Roger Goodell - who is quite possibly the only commissioner of a major professional sports league in North America who makes Gary Bettman look qualified to lead the NHL - got a big victory yesterday when the US Court Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York voted 2-1 to reinstate Tom Brady's four-game suspension for the allegations that he was part of a scheme to tamper with the air pressure of footballs prior to the 2014 AFC Championship Game.
The ruling is not about whether or Brady tampered with the footballs. High school physics classes and the Ideal Gas Law basically prove that he did not. This is really about labor law and the commissioner's power under the current collective bargaining agreement to exert discipline power over the players.
To assert this power, Goodell is ignoring the facts of the tampering allegations and keeping out one of the game's premiere players for a quarter of the season. Nice job Roger, brilliant move.
Brady is likely to appeal the decision but he faces difficult odds in winning that appeal. It looks like he will be sitting out the Patriots first four games of the 2016 season and that third-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will get his first chance to start in the NFL.
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