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| www.bostonherald.com |
To recap:• In this case, the NFL argued that obstructing justice is a suspension-worthy offense. But Berman determined that the league acted improperly on two fronts. First, the league had never suspended a player for previously obstructing justice, and most notably only fined Favre for it. Second, the league never notified anyone that there was a change in the penalties for obstruction. Judge Berman determined that the NFL acted improperly when it failed to tell Brady or anyone else that this was the new norm.• The NFL also determined that Brady's "general awareness" implicated him in the deflation of footballs. But Berman pointed out that this also appeared to be a completely new – and totally unannounced – standard as it related to players. He cited a 2009 incident in which a New York Jets employee was suspended for the use of improper kicking balls in a game against the Patriots. But in that same investigation, Feely was left completely unscathed despite being the player who used the footballs in question. In his own words, Feely told Judge Berman that he had "no culpability" whatsoever when it came to league actions.
The league launched a multi-million dollar investigation into the deflation of footballs; an offense that they had no procedure for investigating and no high school level knowledge of the ideal gas law. The league then made a determination that Tom Brady was "generally aware" that the balls were deflated after leaking false information stating that 11 of the 12 footballs were 2 or more PSI below regulation and failing there after to correct the reporting in the media. Goodell then suspended Brady for four games a punishment wildly out of line with any comparable offense, especially the $25,000 fine mandated in the rulebook for tampering with equipment. The appeal of the suspension was brought before Goodell and upheld. Big surprise.
The NFL filed suit beating the NFLPA to the punch to get the case heard in a more business friendly court meanwhile leaking selected information including Brady's emails he handed over to the league. The judge then urged the sides to come to a settlement because he would either uphold the suspension or not, but there wouldn't be anything in between, strongly hinting that he didn't find the NFL's case compelling.
The NFL clearly misread...everything. Judge Berman overturned the suspension and the football gods smiled down on New England, the Patriots, Brady, his four rings, millions of dollars, and supermodel wife.
Meanwhile, Goodell (after failing at this, Ray Rice's suspension, "Bountygate", the lockout, the ref strike, "Spygate", and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting) returns to league headquarters where there is more than likely a mountain of cocaine being snorted by top league officials as they will jabber endlessly about what uniform violations are worthy of a lifelong ban or whether Jim Irsay can score some Xanax so they can finally fall asleep.
*I know this is not a particularly important story, but since it was heard in a court, it could potentially have an impact on other employees covered under collective bargaining. If the suspension were upheld, it would basically be saying that any punishment is acceptable no matter how arbitrary or excessive, provided that the contract was vague enough. That's a precedent I'd rather not have upheld.
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