|
 National Football Commissioner Roger Goodell later said he would
personally hear Brady's appeal, overruling the league's players
union, which called for an independent arbitrator to hear the case
when it filed the appeal on Brady's behalf.
"Given the NFL's history of inconsistency and arbitrary decisions in
disciplinary matters, it is only fair that a neutral arbitrator hear
this appeal," the union said in a statement announcing Brady's move.
League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Goodell would act on the appeal
"in accordance with the process agreed upon with the NFL Players
Association in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement."
Brady's appeal pits the NFL's most popular player against the most
profitable sports league in the United States at a time when it is
reeling from criticism over its handling of players involved with
domestic violence and a concussion settlement for retired players
that could ultimately cost $1 billion.
The league suspended Brady without pay for the first four games of
next season, fined the club a record $1 million, and forced the
Patriots to give up two draft choices for purposely deflating
footballs used in the team's 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis
Colts that put it into the Super Bowl.
In a website created to dispute the investigation findings, the
Patriots said the report's conclusions were "incomplete, incorrect
and lack context."
Two days after independent investigator Ted Wells steadfastly
defended his conclusions implicating Brady and two Patriots
employees in the scheme, the team fired back.
"There is no evidence that Tom Brady preferred footballs that were
lower than 12.5 per square inch and no evidence anyone even thought
that he did," according to the team's counterclaim, written by
attorney Daniel Goldberg.
Goldberg represented the club and was present during all interviews
of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots also included Nobel Prize Laureate Roderick MacKinnon's
"scientific conclusion" that challenges the Wells report's rejection
of scientific explanations as to how the footballs could have
naturally lost air pressure.
Wells said he believes a series of text messages by two Patriots
employees implicated Brady, a three-time Super Bowl most valuable
player, who is married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen.
The Wells report identified the two Patriots employees, officials'
locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John
Jastremski, as the ones who deflated the footballs.
The Patriots, who suspended both indefinitely last week, have not
said whether they will appeal the club's penalties.
"Texts acknowledged to be attempts at humor and exaggeration are
nevertheless interpreted as a plot to improperly deflate footballs,
even though none of them refer to any such plot," the Patriots said
in the 20,000-word rebuttal, posted on Wellsreportcontext.com.
[to top of second column] |
OUT OF CONTEXT
The Patriots said the word "deflator" used in the texts cited by
Wells in his report was taken out of context.
"Mr. Jastremski would sometimes work out and bulk up -- he is a
slender guy and his goal was to get to 200 pounds," the team, which
has until May 21 to appeal its punishment, said in the rebuttal.
"Mr. McNally is a big fellow and had the opposite goal: to lose
weight. 'Deflate' was a term they used to refer to losing weight."
Deflating the balls would likely allow Brady a better grip,
especially in the cold and wet conditions during the AFC title game
in January. New England subsequently defeated the Seattle Seahawks
28-24 to win the Super Bowl.
Experts believe Brady has a chance to get his suspension halved, as
the penalty is severe by NFL standards. For example, the league
assesses the same suspension for first-time violators caught using
performance-enhancing drugs.
In addition, the league is on a losing streak of sorts after
penalties on two high-profile players involved in domestic abuse,
Peterson and former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, were
reversed on appeal.
Brady has denied any knowledge of how the balls lost air after being
examined by a NFL referee. He refused to surrender his phone to
Wells but Brady's agent, Donald Yee, said the quarterback had a lot
of personal information on it and did not want to hand it over.
The team and its fans are showing few signs of throwing in the
towel. On their Twitter account, the Patriots changed the avatar to
the back of Brady's No. 12 jersey.
Patriots fans this week set up a website to seek donations to pay
the team's $1-million fine and had collected $15,691 by Thursday
afternoon.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Additional reporting by
Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Alan Crosby and Clarence
Fernandez)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
