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Title: NFLPA and Tom Brady v NFL and NFL Management Council, (29 Jul 2015) PETITION to Vacate Arbitration Award
Source: U.S. District Court, Minnesota
URL Source: https://www.scribd.com/doc/272986777/Tom-Brady-Petition
Published: Jul 29, 2015
Author: Attys for NFLPA and Brady
Post Date: 2015-07-30 03:01:16 by nolu chan
Keywords: None
Views: 4655
Comments: 14

NFLPA and Tom Brady v NFL and NFL Management Council, MNDC 15-cv-03168 (29 Jul 2015) Doc 1, PETITION to Vacate Arbitration Award

RECEIVED
JUL 29, 2015
CLERK, U.S. DISTRICT COURT MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

CASE 0:15-cv-03168-RHK-HB Document 1 Filed 07/29/15 Page 1 of 54

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DIS TRICT OF MINNESOTA

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, on its own behalf and on behalf of TOM BRADY,
Petitioner,

v.

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE and NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE MANAGEMENT COUNCIL,
Respondents.

Case No. 15-cv-03168-RHK-HB

UNREDACTED PETITION TO VACATE ARBITRATION AWARD

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CASE 0:15-cv-03168-RHK-HB Document 1 Filed 07/29/15 Page 2 of 54

Petitioner National Football League Players Association ("NFLPA" or "Union"), on its own behalf and on behalf of Tom Brady, hereby petitions this Court, pursuant to Section 301 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185 ("LMRA"), and Section 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C § 10 ("FAA"), to vacate the July 28, 2015 Arbitration Award ("Award") (NFLPA Ex. 210 hereto) issued by National Football League ("NFL" or "League") Commissioner Roger Goodell.

INTRODUCTION

1. Goodell's Award denied the Union and Brady's arbitration appeal of an unprecedented four-game suspension for Brady's purported "general awareness" that two New England Patriots equipment personnel allegedly deflated Patriots footballs prior to the 2015 AFC Championship Game.

2. Through this Petition, the NFLPA and Brady seek to set aside the Award, which defies the binding ruling of this Court in Peterson, ignores the "law of the shop" and the essence of the parties' collective bargaining agreement ("CBA"), and gives the

__________

1 Exhibit citations herein refer to the exhibits submitted with this Petition. Petition exhibit numbers 1-203 coincide with the numbers of the exhibits submitted by the NFLPA and Brady through the June 23, 2015 arbitration hearing in the underlying Article 46 arbitration proceeding before Commissioner Goodell which resulted in the issuance of the Award, Exhibit numbers 205-208 are the NFLPA and Brady's post-hearing brief and attendant exhibits, also submitted to Goodell Exhibit number 204 is the full transcript from the June 23 arbitration before Commissioner GoodelL

Petitioners have also filed contemporaneously with the Court an ex parte motion to file certain of those exhibits, as well as selected portions of this Petition, under seal because the NFL insisted upon a confidentiality agreement.

2

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back of the hand to fundamental arbitral principles concerning procedural fairness and arbitrator bias.

3. In Peterson, this Court squarely held that the law of the shop under the CBA affords players advance notice of potential discipline. This Court further held in Peterson that any arbitration award sustaining discipline in the absence of proper notice is an award contrary to the essence of the CBA and must be vacated.

4. Thumbing its nose at the Peterson order, Commissioner Goodell's Award upholds Brady's four-game suspension in its entirety despite the undisputed arbitration record of several egregious notice defects: Brady had no notice of the disciplinary standards that would be applied to him; no notice of the disciplinary policies that would be applied; and no notice of the potential penalties. In fact, the NFL collectively bargained over the punishments (fines, not suspensions) for alleged equipment tampering by players—including those designed to gain a competitive advantage—and was not free to disregard that CBA bargain and subject Brady to other standards, policies, and penalties without any notice at all.

