This evidence pertained to Brady’s link to tampered footballs, per NFL.com.
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Goodell and Brady, along with their lawyers, met separately with the judge before the hearing started.
The league is asking Berman to declare it followed its collective bargaining agreement properly when it punished Brady. That a federal judge is being tasked with determining whether a four-game suspension was unfair and violated the labor contract of a professional football player because that player and his league couldn’t get along would be laughable if it wasn’t so embarrassing. The judge has signaled from the start that he wants the parties to reach a swift settlement. Benny Feilhaber had a goal and an assist and Kansas City beat Real Salt Lake 3-1. During Berman’s questioning to that effect, the NFL representatives did admit that they were missing direct evidence tying Brady to the deflated balls, but instead relied on circumstantial evidence mostly in the form of rather vague text messages.
Judge Richard Berman cautioned those in attendance not to read anything into his questions, which is important context.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on July 28 confirmed Brady’s suspension over the quarterback’s alleged role in a scheme to deflate footballs in the Patriots’ 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in a January playoff game. This practice would, in theory, make the balls easier for the quarterback to handle. While Nash stood his ground, pointing to conversations Brady had with the locker room attendants who are said to have deflated the footballs, he did indicate there was no “smoking gun” implicating Brady himself. Kessler acknowledged Brady didn’t cooperate out of privacy concerns and said Brady “should have conducted himself differently with Wells”.
Tom Brady was all smiles when he walked into federal court in Manhattan to fight the NFL’s four-game suspension for allegedly deflating footballs before an NFL playoff game.
Both sides are scheduled to return to court next week.
Brady – who was impeccably dressed in a blue suit, with sunglasses and his hair cut short – actually signed the artist’s freaky rendering of the four-time Super Bowl MVP.
Once the sketch was released, Twitter erupted with memes and Photoshopped versions of the drawing, which looked nothing like the dapper Tom Brady we’re all used to seeing.
Asked about the talks, attorney Jeffrey L. Kessler for the players union said Thursday: “Sorry, not commenting”.
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They called a June appeal hearing before Goodell “a kangaroo court proceeding, bereft of fundamentally fair procedures”.
