Ballghazi, a continuing series
By 
We shook hands and I started away. Just before I reached the hedge I remembered something and turned around.
‘They’re a rotten crowd,’ I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.’
I’ve always been glad I said that. It was the only compliment I ever gave him, because I disapproved of him from beginning to end.
Having read through a good chunk of yesterday’s NFLPA document dump, including all of Tom Brady’s direct and cross testimony before The Lord Protector of the Shield, let it be known by these presentments that:
(1) The NFL’s case against Brady is a joke. It doesn’t even come close to meeting the (absurdly lax) evidentiary standard of being more probable than not that Brady knew “in a general way” that some monkey business was allegedly happening to his balls. It’s increasingly clear that Goodell et. al. prejudged this case and then went looking for any evidence to confirm their conclusion, while ignoring everything that contradicted it.
(2) Exponent is a hack outfit that provides bespoke “expert testimony” to suit the precise desires of whoever is writing the check. (Yes, very shocking).
(3) Paul Weiss has billed the NFL around three million dollars (so far) for its services.
(4) All of this doesn’t necessarily mean that a federal court would overturn Goodell’s sanctions against Brady, because the relevant rules give Goodell a lot of discretion to make substantively horrible decisions without being overturned. But the decision to suspend Brady for a quarter of the season, which probably means something like 10% of the rest of his career, is totally indefensible.