Our Long National Deflategate Nightmare Is Back With A Vengeance

The Deflategate scandal has turned into a war of attrition. Thirteen months after Tom Brady may or may not have directed equipment managers to let the air out of 11 footballs, roughly 10 months after Roger Goodell slapped the quarterback with a four-game suspension for his involvement in the incident and six months after that suspension was vacated by an appeals court, the NFL and Brady's legal teams went head-to-head once more on Thursday, this time in front of three judges representing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.

The sides were battling over that same quarter-season suspension, and whether Goodell had the legal power to dole out that punishment.