5. The notice defects which each independently require vacating the Award are: (i) suspending Brady for claimed "general awareness" of alleged misconduct by other people, an unknown disciplinary standard never previously applied to players in the history of the NFL; (ii) suspending Brady despite the fact that the Player Policies provide only for specified fines for any type of equipment violation; (iii) subjecting Brady to the Competitive Integrity Policy, which applies only to Clubs—not players; and (iv) suspending Brady for alleged non-cooperation, when a fine is the only penalty that has

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ever been upheld in such circumstances. By ignoring each one of these notice failures, the Award—as in Peterson—utterly disregards the CBA law of the shop and must be vacated for defying the essence of the CBA.

6. But the Award's legal defects do not stop there. The Award ignores the law of the shop requirement of fair and consistent treatment by basing discipline on ball pressure "testing" that the NFL concedes did not generate reliable information because of its failure to implement any protocols for collecting such information. Additionally, the Award is the product of a fundamentally unfair process, and was issued by an evidently partial arbitrator who put himself in the position of ruling on the legality of his own improper delegation of authority in violation of the CBA. Each of these grounds independently requires vacating the Award.

SUMMARY OF ARBITRATION PROCEEDINGS

7. Tom Brady quarterbacks the New England Patriots and is one of the most successful players—on and off the field—in NFL history. This past February, he led the Patriots to their fourth Super Bowl championship during his tenure with the team, tying him for the most all-time Super Bowl victories by a quarterback. 8. Following the 2015 AFC Championship Game, the NFL launched an investigation into whether the Patriots footballs were improperly deflated below the pressure range ("PSI") permitted by NFL rules. Goodell commissioned one of the League's regular outside law firms, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison ("Paul, Weiss"), led by partner Theodore Wells, to co-lead the "Deflate-gate" investigation along with NFL Executive Vice President and General Counsel Jeffrey Pash (the "Wells-Pash

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Investigation"). NFLPA Ex. 7, Wells Report at 1. The League and Paul Weiss have publicly touted the Wells-Pash Investigation as "independent."

9. The investigation was conducted, and punishments imposed, under the NFL's Policy on Integrity of the Game & Enforcement of Competitive Rules ("Competitive Integrity Policy"). Id. However, by its own terms, the Competitive Integrity Policy applies to Clubs—not players. Accordingly, the Competitive Integrity Policy was never given to players, and it is undisputed that Brady never saw the Policy prior to these proceedings. NFLPA Ex. 210, Award at 17 n. 19.

10. On May 6, many months and many millions of dollars in legal fees later, Paul, Weiss and the NFL issued the "Wells Report" summarizing the findings from their investigation. The purportedly independent Wells Report was edited by Pash, the NFL's General Counsel, before its public release. The Report concluded that it was "more probable than not" that two Patriots equipment employees—John Jastremski and Jim McNally—had violated the Competitive Integrity Policy by "participat[ing] in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee" prior to the start of the AFC Championship Game. NFLPA Ex. 7, Wells Report at 2. The Wells Report reached this conclusion notwithstanding the denials of Jastremski and McNally and the absence of any other witness or document directly supporting the claims of ball deflation. Moreover, even though footballs are expected to naturally deflate when moving from a warm locker room to a cold-weather environment (like the AFC Championship Game), the Wells Report concluded that human intervention was "more probable than not" based on a statistical and scientific analysis. At the same

5

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time, however, the Wells Report conceded that this analysis rested on numerous "assumptions"—because of the League's failure to record the necessary data—and that "varying the applicable assumptions can have a material impact upon the ultimate conclusions." Id. at 13.

11. With respect to Brady's alleged role, the Wells Report findings were even more limited. The Report concluded it was "more probable than not that Brady was at least "generally aware" of the alleged misconduct by McNally and Jastremski. Id. at 17 (emphasis added). The Wells Report did not find that Brady actually knew about any ball deflation at the AFC Championship Game; it did not find that Brady directed or authorized any ball deflation; nor did it find that Brady even had any knowledge of the Competitive Integrity Policy pursuant to which he was punished and the Wells-Pash Investigation was conducted.

