Exonerated? Vindicated? Tom Brady will serve his sentence

… should Steelers and three others earn retroactive wins? 

Prior to the 2015 football season, Tom Brady said that he was "exonerated." Patriots put up signs that read "vindicated."

That was because a judge ruled that his four-game suspension in 2015 for Deflategate was an over-reach by NFL Commisioner, Roger Goodell.

Definitions

First, what do those words mean? According to Merriman-Webster.com, here are the definitions:

Simple Definition of exonerate

• to prove that someone is not guilty of a crime or responsible for a problem, bad situation, etc. 

Simple Definition of vindicate

• to show that (someone) should not be blamed for a crime, mistake, etc. : to show that (someone) is not guilty 

Note two similarities: A person is "not guilty."

2015 decision

Brady said that he was exonerated because the federal court that overturned the NFL's decision to suspend him for four games for "Deflategate" proved that he was innocent.

The NFL appealed, and in April, the U.S. Second Court of Appeals wrote a 33-page decision that reinstated the four game suspension for Deflategate. In addition, it said that the judge who had overturned the decision last year was wrong. Richard Berman said that Goodell did not have the power to be judge, jury, and executioner. My words, not his.

Berman did not rule on Brady's guilt or innocence in the district decision. He just ruled on the power of the Commissioner of the NFL to levy punishments.

2016 Decision

So, does this decision mean that Tom Brady is guilty? Yes, in effect, it does. The decision of Goodell related to the deflation of the Patriot footballs during their NFL playoff game in 2014.

The NFL hired Ted Wells, a noted D.C. attorney, to investigate. He found that indeed, there was evidence to the effect that indeed, Brady was guilty of lying and of destruction of a cell phone that would have showed that he lied about this.

Should this affect the Hall of Fame?

If this is indeed a cheating situation that affected the integrity of the game, why not treat him the same as MLB did with Rose, Sosa, McQuire, and Bonds and ban him from the Hall of Fame?

The NFL could also go beyond that and go to the U.S. Attorney and ask him to investigate Brady for Obstruction of Justice by destroying his cell phone.

First, I believe that the Patriots have been doing this for more than a decade, and I have written that before this. That should have been a major part of Wells' summation.

Second, that investigation should be held after his career is over. At that point, the Hall of Fame should investigate to see if this was just a few games for if it went on for many years That is not for today.

Brady can again appeal for this year, even to the U.S. Supreme Court, but most legal theorists believe that his chances are nil to none.

Question 

Should be four teams that Brady played against in the first four games -- like the Steelers in week 1 -- have their losses turned to W's?

Interesting 

I love that a real strong, right-wing Republican like Tom Brady is hiding behind the skirts of a union -- yes a labor union for multi-millionaires. He no doubt despises real unions for workers like the AFL-CIO, USW, AFSCME, NEA, SEIU, etc.

Wimp!