Watson Suspended for 11 Games and Fined $5 Million / and a bit OT and back.

[D Bone]

Ahhhh, the Browns. Can't we go back to talking about 1-31, Pilot Flying J  or the real Browns playing in Baltimore? (that last one's for you Gip) 

[laiccm]

Welp, he will be playing game 1....the NFLPA will now sue, injunction, then Discovery and the league will fold just like with kapernick because they don't want to give their text, emails...etc. The judge will probably be super angry the NFL brought this case to them because there's already been 2 grand juries and a retired federal judge they had an agreement with. 

[Canton Dawg]

Congratulations Roger, you managed to make a system look more foolish than Congress.

Take a bow douchebag.

[crstphr2]

35 minutes ago, laiccm said:

Welp, he will be playing game 1....the NFLPA will now sue, injunction, then Discovery and the league will fold just like with kapernick because they don't want to give their text, emails...etc. The judge will probably be super angry the NFL brought this case to them because there's already been 2 grand juries and a retired federal judge they had an agreement with. 

The NFLPA did not appeal the 6 game suspension.

So the debate is for week 7 this year or week 1 next year.

[hoorta]

51 minutes ago, laiccm said:

Welp, he will be playing game 1....the NFLPA will now sue, injunction, then Discovery and the league will fold just like with kapernick because they don't want to give their text, emails...etc. The judge will probably be super angry the NFL brought this case to them because there's already been 2 grand juries and a retired federal judge they had an agreement with. 

I love gumby's comment that the NFL threw their agreed upon arbiter Sue Robinson under the bus... Because they didn't like her decision. 

As I opined earlier in this thread, Goodell & the NFL had better appoint someone not affiliated with the league to hear their appeal, if they don't- in some quarters it's going to be viewed as a Kangaroo Court hellbent on imposing whatever punishment they wanted to meet out on Watson in the first place.

Anything significantly more- say 12 games or a humongous fine will certainly be challenged in Federal Court by the NFLPA. 

[hoorta]

On 8/1/2022 at 3:08 PM, mjp28 said:

Some of the women's groups are not happy or satisfied with this ruling in this case or the NFL's stance on penalties involving the treatment of women. 

This might  not be 100% over involving some of the women involved in this and other cases.

We'll see what if anything happens next.   

We know what happened.  Media pressure from some commentators and outraged women's groups that the punishment was insufficient, and the socially conscious NFL couldn't fold fast enough. Ban the scumbag for life!!! Don't try and tell me that the NFL doesn't bend over backwards trying to engage women who might be vaguely interested in football. The pink Critical Catch thing is just one example.  

[Unsympathetic]

3 hours ago, jcam222 said:

I think it’s no less wrong to directly call someone stupid when their opinion differs than it is to call a broader group “woke”

Thank you for agreeing to end your use of the word "woke" .

 

35 minutes ago, hoorta said:

in some quarters it's going to be viewed as a Kangaroo Court

Not quite a Kangaroo Court.. A Woke Court!  It was a long way to go but we finally got there.  I'll see myself out. 

The ridiculous part is that anything resembling a long suspension will definitely go to federal court - and discovery will be a female dog, hopefully as positive for NFLPA as alex jones, who will now be immortalized as a law school case study in perjury.  Probably wouldn't appeal if it was 7 or 8 but I'd pull the cord even at 9.

[hoorta]

4 hours ago, Westside Steve said:

https://www.aol.com/nfl-warned-deshaun-watsons-suspension-030239558.html

It was a revelation that arbitrator Sue L. Robinson delivered, sources said. It instantly established an eyebrow-raising blow to the NFL’s effort to impose a l...

wSS

Read the article Steve. If the person hearing the appeal gives the NFL exactly what they've wanted all along, it's see you in Court.  I would hope that there would be some room for compromise, like a couple extra games and a  $5 million fine. 

[Osiris]

20 hours ago, hoorta said:

Any lawyers out there?  It will probably start with an injunction being filed against the NFL to go pound salt.  I'll use a dirty word in this Forum "Political"...  What I've learned in my adventures in that sphere, the defense (in this case the NFLPA) can use a process called "discovery"... You can bet the ranch the player's association will drag up all the shit that the above owners (who are supposed to be held to a higher standard) got away with essentially scot free...  I have NO doubts the NFLPA's lawyers are already working overtime at producing a mountain of paperwork that will take a judge weeks to wade through.  

It's still possible that Watson and the NFL reach an agreement before anything goes to court, what you've posted certainly gives the NFL motivation to do so. From what I heard on a podcast, the NFL's minimum was 12 games + fines and Watson's maximum was 8 games. Maybe they just split the difference and agree to 10 games + a smaller fine than what the NFL wanted.

