XPost: alt.sports.football.pro.denver-broncos, alt.sports.footba   
   l.pro.ne-patriots, rec.arts.tv   
   XPost: alt.tv   
   From: cheaters@nfl.com   
      
   A federal appeals court panel indicated Thursday that it was not   
   sympathetic to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s defense in what   
   is known as the Deflategate case, perhaps signaling that it will   
   overturn the district court’s ruling against the N.F.L.   
      
   The hearing was ostensibly about whether N.F.L. Commissioner   
   Roger Goodell overstepped his bounds as arbitrator in Brady’s   
   appeal of his four-game suspension. Judge Richard M. Berman of   
   Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled in September that   
   Brady had not been treated fairly and should not be suspended   
   for deflating footballs because he had not been aware that such   
   misconduct could lead to the kind of punishment he had received.   
      
   The three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for   
   the Second Circuit signaled from the outset that, rather than   
   focusing on the question of Goodell’s authority, they were more   
   interested in the details of Deflategate, including why Brady   
   destroyed a cellphone the N.F.L. wanted to see and whether a   
   four-game suspension was appropriate for tampering with how much   
   air was in a football.   
      
   Goodell and Brady did not attend the appeals hearing, unlike in   
   August, when they appeared twice in the courthouse next door and   
   attracted hundreds of onlookers and dozens of television crews.   
      
   But the tension in the courtroom Thursday was palpable as   
   lawyers for both sides were questioned for more than an hour,   
   and it appeared that at least two of the judges were skeptical   
   of arguments made by Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer for the N.F.L.   
   Players Association, which was representing Brady.   
      
   Of the three judges on the panel, Barrington Daniels Parker Jr.   
   was the most critical of Brady’s claims. Denny Chin, another   
   judge, also seemed to have reservations about Kessler’s   
   arguments. Chief Judge Robert Katzmann appeared to be the most   
   sympathetic.   
      
   http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/sports/football/tom-brady-   
   deflategate-appeals-court.html?_r=0   
      
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