NFL suspends Tom Brady 4 games, fines Patriots $1M, strips team of '16 1st-round pick

[Lord Commander Palis]

I knew this shit would only be 4 games. I think the draft pick hurts though a bit the most.

 

[Plissken]

A quote from UGCTT_Teila_Tuli's_Tooth on the Underground forum that sums things up well in regards to this flimsy controversy.

He absolutely will win any appeal to an independent arbitrator (assuming Goodell doesn't appoint himself) because the Wells report has absolutely no evidence. Brady doesn't even need a real lawyer to tear the Wells report apart, he only needs someone literate that has actually read the whole report.

I'll go through some of the issues the NFL is going to have, starting with the scientific testing (let me know if you want me to expand on any of these):

- The scientific testing is clearly flawed (as will follow) and even then it can't conclude that tampering happened. From page 12 of the Wells report:

"Our scientific consultants informed us that the data alone did not provide a basis for them to determine with absolute certainty whether there was or was not tampering, as the analysis of such data is ultimately dependent upon assumptions and information that is uncertain."

- Whether or not the Patriots balls fell within expected ranges due to environmental factors using the Ideal Gas Law is dependent upon which of the gauges is believed to be used to check the balls before the game. If the Logo Gauge was used the Pats balls fell within the expected range in the Wells report and the drop in PSI can be explained by environmental factors alone. If the non-logo gauge was used then they were below the expected range given in the Wells report.

"Although Anderson?s best recollection is that he used the Logo Gauge, he said that it is certainly possible that he used the Non-Logo Gauge"

Despite Anderson's best recollection being that he used the Logo Gauge (could also be written as more probable than not that Anderson used the logo gauge), Wells decides that isn't the case and bases his assumptions off the non-logo gauge without detailing any reason why other than it fits his story of the Patriots cheating better.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/10/pressure-gauge-discrepancies-undermine-wells-report/

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...best-recollection-on-a-key-piece-of-evidence/

- Most of Wells argument is that the Patriots balls deflated more than the Colts balls, which he used as a control group. However only 4 Colts balls were tested which is far too small a sample size to be able to make scientific inferences from. If you were to take the top 4 measurements from the Pats balls however, they are nearly identical to the drop in the Colts balls

- The method used for recreating the effect on weather conditions (particularly water) doesn't accurately recreate the impact on a football during a game. The method used for this test was spraying the ball with water from a hand held spray bottle, then wiped off with a towel, repeating every 15 min for 2 hours. I don't think anybody that has ever player or watched a football game in wet weather will agree that that is representative of the impact water on a football during a wet weather game, particularly the conditions during the AFC Championship game.

That is why other companies such as HeadSmart Labs were able to accurately recreate the pressure drops in the Patriots balls using a more accurate recreation of the impact of water on air pressure

- There is also this "glaring omission"
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/new-england-patriots-tom-brady-deflategate-scientist-050715

- All of the assumptions made in the Wells report are based on referee Walt Anderson's memory of the ball pressures when tested before the game. Despite the NFL being tipped off to this as a potential issue before the game by Colts GM Ryan Grigson and discussing it with referee Walt Anderson before the game, no pre game test measurements were recorded and the Wells report never investigated issues with league protocol, helping to show that this was never an investigation, but rather an attempted prosecution of the Patriots.

Without recorded data we must rely on the memory of Walt Anderson for the pre-game measurements, of which all the scientific testing was based off. Despite the Wells report trying to paint Anderson as highly professional, with a high attention to detail and taking his word as fact, that is largely undermined by the contents of the report itself. Not only did Anderson lose track of the balls themselves before the game, he couldn't remember which gauge he used to measure them (despite them being fairly different), he couldn't remember whether he tested the Pats or Colts balls first and he couldn't remember if he initialed the kicking ball. Yet the Wells report takes his memory of game ball measurements as absolute fact.


These are just the issues with the scientific reasoning in the Wells report, if anyone would like me to show the issues in the text messages, phone calls, "Brady's a liar" theory or any other aspects of the report I would be more than happy to. Not that anyone will actually pay attention to actual evidence because everyone has already made up their minds

 

[SportsBarGod]

Funny thing was the cheatriot fans thinking he was innococent before the tainted super bowl.

 

[Stringer Bell]

lol @ you tools believing in good guy Tom.

The reason why he didn't share the texts is because it would have been worse if he did, plain and simple.

It's better for him not to cooperate and still cast doubt, rather than remove all doubt about your guilt by sharing the text messages.