20 hours ago, Bob806 said:

Wow. So the commissioner doesn't want to honor the CBA he signed off on. 

Media pressure, particularly from profootballtalk.com, drove this. I think it makes Goodell look weak as hell 

Our world just keeps on getting crazier, & it's not a good thing.

Sadly, the CBA allowed for the NFL (and the NFLPA) to appeal the ruling made by the independent judge. The NFLPA tried to make it so NFL could make the initial ruling but any appeal would go to the independent judge (as it is in MLB) but they wouldn't agree to that.

[Westside Steve]

26 minutes ago, hoorta said:

Read the article Steve. If the person hearing the appeal gives the NFL exactly what they've wanted all along, it's see you in Court.  I would hope that there would be some room for compromise, like a couple extra games and a  $5 million fine. 

Could be anything.

I want 17 games and Garoppolo.

On the other hand I want a lot of s*** that I probably won't ever have. 😄

WSS

[nickers]

You can all thank Jimmy "Ass Hat" Haslam for this... He's the one who wanted Watson...

[nickers]

7 hours ago, laiccm said:

So the league has bowed to the media crying last 2 days. If I'm the Union...GAME ON...I'm playing Watson game 1. I wish the same media members had the same energy for Kraft(WHO HAD A VIDEO), Snyder, Jerry Jones, Texans FO....

I wouldn't play Watson game 1... My strategy would be to sit out the 6 games... I'd rather have Watson available in the latter half of the season.. Assuming we make the playoffs...

[Vambo]

1 hour ago, hoorta said:

Read the article Steve. If the person hearing the appeal gives the NFL exactly what they've wanted all along, it's see you in Court.  I would hope that there would be some room for compromise, like a couple extra games and a  $5 million fine. 

Roger Goodell won’t hear the NFL’s appeal of Deshaun Watson’s six-game suspension, report says

• Updated: Aug. 04, 2022, 2:06 p.m.|
• Published: Aug. 04, 2022, 1:59 p.m.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2022/08/roger-goodell-wont-hear-the-nfls-appeal-of-deshaun-watsons-six-game-suspension-reports-says.html

...

Apparently, Goodell has decided to appoint someone else to hear one of the most controversial and highest-profile appeals in the history of the NFL.

 

 

Florio speculated that perhaps Goodell might appoint Mary Jo White, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, or Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. Secretary of State and current director of the Hoover Institute at Stanford who recently became part of the Denver Broncos ownership group.

 

 

A lifelong Browns fan, Rice recently weighed on Watson’s situation...

[TexasAg1969]

1 hour ago, Westside Steve said:

Could be anything.

I want 17 games and Garoppolo.

On the other hand I want a lot of s*** that I probably won't ever have. 😄

WSS

Yeah, I wanted that drop dead beauty I had a conversation with on the Metro in Barcelona too. And I had the perfect pitch about how poor my Spanish was and then proceeded to use it for 10 minutes. But................I had to watch her leave alone anyway.🥲💃    Maybe I should have asked if she did massages.😁    LOL!

[jcam222]

2 hours ago, Osiris said:

It's still possible that Watson and the NFL reach an agreement before anything goes to court, what you've posted certainly gives the NFL motivation to do so. From what I heard on a podcast, the NFL's minimum was 12 games + fines and Watson's maximum was 8 games. Maybe they just split the difference and agree to 10 games + a smaller fine than what the NFL wanted.

Sadly, the CBA allowed for the NFL (and the NFLPA) to appeal the ruling made by the independent judge. The NFLPA tried to make it so NFL could make the initial ruling but any appeal would go to the independent judge (as it is in MLB) but they wouldn't agree to that.

I feel like the "happy medium" is for the NFL to add a fine that the two sides can agree  to on top of the 6 games. This should please the majority of the folks who thought the penalty was not enough. We have to understand that a certain number of the folks are simply never going to be happy regardless of the severity of the penalty short of a lifetime ban and that's not happening. I honestly was surprised Sue Robinson offered no fine and truly wonder if that was back channel discussion with the league to give them a fine as an out. 

[SdBacker80]

“there were NO clear definitions that the NFL went by in making their determinations of Watson's misbehavior... OTOH, they made it up on the fly.”Quoting Hoorta,

this is a MASSIVE problem for the NFL.    If/when this goes to Court this will get picked apart.  The dictator decides.  Yeah okay. 

[SdBacker80]

18 minutes ago, jcam222 said:

I feel like the "happy medium" is for the NFL to add a fine that the two sides can agree  to on top of the 6 games. This should please the majority of the folks who thought the penalty was not enough. We have to understand that a certain number of the folks are simply never going to be happy regardless of the severity of the penalty short of a lifetime ban and that's not happening. I honestly was surprised Sue Robinson offered no fine and truly wonder if that was back channel discussion with the league to give them a fine as an out. 

