Brady testimony in NFL 'Deflategate' released

[El Supremo]

Where's Joeybee? He should be out on parole today.

NEW YORK (AP) — Tom Brady denied under oath to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that he tampered with footballs before the AFC title game, and investigator Ted Wells said in a transcript that he never warned the New England Patriots quarterback he would be punished if he didn't turn over his cellphone.

In a 457-page transcript released on Tuesday, Brady maintained his innocence in the NFL scandal known as "Deflategate." He denied discussing air level with the ballboys or even thinking about how inflated the footballs were when he selected them. He also said he's never asked anyone from the Patriots to tamper with footballs.

Brady was suspended four games and the team was docked $1 million and two draft picks after a NFL-sanctioned investigation by Wells found the Patriots supplied improperly inflated footballs for the conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, which New England won 45-7.

Brady appealed the punishment. Goodell decided to hear the appeal himself and upheld the penalty. Both sides went to federal court, and U.S. District Judge Richard Berman told the sides to work out a settlement. To encourage them, he ordered both Brady and Goodell to appear in court in person during the NFL preseason....

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_28585238/nfl-union-releases-brady-testimony-deflategate

[El Supremo]

1. And trumad's back!

Maybe this group will return to normal. That's until one of them encounters the stupid jury system again.

[madinmaryland]

2. Wait what? Both trumad, joeybee12, and cboy4 are all banned at the same time?

As an ace reporter, someone has to wonder about the coincidence of this.

[El Supremo]

4. I was wrong.

I don't think trumad can get out on bail until the 20th. I must have been drunk or something.

[RockaFowler]

3. Deadspin does a good job going through all 400+ pages

http://deadspin.com/here-is-the-transcript-from-tom-bradys-appeal-hearing-1722113452

Fascinating . . .

[hughee99]

5. The easiest way to tell that the information in the hearing

doesn't hurt Brady's case is that this thread is sinking like a stone.

After reading the deadspin excerpts, it certainly doesn't make the NFL look like they have their shit together.

[mythology]

6. The NFL hasn't done a great job on this

But it's pretty clear Brady cheated. But the court case isn't actually about whether Brady ordered the deflation, but instead whether the suspension falls under the CBA.

Also what sort of grown man actually refers to somebody as a "hater" like Brady did to Brunell? Brady comes across as a teenager in his emails. Oh and who doesn't disable the sent by whatever phone notification?

[hughee99]

7. Is it pretty clear Brady cheated?

The NFL didn't accuse him of deflating footballs. The NFL didn't accuse of him of ordering anyone to deflate footballs. If it's pretty clear, why didn't the NFL even accuse him of that? The NFL's conclusion was that he was "generally aware" that footballs were being illegally deflated... kind of like Pete Carroll might have been "generally aware" he had a bunch of players on steroids, the falcons owner may have been "generally aware" that they were piping in crowd noise or Joe Montana may have been "generally aware" that Jerry Rice was using stick-um (when the footballs came back all sticky). In my opinion, the NFL did a pretty poor job in even proving footballs had been illegally deflated.

But the court case will come down to the process and the CBA. Did the NFL follow the rules from the CBA and provide Brady a fair hearing? Can the "independent investigator" in the investigation also be council for the NFL in the appeal process? After an investigation, should the NFL league office be allowed to edit the "independent" report BEFORE releasing the results or letting the other side see it? Can Goodell delegate his authority to hand out punishment, and if he signs off on a punishment before it's announced, has he really delegated his authority at all? NFL players have to sign off on a bunch of different rules and regulations, and that they are aware of the rules, but the ball deflation rule is NOT in any of those policies players have to sign off on (I think it's in one of the policies team management has to sign, though).

Frankly, I don't like the NFL's chances of getting this upheld.