12. After the Wells Report was released, the Union and Brady waited to see what, if any, action Commissioner Goodell would take. As the Commissioner, Goodell—and no one else—has the exclusive authority under the CBA to take certain disciplinary actions against players for conduct detrimental to the League. But, in this case, Goodell improperly abdicated his CBA role and delegated his disciplinary authority to NFL Executive Vice President Troy Vincent.

13. Vincent, invoking the Competitive Integrity Policy (as opposed to the applicable League Policies for Players ("Player Policies")), and resting solely on the limited factual conclusions from the Wells Report about Brady's alleged "general awareness," suspended Brady for four games. NFLPA Ex. 10. Vincent also based this

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punishment on Brady's purported failure to cooperate with the Wells-Pash Investigation. Id. The full extent of the alleged "non-cooperation" found by Wells and cited by Vincent was Brady declining, on the advice of his agents who were also acting as his attorneys, to respond to Wells' requests to produce certain of his private text messages and e-mails. Id. The applicable Player Policies on equipment violations were not even considered in Vincent's discipline letter.

14. On May 14, 2015, Brady timely appealed his suspension pursuant to Article 46 of the CBA. Goodell decided to serve as the arbitrator. Brady and the NFLPA moved for his recusal because, among other things, Goodell had directed the unlawful delegation of his CBA disciplinary authority to Vincent. Thus, as arbitrator, Goodell would have to determine the facts and CBA legality of his own conduct. Moreover, Goodell was an essential witness on the delegation issue and obviously could not serve as both arbitrator and a fact witness in the same proceeding. NFLPA Ex. 11. The Commissioner nonetheless rejected the recusal request. NFLPA Exs. 157, 160.

15. On June 23, 2015, Goodell held the arbitration. See NFLPA Ex. 204. The hearing defied any concept of fundamental fairness. Prior to the hearing, Goodell had ruled that Brady and the Union could not question essential witnesses, denied them access to the investigative files underlying the Wells Report (which were nonetheless available to the NFL's counsel at the arbitration), and summarily rejected Brady's unlawful delegation argument without considering any evidence (other than "facts" decreed by Goodell himself in his decision). At the hearing itself, Paul, Weiss—the purportedly "independent" law firm whose findings about Brady were being

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challenged—abandoned all pretense of objectivity, and actively participated as counsel for the NFL conducting direct and cross-examinations of witnesses (including Brady's). A Paul, Weiss partner represented the NFL for most of the hearing, even though he was a signatory to the Wells Report and his law partner (Wells) was a fact witness at the same hearing.

16. In addition, the arbitration established that the NFL had no procedures whatsoever for collecting information essential to determining whether the Patriots balls had deflated due to environmental factors or human intervention. In fact, just three days ago, the NFL let it be known that, for the first time, it is implementing procedures for ball pressure testing—a stark concession that it had no procedures in place when the data on which Brady's punishment was based was collected. The League's admitted failure to timely implement any such data collection protocols caused the League's scientific and statistical consultants to make a multitude of unsupported assumptions and rendered their analysis utterly unreliable.

17. And, the hearing confirmed all of the undisputed facts about the lack of proper notice.

18. On July 28, 2015, Commissioner Goodell issued the Award upholding Brady's suspension. True to form, Goodell's Award is little more than an exercise in rehashing the Wells Report, and making unfounded, provocative and mystifying attacks on Brady's integrity. At the same time, the Award ignores the fundamental legal arguments presented by the Union which form the basis of this Petition and require that the Award be set aside,

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19. For example, the Award disregards the myriad defects in notice— contending that Brady's knowledge that, in the broadest sense, he could be suspended for "conduct detrimental" eliminated the need for the League to provide any notice about whether a general awareness standard of conduct could be applied, which policies could be applied, and what the potential penalties for violations of the applicable Player Policies might be. But this contention has already been rejected by this Court in NFLPA v. NFL (Adrian Peterson), slip op. at 12-14 (D. Minn. Feb. 26, 2015), appeal docketed, No. 15-1438 (8th Cir. Feb. 27,2015) (which the Award also ignores), where the domestic violence conduct at issue constituted conduct detrimental under any policy, but where the arbitration award was nevertheless vacated because it violated the essence of the CBA requirement that Peterson have advance notice of the specific policy and penalties to which he could be subjected. NFLPA Ex. 153.

