NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith on Friday said his "gripe" with the league is like other issues these days, the "inability of people to engage in a proper analytical discourse," according to the AP. Smith, speaking to a class at Fordham Univ., said that the union "had to challenge" NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's ruling on Deflategate "because if it didn't, 'the commissioner could punish any player for being generally aware of what someone else did.'" Smith said Goodell based his punishment on Patriots QB Tom Brady by "finding that he was generally aware about what someone else is doing." Smith: "Our standard is if you prove by a preponderance of evidence that somebody did something wrong, then you can be punished" (AP, 4/1). Meanwhile, in Boston, Ben Volin noted some current NFLers "rolled their eyes" at the league's new mandated education on domestic violence, in which representatives from the league office "visited each training camp and required every player to watch a video and undergo a one-hour session on domestic violence and sexual assault." But the NFL "believes the increased awareness works." A league source at the owners' meeting two weeks ago said that NFL arrests "were down" 38% for '15 (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/3).