 

[xilliun]

Wells used the same firm to conduct the experiments that tobacco companies use to disprove the link between cancer and smoking. Glowing example of impartiality.

Patriots are getting off as soon as this goes to court.

 

[Revolver]

at this point I don't care about what Tom did. The mere fact that he didn't cooperate with the investigation should be the reason why he got 4 games.

 

[xilliun]

I understand that he, nor any patriot, cooperated on advice from the NFLPA.

 

[trainharder]

Penalty is to harsh for a team that didn't do anything wrong, according to the report.

 

[theskza]

I'm not reading that 200 page report. Cliffs?

Because as of now I've heard absolutely nothing incriminating. Punishment seems too harsh.

 

[Katipwnan]

Lol. Josh gets suspended a full season for having a drink with his teammates after the season and Brady gets 4 games for cheating. Goodell is fucking up.

 

[Michaelangelo]

magic being a bandwagoner

 

[Starck]

All these guys like Roger Goodell and Robert Kraft are good friends, right? I'll bet this sort of thing is hashed out in private beforehand. Determine a big penalty to keep up the appearance of the NFL's integrity, then Kraft and whoever go through the motions of outraged press releases to show their contrived indignation, while the NFL reps do their thing too. As long as everyone is making money, do any of them really care?

 

[Fists of Fire]

Im lovin this shit lmao.

 

[Jermei]

Harsh fine so everyone doesn't look to the league and wonder why if it's so important then why doesn't league handle ball pressure themselves. NFL is covering their ass on this one.

 

[in the]

lol @ you tools believing in good guy Tom.

The reason why he didn't share the texts is because it would have been worse if he did, plain and simple.

It's better for him not to cooperate and still cast doubt, rather than remove all doubt about your guilt by sharing the text messages.

I don't understand why his defenders don't grasp this. If he was innocent, he had nothing to lose. If he was guilty and the texts would show it, then it's best for him not to cooperate. I'm usually not a fan of black-or-white thinking, but I don't see how anyone could defend Tom's actions here and then claim he was innocent.

Lol. Josh gets suspended a full season for having a drink with his teammates after the season and Brady gets 4 games for cheating. Goodell is fucking up.

This is coming from someone who thought Gordon's suspension last season was too long - the difference here is that Gordon is a fucking moron who has continued to be a Rick James-level habitual line stepper. I get what you're saying, but I don't think the comparison is valid because Gordon has acted like a fucking moron. He had his suspensions reduced before, but continued to get caught. As far as I can remember, this is Brady's first infraction.

 

[in the]

Harsh fine so everyone doesn't look to the league and wonder why if it's so important then why doesn't league handle ball pressure themselves. NFL is covering their ass on this one.

I think the NFL is the only large professional league in the world who doesn't control their game balls.

Thanks to the Patriots, that'll now be standardized. I'm sure all the other quarterbacks who liked to adjust the game balls are now pissed off (I highly doubt Brady was the only manipulator - Aaron Rodgers said he likes his footballs overinflated, though that doesn't necessarily mean the Packers' ball boys inflate the balls before the game).

 

[RabidJesus]

I think the NFL is the only large professional league in the world who doesn't control their game balls.

Thanks to the Patriots, that'll now be standardized. I'm sure all the other quarterbacks who liked to adjust the game balls are now pissed off (I highly doubt Brady was the only manipulator - Aaron Rodgers said he likes his footballs overinflated, though that doesn't necessarily mean the Packers' ball boys inflate the balls before the game).

Pretty sure home teams are responsible for the balls in the nba. Not sure how the nfl does it.

 

[Cherdawg]

Lying and failing to cooperate with the investigation should have caused the nfl to give a harsher punishment.

Put a lid on your trap m8.

 

[brackis1]

For people saying this is too harsh, you try flat out lying to your employer next time they are investigating shit and see how long you go before you get fired.

Imagine your company caught you secretively working on ways to improve your company's profitability and overall success? What then? That's what your argument amounts to. Brady tipping equipment guys to toe the low-end line of a friggin PSI spectrum that people do weekly for decades, they find zero conclusive evidence showing major malfeasance or maniupulation, merely a shitty set of investigative protocols trumping vague guilt of "integrity issue" to punish a guy and team more severely than wifebeating, steroids, injury bounties and so forth. Goodell needs to go.

 

[RabidJesus]

Man this is like having a corked bat. Who gives a shit if they lied, this isnt kindergarten. It should be 1 game if any and a fine. It shouldnt be determined by how inopportune the timing was.

Also, fuck da pats.