Them filming from an unapproved location once in 2007?
If Im married to Giselle and there are things on that phone that could be embarrassing or damaging to her, there's no way on Gods green Earth I'd give that phone up to ANYBODY, consequences be damned. I know that in theory all they care about is the NFL stuff, and the rest of it is protected or whatever, but thats only in a court of law. If something gets leaked illegally into the court of public opinion, it doesnt make a damned bit of difference how it ended up in public.
What a shitshow
who fucking gets it. How many celeb women have been hacked for nude photos to be stolen? For someone in Brady's position, it makes perfect sense to switch phones often and destory the old ones.
What photos? How can I see these photos?
j/k
#BloggersGonBlog
If I'm coming home to that at night, why do I need it on my phone? All my buddies would know my wife is smoking hot and she's got famous being mostly naked. Plus TB needs to be smart enough to know that the NFL would be the least of his worries. Cell phones can be hacked, so any pics/vids of the wife should be kept offline. Don't they make Polaroids still?
Verlander.
that they had all of those pertinent texts and emails through McNally's and Jastremski's phones?
If that's true, then Brady must have the worst lawyer known to mankind. What was the point of refusing to hand them over besides making himself look extra guilty?
Whatever. It doesn't matter. They can still get to the playoffs.
Super Bowl XLIX Champion: New England Patriots*
Nice thing about this outcome for Brady is that he has very little to lose by challenging this in court. Goodell is practically begging him to do it. The question is, will the players decide to fight this issue more vigerously in the next CBA, or will going to court become the accepted route of appeal.
Look, Goodell is a total douche. And it's ridiculous that he hears the appeals on his own disciplinary actions. But Brady's (purposeful) destruction of his cellphone looks suspicious (as in evidence of guilt) to everyone who is not a Michigan or Patriot fan. I am sure Brady did it after consultation with his lawyers and they obviously decided the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.
The guilt was decided before the phone was destroyed.
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People are really grasping at straws to defend the destruction of the phone. The search could have been narrowed to focus on information relevant to the investigation. I think they even offered that option. It seems like Brady either got poor legal advice or failed to follow it.
If the reason for the 4 game suspension centers on the obstruction of the investigation (making the facts around deflate gate irrelevant) the fact that he had the phone destroyed on the day he met with the investigators seems nearly impossible to overcome. Any idea how he can argue his way out of this one? I am going to assume the, “I had personal stuff on the phone I did not want anyway to see, or I always destroy my phone when I get a new one and happened to get one on the exact date I was scheduled for the interview”, is not going to fly in court.
Seems like his best move is to take the four games and just move on.
The league, through their investigator, asked to see the phone. He responded by destroying the phone. That seems pretty open and shut in terms of obstructing the investigation.
If he wanted to argue the phone was not relevant, they had no right to see it, etc. he could have done so through is lawyers/agent. The union also could have steeped in to protect his interest. While that was adjudicated he could have held on to the phone and turned nothing over. He decided not to do that.
I am fairly sure if a court issues a search warrant for data you can’t destroy the data and then go back and argue you are innocent of obstruction because the warrant was invalid. The proper approach is to challenge the validity of the warrant not destroy the evidence. I think the same principle applies here.
Again, the guilt was assigned before the phone was destroyed. Brady had announced that he wouldn't turn over the phone, but would provide the data on all texts sent and, if Goodell and co thought that there was incriminating evidence in those texts, they could get them from the recipients. Sure, that's a big "fuck you," but who hasn't said "fuck you" to or about Goodell.
The destruction of the phone is just another red herring by Goodell. The content of the texts is still there if Goodell wants them. He doesn't. Brady is certainly engaging in dickish behavior in the face of this obvious witchunt, but I can't say I wouldn't do the same in his shoes. The whole Wells scenario of what supposedly happened is just ludicrous on the face of it.
Whether the balls were underinflated now appears to have nothing to do with this suspension being upheld. This now is apparently about Brady not cooperating and possibly tampering with evidence. As someone who worked in law enforcement for 30 years I have several points to make:
1) Under no circumstance should Brady (or anybody) be denied their right against self incrimination
2) Private communications are just that "private" and although subject to subpeona or warrant they should remain private unless otherwise ordered by the courts
3) Having used cell/text/e-mail records in investigations myself, I only need the information from one source which I believe the NFL had from the phones of the equipment personnel
If one of my officers had brought these facts to me seeking an indictment I would have advised them that they were shit out of luck.
I'm sure that none of us will ever know what Goodell's actual intentions are but all of this is douchy to say the least. He should identify the shortcoming in the rules and rectify it by going back to league prepared balls.
Go to work tomorrow and have your boss say that you've been stealing pens and banging your secretary on his desk. He tells you to hand over your cell phone and you tell him where to go before smashing it. He can't prove anything but because you smashed your phone he docks you 1/4 of your annual salary....... See you in court!!
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Everything is speculative, especially your comments. It's about the law, what can and can't be proven and past precedent. I feel though this will all go over your head as you try to just remain subjective to the fact that Brady went to Michigan. If this was any other QB, you would still see this our poor of shock and anger.
