re: The NFL has upheld Tom Brady's 4 game suspension

Now I know why the NFL wanted the transcript of the appeal hearing sealed. This is essentially a 10-hour embarrassment of the NFL led by Jeff Kessler.

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The NFLPA’s lawyer really lays bare how unscientific the NFL’s ball pressure measuring process is during his examination of Troy Vincent. He asks question after question about whether anybody considered things like which gauge to use, whether to measure the temperature, whether to record if the balls were wet or dry, and Vincent is forced to answer “no” to practically every question. Here’s a representative sample:

Q. And is it fair to say you did not tell anybody to record the temperature in the room at the halftime testing, correct?

A. No, sir.

Q. And nobody recorded the temperature in the room at the halftime testing, correct?

A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. Right. You didn’t tell anybody to record the exact time when different balls were tested at the halftime, correct?

A. No, sir.

Q. And to your knowledge, nobody recorded that?

A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. You didn’t tell anybody to record whether or not the balls were tested on the Colts before reinflating the Patriots’ balls or after? You didn’t instruct anybody to record that anywhere, correct?

A. No, sir.

Q. And to your knowledge, it was not recorded anywhere?

A. Not to my knowledge.

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Does this help NE's case?

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Except, that's exactly why there is due process.


Sure. But some pretend that the NFL's due process is to the same standard as the one afforded by the Constitution, when we know that's not the case.

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But that's why the NFLPA goes to court because the NFL is trying to shite all over traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. The PA gave Goodell so much power, but when push comes to shove under scrutiny Goodell's arbitrary penalties are stricken on the reg.

Oh a Goodell flat out lies in the appeal report

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To summarize, the ruling concluded that Brady testified that he didn’t speak to Jastresmki about the tampering allegations, which caused Goodell to disregard Brady’s denial of “awareness and consent” to the deflation scheme: “[T]he unusual pattern of communication between Mr. Brady and Mr. Jastremski in the days following the AFC Championship Game cannot readily be explained as unrelated to conversations about the alleged tampering of the game balls,” Goodell wrote at page 8 of the ruling.

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But Brady testified — on multiple occasions — that he and Jastremski talked about the situation. And why wouldn’t they have talked? At that time, the NFL had told the Patriots that one of their footballs was measured at 10.1 PSI, ESPN had reported that 11 of 12 footballs were two pounds under the 12.5 PSI minimum, and the NFL had informed the Patriots that none of the Colts footballs measured below the 12.5 PSI minimum. Apart from the fact that each of these three contentions weren’t factual, they gave Brady plenty of reason to be talking to Jastremski, not to line up a lie but to try to figure out how someone could have taken so much air out of the footballs.

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frick everybody (especially Saints fans) who was rooting for a suspension despite knowing what we all know about Goodell - he's an incompetent and overly punitive assbag who constantly oversteps his bounds and bungles literally everything he touches. He's a walking contradiction (no alternate helmets for throwbacks bc of "player safety" but every team plays a TH game, 2 game suspension for criminally assaulting a toddler with a weapon, but lays a trap and suspends best QB in history FOUR games for something every team does). He should have resigned 2 or 3 times by now - hopefully this embarrassment and clear lie will finally force him out

And another

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Question: “So prior to this game, okay, had you ever heard of the Ideal Gas Law?”

Vincent: “No sir.” Question: “Do you know if anyone in the NFL Game-Day Operations had ever discussed the impact of the Ideal Gas Law in testing footballs?”

Vincent: “Not with me.”

Question: “You had never heard to that?”
Vincent: “Never.”

This exchange demonstrates the pre-existing mindset of Vincent and others: If the balls are at 12.5 PSI before the game, they should be at 12.5 at halftime. If they’re not, and if we have an accusation from the Colts that the Patriots take air out of footballs, tampering must be the explanation.

