Brady could possibly play another five years, he's not running into retirement (and forefiting like $80 million) just to avoid a month-long suspension.
I read the report, and I think Goodell came very close to actually raising the penalties agains Brady. After all the original penalties were rendered without evidence that Brady had destroyed the cellphone on the day he met with NFL investigators. That additional evidence would clearly have led to a conclusion at the time, as it does now, that Brady was not merely uncooperative. It also showed he was actively destroying evidence he had excellent reason to know at the time was highly relevant to the investigation. Actively obstructing is worse than merely failing to cooperate. To be clear even in the prior decision there was evidence supporrting it that showed Brady's conversations with Jastremski amounted to active obstruction. But this additional evidence of destroying the cell phone went further. It therefore should have been a basis for increasing the penalties. Too bad Goodell did not tack on another 2 or 4 games.
The NFL pulled an anticipatory legal maneuver assuming that Brady or the union would file an injunction in federal court. In an attempt to keep any trial out of Boston or Minnesota. They want the case to be out of New York. The legal experts say it isn't easy to get an injunction on a case like this.
too late, the 31 are ahead of the NFLPA with a pre-emtive!!! NFL goes forum-shopping with pre-emptive lawsuit Posted by Mike Florio on July 28, 2015, 4:19 PM EDT Getty Images At some point over the past few weeks, I considered the possibility that the courtroom portion of the Tom Brady saga could be initiated not by the NFL Players Association but by the NFL. I made a mental note of it, vowed to write about that possibility, and then forgot to do it. The reminder came today, via the report from Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg that the NFL has filed a pre-emptive lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, seeking affirmation of the outcome of the Brady appeal. Although I’ve yet to see the documents (the ask has been made), I’m certain that the NFL filed a case seeking what’s known as a “declaratory judgment” under the Federal Arbitration Act, explaining that a controversy clearly exists on the viability of Goodell’s final ruling in the Brady appeal and asking the court to determine the parties’ legal rights. It’s not entirely uncommon, but it’s a very aggressive maneuver. As a practical matter, it potentially short-circuits the efforts of the NFLPA and Brady to file in Minnesota (with Judge David Doty presiding) or Massachusetts (with Judge Pats Fan presiding), where the ruling likely would be more favorable to Brady. Whether through pre-emptive lawsuits or otherwise, forum shopping happens all the time in the legal profession. Part of securing the best outcome for a client is picking the best court for attempting to secure that outcome. Still, there’s something that feels a bit unseemly about the NFL’s effort, creating a clear sense of coordination between Goodell the supposedly independent arbitrator and Goodell the chief executive at 345 Park Avenue. The ruling, which is required to be made “as soon as practicable” by Goodell the arbitrator undoubtedly was delayed long enough for Goodell the executive to ensure that his lawyers would be able to file immediately a lawsuit calling “shotgun” on the resolution of the legal rights. The question now becomes whether the NFLPA will proceed with its own lawsuit, and if so whether one of the two judges will defer to the other one.
Fans of the game of football are perfectly entitled to understand that the Pats' run was accompanied by cheating scandals that are completely in concert with a perception of a team willing to bend and even break the rules to get ahead. This kills Pats fans. That's your problem. If you want to root for a team like that, don't be surprised if other fans see those rings as tainted. Because they are. And since we are talking about asterisks, let's not forgt that the NFL records do show that they were cheating along with their rings.
It's a stink that they will never shake off. Pats fans want our validation, they NEDD our validation--why else would they be scurrying to boards of rival teams trying to convince us that this doesn't matter. It does. Everything their team has attained over the past decade and a half is tainted in the minds of NFL fans and the general public. Pats fans should be pissed at their team and savior, not trying to convince us that they aren't tainted. _
Given that the evidence of the phone's destruction only came out because of their appeal, that shows how arrogant Brady has been. He'd have been better off sucking it up and accepting the initial ruling. Now the public perception will be even less in his favor. Pats fans say they don't care what everyone else thinks, but don't believe that. Why, we have trolls right here who desperately care. And Brady cares. The PR situation is even worse now.
There's no official asterisk on baseball's records either but everyone knows Bonds' records are frauds, and that Roger Maris is still the real single-season HR record holder and Hank Aaron the all-time leader.
So much wishful thinking. This kind of stuff, is why I come in here. The level of hatred is amazing, and beautiful.
This is correct. Oh there may be some sociopathic Pats fans somewhere who literrally want everyone else to hate them. But as deranged as this tainted decade and a half have been, and how it must undermine the average Pats' fan's moral compass, most have not become sociopaths. They can deny it all they want, but they would desperately want to get back some legitimacy in the eyes of others. They won't get that, and as time goes on this will sink in more and more with them.