I woke yesterday morning to find James Varney's article on the nola.com, taking a closer look at the official statement released by Sean Payton on Friday, which made for a halfway decent read.
In it, he points out how carefully crafted it is with precise language, and he brings up the subject of an appeal, which is a topic of much interest for me. And given the subject of Win's post earlier today, it officially merits further CSC attention now.
Make the jump for more...
Here's the first mention, in the second sentence:
The statement did not touch upon an appeal the franchise said Payton and General Manager Mickey Loomis, who was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season, would make to Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Then, in a couple of paragraphs towards the end of the piece, he brings it up again:
It remained unclear if the Saints were carrying through on their stated intention to appeal Goodell's edicts, the stiffest in NFL history. The harsh punishments come at a time when Goodell and the players' union have harped on player safety, and when the league and its equipment makers are facing a growing storm cloud of litigation with former players filing lawsuits that allege the league was insufficiently forthcoming on the long-term health consequences of multiple concussions.
Questions about whether an appeal has been filed remained unanswered as the NFL referred the query back to the Saints, who did not respond. Earlier in the week, the Saints said no decisions on who will act as head coach in Payton's absence would be made until the appeals are exhausted. It remained unclear if the appeals, if filed, would represent anything more than a gesture given they would be heard by Goodell, who would in effect be asked to reduce his own punishment.
So, at this point, Varney and the rest of us have no idea if the Saints actually have appealed, plan to appeal, or are just talking smack about maybe appealing if they feel like it. Based on the way they've rolled over so much recently in regard to the investigation, I'm thinking they won't even bother, as all public statements from the team have been of the "we're sorry (but maybe not really), and now we're moving forward" variety.
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Now, in this day and age of 24/7 sports media coverage, what do we do when we're unsure of what happens next? Why, we engage in wild speculation, of course!
Let's work that to a fun advantage for us and engage in some speculative CSC Theatre musings in screenplay format (really set the scene for us), using the following questions as a guide...
If the Saints do appeal, how might that look? Will it make any difference if they do?
Who would appear before Goodell and what exactly would they say? How would Rog respond? Who else might be in the room? Would it be like a pretentious Supreme Court-type scene? Or would it be all done by paper/email with no actual in-person appearances?
Would they be wise to offer some form of bribe/threat in exchange for leniency? There's no way that could be problematic, right?
I look forward to reading your clever and humorous ideas...