Vilma's Day in Court

[Stranger]

Okay, we've got a Tulane Law professor twitting reports from inside the court room... here's a few..

@SportsLawGuy

Judge- if I do overturn suspension, do I decide punishment or send it back for another arbitration?

@SportsLawGuy

Judge has number of "serious jurisdictional concerns" for NFL's counsel

@SportsLawGuy

Judge says that Burbank's arbitration decision re jurisdiction is "questionable"

@SportsLawGuy

Judge has concerns about NFL's process overall and is asking series of questions about commish's jurisdiction to discipline Vilma

@SportsLawGuy

Judge-arbitrators "sliced the salami too thin" on ruling that commish had jurisdiction.

@SportsLawGuy

Too soon to tell anything conclusive, but based on Judge's lengthy questions, field has tilted in Vilma's favor

 

[Stranger]

Judge is going to wait to rule until AFTER NFLPA written argument is submitted by Aug 3.

From reading all the tweets, seems issue comes down to whether:
1) Vilma's side showed that NFL & Goodell abused power and acted outside CBA;
2) Whether Judge has power to interfere in this matter at all (ie Jurisdiction), given long standing union and labor laws.

I guess if Judge feels that NFL acted outside the CBA, then she can step-in and decide what happens next... if Vilma can immediately return to football, whether the courts will hear the Bountygate evidence, or whether the courts will send Bountygate back to the NFL or an arbitrator for an appeal.

Should be interesting.

 

[Stranger]

USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell reports interim Saints coach Joe Vitt spent 58 minutes on the stand. He said there was never a bounty program although he acknowledged pay-for-performance pool for big plays.

"I have looked our Commissioner in the eye two times and told him the integrity of the game was never breached."

Vitt also said:

-- "I've taken full responsibility for the spoken word, but not the clinched fist."

-- "At no time did any of our players cross the white line with the intent to hurt, maim or injure another player."

-- Asked about his name showing up with $5,000 pledge on typed ledger (which NFL sez was transcribed from handwritten notes, and has since said Vitt's name was listed erroneously), Vitt said: "I have never in 34 years (in NFL) put money up for anything. Not pay-for-performance, I'm not a betting man...All you would do is lose credibility with players when you do things like that."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... BHhXqaZiSo

 

[Stranger]

more from same page...

Vilma was on the witness stand for approximately two hours Thursday morning.

Among the highlights:

-- While again acknowledging a 'pay-for-performance' program, Vilma called accusations of a bounty program , "100% false." He also added if he had found out about a 'pay-to-injure' program, "As a captain, I would not have allowed it."

-- In regards to widely –heard terms during the scandal, Vilma said "kill the head" is a reference for making sure the ball carrier does not fall forward after contact. Defenders are often graded on "yards after contact."

-- "Whack hits" are hits below the knees. Vilma said when coaches chart these hits, he ranks low since his job as a linebacker is to hit players higher.

-- Vilma said "cut offs" are hits that result in offensive players missing a few plays.

 

[Stranger]

Well, absolutely no word on NFL.com about this hearing yesterday. Their silence is deafening. Why not report this on their webiste?

Is something there and I just didn't see it?

 

[Stranger]

Some more quotes of interest that I picked up from this ESPN article..
http://whodatwarriors.com/2012/07/27/vi ... t-to-espn/

[The judge] said Goodell’s contention that players were being punished for actions that occurred not on the field, but in meeting rooms and locker rooms, “borders on ridiculous,” and cited it as one of several examples of “slicing the salami very thin.”

Vilma attorney Peter Ginsberg said that Goodell violated the CBA by failing to serve as a neutral arbitrator. He said Goodell’s bias in the matter was evident in his public comments even before he handed down players’ suspensions.

Goodell “is allowed to be commissioner and arbitrator. He is not allowed to pre-judge,” Ginsberg said.

Current New Orleans defensive players Roman Harper, Sedrick Ellis, Jonathan Casillas and Scott Shanle testified on Vilma’s behalf, along with retired former teammates Troy Evans and Randall Gay.
.
.
.
They testified that the pool they were involved in was a pay-for-performance pool that largely rewarded big plays such as forced fumbles, sacks or interceptions, but added that the program also fined players for mental errors or penalties including unnecessary roughness.