Federal judge dismisses Brady's suspension

Brady has been freed.

Per the request of thousands of homemade signs crafted by young and old across New England, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had his four-game suspension dismissed by federal judge Richard Berman on Thursday.

Brady will be immediately eligible to start New England's regular season opener when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 10.

"Commissioner Goodell dispensed his own brand of industrial justice," Berman said in a damning sentiment.

The NFL will have the chance to appeal this decision through the second circuit, which they are expected to do. However, they will not stay the decision, all but ensuring Brady will take all the snaps in the first four games of the regular season.

The lynchpin in Berman's ruling was the lack of direct evidence the NFL had employed in rendering the suspension after alleging Brady's masterminding of a scheme to deflate footballs used in January's AFC Championship Game.

"The court finds that no player alleged or found to have had a general awareness of the inappropriate ball deflation activities of others or who allegedly schemed with others to let air out of footballs in a championship game and also had not cooperated in an ensuing investigation, reasonably could be on notice that their discipline would (or should) be the same as applied to a player who violated the NFL policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Subatances."

That comparison Goodell made to the court was one argument Judge Berman disregarded out of hand. There could be no decent and biding connection, he thought, between the severity of competitive advantage gained by ingested chemicals and that gained by a football with one pound per square inch removed in what was not a close contest.

Berman did note in his ruling that he did not believe Goodell was "evidently partial," which could be said to be the single positive outcome for the Commissioner on the day.

One aspect of the entire affair still stands out: the NFL's decision to not pursue a settlement with Brady after he was said to be open to one outside the court is still a confusing choice made by the league's front office.