Brady, Goodell no-show as judge pushes Deflategate truce

During an open hearing in between closed-door negotiating sessions, Berman grilled Daniel Nash, an attorney representing the league, about a lack of solid evidence that the Patriots quarterback ordered balls to be deflated in the AFC Championship Game.

Goodell and Brady, along with their lawyers, met separately with the judge before the start of their hearing. She said it is always challenging sketching someone who is famous or good-looking: “It was a big composition and Tom Brady was a tiny little head in that composition”.

There were other sketch artists in the courtroom, though the others drew Brady quite differently and, as a result, didn’t receive as much attention.

The talks lasted about two hours, with the lawyers walking out of the Downtown Manhattan courthouse at about 11:30 a.m. without reaching a settlement.

But ESPN reported that some detractors shouted “cheater! cheater!” at Brady as he exited the courthouse.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell upheld Brady’s suspension on July 28. Goodell smiled as dozens of photo and video journalists did their work. Notices filed by the court Thursday afternoon indicate “principals are not required to attend on 8/19/15”, meaning neither Goodell nor Brady will be required to be in court that day.

The NFL has sued to ensure that Brady’s punishment is carried out, which sparked a counter-suit from the players’ union to put both sides in the courtroom. That a federal judge is being tasked with determining whether a four-game suspension was unfair and violated the labor contract of a professional football player because that player and his league couldn’t get along would be laughable if it wasn’t so embarrassing.

Ms Rosenberg said she was unaware of the furore around her sketch until after she had left the court.

“This Deflategate. I’m not sure where the “gate” comes from”.

ABC 6 Legal Analyst Ken Schreiber says from what he heard today, Tom Brady has the advantage. Kessler told the judge Brady just took the advice of his agent, Don Yee.

Both parties were instructed to submit further documents by Friday and a second mediation hearing is set for August 19. And while 72% said they thought the Patriots had deliberately deflated footballs, only 16% said they were upset with the Super Bowl champions over the allegations. Brady insists he knew nothing about it.

Berman asked Brady lawyer Jeffrey Kessler why the quarterback declined to provide texts or emails to NFL investigator Ted Wells, and later destroyed his cell phone.