Brady 4 Game Suspension Upheld

[Rastak]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/03/falcons-owner-says-it-might-be-time-to-look-at-commissioners-power/

That's two owners now questioning Adolph Goodell.

[pbmax]

Are Federal Judges bullies?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/03/judge-bermans-ruling-may-contain-a-warning-for-the-nfl/

Judge Richard M. Berman surely knows that this happens, which means there’s a chance he included a specific message for the league’s lawyers at the very end of Thursday’s ruling in the Tom Brady case.

And the message may have been, “Appeal this decision at your own peril.”

Details in article. Berman mentions three things he did not rule on that could haunt the NFL more than losing this appeal.

[Rastak]

Are Federal Judges bullies?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/03/judge-bermans-ruling-may-contain-a-warning-for-the-nfl/

Details in article. Berman mentions three things he did not rule on that could haunt the NFL more than losing this appeal.

Doty did the same thing on the Peterson case. He essentially said you fucked up on points 1-3 and you lose, I am not ruling on points 4 or 5 as it's moot.

I never thought about an appeal being sent back down and the judge simply saying, ok 1-3 seem to be ok by the appeals court but 4 & 5 are illegal too.

[pbmax]

I just don't understand how a League that has been dealing with Collective Bargaining for, what, 50 years, fails this utterly.

Jason La Canfora ✔@JasonLaCanfora
The fact the players not given copy of the game day operations manual - which outlines rules for inflation and penalties, also a key fact

Chris B. Brown @smartfootball
NFL really only has themselves to blame as judge was only reviewing process with heavy deference to arbitrator. NFL's "process" is broken.

Translation: If they had a legit process, they could have had the decision they wanted. If they had followed precedent, they then could have amended rules to keep this from happening. Both better options than striking out.

[Rastak]

I just don't understand how a League that has been dealing with Collective Bargaining for, what, 50 years, fails this utterly.

Jason La Canfora ✔@JasonLaCanfora
The fact the players not given copy of the game day operations manual - which outlines rules for inflation and penalties, also a key fact

Chris B. Brown @smartfootball
NFL really only has themselves to blame as judge was only reviewing process with heavy deference to arbitrator. NFL's "process" is broken.

Translation: If they had a legit process, they could have had the decision they wanted. If they had followed precedent, they then could have amended rules to keep this from happening. Both better options than striking out.

That's the whole thing to get out of this. Goodell shoots from the hip there are no rules in his mind. I do what I want he seems to think.

Get a process that makes sense. Follow the "law of the shop" as legally required and for god sakes don't have the NFL head lawyers EDITING THE INDEPENDENT FINDINGS.

I mean, is this the ultimate in balls.

They make a big deal about ball's air pressure yet have never had any controls in place. They honestly come off as a bunch of amateur morons in a billion dollar industry.

[smuggler]

Judge: All labor is deceitful and corrupt. Your rules don't take that into account properly. Zaaap!!

[Pugger]

The league let the inmates run the asylum when it came to game balls by allowing teams to prepare them instead of the league. The irony in all of this is Brady, along with Manning and others, petitioned the league to change the rules!

[pbmax]

The league let the inmates run the asylum when it came to game balls by allowing teams to prepare them instead of the league. The irony in all of this is Brady, along with Manning and others, petitioned the league to change the rules!

That is one thing that LaCanfora's article about changes in the League Office doesn't cover. He openly wonders if the old guard would have botched this so badly.

But Ray Anderson, the Operations guy before Troy Vincent, was the person who put rules into place for QBs to prep the balls.

[Guiness]

That's the whole thing to get out of this. Goodell shoots from the hip there are no rules in his mind. I do what I want he seems to think.

Get a process that makes sense. Follow the "law of the shop" as legally required and for god sakes don't have the NFL head lawyers EDITING THE INDEPENDENT FINDINGS.

I mean, is this the ultimate in balls.

They make a big deal about ball's air pressure yet have never had any controls in place. They honestly come off as a bunch of amateur morons in a billion dollar industry.

Your thinking is exactly in line with mine. It's the old 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' and the NFL with its myriad of exemptions has been allowed to run around doing whatever the hell they want for a long, long time.

And the guys who own the teams are largely a bunch of egomaniacal cowboys, which is all kinds of crazy. When you step back and look at it, it's almost crazy it works at all.

Their behavior here is similar to how they've acted in other, seemingly unrelated matters, like the whole concussion issue.

btw I missed the 'editing the independent findings' thing. I assume they doctored the Wells report? More proof of the above.

[Cheesehead Craig]

[Cheesehead Craig]

[pbmax]

Hammer falling on the Ginger Hammer.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/04/report-owners-to-discuss-changing-goodells-role-in-disciplinary-process/

According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, owners plan to discuss Commissioner Roger Goodell’s role in the disciplinary process.

“There will certainly be discussion about that,” an owner told Maske, on the condition of anonymity. The owner added that he’s “not sure where it will lead.”

3 owners have spoken up in favor of a change in role, rather than just changing the execs under him. Kraft the Younger, York and Blank. But that is not exactly murderer's row from the Owners. You take as given the Kraft's are pissed, but York is young and not sure how much sway Blank has.

[Rastak]

Your thinking is exactly in line with mine. It's the old 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' and the NFL with its myriad of exemptions has been allowed to run around doing whatever the hell they want for a long, long time.

And the guys who own the teams are largely a bunch of egomaniacal cowboys, which is all kinds of crazy. When you step back and look at it, it's almost crazy it works at all.

Their behavior here is similar to how they've acted in other, seemingly unrelated matters, like the whole concussion issue.

btw I missed the 'editing the independent findings' thing. I assume they doctored the Wells report? More proof of the above.

Jeffrey Pash, the head lawyer guy for the NFL took the Wells report and made some "edits" which was testified to in court. When Wells was asked what Pash had "edited" he said he wasn't sure but felt the crux of the report was correct and it was just a lawyer "wordsmithing"

Now you gotta have some seeds to try and pull that off. Another lawyer who was working on the "independent report" ended up sitting at the table across from the NFLPA during the appeal, on the payroll of the NFL. I mean, you can't dream this shit up.

[Guiness]

Another good read

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/05/kessler-the-nfl-doesnt-want-to-comply-with-the-cba/

[pbmax]

Is Goodell, not his subordinates, the problem?

WaPo: Sally Jenkins, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...m_sports_pop_b

The Brady case is really about one man’s immoderate need to horsewhip others. Taken with other anecdotes of Goodell over the years, a picture emerges of a stubborn desire to break those who oppose or question him, to bend them to his will when it comes to his personal authority. In Kent Babb’s excellent profile of Goodell, a player involved in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement remembered how Goodell would flush red with fury and stalk out of the room when his proposals were rejected. Another excellent profile by ESPN’s Don Van Natta a few years ago contained a similar story. An NFL assistant coach was stopped for suspicion of driving under the influence. The offense was reduced to reckless driving, and his lawyer pled for mercy from Goodell in a disciplinary hearing, telling Goodell that the coach had a previously unblemished record.

Sally is not my favorite columnist and sometimes she heads to places not supported by the evidence*. However, Kent Baab and Van Natta (whose article on the Asst Coach I cannot find) are very good. So if Roger is a red-faced maximalist and not simply a stooge, he might be the source of the change that Kessler (above in Guiness' post) sees in the League in 2012.

Here is Baab's article on Goodell that contains the CBA negotiations story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...0f8_story.html plus this:

“Good is not good enough,” a former league office colleague said of the kind of outcome Goodell pursues. “It’s got to be perfect.”