20. Here, the only arguably applicable policy was contained in the Player Policies, but the Award deliberately ignores this fact because those Policies expressly provide for modest fines—not suspensions. NFLPA Ex. 114 at 20. The Award also ignores Vincent's application of a "generally aware" disciplinary standard that was pulled from whole cloth without notice and applied to a player for the first time in NFL history.

21. The most the Award has to say about notice is to try to deny, in a footnote, that either the Competitive Integrity Policy or any other policy was applied. NFLPA Ex. 210, Award at 17, n.19. Putting aside that this assertion belies the arbitration record that Vincent did apply the Competitive Integrity Policy to Brady and punished him for being generally aware that Patriots equipment personnel violated that policy, it does not save

9

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the Award from vacatur. According to the Award, Brady was suspended for general awareness under no policy, but there is a specific Player Policy concerning equipment violations that does not provide for suspensions or "general awareness" violations. This is just the type of notice defect which this Court found in Peterson. There, Peterson had notice of one version of the Commissioner's Personal Conduct Policy, only to have the Commissioner apply a different version of the Personal Conduct Policy with different rules and penalties.

22. The Award also makes much of Brady's purported non-cooperation, (including a brand new, hyperbolic and baseless accusation that Brady "destroyed" his cell phone after being advised by his agents-lawyers not to turn over private communications to the NFL's outside law firm). This issue is a complete red herring because the NFL already had all of the relevant text communications by Brady from other Patriots personnel—a fact established by Brady's telephone records, which were produced at the hearing, and which showed the time and date of every text and phone call to or from Brady and Patriots personnel (or anyone else). NFLPA Exs. 1,3.

23. But most importantly for purposes of this Petition, Goodell's decision on the punishment for alleged non-cooperation yet again violates the CBA requirement of notice. As his predecessor, Commissioner Tagliabue, ruled when serving as a CBA arbitrator:

There is no evidence of a record of past suspensions based purely on obstructing a League investigation. In my forty years of association with the NFL, I am aware of many instances of denials in disciplinary proceedings that proved to be false, but I cannot recall any suspension for such

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fabrication. There is no evidence of a record of past suspensions based purely on obstructing a League investigation.

NFLPA Ex. 113, Bounty, slip op. at 13 (2012) (Tagliabue, Arb.).

24. The Award further ignores that Wells never once told Brady that discipline could flow from declining to produce his personal text messages or e-mails.

25. With respect to the other grounds for vacatur, the Award also turns a blind eye to the NFL's undisputed failure to implement procedures for testing the footballs at the AFC Championship Game such that there was no fair and consistent basis for the NFL to base any punishment on its consultants' conclusions; ignores the procedural defects depriving Brady of a fundamentally fair hearing; and says nothing about Goodell's evident partiality.

26. In a public statement issued earlier today, Patriots Owner Robert Kraft appropriately summarized the Award:

The decision handed down by the League yesterday is unfathomable to me. It is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced upon appeal.

In the vast majority of these cases, there is tangible and hard evidence of the infraction for which the discipline is being imposed, and still the initial penalty gets reduced. Six months removed from the AFC championship game, the League still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the PSI levels of footballs. I continue to believe and unequivocally support Tom Brady.... The League's handling of this entire process has been extremely frustrating and disconcerting. I will never understand why an initial erroneous report regarding the PSI level of footballs was leaked by a source from the NFL a few days after the AFC championship game, [and] was never

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corrected by those who had the correct information. For four months, that report cast aspersions and shaped public opinion.

Yesterday's decision by Commissioner [Goodell] was released in a similar manner, under an erroneous headline that read, "Tom Brady destroyed his cellphone." This headline was designed to capture headlines across the country and obscure evidence regarding the tampering of air pressure in footballs. It intentionally implied nefarious behavior and minimized the acknowledgement that Tom provided the history of every number he texted during that relevant time frame....