The NFL before the Ray Rice video was released, suspended him for 2 games. Before the audio of Hardy beating a woman nearly to death was released , he wasn't even fined. However, pseudo science and a few pissed off owners gets Brady suspended four games. Mind you, the one owner who is pissed off the most is the same owner who was busted for cocain and lightly punished.
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I like that the NFL has priorities - backwards, nonsensical ones, but priorities all the same. Clearly, mischief with the game balls is as serious...actually moreso than assaulting other human beings in the mind of Roger Goodell and how dare Tom Brady do something so dastardly to undermine the character and integrity of the game and those who play it.
Actually, I hope "....and by the way, fuck Goodell" is now an appropriate way to close meetings, parties and other sorts of gatherings.
Wait, what?
On what grounds could the NFL ask a federal court to rule on an internal NFL matter? Got a source on this NFL action?
The NFLPA can file a suit against the NFL over this, but how could the NFL file a suit? Against whom, and for what?
Tom Brady = G.O.A.T and there is no amount of slander than can trump such a fact.
"The Commissioner’s decision is deeply disappointing, but not surprising because the appeal process was thoroughly lacking in procedural fairness.
"Most importantly, neither Tom nor the Patriots did anything wrong. And the NFL has no evidence that anything inappropriate occurred."
(Indeed, it is odd to accuse someone of deflating balls when the balls were not abnormally deflated in the first place--as shown in an independent AEI report)
"The appeal process was a sham, resulting in the Commissioner rubber-stamping his own decision. For example, the Wells investigative team was given over 100 days to conduct its investigation. Just days prior to the appeal hearing, we were notified that we would only have four hours to present a defense; therefore, we didn’t have enough time to examine important witnesses. Likewise, it was represented to the public that the Wells team was ‘independent’; however, when we requested documents from Wells, our request was rejected on the basis of privilege. We therefore had no idea as to what Wells found from other witnesses, nor did we know what those other witnesses said.
"These are just two examples of how the Commissioner failed to ensure a fair process.
"Additionally, the science in the Wells Report was junk. It has been thoroughly discredited by independent third parties.
"Finally, as to the issue of cooperation, we presented the Commissioner with an unprecedented amount of electronic data, all of which is incontrovertible. I do not think that any private citizen would have agreed to provide anyone with the amount of information that Tom was willing to reveal to the Commissioner. Tom was completely transparent. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don’t know why. The extent to which Tom opened up his private life to the Commissioner will become clear in the coming days."
(Indeed, would any sane person with political aspirations go beyond that with an organization that had proven itself so untrustworthy? The NFL had already leaked countless false and misleading reports of ball pressures to the press, then failed to correct them or even nform the accused parties of the true pressure readings).
"The Commissioner’s decision and discipline has no precedent in all of NFL history. His decision alters the competitive balance of the upcoming season. The decision is wrong and has no basis, and it diminishes the integrity of the game.”
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/bradys-agent-appeals-process-…
Since most of the NFL fanbase hates Brady, Belichick, and the Pats, Goodell doesn't have to worry about public backlash and in fact probably gains public favor by 'standing up to the villain'
If this was Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers the suspension would've been nothing or would've been dropped a long time ago
"The Commissioner’s ruling today did nothing to address the legal deficiencies of due process. The NFL remains stuck with the following facts: •
- The NFL had no policy that applied to players;
- The NFL provided no notice of any such policy or potential discipline to players;
- The NFL resorted to a nebulous standard of “general awareness” to predicate a legally unjustified punishment;
- The NFL had no procedures in place until two days ago to test air pressure in footballs; and
- The NFL violated the plain meaning of the collective bargaining agreement.
The fact that the NFL would resort to basing a suspension on a smoke screen of irrelevant text messages instead of admitting that they have all of the phone records they asked for is a new low, even for them, but it does nothing to correct their errors."
(So, the NFLPA is taking the NFL to court. It will be interesting to see what they find when Goodell is finally forced to do what he refused to do ie to testify under oath, as Brady did already)."
http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports/newengland/football/patriots/2015/0…
Goodell is nothing more than a fall-guy lackey for the NFL owners. A $45 million a year lackey.
I'm so happy Harbaugh is piloting the UofM program. Keeps my sports mind sane.
Michael McCann, a law professor at the University of New Hampshire who writes for Sports Illustrated and SI dot com, is interviewed on WEEI radio:
Q: (How significant is the cell phone?)
A: Focusing on the destruction of the cell phone (is not) that persuasive..it is no clear requirement (nor is it) meaningful. ..Brady (didn’t have to) turn over the phone or text messages…this story was about deflated footballs not destruction of your personal (information).
Q: The National Football League took a very unusual and rare step this afternoon by taking their own decision to a Manhattan court--almost like a preemptive strike to perhaps keep this case away from the Minnesota court. Have you ever seen a league take its own decision to court before the alleged guilty party does?
