Goodell, NFL Upholds Tom Brady’s 4-Game Suspension

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: CBS

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has ruled on Tom Brady’s appeal, deciding to uphold his four-game suspension for his role in the DeflateGate scandal.



Read more: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/07/28/goodell-nfl-upholds-tom-bradys-4-game-suspension/

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Didn't expect him to keep at the Greg Hardy Level.

[BillZBubb]

1. There's a shock. NOT!

Goodell is one screwed up person. Beat a woman, 2 games! Or maybe 4. Kinda, coulda, maybe knew about underinflated footballs, 4 games! That's justice.

[Iggo]

2. They suspended Hardy for 10 games before they chickened out and reduced it to 4.

I'm pleasantly surprised they didn't chicken out and reduce Big Fat Cheater Tom Brady's 4 game suspension.

[rocktivity]

3. CUE THE VONAGE THEME!

I say, let Brady go to court and insist that a private employer has no right to punish him for refusing to cooperate in an internal investigation!

It's a no-win situation for anybody, but you still need to do the right thing: when you have to choose between bad and worse, ALWAYS CHOOSE BAD.


rocktivity

[Amishman]

4. its more about the open defiance from Brady and the Pats during the investigation

The whole organization did everything they could to make the investigation harder. This is as much a message about that. The NFL wants to show the teams who is the boss.

[NobodyHere]

5. The NFL doesn't take too kindly to players obstructing investigations

[gelsdorf]

6. I have seen reports on other sites

that he destroyed the cell phone in question. If that's the case, that is tampering with evidence. I would avoid court if I were he.

[Narraback]

7. Would have been in Wells Report.

NA

[hughee99]

11. The case itself isn't going to have anything to do with the court case.

The NFL concluded it's "more likely than not" that Brady was guilty, So that wouldn't stand up in court either. The fact that he's not legally required to turn over his cellphone at all wouldn't help the NFL's case either.

The court system or an arbitrator doesn't really give two shits about the specifics of the case, what they'll have to rule on is the process and Goodell's authority to do what he did within the framework of the NFL players association contract, which is why the suite is being brought by the NFLPA. Goodell doesn't have a great record of winning those in recent years.

Since this was going to the courts anyway (short of Goodell saying he'd just forget the whole thing, which he couldn't do), I didn't see any reason why Goodell would reverse a suspension that he was instrumental in creating in the first place.

[Sgent]

13. "More likely than not"

is the standard that courts use to determine civil liability (not criminal). If I sue you, all I have to prove is that you more likely than not committed a tort.

Civil liability has also been described as 50% plus a feather.

[hughee99]

14. The NFL concluded that it was more likely than not that Brady had knowledge of it,

not even that he directed it or did it himself. I'm not sure that someone not working for the NFL would even agree on that much. Based on the Wells report, I'm not 100% sure the NFL even proved that ANYONE actually deflated the balls at all. In any case, this will all be irrelevant to the arbitrator or judge, who will be looking at the process, not the case details.

My guess is that the NFLPA files an injunction and gets it, which allows Brady to play until the case is heard, and that drags out until the next offseason, where Brady serves 2 games at the start of the 2016 season. Which I suspect is what Goodell is hoping for. He looks like the tough guy and doesn't piss off the other 31 owners, he doesn't have to keep one of his stars off the field, and the court system does his dirty work of reducing the sentence for him so he doesn't have to answer questions like "why does the guy who beats his wife only get as many games as the guy who more likely than not knew that football were being deflated by about 1psi?"

[Gothmog]

8. Good-Brady destroyed his phone and refused to cooperate

[dembotoz]

12. NFL is easypeasy. Fear the phone police

[Angry Dragon]

9. if it was such a big deal they should have kicked the Pats out of the super bowl

[NobodyHere]

10. That would've pissed off the fan base and severely damage the credibility of the Superbowl

Even more than the Pats victory.