WhoDat!656

After the June 18 hearing in the bounty case, two of the key witnesses publicly disputed portions of the evidence on which the NFL relied in making its case. Interim head coach Joe Vitt reacted aggressively to transcribed typewritten notes attributing to him a $5,000 pledge to the Brett Favre bounty pool prior to the 2009 NFC title game, and Mike Ornstein disputed in an interview with PFT that he “corroborated” Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma’s pledge of $10,000 to the Favre bounty.

Thereafter, NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler submitted a letter to the league office regarding the comments from Vitt and Ornstein.

In the July 3 letter upholding the suspensions, Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed — and ultimately dismissed — the comments from Vitt and Ornstein.

Vitt’s comments regarding the contents of the notes of the Favre bounty pledge amounts called into question the overall credibility of the notes, which also document the alleged $10,000 offer from Vilma. Goodell says that the “exhibit reflects the handwritten notes of an eyewitness to the meeting at which Mr. Vilma made the pledge regarding Favre; it is fully consistent with what three witnesses told NFL Security about Mr. Vilma’s statements at the meeting.”

In other words, Goodell is taking the position that because three people corroborated the contents of the notes as to Vilma, the presence of a major flaw in the notes gave the NFL no concern whatsoever about the overall reliability of the notes.

Goodell disregarded Vitt, Ornstein post-June 18 comments | ProFootballTalk

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

saintfan

And that's why he's protecting the source. The source can/will be seen as far less than credible and certainly someone with a clear vendetta. Poof goes the source.

One wonders how much the NFL paid that ex-FBI hag to stand up in front of God and everybody and proclaim all this rock-solid.

Rugby Saint II

Of course Godhell diregarded the plaintiffs testimony. It doesn't support his flimsy case. This man has the ethics of a high ranking Nazi.

saintsfan1976

Absolutely none of this will hold up in court. Zero percent.

That's why I fully support Vilma in his effort to pursue legal action, no matter how frivolous it may be deemed by those in Goodell's pocket.

Geaux Vilma!

OldMaid

From saintsfan, "And that's why he's protecting the source. The source can/will be seen as far less than credible and certainly someone with a clear vendetta. Poof goes the source. "

I agree.

TXGSP

From the appeal transcript it appears the NFLPA and Ginsberg have been able to piece quite a bit about the investigation and who was "interviewed" as part of the investigation. The league gave out some names regarding what occurred, but some of those sources made assumptions about what was occurring - the league took some of those assumptions as fact and corroborated those with statements that could be as questionable as the "supposed facts" were.

The Kommisar should be hiding all his sources. The majority of them seem so questionable they bring into question not only the investigation, but the decision making of those involved.

An Optimist sees the big picture and views obstacles as temporary hurdles