Tom "the deflater" and his Bradey balls, not gonna appeal!

[Augiedog]

Any appeal will have to be in a real court according to news reports. NOT gonna happen. That would mean that the two fired ball deflaters would testify and Tommys phone would be front and center too. Tom would end up in the witness stand, say it ain't so!!! The Patriots have a record of cheating and going to court would just remind the American football public of just what the Patriots team is really all about. It would not be pretty. They may appeal to the league and get back their draft picks, but because tommy refused to cooperate with the investigation, basically taking the football equivalent of the 5th, he has no hope of reclaiming his self ascribed legend.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

1. And if he lies in civil court it becomes perjury and a criminal matter./NT

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. Brady IS a cheater and the entire signal-stealing Patriots team! The cheaters stole another Super Bowl too, just ask the Eagles.

[CBGLuthier]

3. I am reminded of the ending of a very early episode of The Simpsons

Where Fat Tony and associates are on trial for murdering Skinner. In the end they tell Bart that crime does not pay as they get into their limousines accompanied by their fur coat wearing jewelry covered mistresses.

Oh well at least I have never and will never in my life pay to see a football game.

[matt819]

4. Ho hum

First of all, who cares?

Second of all, the problem with penalties like these is that everyone's happy to pay them and move on.

Make the personal fine $10 million and ban him from football, if you're really serious about enforcing the rules. And don't stop with Tom Brady. The teams that had football heaters on the sidelines? Another $10 million - or some other amount that will hurt.

[former9thward]

5. Wrong on every count.

His agent has already said they are appealing. And it does not go to a "real court". Appeals go to the commissioner's office. The commissioner can either hear the appeal himself or send it to a independent arbitrator.

[underpants]

11. Right and the NFLPA is a part of the appeal too

Not that the NFLPA can find its own ass with it's own hands any better than Goddell but they do get to "throw their weight into it".

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Who is "Bradey"?

Is that Cheeseheadese for Tom Brady?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. A football by any other name deflates the same./NT

[davidpdx]

10. It took a lot of balls to say that

[Augiedog]

9. Sorry about the misspelling, got carried away with enthusiasm

[BKH70041]

12. Real court?? He (allegedly) broke a NFL rule, not a law.

That makes no sense.

And no, I could care less if the NFL fell off the planet.

[Augiedog]

14. Yeah, real court

When Appeals fail everybody runs to "real" court. It's an opinion expressed on NBC news by a head that was talking, perhaps a lawyer. Now why would a lawyer think something is going to go to "real" court?

[former9thward]

15. Wrong.

This goes to the Commissioner's office. Not to "real court". And that is where it ends. Brady will be successful in reducing the suspending games -- maybe down to zero since they admit there is no hard evidence. The owner Kraft is laughing all the way to the bank about the supposed fine. If Brady is suspended 4 games they don't have to pay him about $2 million. So with a million dollar fine they actually make a million more. Also the fine is a deductible business expense. Laughing even more.

[Augiedog]

16. I'm pretty sure Brady is not laughing at the loss of reputation.

Questions remain that I'm sure he doesn't want asked, like how long has he been having his balls tampered with. Did previous ball workers do his bidding? Just like one of my favorite players, Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, I was and am disappointed and the Booos that follow him may well start haunting Brady. But for young people coming of age and working their butts off to be good athletes it is good to see the lesson of public shaming of national heroes when they violate the very premise of their claim to fame. If you have to cheat, what's the point?!

[former9thward]

20. If you are a NFL fan you either like Brady or hate him.

The people who liked him before will still like him. The people who hate him just have one more reason. If you listen to commentary by players around the league none of them think this was a big deal. All the teams play around with their footballs. The Colts were found that 3 of 4 of their footballs were underinflated. Why is nobody crying about that?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. The investigator found it was "more probable than not" the balls were tampered with...

The investigator found it was "more probable than not" the balls were tampered with and Brady was aware of it. The finding of "more probable than not" or "more likely than not" or "the preponderance of the evidence" is the burden of proof that must be met in civil court to assign liability and it is the standard the NFL has used to impose sanctions since 2008, ergo:

Of course, this is legal jargon that's required by the league to issue discipline, as reader nbradley07 so eloquently discussed the other day. "More probable than not," also known as a "preponderance of the evidence," is used in civil cases, versus "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases. The league actually operated under the concept of "beyond a reasonable doubt" before Roger Goodell changed the requirements "to preserve the competitive integrity of the league" and "maintain public confidence [in the sport]."

Goodell changed the level of proof required to issue a ruling because of the New England Patriots, but it wasn't for DeflateGate.

The rule change happened back in 2008 as a direct response to SpyGate. Goodell came under fire for how he handled the investigation and resolution process and he was resolved to not have such a circus happen again on his watch.

"Too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking," Goodell wrote in his 2008 memo to the league. "I believe we should reconsider the standard of proof to be applied in such cases, and make it easier for a competitive violation to be established."

http://www.patspulpit.com/2015/5/8/8572735/nfl-changed-more-probable-than-not-requirement-because-of-the-patriots

[BKH70041]

17. On what charges? What Federal, State, or Local law did he violate?

Last edited Tue May 12, 2015, 02:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Over what "rule of the NFL" does a court hold jurisdiction?

Edit: And the person below did not answer the question. Is there anyone out there who can just answer the question?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. All players submit themselves to binding arbitration...

Also, a lot of contractors submit themselves to binding arbitration... An arbitrator's decision can be appealed in civil court but not without great difficulty.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. Brady: "What? You want my emails? OOOPS, I erased them."

Hey it works for other people.