A: it's very rare … The NFL now is (trying to control) the suspension by controlling the message and then filing suit in Manhattan…(but) that could change tomorrow (if the players' association files) a petition in Minnesota.. (On the other hand), it slows things down and time is not on Brady’s side.
Q: Just based on your experience, what do you think is gonna happen in terms of court?.
A: I think I think Brady has a pretty good chance of winning (since Goodell) has a conflict of interest--the fact he supervises referees. There are questions (also of) delegation of authority. (Also, there’s an issue of fairness in that Brett Favre only paid a fine for not turning over evidence) and Tom Brady get four game suspension.
I would caution that it's not a slam dunk…the players’ association ceded tremendous discretion to Roger Goodell to make these types of decisions
Q:. Is an injunction a possible remedy for Brady to.push (the suspension) back into next year?
A: Yeah I think an injunction could potentially push it to next year. But there's a risk that it could push into the later in the season or even potentially the playoffs. And I think that's the risk ….(But brining the case to a) federal appeals court.would likely take months to play out as we're seeing right now with Peterson.
Q: An NFL source told Stephen A Smith earlier today that the National Football League was totally confident that Tom Brady's four game suspension was going to be upheld in court of law. Is that whistling past the graveyard?
A: I think there's an argument that they are leaking to put pressure on Brady not go to court. I would agree in this sense I think Brady's argument. In terms of the law is weaker in the end Adrian Peterson case …he was punished under a new policy for old conduct. Brady’s case is sort of a more nebulous argument about fairness. Not quite as clear cut. But the NFL lost in the Peterson and Ray Rice cases.
Final Q: Do you think Tom Brady has a case for a defamation lawsuit?
A: What the NFL is saying about Tom Brady is clearly damaging to his character. And maybe they're saying it with some knowledge that they know they're wrong…(which would be pertinent to a) defamation lawsuit).. But that is not gonna help get Brady back on the field (It would only lead to) monetary damages.. I don't know that's really great motivation… it would also take months or not even years to play out.
Summary: This is not a slam dunk case but McCann thinks Tom Brady has fairly significant case and that the cell phones are not a big deal….they're not required.
And why Brady played so much better once the balls were properly inflated.
...maintaining any sense of morality is laughable. It's almost as bad as the NCAA in that regard.
That said, I don't think much of Tom Brady. He's a great quarterback with a hot wife, but there doesn't seem to be much beyond that. He comes off as being awful bland and not all that bright. That's no big deal, as he's not known for his wit or intellect.
However it does look like he cheated. But since he played for Michigan, this board seems all too eager to canonize him. He's a "Michigan Man" regardless. Whatever...
As for the second part about Brady, being from UM does get him a favorable bias here, but the guy is the most accomplished QB in the free agency era and possibly ever. Anyone who canonizes great athletes would have all the reason in the world to canonize him, as you put it. People laud Manning and he hasn't accomplished nearly as much as Brady despite his interesting personality. Brady is a uber competitive athlete, works his ass off, studies his craft intensely, and is by all accounts a dedicated family man. Pretty refreshing actually...wouldn't call that bland in this league full of clowns.
I think he has been pretty defensive but had he any choice given how everything escalated into scandal level 10 before he hit the post-game press conference? Would've never happened to any other QB in this league. Not to go into tinfoil hat territory, but it had all the characteristics of a sting operation by jealous a AFC franchise.
I don't know if this has already been mentioned. The NFL leaked the information about Brady destroying his phone, like they leaked every other falsehood about this case. There is a footnote in the decision which states “After the hearing and after the submission of post-hearing briefs, Mr. Brady’s certified agents offered to provide a spreadsheet that would identify all of the individuals with whom Mr. Brady had exchanged text messages during [the relevant time] period; the agents suggested that the League could contact those individuals and request production of any relevant text messages that they retained. Aside from the fact that, under Article 46, Section 2(f) of the CBA, such information could and should have been provided long before the hearing, the approach suggested in the agents’ letter — which would require tracking down numerous individuals and seeking consent from each to retrieve from their cellphones detailed information about their text message communications during the relevant period — is simply not practical.”
The NFL couldn't track down the two guys that supposedly had access to the balls that Brady allegedy communicated with or they didn't want to?
The best part of all this is that if Brady does decide to take this to court none of the bs about balls being deflated, text messages, phones being destroyed will matter. It will be a matter of labor laws.
You're saying the NFL was offered a spreadsheet conveniently put together by Brady's agents, on which they'd have to take the agents' word it was complete and accurate, and in order to find out what was on Brady's cell phone, they could instead track down multiple other cell phones and check off items on the spreadsheet? And that's a perfectly reasonable alternative to just spending 10 minutes scrolling through Brady's phone?
Sorry, defending that approach is a stretch beyond stretches. All this fuck-Goodell outrage pretty much ignores the fact that Brady basically just broke into the Watergate hotel.
Could the ESPN article by Lester Munson be any more favorable to Goddell? He calls Goddell's argument "powerful," "brilliantly reasoned," "meticulously detailed," "well-written," "persuasive," "exquisite," "persuasive, "brilliant," and "masterly." My God man. At least attempt to hide your bias.