Tom Brady is a person of great integrity, and is a great ambassador of the game, both on and off the field. Yet for reasons that I cannot comprehend, there are those in the League office who are more determined to prove that they were right rather than admit any culpability of their own or take any responsibility for the initiation of a process and ensuing investigation that was flawed. I have come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just....

I was wrong to put my faith in the League. Given the facts, evidence, and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the League continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players, and a man for whom I have the utmost respect. Personally, this is very sad and disappointing to me.2

27. As in Peterson, the Court must again intervene and vacate the Award, which (i) violates the law of the shop requirement of notice, (ii) violates the law of the shop requirement of fairness and consistency, (iii) is the product of fundamentally unfair proceedings, and (iv) was issued by an evidently partial arbitrator.

__________

2 See Florio: Robert Kraft tees off on Brady ruling, ProFootballTalk.Com (July 29, 2015), http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/robert-kraft-tees-off-on/.

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28. Because the Award was issued on the eve of the 2015 NFL season, it will irreparably harm Brady if he misses games while the Court considers the merits of the Petition. Accordingly, the NFLPA and Brady will shortly file a Motion for Preliminary Injunction or, in the Alternative, for Expedited Disposition so that relief can be granted prior to September 4, 2015, when the Patriots begin final preparations for their first regular season game.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

29. This is an action to vacate the Award pursuant to Section 301 of the LMRA and Section 10 of the FAA. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction in this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331.

30. The NFL derives revenue from advertising, ticket sales, merchandising, and broadcast revenue throughout the State of Minnesota and is subject to personal jurisdiction here. The Minnesota Vikings, one of 32 NFL franchises, is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota and does business in this district.

31. Venue is proper in this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1391 and 29 U.S.C. § 185, as the NFL regularly transacts business in this district.

PARTIES

32. Petitioner NFLPA is a non-profit corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and is the Union and exclusive collective bargaining representative of all present and future NFL players, including Brady. The NFLPA's offices are located at 1133 20th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.

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33. Petitioner Tom Brady is a professional football player and member of the NFLPA. He was selected by the New England Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft and has spent his entire career with that Club. During that time, Brady has won four Super Bowls, been named Super Bowl Most Valuable Player three times, and been awarded the NFL's Most Valuable Player twice. Brady resides in Massachusetts.

34. Respondent NFL maintains its offices at 345 Park Avenue, New York, New York, 10154, and is an unincorporated association consisting of 32 separately owned and operated professional football franchises, one of which is located in this District. All NFL franchises conduct business by playing professional football games in this District.

35. Respondent National Football League Management Council ("NFLMC") is the exclusive bargaining representative of all present and future employer member franchises of the NFL.

RELEVANT NON-PARTIES

36. Roger Goodell is the Commissioner of the NFL, i.e., the de facto chief executive officer. He also served as the arbitrator in this case.

37. Troy Vincent is the NFL Executive Vice President of Game Operations. He imposed Brady's discipline.

38. Theodore Wells, Jr. is a partner in the law firm of Paul, Weiss who serves as counsel to the NFL and declared that his firm was acting as "independent" counsel in investigating the Patriots and Brady for alleged improper ball deflation.

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39. Jeffrey Pash is an Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the NFL. He was identified by the NFL as the co-lead investigator, with Wells, in this matter.

DETAILED STATEMENT OF ARBITRATION FACTS

A. COMMISSIONER DISCIPLINE OF PLAYERS UNDER THE CBA

40. The parties are bound by the CBA negotiated between the NFLMC, on behalf of the NFL member teams, and the NFLPA, on behalf of all NFL players. The current CBA was signed on August 4, 2011.

41. Paragraph 15 of the collectively bargained standard form NFL Player Contract provides the Commissioner with the exclusive authority to impose discipline on NFL players for "conduct detrimental to the League." NFLPA Ex. 108, CBA App. A, t 15.

42. No one other than the Commissioner is authorized by the CBA to impose discipline on players for conduct detrimental. For example, Article 46 provides the "exclusive" procedures for conduct detrimental disciplinary appeals and refers only to "action taken against a player by the Commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of, or public confidence in, the game of professional football." NFLPA Ex. 107, CBA Art. 46, § 1(a) (emphasis added).