This is exactly how I feel.  
 

I keep going back to the numbers… and ironically the supporters of a longer suspension do too.

you hear 66 therapist…24 or 26 cases….the masses are just eating these numbers up and seeing a monster.  “Well 24 women rounded up by an ambulance chaser don’t lie”

But the grand jury heard half of those…why?  NFL heard 5…no only 4…why?   
 

And The NFL needs a lawyer to draft their personal conduct policy.  It is sloppy as all hell and may do them in when they go to court 

[Korsou Dawg]

3 hours ago, hoorta said:

Read the article Steve. If the person hearing the appeal gives the NFL exactly what they've wanted all along, it's see you in Court.  I would hope that there would be some room for compromise, like a couple extra games and a  $5 million fine. 

The policy to be upheld leaves room for a higher fine. It does not leave any room for a longer suspension. 6 games plus more money it will likely be, and the NFL looking even more foolish. 

If the imposed ruling were not to be in accordance with the policy, Watson's legal team has an open and shut case in court. They have the legal equivalent of a gun to the NFL's temple.

[onkyoreceiver]

So, here's something to consider.  The NFL conducted its investigation...and passed their findings on to Judge Sue...or did they??

There have been 25 civil complaints filed; there were I believe only 24 which had been filed at the time of the investigation.  Of these 24, 12 refused to talk to the NFL or in some way could not be contacted.  Now, first of all what up with that?  You say this man sexually violated you, traumatized you to the point you needed therapy, a career change, couldn't sleep at night, etc and you don't have a problem putting your name down in a lawsuit where you might have to testify and will almost certainly get paid $$$ , but you DON'T want to talk to the NFL, who you know full well is trying to punish to the fullest to the best of their ability the man you say sexually violated you, but there is no chance of any $$$ for you.  This is your chance to strike back at the son of a bitch that violated you - and you only have to talk privately to an NFL investigator not face the accused in open court - and you take a pass?   This case was ALL about numbers.  Everyone says Deshaun's guilty because of how many women there were - but when it comes down to talking with investigators instead of talking to Buzbee now half of them don't have anything to say or cannot be found.   Further, of the 12 they NFL DID contact, the NFL themselves didn't feel that the information they garnered in SEVEN of those cases to be I guess you'd say "helpful" to the cause of getting Deshaun indefinitely suspended.  Does that mean the NFL didn't deem there was sufficient evidence in these 7 cases?  Did it mean they found glaring contradictions of the assertions being made in those cases?  Are there written recommendations on a case by case/woman by woman basis by the NFL investigator(s) submitted to their higher-ups/Goddell about which cases/women should be forwarded to Judge Sue and which ones should not?  If the NFL is sued by the NFLPA and Deshaun Watson, would ALL of this information (not about the four cases that made it to Sue's desk, but ALL the ones that DIDN'T make it to Sue's desk and WHY they didn't make it to Sue's desk) be subpoenaed by the NFLPA?  It seems to me highly suspect that Judge Sue can make the sweeping "indictments" she made about Deshaun - which, in fairness, may be totally on the money - WITHOUT considering the entire picture, which is what is up with the OTHER 20 accusers and why is the NFL withholding what they learned about them from their forwarded findings to Judge Sue?  If 20 people filed civil suits claiming Deshaun was guilty of sexual impropriety and the NFL discovered many of these didn't have enough merit to be sent to the judge, shouldn't the judge and public be made of aware of those fine particulars?  The judge mentioned "mitigating factors" in her report - she couldn't mention as a mitigating factor that the NFL didn't find enough merit in 20 other women's claims because the NFL didn't forward to her any information about their investigations into those 20 other women.  If we had the whole entire picture, people - including the judge herself -  might be feeling differently.  Maybe.  But we DON'T.

 

[DieHardBrownsFan1]

2 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

Maybe I should have asked if she did massages

Did she offer you a senior discount?🤣

[TexasAg1969]

2 hours ago, DieHardBrownsFan1 said:

Did she offer you a senior discount?🤣

Ida paid triple that rate. She was that good looking and humorously engaged in conversation about her hometown with this old fart. I think she brought out my best Spanish for sure.😍

[Dutch Oven]

6 hours ago, hoorta said:

We know what happened.  Media pressure from some commentators and outraged women's groups that the punishment was insufficient, and the socially conscious NFL couldn't fold fast enough. Ban the scumbag for life!!! Don't try and tell me that the NFL doesn't bend over backwards trying to engage women who might be vaguely interested in football. The pink Critical Catch thing is just one example.  

Absolutely ridiculous.

Literally the only pocket of people who are outraged that he's going to get a much longer suspension is Browns fans. 

Geez, I wonder why? 

