It seems that one of their players (Jermaine Cunningham) applied a clean, legal hit against Michael Vick which resulted in a “cart off”. And as the evidence suggests, he did this because he was PAID (by the salary he earns from his team) to do it, not just for helmet stickers. Goodell no likey.

Wait a minute, this just in from my anonymous source, Goodell has burned the game tape of the aforementioned hit. Nevermind. Carry on NFL.

Vilma and the players thought the appeal was a dog and pony show and they never wouldve been taken seriously. Thats dynamite. Except that goodell can point to numerous examples of shortening punishments after meeting with the players.

“Goodell is hiding behind the CBA because he has no evidence.” While this may be true, he also may be hiding it because its a legal document that the players agreed to giving him authority to do this. Ask judge berrigan, who desperatley wants to rule in favor of vilma, but cant. She’ll tell you all about it.

If I know that I am not guilty of what I am accused of, ANY penalty is too much. It’s principal. I wouldn’t settle for anything less than complete exoneration. Is that hard to understand?

He is simply a tryant to the players, and should be appointed as offical owner butt kisser for the NFL

Well, of you have been a MENSA member for 35 years, you can put 2 + 2 together.

It has long been established the Saints, like just about any other team in the NFL, had a money pool going. You don’t have to take it from me, scores of players have come out and said so. And it was a money pool, not just “pay-for-performance”, because players had to pay money for things like bone-head plays, penalties, etc.

Goddell is not trying to protect anyone but the balance sheet. And “saving” the game? Please. The game was just fine before he became commissioner. Yeah, 18-game regular season games, taking away home games from teams to play in London in a feeble attempt to make the NFL relevant in Europe, not paying referees and hiring a bunch of scabs, getting sued by insurance companies… oh, yeah, he’s Mr Saviour of the Game.

Just so you know the judge here is a Federal Judge, appointed by the President of the United States for life, so no election to worry about. She is not even from New Orleans. She does have democratic leanings so, yeh she is probably pro union.

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The Vilma case shows that all you need to do is file the suit in your own state with a courthouse that is likely going to have a judge who will be sympothetic to your cause (either a fan him/herself or pressured to behave like a fan because the voters who gave you your job might not vote for you again if you don’t rule favorably for their team).

When Vilma was being silent, everyone was saying that he should fight this if he were innocent. Now that he’s fighting it and refuses to back down, the same MENSA candidates are trashing him for it. Shows that they’re nothing more than shallow haters.
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Not everyone. I think Vilma is guilty of at least a pay for performance program. I also feel that Commissioner Goodell is saving the game and protecting the players from themselves. I’ve felt this way since the beginning and have been a member of MENSA for almost 35 years.

Goodell should offer to take a lie detector test
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Vilma should offer to take a polygraph.

Judge Berrigan is not a “New Orleans Judge” or “local Judge”… she is a FEDERAL Judge, born and raised in NY. Probably a Jets fan.

In re anonymous sources: it’s not that Saints fans want to have their cake and eat it too, it is more like what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander. If one is going to accept all of these anonymous sources making cases for the NFL, one most accept anonymous sources making cases against the NFL.

The CBA is a legal contract, but it is not the US Constitution. I am no lawyer, but my layman’s understanding of the current situation, given the latest actions from the Judge, is that, when Goddell assumed the role of arbitrator under the CBA, while the CBA gave him the power to do so, it also implied that Goddell must be impartial while performing his role as arbitrator. If it is proven in court that Goddell was not impartial (as in he had his mind set on punishing players before his investigation was concluded) then in essence he violated the CBA.

Goddell has a track record of shortening suspensions when players bow down to him and beg for mercy for their sins (ok, little “poetic waxing, but you know what I mean). But when there is a disagreement:
* what happened with Star Caps?
Players where taking a supplement that had a diuretic in it that was mot listed on the label. A freaking diuretic the players weren’t aware they were taking. But, because this particular diuretic was on the list of banned substances as a possible masking agent, and the NFL wants to portray itself as tough against PEDs, the NFL did not back down from it.
* Where’s the reduced Sean Payton suspension? Sean Payton did everything that was asked of him, he kept quiet, he keeps quiet, even though Sean Payton had absolutely nothing to do with it. He went through the whole appeals charade.. where’s his reduced suspension?

There is a reason why Goddell is hiding behind the CBA. Every single piece of “evidence” against he’s shown it’s been disproved, even though ESPN or SI don’t cover it and just regurgitate what the NFL says. And the reason is going to be either they fabricated this whole pay-to-injure thing and blow a money pool out of proportion, or whatever they have shows what a lot of people know, that these money pools exist(ed) throughout the league.. let’s see Goddell suspend all HCs in the NFL then..

… Vilma’s point of view, if an 8-game reduction was offered, why would he not be in front of every camera proclaiming the NFL’s wronged him and here’s proof …
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Because he would be in violation of a court order mandating that settlement negotiations remain confidential … These are the reasons you will not see Vilma running to the cameras about settlement offers.
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Vilma is not smart enough to keep his mouth shut under this circumstance. He’d call a press conference in New Orleans if the offer were true.

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There’s a differance between being anonymous on a general statement that was made and being anonymous when your testimony is the main evidence in an important case against someone

And just think from Vilma’s point of view, if an 8-game reduction was offered, why would he not be in front of every camera proclaiming the NFL’s wronged him and here’s proof? Smells fishy to me, I’m not buying it, no matter how many unnamed sources you produce.

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Because he would be in violation of a court order mandating that settlement negotiations remain confidential.

As a general rule, public policy favors voluntary resolutions of disputes. That is why settlement negotiations are confidential. That is why the parties agree that offers, agreements and even statements made during the negotiiation process are not to be construed as admissions of fault.

These are the reasons you will not see Vilma running to the cameras about settlement offers.

In other words, just because it’s legal, doesn’t mean it’s right.

Man, every day, the NFL puts out more evidence that they’re lying.

They’re just sticking to it at this point to save face, aren’t they? Pretty sad. What’s worse is just that I love football too much to do anything but shrug and keep watching anyway. Sucks.