Why Vilma didn't meet with Goodell prior to punishment
I've heard many people wondering why Vilma didn't plead his case to Goodell prior to being punished. Well in his revised Post-hearing memoramdum it is explaind very well. Carl Banks was preaching this on SiriusXM this morning. I tried to call in but couldn't wait on hold.
- I posted the Memo in the Bounty Docs sticky but here:
The Farcical Pre-Hearing Lead-Up
Forewarned by what happened to his coaches, and the "massacre" they faced when finally confronting Goodell, Vilma proceeded in the months leading up to his June 2012 Appeal Hearing with extreme caution. He knew – as Vitt and the other Saints executives knew – that there was no Bounty Program. And yet, unlike his coaches and other Saints executives, who were the first to face Goodell, and who naively believed that Goodell would keep an open mind and listen to them, Vilma knew that Goodell would ignore his protestations of innocence, (Ex. 2, 46:4-22).
Vilma also was aware that Goodell claimed to have reviewed "approximately 18,000 documents totaling more than 50,000 pages" and claimed to have conducted extensive witness interviews during the course of their investigation into the alleged Bounty Program. (Ex. 2, 50:15-21.)
Vilma determined to proceed cautiously in light of what had already occurred but, nonetheless, desired to share with Goodell the truth. On March 14, 2012, Vilma’s counsel offered to meet with Goodell about the accusations against Vilma if Goodell was considering disciplining Vilma. Vilma’s counsel confirmed the offer in a letter dated March 21, 2012. (Ex. 6.)
Goodell did not respond.
By email dated March 30, 2012, NFL Senior Vice President Adolpho Birch requested to interview Vilma concerning the alleged Bounty Program. In response, Vilma, by letter dated April 2, 2012 (Ex. 7), agreed to a meeting with the NFL once the NFL provided him with the materials gathered by the NFL "which the NFL contend[ed] provided a basis to investigate Vilma" so that Vilma could prepare for and understand the scope of the interview. In the same letter, Vilma offered to provide the NFL with complete "detail[] [of] Vilma’s knowledge regarding [the Bounty Program] allegations." By letter dated April 5, 2012, the NFL refused to provide Vilma with any information or other supposed evidence, claiming "[w]e see no basis upon which it would be appropriate to make any of the material available, and we decline to do so." (NFL Ex. BB.) The answer, indeed, was a precursor to a statement made by the NFL’s outside counsel that requesting to review evidence was a "red herring," since the players "knew what had happened." (Ex. 2, 51:25-52:9.) In the April 5 correspondence, the NFL also refused to meet with Vilma’s counsel.
I only wish I could smack every media outlet talking head that blabs while on the verge of shouting how Vilma should have met with goodell with this as a rolled up paper document.
Florio, we know you are reading this- can you get a good article about this out there so people will stop spewing that line - "If he's innocent why didn't he just talk to Goodell"
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Season Ticker Holder - Section 313, and 613
Totally amazing how arrogant RG is. This gets me..
"On March 14, 2012, Vilma’s counsel offered to meet with Goodell about the accusations against Vilma if Goodell was considering disciplining Vilma. Vilma’s counsel confirmed the offer in a letter dated March 21, 2012. (Ex. 6.)
Goodell did not respond. "
I mean really? If this is true...talk about letting the ball drop imo. Why not respond Goodell and meet with his counsel? hmmm
Someone send this to Skip on First Take so he can tear idiot Stephan A Smith a new one!
The key is that Vilma asked for evidence and it wasn't provided. Why should he meet with Goodell under those circumstances?
Those who keep saying "why didn't Vilma meet with Goodell", I would ask "Why is the league consistently insisting on refusing to show the evidence??"
That's the elephant in the room. If the case is so strong, how come nobody can see it?
Furthermore, they won't even say why they won't disclose the evidence. They just say stuff like they don't see how it would be appropriate to release the documents.
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Victor Butler on Saints fans: "I haven't played a down for them yet & I feel like 20 million people have offered me a home cooked meal"
Pretty much confirms what everybody on SR was speculating.
And to snowball on what James K P said, how do you defend yourself against something you know nothing of?
If in the end of all this B.S., and it continues the way it's going....man, I can't see anyway the NFL doesn't let Goodell go.
I was one of those guys at the beginning that figured, yeah...I guess we did something wrong, we'll take our punishments and move on and hear the B.S. from the media and other fan bases. I never want to be the "homer" when it comes to things about my team.
But wow...when you step back and look at all these facts it's just sick at how the nfl and goodell went about this and just refused to work with the players and their counsel.
ESPN, Goodell’s funnel to the public airways, broadcast the news before Goodell informed Vilma.
Bwahahahaha, nice little back-handed slap in the face at ESPN by Ginsburg. There is no worse reputation for a media origination than to be known as someone's *****.
That is an awesome memorandum. It lays out perfectly just how screwed up the due process and goodell's reasoning was.
Edit. This is on point as well (pg. 7):
Quote:
Payton, Saints head coach, had not even attended the meetings where the supposed Bounty Program had been operated except for limited appearances. (Ex. 2, 121:7-122:6.) Payton also had no role in running the defense, a job left to Williams. (Id.) Goodell, without any evidence, concluded that Payton had lied when he “claimed to be entirely unaware” of the Bounty Program. Ex. 4. As evidence that Payton, a thoroughly honorable citizen of the NFL, had lied, Goodell cited an email Payton allegedly received from a “close associate” stating “put me down for $5000 on Rodgers,” referring to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The “close associate” is Michael Ornstein. First, Payton did not receive any emails from Ornstein. The email had been sent to a different Saints executive, as Goodell well knew. Second, Ornstein, in response to press reports, said publicly as well as privately to Goodell, and unwaveringly, that he was joking about putting money on Rodgers, and that the only money he ever discussed with Saints officials was money he wanted to donate to a charity run by Williams. (See, e.g., Ex. 2, 59:19-60:1.)
I'm going to end up posting this whole memorandum by the time I'm done. lol
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