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 The two sides finished 11 hours after the start of the appeal heard
by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that included an hour break for
lunch.
"Tom was here until the bitter end," Players Association lawyer
Jeffrey Kessler, who represented Brady, told reporters as he left
the Park Avenue office tower.
"I think we put in a very compelling case."
Thursday had been set aside for a possible second day for the
appeal, but was not needed.
Kessler said Commissioner Goodell gave no timetable for his
decision.
Goodell, who approved the four-game ban, is the arbiter of the
appeal by the New England Patriots quarterback. A league-hired
investigator found that Brady had been aware of the plan.
The front and back entrances to the league's headquarters were
crowded all day with TV cameras, reporters and fans with phone
cameras at the ready for a glimpse of Brady, and satellite trucks
lined up in front of the Park Avenue address.
Brady, wearing a dark suit and tie and accompanied by an entourage,
was mobbed by autograph seekers on his way into the office tower,
while a young fan waved a sign with "Free Brady" written above the
Patriots logo.
The Patriots were fined $1 million and forced to surrender two draft
choices for deflating footballs in a 45-7 victory over the
Indianapolis Colts in January's American Football Conference (AFC)
championship, which put New England in the Super Bowl.
New England defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, a title
now viewed by some as tainted. Deflating a football below NFL
standards could enable a quarterback to grip the ball better,
especially in the raw conditions in which the AFC title game was
played.
A four-game suspension against the 37-year-old Brady could harm his
legacy as one of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks ever. He has denied
any knowledge of a plan to deflate the balls.
Should Goodell uphold the suspension, the four-time Super Bowl
champion could take his case to federal court, where the NFL's track
record has been shaky recently.
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Ted Wells, hired by the NFL to investigate how the footballs lost
the air, said Brady was aware of the plan, which Wells said was
carried out by two Patriots employees, officials' locker room
attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski.
The NFL Players Association unsuccessfully called for Goodell to
recuse himself from Brady's appeal, labeling him a key witness and
saying he would be partial to the Wells report.
Brady's appeal pits one of the NFL's most popular players against
the most profitable sports league in the United States.
It comes at a time when the league 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.
Experts believe Brady has a chance to get his suspension cut in half
because the penalty is severe by NFL standards. The league, for
example, assesses the same suspension for first-time violators
caught using performance-enhancing drugs.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not admit the team's guilt but
decided against appealing the penalty.
(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Jonathan
Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)
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