Shady Brady’s four game suspension upheld

I guess Tom Brady preferred a four-game suspension over having the NFL see his text messages:

YAHOO SPORTS – The NFL didn’t budge on Tuesday. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, five weeks after hearing Brady’s appeal over the deflate-gate issue, kept his suspension at four games. That’s the same suspension for Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy in his domestic violence case. The NFLPA, via reports, has been planning to take the NFL to federal court if Brady’s suspension wasn’t completely overturned.

Brady destroying his cell phone before he met with investigator Ted Wells was the crux of Goodell’s ruling. Here’s the NFL’s statement in the ruling:

“In the opinion informing Brady that his appeal had been denied, Commissioner Goodell emphasized important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives in connection with the hearing.

On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed. He did so 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. ‎During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. 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.

“Based on the Wells Report and the evidence presented at the hearing, Commissioner Goodell concluded in his decision 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. The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.”

The full report said that Brady testified it’s his practice to destroy his cell phones and/or SIM cards, or give them to his assistant to destroy, at about the same time he began using his new cell phone. He did so on or about March 6, which is when he met with Wells.

Looks like Hillary and Tom Brady have a lot in common. They both destroy evidence so it can’t be used against them. The difference is Tom’s definitely going to get his due.


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