43. Moreover, whereas Article 46 expressly provides for the Commissioner to delegate his authority to serve as Hearing Officer in player appeals, it provides for no such delegation of his exclusive disciplinary authority in the first instance. Id. § 2(a).

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CASE 0:15-cv-03168-RHK-HB Document 1 Filed 07/29/15 Page 16 of 54

44. Although the NFLPA agreed that the Commissioner or his designee could serve as the arbitrator for ordinary Article 46 disciplinary appeals, the NFLPA did not agree that the Commissioner could do so under circumstances where, as here, the Commissioner's own conduct is at issue.

45. Accordingly, in two recent prior arbitrations in which the Commissioner's own conduct and statements were at issue—Bounty and Ray Rice—even Commissioner Goodell concluded that he had to recuse himself. See NFLPA Exs. 113, 124.

46. Additionally, in a similar situation involving former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, a New York court held that he could not lawfully serve as arbitrator over a player dispute—even though the NFLPA had previously agreed to Commissioner arbitration—because the proceeding put at issue Commissioner Tagliabue's own conduct. See, e.g., Morris v. N.Y. Football Giants, 575 N.Y.S.2d 1013, 1016-17 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1991).

B. THE CBA LAW OF THE SHOP AFFORDS PLAYERS ADVANCE NOTICE OF POTENTIAL DISCIPLINE

[snip]

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#1. To: nolu chan (#0)

He did it. He does it all the time. He loves to do it. He just did it and he's ready to do it again, don't tell me he didn't do it. Brady's a whiney little bitch. He's like Cindy Brady with his whining. He's the reason you can't tackle the QB in the NFL any more.

Logsplitter  posted on  2015-07-30   4:01:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Logsplitter (#1)

With all the problems this country has, and people are worried about this?

A friggin game???

No wonder our nation is going down the tubes, people more concerned about a friggin GAME, than about their childrens future !!! SPIT !!!!

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Stoner  posted on  2015-07-30   7:37:29 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Stoner (#2)

A friggin game???

Rufus T Firefly  posted on  2015-07-30   8:13:13 ET  (1 image) Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Stoner (#2)

Is worrying about "the game" any worse than listening to and fretting over the latest foibles of Barak Insane Obama and the Neo-communist progs V Karl "I'll lick the spa waterline clean" Rove and the Neo-communist free marketeers? How many listen to Rush, Hannity or others with the same joy, applying their knowledge of history and how the "political game" is played and has evolved?

Tom Brady cheated, the Pats cheated. He is taking the same tactic Hillary uses and applying it to his case. When he says "I never intended to turn over my phone to investigators, so replacing it then destroying it is not covering up" or " I am taking this stand on principle so future players will be safe from encroachment of their rights". He may as well be saying "I don't believe they can find any evidence that a rule was broken" ala BJ Clinton. People are pissed that politicians get away with "murder". They want some blood, and the head of Brady will have to do until some neo-communists are finally treated as they should be.

jeremiad  posted on  2015-07-30   8:33:00 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: jeremiad, all (#4)

Well, lets see. What occurs in the world of politics involves passing the laws we live by, what we are allowed to do, and prohibited from doing. It affects our standard of living, amount of taxes we pay, and affects how much everything we buy costs, how safe we are, or are not, if we go to war, if our children are sacrificed on a battlefield, it affects what kind of world our children will inherit, and on and on, and on.

On the other had, the wide world of sports, football, basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, etc are all just GAMES. They are only entertainment for some so called adults. They will not affect the course of history one iota. They do make some people a lot of money, but for most of the FANS, it is only entertainment, pure & simple.

They serve only as an opiate for the masses. To equate sports with politics, and to give them equal importance is naive at best!

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Stoner  posted on  2015-07-30   9:51:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: nolu chan (#0)

Wells will destroy Brady if he gets a chance to have Brady sworn in .

