This scenario has been playing out for a long time now – see my posts (below) in May. Thereafter, it really wasn’t worth my time to consider the issues. Messrs. Brady and Goodell are both in difficult positions. But Mr. Goodell had several opportunities to change his stance and to put the rational or reasoning on other people or new evidence or whatever. Mr. Goodell decided not to take advantage of those opportunities. I have believed that was an incorrect approach. The Wells report essentially says “more likely than not, more likely that not . . . .”  In other words, not very persuasive. This is now a worse situation for the NFL and its owners. If I was a player or the Player’s Union I would have lost total trust in the Commissioner and the Commissioner’s Office. Of course the punishment is arbitrary – there isn’t sufficient history of punishments, and punishment is being made up as it goes along. And if I am a player, in the future, I don’t want to use my smart phone, or I want to get rid of it as soon as possible, or as a matter of practice I want to get a new smart phone every two to three months or less. If I am a player or the Player’s Association I definitely do not trust the Commissioner’s Officer or the owners, and when the new collective bargaining agreement is negotiated discipline and the power of the Commissioner’s Office and its authority are very big issues to negotiate. Putting my mediator hat on, the Commissioner needs a third party to help resolve this, perhaps the Judge, to say that the evidence does not support the game suspensions, and that the remedy should be a monetary fine. For the good of the game and for the good of the Commissioner’s Office, and the good of the owners, and the good of the players, and all of their relationships, this needs to be settled ASAP, and move to the upcoming season. It only gets worse from here.

My prior posts:

May 20, http://wp.me/p5c0al-eR

May 14, http://wp.me/p5c0al-ez

May 7, http://wp.me/p5c0al-eo

Dave Tate, Esq. (San Francisco/California)