DeflateGate Case Was 'Great Experience,' Judge Berman Tells Cornell Newspaper
NEW YORK (CBS) -- "The Brady case" didn't ring any bells for Judge Richard Berman when his clerk first told him he'd been assigned to Tom Brady's lawsuit against the NFL.
"I had no idea what he was talking about," Berman told The Cornell Daily Sun in an interview published Sunday. "I was really busy."
Berman has become something of a folk hero in New England for overturning the Patriots quarterback's four-game DeflateGate suspension. His ruling in Brady's favor sparked an outpouring of letters from grateful Patriots fans, calls for him to run for president and even offers of free coffee for life.
The 71-year-old judge told The Daily Sun he quickly realized that the public's intense interest in DeflateGate made the case "unlike anything else I had ever done."
"Everyone is watching," Berman told The Sun. "You need to bring your A-game."
Berman also talks about the unsuccessful settlement talks, saying he was initially optimistic that both sides could come to an agreement. He believes both sides approached negotiations in "good faith," but fell short.
The judge's takeaway from all this? "I guess everybody is interested in football," he says.
"I was enthusiastic about working on the case, both the settlement aspect and the writing of the opinion," Berman told The Daily Sun. "For me, it was a great experience."
