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SPORTS A21
Tuesday 27 October 2015

NFL: Judge’s ruling for Tom
Brady was ‘unfathomable’

BY LARRY NEUMEISTER significant legal deficien- league said Goodell prop-
ASSOCIATED PRESS cies.” The appeals court erly followed the collective
NEW YORK (AP) -- NFL law- isn’t scheduled to hear oral bargaining agreement be-
yers told a federal appeals arguments in the case be- tween the league and the
court in Manhattan on fore February, meaning this union.
Monday that it was “un- season will not be affected “His decision not only
fathomable” that a judge by any outcome. walked through all the evi-
could decide to lift New Attorneys for the NFL Play- dence he considered and
England quarterback Tom ers Association didn’t im- credited in painstaking de-
Brady’s four-game suspen- mediately respond to a re- tail, but also explained at
sion in the “Deflategate” quest for comment. length his efforts to deter-
controversy. Berman ruled after the NFL mine how the CBA should
The lawyers said in papers asked the court to find that be applied to the unprec-
filed with the 2nd U.S. Cir- it had acted appropriate- edented situation before
cuit Court of Appeals that ly in its investigation and him,” the lawyers wrote.
Judge Richard Berman handling of a controversy They said Berman ignored
reached an “inexplicable” that arose after balls were decades of legal prec-
conclusion when he de- believed to be improperly edents and approached
termined that the league deflated prior to January’s the case through a “fun-
failed to adequately warn AFC championship game damentally flawed” anal-
Brady of the potential sus- against the Indianapolis ysis, refusing to accept
pension and made errors Colts. New England beat Goodell’s view of the facts.
in its investigation that re- the Colts 45-7. The lawyers wrote that the
quired him to nullify the A league investigation judge’s finding that the
penalty. found it was “more prob- league’s conclusions were
The league asked the ap- able than not” that two Pa- so far outside the bounds
peals court to reverse the triots ball handling employ- of what the contract allows
lower-court judge and re- ees deliberately released that Goodell’s decision
instate the penalty that air from Patriots game balls. must be nullified “is unfath-
would have kept Brady out In upholding the findings omable.”
of the first four games of this in July, NFL Commissioner “The district court egre-
season. Roger Goodell conclud- giously overstepped the
Berman’s ruling came a ed Brady conspired with bounds of its proper role,”
week before the start of a his team’s ball handlers the NFL said. “Where lower
season in which the Patriots and tried to obstruct the courts have committed
are undefeated through league’s probe, includ- a similar error, appellate
six games. He found that ing by destroying his cell- courts have not hesitated
the league’s actions were phone. to reverse. The court should
“premised upon several In its papers Monday, the do so here.”q

Ex-NFL star Eddie George to
slip into ‘Chicago’ on Broadway

MARK KENNEDY In this Jan. 16, 2015, file photo, former Tennes-
AP Drama Writer see Titans running back Eddie George poses
NEW YORK (AP) — Former NFL star and Heis- for photos at an urban improvement project
man Trophy winner Eddie George will make designed and constructed by his landscape
his Broadway debut in the musical “Chica- and design company, The Edge, in Nashville,
go,” tackling the role of fast-talking lawyer Tenn.
Billy Flynn.
George, who won the Heisman in 1995 and Associated Press
went on to a nine-year career in the NFL,
leading the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl
XXXIV, will start work at the Ambassador
Theatre beginning Jan. 11.
He’s appeared in Matthew Lopez’s “The
Whipping Man” at the Nashville Repertory
Theatre, Suzan-Lori Parks’ “Topdog/Under-
dog” at Amun Ra Theatre, also in Nashville,
and played both Othello and Julius Caesar
at the Nashville Shakespeare Festival.
Set in the 1920s, “Chicago” is a scathing
satire of how show business and the me-
dia make celebrities out of criminals. It has
skimpy outfits and killer songs such as “All
That Jazz” and “Cell Block Tango.”q