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

tomder55  posted on  2015-07-30   12:23:46 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: tomder55 (#6) (Edited)

Wells will destroy Brady if he gets a chance to have Brady sworn in.

The Petition to Vacate is on whether the league hearing and appeal procedure followed their own rules and provided due process. It is about the legal process, not the alleged facts of the case.

nolu chan  posted on  2015-07-30   13:11:09 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: Logsplitter (#1) (Edited)

He did it. He does it all the time. He loves to do it. He just did it and he's ready to do it again, don't tell me he didn't do it.

What probative evidence did the NFL use to support its conclusions? Was the hearing and appeal procedurally fair and did the NFL follow its own rules? Those are the questions of the Petition to Vacate, not whether anybody did it.

The Minnesota judge has moved the case to New York where the NFL has filed a motion immediately after its suspension announcement.

I can't give Brady all the credit for putting the QBs in tutus. The NFL wants money, and having the star QBs on the field makes money. A contributor to the rules restrictions was the officials turning a collective blind in the game where the Bountygate Saints put late hit after late hit on Brett Favre all game long.

The receivers going over the middle wear a "don't hit me" sign as well.

nolu chan  posted on  2015-07-30   13:32:11 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Stoner (#5) (Edited)

Politics is a game also. There are rules, there are teams, and if you step outside of the lines you are penalized. Like sports the only rules that are enforced are those that the AG chooses to enforce. The only way to change the rules is to go "through the channels". If the rules go against the direction those in charge want it to, they will be softened or never be allowed to exist. Tell me again how listening to a radio or television show affects anything in reality?

As far as I am concerned nothing that all the political activism I have heard or read about since the late 1980's has made one single change to the direction we are headed into as a nation, or the speed at which we travel. On the big issues, Immigration, abortion, spending policy, wars, privacy, devolution of government, every cause Republicans say they want to "save us" from, total failure. Politics is a sport and the Democrats are the Globetrotters, and the Republicans the Washington Generals.

jeremiad  posted on  2015-07-31   2:45:32 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: jeremiad (#9)

Soooo, your part of the crowd that equates sports & politics, and that sports is of equal import. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

No wonder this nation is going down the drain!

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Stoner  posted on  2015-07-31   14:50:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: Stoner, jeremiad (#10)

Soooo, your part of the crowd that equates sports & politics, and that sports is of equal import. Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

No wonder this nation is going down the drain!

I don't think he was saying that both are of equal import - obviously "sports" cannot raise taxes, send people to war, etc.

But there are elements that are similar in both worlds of politics and sports.

At least that's the way I read it.

Rufus T Firefly  posted on  2015-07-31   14:57:41 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: Rufus T Firefly (#11) (Edited)

" there are elements that are similar in both worlds of politics and sports. "

I will readily agree with that. However, I personally know waaaaay too many that to them sports is everything. Those same people can recited endless stats, and tell you what some basketball player had for breakfast on any particular day 7 years ago. So many of those guys cannot even tell you who their Congressman is. And a lot of them vote.

I will never forget, on 911, I was listening to the radio trying to get more info. At the time I was listening, the station I had tuned in apparently was normally a sports talk show. Some guy calls in, and starts bitching about some referee from a game the night before. You could tell, the show hosts were really taken aback. They asked the guy if he knew about the attack. He said yes, but he was pissed how that call affected the game, and kept going. They cut him off, and went back to talking about the attack.

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Stoner  posted on  2015-07-31   15:13:55 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: Stoner (#10)

Being an informed citizen and knowing how the system is designed and where it is not working because of politics. That is much more important than sports. Politics is much less important than sports. To me politicians are WWE wrestlers with fake grievances, pretend rivalries, and nearly as intelligent as the average wrestler. Politicians are all about strutting and raking in cash for doing what they know is wrong. Some say that without political parties nothing would get done in DC. To that I say GOOD.

jeremiad  posted on  2015-07-31   16:21:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: jeremiad, Rufus T Firefly (#13) (Edited)

Si vis pacem, para bellum

Stoner  posted on  2015-07-31   17:33:19 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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