Appeals Courts Rules That Tom Brady Must Serve Four-Game Deflategate Suspension

Here we go again.

Today, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Tom Brady must serve a four-game Deflategate suspension initially imposed by the NFL, overturning federal judge Richard Berman’s September ruling to expel Roger Goodell’s original punishment. The three-judge panel sided 2-1 in favor of the NFL.

According to CNBC, the courts ruled that the NFL and Goodell “properly exercised his discretion under the collective bargaining agreement” to suspend Brady for four games.

Chief Judge Robert Katzmann, the judge who voted in favor of Brady, expressed his disappointment with Monday’s ruling.

“I am troubled by the Commissioner’s decision to uphold the unprecedented four-game suspension,” Katzmann said. “The Commissioner failed to even consider a highly relevant alternative penalty.”

It’s important to note that the judges ruling doesn’t necessarily indicate they believe Brady is guilty in the matter (as they did not have to consider the facts in the case), it simply determined that Goodell had the right as Commissioner to be the arbitrator, thus reinstating the four-game suspension that Judge Barrington D. Parker called a “draconian penalty.”

The new ruling also promises to resurrect the tired often circular argument of Brady and the Patriots organization’s integrity, which being a Boston bro, is impeccable. Exemplary, even. Hearing this news on a Monday morning displeases me.

45-7.

[h/t CNBC]

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.