#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[GetLucky]

However, this is a sidetrack (this whole thing is a sidetrack, but whatever). The original point I was trying to make was that the prospective PR fallout of "Brady destroyed his cell phone!" is being over blown in this thread.

Apologies for the digression.

A friend of mine said that something on page 12 of whatever was released said that Brady did not desstroy his cell phone. Don't quote me on that, as I'm not sure it's true, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was.

EDIT: Wow, that was a really general statement.

[colincb]

This is the actual CNN report.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/28/us/tom-brady-deflategate-suspension-upheld/

NFLPA spokesman George Atallah told CNN's Rachel Nichols that media reports claiming the NFL offered to drop Brady's suspension are "categorically false."

"The negotiations never got that far," Atallah told Nichols, adding that the players' union made an initial offer to the league.

The proposed deal was that the four-game suspension be eliminated, but Brady would pay a fine for failing to cooperate with the investigation.

Atallah said league officials told them the NFL wouldn't even discuss anything unless Brady admitted his guilt.

At that point negotiations ended, Atallah told Nichols.

[kozlodoev]

However, this is a sidetrack (this whole thing is a sidetrack, but whatever). The original point I was trying to make was that the prospective PR fallout of "Brady destroyed his cell phone!" is being over blown in this thread.

Apologies for the digression.

A friend of mine said that something on page 12 of whatever was released said that Brady did not desstroy his cell phone. Don't quote me on that, as I'm not sure it's true, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was.

EDIT: Wow, that was a really general statement.

What pg 12 does is go at length at the fact that even though Brady claims that he customarily destroys his phones when he stops using them, he was able to provide the investigation with a phone he used prior to November 2014.

[Beat LA]

And here go...

Jim TrotterVerified account
?@JimTrotter_NFL
Tom Brady has authorized the NFLPA to appeal his case in federal court, per source.

Awesome. I'm glad to see him go forward with this.

If he's going forward with this, all you can be glad about is that he's attempting to get back on the field.  His legacy though is now permanently stained.  The fact that he had his phone destroyed is a massive detail...even if he goes to court, wins, and gets this down to 0 games, Patriot haters can say "well you know why he won?  Because they had no evidence because he destroyed his phone"

Now again, if you're saying awesome just because he's fighting to get back on the field, then sure.  But fighting for his "legacy" is now a dead battle.  It's over.

His legacy isn't stained at all, that's just the narrative fan in you talking. It's not nearly as 'stained' as, say, Ray Lewis -- who's legacy isn't in particularly poor standing at all, at least as his play is concerned.

Look, I'm not a football fan, but how is Brady's legacy not at all tarnished after this?  In how many scandals do he and Belichick have to be involved before someone puts two and two together?

I think the larger point is that these things fade from memory for the most part. You do realize the guy Dos is referring to is "more likely than not" to know about murder of two young men and/or have been involved in it. That man is now on national tv broadcasts and is trotted out as an ambassador of the game. If he can overcome that, I think it is more likely than not that Brady can overcome more likely than not knowing about the deflation of some footballs.

Unless you are Mark Brunell and facing bankruptcy from bad whattaburger investments, this is isn't the kind of stuff to cry over.

Yes, I'm well aware of Ray Lewis and feel that he should be in jail, but I also don't think it's easy for people to dismiss this 'scandal' involving Brady and the Patriots because it only adds to their already-shady track record.  Honestly, I don't give a flying fart in space about the nfl or any of this.  I just think it's a sad sign of where our 'news' is right now in this country if 'stories' like this are heavily and regularly featured.  I'm not sure which is more hilarious - the completely asinine discussion itself, or the amount of time given to it.  I mean, other than Brady and the Patriots, the most talked about offender/conspirator (whichever term you prefer) is a guy who called himself, 'the deflator.' This 'story' is gold, lol .

It's a story because they need space to fill before training camp, and end of July/beginning of August is the sports news dead zone. And also because the NFL seems incapable of doing anything other than shooting themselves in the foot whenever something like this comes up -- newsworthy because the NFL is massive.

The reasons why you feel such news stories are asinine is another topic entirely, but perhaps not one that will find much traction on a forum dedicated to tracking players of a specific sports team into largely unimportant minutia.

Wait, aren't you a journalist or something who has spent a lot of time lecturing this blog on how the process works, and yet you don't think a 'story' like this is asinine? Wow.  Well, at the very least, could we agree that the coverage has been over inflated , because we passed 'unimportant minutia' MONTHS AGO.

Besides, other than the 2 week period after the superbowl, there is no downtime for nfl, or college football, news.  First it's the combine, then it's the draft that seemingly takes a week , then you have non-mandatory mini camps and workouts where 'reporters' often interpret such earth shattering events (sarcasm) as a player taking longer than usual in the porta potty as a sign that he's holding out for a new contract, followed by other mini camps and the analysis of who did and did not show up, more contract disputes, training camp, the preseason, and then the regular season finally starts.  It's the same crap every year.  Thank god I stopped watching sportscenter a while ago.  Honestly, these 'reporters' often ask questions and cover 'stories' in a manner befitting the correspondents of extra and entertainment tonight.

[D.o.s.]

I think you misread my post.

[Beat LA]

I think you misread my post.

If you're talking to me, how so?

[D.o.s.]

put another way: the reason there are reporters 'still' covering Deflategate is the same reason we can have a multi-page thread about RJ Hunter months before the regular season starts. It has very little to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the happenings, but simply the fact that the happenings exist.