Vincent’s testimony also confirms the lack of sensitivity to the relevant scientific principles via the steps taken (and not taken) when testing the footballs at halftime. For example, the temperature of the officials’ locker room at the time of testing wasn’t recorded. Whether the balls were wet or dry wasn’t recorded. Neither was the specific time each ball was tested, an important point since the longer a ball is back inside a warmer room, the higher the PSI will be. Most importantly, there’s no record of the sequence in which the balls were tested. It has been presumed that the 11 Patriots’ football were tested first — and then re-filled with air — before the Colts’ footballs were tested. This theory finds support via common sense, because the official version as explained in the Ted Wells report is that only four Colts’ footballs were tested because they ran out of time. (Some would say they stopped testing Colts’ footballs because three of four came in under 12.5 PSI on one of the two gauges used.)

Even after the testing occurred and the 11 Patriots’ footballs came in under 12.5 PSI, no one in the league office considered the dynamic that causes air pressure in car tires to drop in the winter.

At page 238, Vincent explains that he spoke to NFL senior V.P. Dave Gardi about the situation after the game, telling him “because the Patriots had eleven game balls that were under compliance, that this may — we may need to do potential further investigation.” Vincent said that “Dave and I and others on our staff, we came to the conclusion that we probably need to do some additional follow-up.”

“But at that time, you didn’t know that some of the reduction could happen just because or cold or wetness or other factors, right?” Jeffrey Kessler asked Vincent. “That just wasn’t something you were aware of, correct?”

“I didn’t include science, no, sir,” Vincent said.

With no one considering science, the initial assumption became tampering, as exhibited by the tone and content of Gardi’s January 19 letter to the Patriots. As this case continues to unfold, the errors in Gardi’s initial letter become more glaring. “In fact, one of the game balls was inflated to 10.1 psi, far below the requirement of 12 1/2 to 13 1/2 psi,” Gardi wrote, a clear and obvious misstatement of fact that reinforces the presumption of tampering. And while some have explained away his contention that “each of the Colts’ game balls that was inspected met the requirement set forth above” by pointing out that on one of the two gauges the Colts’ balls were in compliance, Gardi’s letter prefaces that statement by pointing out that “each ball” was “inspected twice with different gauges.” If, instead of launching that same night an investigation premised on proving that the Patriots had cheated someone had considered the notion that perhaps air pressure changes during games played in the elements, and if someone had immediately retained a scientist to examine the raw numbers under the conditions at Gillette Stadium that night, there’s a good chance that the conclusion would have been that the raw data is inconclusive at best on whether there was tampering. But the early presumption — fueled by incorrect information given by the NFL to the Patriots and false numbers leaked by the NFL to ESPN — was that tampering had happened. So science became an afterthought, an inconvenience to be dismissed in the official report that found “more probable than not” evidence of cheating instead of what it should have been: An explanation considered seriously and thoroughly by the league office before pointing a finger at one of the 32 franchises it serves.

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Chef Kessler with the shot, boy

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just deal with punishment Pats Nation. NYC judge will make it stick

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Yeah, I hate Goodell and generally root for Brady, but part of me wants to see the Pats rustled. However, I think Sir Winston has it right. You may be ticked about how Goodell has handled things with other teams, but that doesn't mean you should root for the Pats to get thumped. Your team might be next on the wheel of justice.

Any competent leader would have immediately squashed this. The only thing I can come up with is Goodell really didn't want it to look like he plays favorites and that this whole thing was an inside job in terms of administering light discipline. So, he went full re-re.

It just seems like any competent judge would rule that the NFL is violating its own punishment system it's a no-brainer

I think this will play out like the Charles Grant thing with the Saints it will be overturned in court suspension lifted, the NFL will appeal and this will drag on in the courts until after Brady has retired.

No offense Wildcat, you my boy and everything, but you have been wrong everytime you have predicted something

First you said there wouldnt be suspensions

Then you said Kraft was going to go to federal court and own the NFL

Then we had the thread on how the appeal would be overturned


Maybe, just maybe, by being a Patriots fan you are only reading the articles that paint Brady's corner in a good light