Brady testimony in NFL ‘Deflategate’ released

Roger Goodell won’t believe you.

Yet, through it all, Brady has been painted as the villainous liar. This adds to a heaping pile of paper that already includes the Wells Report, the Wells Report In Context, Goodell’s 20-page firebomb in which he upheld Brady’s four-game suspension, and the endless trail of leaks and counter-leaks.

– Brady’s SIM card from his cell phone was coincidentally destroyed right around March 6, the same day Wells interviewed Brady. The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl and beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 for Brady’s fourth NFL title.

In one particularly irrelevant email exchange that has now become public record, Brady is informed by his personal manager that he must purchase a second swimming pool cover for $8,500, a price which appears to leave Tom Brady appalled and referring to the pool specialists who sold him his first pool cover as “f*****g idiots”.

Even though Brady’s testimony, which was under oath, submitted the topics of conversation, Goodell wrote, “I do not fully credit that testimony”.

Berman surely will warn Brady and Goodell they are much better off settling because neither side is going to like what he comes up with on his own.

In other words, that kind of injunction would have left the door open for many delays to the conclusion of the case, allowing Brady to play against the NFL’s will. The lawyer teams concluded that a “final resolution of this matter prior to the commencement of the 2015 NFL regular season would be in everyone’s best interest”, as indicated by the report.

Brady’s cellphone has continued to be a major issue.

Brady turns 38 on Monday. It was unclear during the hearing if the NFL was paying Wells to testify. So which is it?

When that was brought up during the appeal, the league didn’t really have an answer for it. In this instance, the questions are being posed to Badger great and NFL vice president of operations Troy Vincent. If Vincent had been aware of the scientific elements the night of the AFC Championship Game, the psi measurements might have been shrugged off.

The CBA empowers Goodell to both impose discipline and to hear and resolve appeals in cases involving the integrity of the sport.

Winston’s not a fan of Goodell’s power. And though Wells danced around the issue, he essentially admitted he had no idea that players weren’t governed by the Competitive Integrity Policy.

Finally, despite speaking on the phone with equipment assistant John Jastremski at least eight times in the three days after the AFC Championship game, Brady is vague about what they discussed.

To be fair, this investigation might have been spared of its Threat Level Midnight status if ball boy Jim McNally didn’t continuously change his story about why he disappeared into the bathroom with a sack of game balls.

Just so we are clear here, we have Ted Wells, hired as independent investigator for the league, talking about his associate, also working on cross-examining Brady at the appeal hearing, and explaining how everybody thought it would be more efficient- before Daniel Nash, attorney for the NFL Management Council, objected on privileged grounds, which was sustained by Gregg Levy, attorney for the NFL.