If you have been asleep due to the lack of a royal kiss, or you just want the entire rundown, I am here to inform you of this travesty, in extensive detail. Deflategate, as it's more commonly known, refers to the 2015 American Football Conference Championship Game controversy, where the Indianapolis Colts accused the New England Patriots of tampering with the footballs in order to gain an advantage and later become four-time Superbowl champions.

In order to form a supported opinion about this debate, let’s start at the beginning. Here are the facts. Before the game, the Colts had notified the NFL that they suspected the Patriots were under-inflating footballs. However, they did not provide any specific factual information at the time.

Let’s brush up on the NFL’s official rules, shall we? Accordingly, game footballs are required to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch. In addition, it is common knowledge that a deliberately under-inflated football may be easier to grip, throw, and catch.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that footballs decrease in pressure naturally in colder temperatures due to the decrease in the external air pressure. Therefore, if a football was, for example, inflated to the minimum pressure of 12.5 psi at room temperature, when exposed to the colder, outside air, it can be reasoned that the football will naturally decrease in pressure.

This is where the scandal really begins. During the first half of the game, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw an interception to Colts linebacker, D'Qwell Jackson. After the play was completed Jackson handed the ball off to one of the Colts equipment managers. Regardless of some of the earlier reports, Jackson said he did not suspect anything was wrong with the ball he caught.

Nevertheless, after this interception, one of the Colts equipment managers measured the pressure of the ball on the sideline, even though this is prohibited; it should also be noted that the Colts were not penalized, and the team proceeded to notify the NFL Gameday Operations that the ball measured below the permissible range.

Now this is where the actual atrocity lies. At half time, nerves were high, and the air was tense when the NFL officials inspected some of the footballs and former NFL referee Gerry Austin initially stated 11 of the 12 balls used by the Patriots were measured to be two pounds per square inch below the minimum amount.

However, later reports disproved this allegation by citing that only a single ball was two pounds per square inch below the minimum. Additionally, only the pressures of four of the Colts' footballs were measured at halftime using two gauges. The balls were found to be within regulation on only one of the two gauges. According to the infamous Wells report, the remainder of the Colt’s balls were not measured because "the officials were running out of time before the start of the second half."

The NFL soon launched an investigation, commissioned a study and after many months, the NFL’s study, more commonly known as the Wells report, was finally released on May 6^th. This infamous 243-page investigative report that was supposed to be unbiased, conclusively states that it was "more probable than not" that Patriots equipment personnel were deliberately bypassing the rules, this is total speculation. Brady was implicated as well since they concluded it was “more probable than not” that he was "generally aware" of the deflation, another speculation. This analysis, supported by a scientific study, further stated that within the range of game conditions and circumstances studied, no set of environmental or physical factors could account for the loss of air pressure exhibited by the Patriots’ game balls and it was, more than likely, human intervention, yet another speculation.

However, after an impressive reaction by the general public, it has been largely concluded and since discredited almost “unanimously by accredited academics and scientists”, that the Wells report was “deeply flawed”, “deliberately staged”, “biased”, and it was highly “unlikely that the Patriots deflated the footballs" and Brady was never responsible since he did not do “anything to violate the league’s rules” and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s following “unprecedented” judgement was “unreasonable”!

A few days later on May 11^th, the NFL announced that Brady was suspended without pay for four games of the upcoming season for his involvement, referring to private text messages of Patriots personnel that jokingly inferred he was the leader of a deflation operation, based on "substantial and credible evidence" that Brady knew Patriots employees were deflating footballs and that he failed to cooperate with investigators, referencing that Brady did not want and was advised by his lawyers not to turn over his personal cell phone since the investigators wanted to see all of his electronic communications. The Patriots were also fined $1 million and had to forfeit their first round pick in the 2016 NFL draft as well as their fourth round pick in the 2017 NFL draft.

Three days later on May 14^th, the National Football League Players Association, or the player’s union, filed an appeal of Brady's suspension.The NFL then announced that Goodell would preside over Brady's appeal, in spite of the objections from the NFLPA who had specifically requested a neutral arbitrator. On July 28^th after the 10-hour long hearing the month before, Goodell announced, to the outrage of an unwavering community of support, that he had upheld the suspension; he even specifically cited Brady's destruction of his cell phone as a critical factor which is absurdly ridiculous since the NFL is not the FBI.

After the NFLPA filed an injunction, they along with Brady met with the NFL on August 12th to discuss a settlement in a US District Court where NFL lawyer Daniel Nash could not bring about any "direct evidence Mr. Brady clearly knew about" the deflation of the game day balls because there clearly isn’t any.

To the excitement of Patriots fans everywhere, the presiding Judge Berman threw out Brady's suspension on the grounds of a lack of fair due process on September 3^rd. However on October 26^th, the NFL filed a 61-page brief in court to appeal Judge Berman's decision. That following Tuesday, Goodell stated that the appeal had nothing to do with Brady but instead it to do with his current power as Commissioner negotiated into the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Presently, on an incredibly sad day for the Patriots community, the Court of Appeals reinstated Brady's suspension for the 2016 season on April 20^th, 2016. In the following month of May, Brady petitioned the Second Circuit, requesting an en banc rehearing; however, it was denied on July 13^th. It should be noted that Circuit Chief Judge Robert Katzmann wrote in his dissent that “the Commissioner was doling out his own brand of industrial justice.” Two days later Brady announced he would not appeal further and he would serve his four-game suspension. Brady will take the high road once again because of his phenomenal sportsmanship and overall respectable just character.

After 544 days of Brady constantly working with the NFL, abiding by the rules, and retaining his innocence throughout the allegations and media coverage, he has decided, in order to best serve his team for the upcoming season, he needs to stop pushing the issue. Of course, we all know that this entire 18-month scandal has really been about Goodell’s power. From the beginning, under Goodell’s control, the investigation was biased, the punishment was unjust, and when it was brought to court for the first time Brady was rightfully and legally cleared of all charges. Maybe the NFLPA will go forward and continue the fight since they are reserving their rights, but as of now some serious changes need to be made with the NFL’s organization contract and a committee should be set up to deal with these issues, and remove the power of Commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell has been judge, jury, and executioner long enough and if you love the game of football then you should be outraged by this blatant abuse of power.

The Brady-Belichick era of the Patriots will continue to be successful for years to come and currently “the best NFL fans” will always support Brady and the rest of the team. In addition, if you actually take the time to look at all the facts and set aside your own team loyalty, it is abundantly clear that there is no evidence that Brady cheated.

In the end, Brady is one of, if not the best quarterback in the NFL currently and he will go down as one of the greatest in NFL history. Just take a look at the statistics and facts; this entire controversy will be remembered as part of the problem with Commissioner Goodell’s power and the injustice that could be inflicted on anyone else in the near future.

Until then, I am personally excited for Garoppolo to start this September and I cannot wait for Brady’s return in October, especially after last season’s unforgettable and semi-traumatic “revenge tour”. Free Brady. Case closed.