I think he was probably too preoccupied to notice anything but the welcoming interior of the Suburban. Kessler looked wiped out too and Yee was clearly exhausted.
I was also very impressed by how solicitous the Federal Marshalls were of Brady as he was leaving the facility. They made sure his vehicle was positioned so he could enter it with absolutely no interference by the media or any idiots in the public (I was probably the only member of "the public" who was even that close to him) and were clearly making sure by phone and text with Brady's people that "everything was OK" before they even let Tommy walk out of the Courthouse. I guess you could say they were "just doing their job," since they were responsible for his safety until he entered his vehicle, but the feeling one got was that it was more than that. There was a sense of "respect."
I spent a lot of time chatting up and overhearing the conversations of the reporters in the pen, who were getting real time updates every few minutes from their colleagues in the courthouse. With just one exception, they all felt that the NFL had taken it on the chin (probably a Jets fan and I got into a brief argument with him and then backed off because I didn't want to be "outed" as a civilian in the press space).
Berman, acting every bit the way I thought he would, hammered hard at the Wells report. Suggesting that he saw no direct connection between Brady and the alleged activities during the AFCCG and even going so far as to say it "troubled" him. I can't wait to see the transcript.
Kessler's one big concession (laying the grounds for a settlement???) was that Brady could have handled the cell phone stuff better. He said some very interesting things and I'm looking forward to reading the transcript.
Berman made a couple of jokes about the cell phones and Brady himself, but, according to the reporters, Brady was clearly in no mood for jokes. I imagine that the session in Berman's Chambers was quite tense.
Some guy was tweeting partial information from the media area inside the building, but outside the courtroom, but nobody among the working press seemed to be paying it much heed. I think it got a lot of unwarranted attention in the board's thread on the day. I think he was going on second hand information.
The bottom line consensus among these relatively cynical media types was that it had been a bad day for Goodell and Co. and a pretty good day for Brady.
I ran into Gary Myers and asked him how he thought it had gone in the courtroom. His first response was a dismissive "interesting," but when I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, Gary, I'm sure it was 'interesting'" he said "OK. I think the judge was trying to make both sides uncomfortable." I think that's probably as fair a read as we'll get from an NY media guy who is beholden to his local constituency and also that he probably didn't want to spill his article tomorrow.
Sal Palantonio was ubiquitous and I thought his report on HSPN tonight was one of the strongest "pro Brady" things I've seen.
ABC was all over the place and their national news tonight spun the day that Berman had said he saw no "smoking gun" connecting Brady with any wrongdoing. I think for once some of these people were "doing their job!"
There were a few idiots there in "Deflated Football" hats. One of them was wearing a Kearse Jersey and I asked him why he though Kearse failed to set the pick on Butler. He walked away.
So, all in all, a really interesting day. Glad I was there and also glad that I had a chance to shout some support to Tommy. Surprisingly, the audience was generally supportive and Goodell was booed a lot more than Brady.
I'll post a few pics in another message if any of you are interested.
As I said, just impressions and no hard news, but the impression I had was that today went as well as could be expected. I look forward to reading the transcript when it is released.
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