The Browns deserve every bit of the never-ending shit circus they brought to town ON THEMSELVES. They are not victims, they sold their souls, and they'll deal with the consequences. 

[Unsympathetic]

NJ past AG appointed to hear the case

[SdBacker80]

7 minutes ago, Unsympathetic said:

NJ past AG appointed to hear the case

Well Goddell is smart.  
 

He’s known the optics from Day 1
 

when the suspension is increased it was handed down by a member of the NFL's diversity advisory committee. 

[gumby73]

32 minutes ago, SdBacker80 said:

Well Goddell is smart.   

😇 Nah,nah, No! that had to be a typo  

start over   

(the business of the nfl shield has a unlimited cap space.. paying smarter people than God_ _ _ _ )  

[TexasAg1969]

8 hours ago, hoorta said:

The pink Critical Catch thing is just one example.  

There was a pink clitoral catch? How'd I miss that?😛

[jcam222]

On 8/3/2022 at 1:36 PM, hoorta said:

Too bad The Gipper isn't around anymore to comment... Robinson had to use the NFL's version of what "violence" is, not the legal version of one. You can read the report of what was considered "violence", I'm not going to repeat it here. However, for it to be "indecent exposure" it has to be in public, but I'm not a lawyer.    Yeah, it wasn't just a "massage" it was thinly veiled prostitution. But how many other NFL players have visited The Chicken Ranch or it's equivalent multiple times in the past?

And this reeks of nth degree hypocrisy Mr. Kraft.. You got off scot free... 

 

The guys lifestyle with the most skeletons in the closet usually do jump on the bandwagon to deflect. 

[Canton Dawg]

2 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

Ida paid triple that rate. She was that good looking and humorously engaged in conversation about her hometown with this old fart. I think she brought out my best Spanish for sure.😍

You should’ve brought out the French! 😉

[SdBacker80]

5 hours ago, onkyoreceiver said:

So, here's something to consider.  The NFL conducted its investigation...and passed their findings on to Judge Sue...or did they??

There have been 25 civil complaints filed; there were I believe only 24 which had been filed at the time of the investigation.  Of these 24, 12 refused to talk to the NFL or in some way could not be contacted.  Now, first of all what up with that?  You say this man sexually violated you, traumatized you to the point you needed therapy, a career change, couldn't sleep at night, etc and you don't have a problem putting your name down in a lawsuit where you might have to testify and will almost certainly get paid $$$ , but you DON'T want to talk to the NFL, who you know full well is trying to punish to the fullest to the best of their ability the man you say sexually violated you, but there is no chance of any $$$ for you.  This is your chance to strike back at the son of a bitch that violated you - and you only have to talk privately to an NFL investigator not face the accused in open court - and you take a pass?   This case was ALL about numbers.  Everyone says Deshaun's guilty because of how many women there were - but when it comes down to talking with investigators instead of talking to Buzbee now half of them don't have anything to say or cannot be found.   Further, of the 12 they NFL DID contact, the NFL themselves didn't feel that the information they garnered in SEVEN of those cases to be I guess you'd say "helpful" to the cause of getting Deshaun indefinitely suspended.  Does that mean the NFL didn't deem there was sufficient evidence in these 7 cases?  Did it mean they found glaring contradictions of the assertions being made in those cases?  Are there written recommendations on a case by case/woman by woman basis by the NFL investigator(s) submitted to their higher-ups/Goddell about which cases/women should be forwarded to Judge Sue and which ones should not?  If the NFL is sued by the NFLPA and Deshaun Watson, would ALL of this information (not about the four cases that made it to Sue's desk, but ALL the ones that DIDN'T make it to Sue's desk and WHY they didn't make it to Sue's desk) be subpoenaed by the NFLPA?  It seems to me highly suspect that Judge Sue can make the sweeping "indictments" she made about Deshaun - which, in fairness, may be totally on the money - WITHOUT considering the entire picture, which is what is up with the OTHER 20 accusers and why is the NFL withholding what they learned about them from their forwarded findings to Judge Sue?  If 20 people filed civil suits claiming Deshaun was guilty of sexual impropriety and the NFL discovered many of these didn't have enough merit to be sent to the judge, shouldn't the judge and public be made of aware of those fine particulars?  The judge mentioned "mitigating factors" in her report - she couldn't mention as a mitigating factor that the NFL didn't find enough merit in 20 other women's claims because the NFL didn't forward to her any information about their investigations into those 20 other women.  If we had the whole entire picture, people - including the judge herself -  might be feeling differently.  Maybe.  But we DON'T.

 

^^^^On the Money 

[SdBacker80]

1 hour ago, gumby73 said:

😇 Nah,nah, No! that had to be a typo  

start over   

(the business of the nfl shield has a unlimited cap space.. paying smarter people than God_ _ _ _ )  

It is not him I spelled his name wrong