The trouble with Ostarine: Jimmy Wallhead’s
16th March 2018
Features

The National Football League (NFL) has upheld their decision to suspend New England Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady. In May Brady was suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2015 football season for conduct “detrimental to the integrity of the NFL”. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a media release that the decision to uphold the decision following Brady’s appeal came after a hearing which lasted more than ten hours on 23 June.
In the NFL statement, Goodell said that on the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells, ‘Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed.’ According to the NFL statement, Brady did this ‘even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone’ and that the ‘destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.’
Wells was commissioned by the NFL to compile a report on allegations that two staff of the American football team the New England Patriots improperly deflated footballs used by the team in an AFC Championship Game earlier this year. The Wells Report found that it was “more probable than not” that Jim McNally (the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots) and John Jastremski (the Patriots’ equipment assistant) participated in a “deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee.” The report further found that it was “more probable than not” that the Patriots’ starting quarterback for over thirteen years, Tom Brady, “was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls”.
Alongside Brady’s suspension, the Patriots, for the “violation of the playing rules and the failure to cooperate in the subsequent investigation”, were fined $1 million and must forfeit the club’s first-round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft and fourth-round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft.
The 20-page statement said that the Patriots did not appeal from the discipline that was imposed on the club, but that Brady, through the NFL Players Association, filed a timely appeal of his suspension, which was heard on 23 June. The NFL said that important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives in connection with the appeal hearing had led Commissioner Goodell to conclude that ‘Brady was aware of, and took steps to support, the actions of other team employees to deflate game footballs below the levels called for by the NFL’s Official Playing Rules.’
On his Facebook page, Brady responded that he was ‘very disappointed’ in the decision, claiming that he ‘did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either.’ Brady admonished Goodell for upholding his suspension ‘based upon a standard that it was “probable” that I was “generally aware” of misconduct.’ Brady also disputed the ‘narrative’ surrounding his cell phone, claiming that any suggestion that he ‘destroyed a phone to avoid giving the NFL information it requested is completely wrong.’
In a statement on Tuesday, the New England Patriots said that they were ‘extremely disappointed’ in the NFL Commission’s ruling, continuing that they ‘cannot comprehend’ the NFL league’s position and that they ‘unequivocally believe in and support Tom Brady.’
The NFL Players’ Association furthermore stated that that the new ruling ‘did nothing to address the legal deficiencies of due process’ and that it would ‘appeal this outrageous decision on behalf of Tom Brady.
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