Opinions vary on Berman's options. Some say it's vacate in toto versus uphold; some say he has a freer hand (though he should be careful how he uses it in light of the Second Circuit). Hopefully someone like MSF can offer a view as I remain unclear on what the options really are. I'm sure that has been covered above, so apologies if this is obvious to others.
My take on Kraft is that the criticism here and elsewhere has often been unduly harsh. No one, of course, gets total deference but one would think he would get some given that he was the guy who bought the team when they were otherwise headed out of town, their incredible run of success under his watch, his clear hunger for a winner, the fact that his players repeatedly talk about how things are done first class in the organization, which presumably advances the cause of winning on some level, and the fact that as outsiders, there are clearly relevant facts and considerations that we don't have access to.
Aside from the deference point, not fighting an a fight that he could not win is a lay-up in my view. I don't think anyone really disputes that he could not get the NFL's ridiculous penalty undone. I get being put off by his flowery language re Goodell when he announced he was accepting the penalty. I get being annoyed at his apparent fealty to the owners' club. But it seems quite possible that those comments were designed, at least in part, to impact Goodell and the other owners in the appeal process. It turned out that Kraft was dead wrong. But we've all been wrong before and I think his mistake in this instance was understandable. I think a lot of people thought that if Kraft played nice, it would have a positive impact on the Brady suspension. And if it had worked, that would have been a trade I would have been willing to make, especially since Kraft had no prospect of winning had he chosen the Al Davis route.
My take on Kraft is that the criticism here and elsewhere has often been unduly harsh. No one, of course, gets total deference but one would think he would get some given that he was the guy who bought the team when they were otherwise headed out of town, their incredible run of success under his watch, his clear hunger for a winner, the fact that his players repeatedly talk about how things are done first class in the organization, which presumably advances the cause of winning on some level, and the fact that as outsiders, there are clearly relevant facts and considerations that we don't have access to.
Aside from the deference point, not fighting an a fight that he could not win is a lay-up in my view. I don't think anyone really disputes that he could not get the NFL's ridiculous penalty undone. I get being put off by his flowery language re Goodell when he announced he was accepting the penalty. I get being annoyed at his apparent fealty to the owners' club. But it seems quite possible that those comments were designed, at least in part, to impact Goodell and the other owners in the appeal process. It turned out that Kraft was dead wrong. But we've all been wrong before and I think his mistake in this instance was understandable. I think a lot of people thought that if Kraft played nice, it would have a positive impact on the Brady suspension. And if it had worked, that would have been a trade I would have been willing to make, especially since Kraft had no prospect of winning had he chosen the Al Davis route.