[twistedrico]

Brady should have admitted he was guilty from the start instead of letting his big fat ego take over.  Would have probably gotten a fine and this would have been long gone...

[Beat LA]

put another way: the reason there are reporters 'still' covering Deflategate is the same reason we can have a multi-page thread about RJ Hunter months before the regular season starts. It has very little to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the happenings, but simply the fact that the happenings exist.

Well, if that's the standard by which these 'reporters' operate, then we have a much bigger problem, here.  I guess this is the product of 24 hour news, but still, it's pathetic.

[Beat LA]

I have been saying for months in this thread that this story (rather than the controversy behind the actual story, which is the story at this point) is a waste of time, and that it is simply news because there is nothing else to talk about in regards to the NFL. Your assumption that I don't think so is unfounded.

And, in totality, your response indicates that you did not understand my post. Next time I will include more smileys and lols.

To use the quote button like mahone wants me to"

Wait, aren't you a journalist or something who has spent a lot of time lecturing this blog on how the process works, and yet you don't think a 'story' like this is asinine? Wow

This is a baseless assumption born entirely out of a failure on your behalf to accurately comprehend what I wrote, both in isolation and in the greater context of the thread. That is exactly what I mean when I say "I think you misread my post." It means "your response would make it appear that you don't actually know what I've just said, and maybe a second look would help."


edit: almost forgot!
" lol!  "

Why spend so much time and energy on it, then?  I have not been keeping up to date with any of this, so how would I know that you've given so much effort to a story that you don't think is worthy of the amount of coverage it deserves, and what is this controversy behind the controversy, so to speak?

Perhaps you should read over what you wrote, again.  I was making the point on why the whole thing is absurd, and you explained why it was a story, even though, if precedent is observed, espn, etc., clearly doesn't need any help in thinking of how to report on nothing regarding any level of football.  Why is this particular topic continuing to receive so much attention as opposed to something like domestic violence or the long term impact of concussions?  It's one thing to be a filler piece - it's quite another to be a story that occupies a significant portion of national news broadcasts over a period of months. 

Additionally, were you being sarcastic when you mentioned that it's newsworthy because the nfl is massive, because I can't tell.

Thank you for taking the time to explain what 'I think you misread my post' meant, btw - it was both necessary and greatly appreciated (sarcasm).  If I have any questions in the future as far as how to make friends and influence people, you'll be the first person I contact (sarcasm) .

[Donoghus]

Brady finally comes out with a statement (you know, for the people in this thread that kinda actually care and have been following this from the start  )

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/tom-brady-im-very-disappointed-i-did-nothing-wrong/

[Eja117]

Brady finally comes out with a statement (you know, for the people in this thread that kinda actually care and have been following this from the start  )

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/tom-brady-im-very-disappointed-i-did-nothing-wrong/

Give em hell Tom

[Eja117]

I'm pretty late to the party here, so I'll probably say stuff that has already been said....however,   I do not for the life of me understand why an employer (really any employer but especially an employer of people in a union) think for the life of them "cooperation" in an investigation means they get to completely invade your privacy.

To me "cooperation" means they ask you questions, and you answer them. They want to see the footballs so you give them to them.  But take cell phones from 5 people?  Who the heck do they think they are, the NSA?  Even the NSA isn't supposed to do that.

If I'm the NFLPA I'm standing united on this and saying the following:

"All our players at any and all times are always in complete control of their phones, their email and social media passwords and logins, their diaries, their trash, their homes, their photo albums, their cars, their academic records, their yards, and any other similar part of their private lives and the NFL can never have access to them ever.  Our players will comply with warrants by law enforcement, but not ever the NFL. This is non-negotiable. It doesn't matter if they burn them, send them to the moon, smash them with hammers, or delete it. It is their property."

Go on strike if you must, but win this battle.
The end.

I don't recognize an employer's right to your stuff. They have a right to their stuff.

  First of all, while it might be true that the league has no means whatsoever to compel players or team officials to comply with it's investigations, you can't just assume that to be true. Maybe they're expected to comply with official league investigations, and Brady's an example of what kind of punishment they can get if they don't. You also can't just compare them to typical employees. For instance, the players have to share much more of their medical history than almost anyone else would.

  Also, as an fyi, it's not unheard of for employers to ask employees for their social media passwords. The employees (or prospective employees) aren't legally obligated to comply with the request, but their employment can still be contingent on it. The nfl can't legally compel Brady to give them his phone, but that doesn't imply that they can't punish him for not cooperating with the investigation.

To me Brady did comply. He just didn't let them thoroughly invade his privacy and leak whatever they want to whoever they want.

And I agree he isn't just any employee. He's a member of a union with rights that are being trampled.

[BballTim]

put another way: the reason there are reporters 'still' covering Deflategate is the same reason we can have a multi-page thread about RJ Hunter months before the regular season starts. It has very little to do with the quality (or lack thereof) of the happenings, but simply the fact that the happenings exist.

  As far as the nfl goes, whether or not Brady gets suspended for four games seems like big news.

[Eja117]

The Patriots have fallen victim to a classic old school NFL rule.  Never hit back. Always hit first. By the time the ref turns around he catches you.

Instead of being on defense all the time they need to go on offense and start accusing other teams of breaking rules and requiring people to investigate the other teams. But they have to do it with the media as well as with the league.

Oh hey. The Jets are practicing too many hours. Oh the Colts are using illegal pads. Oh the Steelers are giving their players red bull during the games.

Whatever works.