Physics, engineering professors back Tom Brady 'Deflategate' appeal
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[May 25, 2016]
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Ivory Tower
has thrown its weight behind Tom Brady.
A group of 21 physics and engineering professors on Tuesday urged
a U.S. federal appeals court to reconsider its 2-1 decision to
reinstate the New England Patriots quarterback's four-game National
Football League suspension in the "Deflategate" case.
In a brief filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New
York, the professors said there is "no scientific proof" Brady did
anything wrong in using underinflated footballs, which can be easier
to grip, during the Patriots' 45-7 rout of the Indianapolis Colts in
the January 2015 AFC championship game.
That victory propelled the Patriots to Super Bowl XLIX, where they
beat the Seattle Seahawks.
Brady and the NFL Players Association asked the appeals court on
Monday to reconsider its April 25 decision that NFL Commissioner
Roger Goodell had authority under the league's collective bargaining
agreement with its players to suspend Brady.
Goodell imposed the suspension after a lawyer hired by the league
said Brady had been "generally aware" that two Patriots employees
had conspired to deflate footballs.
 But the professors, including 10 from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, said footballs lose pressure naturally in cold weather,
and that underinflated footballs are routinely used in NFL games,
perhaps even a majority.
"This is not tampering. It is science. And it pervades the NFL," the
professors said. "We cannot fathom how it is permissible to impose
punishment for the possibility of a negligible increment of pressure
loss." The Patriots play home games in Foxborough, Massachusetts,
roughly 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Boston and the MIT campus.
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Patriots quarterback Tom Brady walks off the field after the AFC
Championship football game against the Denver Broncos at Sports
Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. REUTERS/Mark J. Rebilas-USA
TODAY Sports/File photo

Other professors who signed the brief came from Boston College,
Purdue University, Stanford University, the University of California
at Berkeley, the University of Delaware, the University of Michigan,
the University of Minnesota, the University of Pennsylvania and the
University of Southern California.
Brady wants the original three-judge appeals court panel to
reconsider its decision, or have all 13 active judges on the 2nd
Circuit review the case in an "en banc" proceeding.
The 2nd Circuit is known among lawyers for almost never rehearing
cases en banc. It is unclear how soon it will decide on a rehearing.
If it decides not to get involved, Brady could appeal to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Howard
Goller)
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