The league continues to comply with the CBA. The union continues to complain about the very CBA to which it agreed.

Also for those who keep bringing up the CBA just be aware Goodall may have violated the CBA yet again by not consulting with the union when picking the “impartial” arbiter.

Every step of the way the league has come off looking like incompetent nincompoops. How hard is it to get an impartial arbitrator? How hard is it to show all the evidence of a bounty system to those accused of wrong doing?

What if the company called him into the office one day and said he was fired because they had “evidence” that he stole from the company and destroyed equipment?

Husband screams as loud as can be that he never did such a thing, and demands to see the “evidence”, but the company says no we dont have to show you anything.

Now I know bgjdv would say “oh, ok well I signed off on the contract that allows the company to fire me for this bogus accusation”. The company is right and I guess i will just slink away”

But those who have a backbone, and integrity will fight a BS sham, and stand up for themselves to clear their name.
Some people are just cowards

Goodell’s sick obsession with the Saints has gotten way out of control. He has zero evidence to back up hid claims of “bounties”. Every time he produces “evidence” it has been refuted.
Instead of admitting his lies and admitting his smear campaign was in error, he still clings to to HIS belief that there was wrongdoing, even though it’s now clear to all that the Saints have done nothing.

Sham investigation, sham accusations, sham “evidence”, sham disciplinary action, and now a sham attempt at impartiality by tapping his former boss and mentor to handle appeals.
Goodell has absolutely no class and is making the whole league look very very shady.

The players have been begging for Goodell to recuse himself. He doesn’t have to but he has.

Now the players are complaining about the arbiter selected.

All of these items were covered in the CBA, both groups signed off on the proceedings. Now the players are complaining that they can’t have the perfect surroundings for their case?

For those people stating conflict of interest and all other things. This isn’t a courtroom, this is a collectively bargained set of rules for an organization. Had this been a courtroom, the players would have already been convicted and serving sentences.

Goodell has handled this poorly, no doubt, but so have the players. They have thrown temper tantrums from the beginning. They have a right to question punishments for the indictments against them, however screaming unfair every time something doesn’t go their way is childish.

They got a do over, they took part in the hearing this time, they were shown the evidence that made the judge (Goodell) view them as guilty. They obviously don’t agree. They should go to the appeal, and try to prove why they aren’t guilty. In this avenue, at this point, I do believe that Williams and Cerrulo should be there, however even if they don’t, there should be enough in the statements that they can attack for integrity, as well as having a counter side to the story. That is how it works. You convince the judge of your innocence.

That should be the end of it. However, they cried like little babies about how the agreed upon procedures aren’t fair, so Goodell in a move that I surely didn’t see coming, recused himself from the hearings. Now they are again complaining about the independent arbiter they so wanted. They are crazy if they think that Goodell is just going to give them a judge that automatically favors them or is the one that they would want. They should’ve picked one in the CBA.

This all comes down to the incompetence of De Smith. He left his players hanging out there to try and save his job.

If the judge rules in favor of the players, this would set a bad precedent. Employees that didn’t like a rule or procedure at their company could sue for more stupid reasons than they already do.

The players knew what they were getting into when they signed. This is on them and the union.

Add to the equation that Tagliabue is merely going to serve as an arbitrator, at an administrative hearing, as opposed to an adversary against the NFLPA or the players in a judicial proceeding, and it further defeats the notion of a conflict of interest.

To say nothing of the fact that from 1989-2006 Tagliabue had the exact same power that Goodell currently does. You know, after he worked at Covington & Burling.

All of these technical arguments by the NFLPA and Vilma’s lawyer are, at best, delay tactics. They know that the facts and the law are on the side of the NFL.

Am I the only one who wants to see the players punished if they’re guilty, yet not punished if they are not?

The fact that federal judges are even allowing this in court shows how screwed up our judicial system is. Rather than following the law these judges are making up their own rules.