When news of #DeflateGate broke after the AFC Championship Game in January 2015, we were among the first bloggers to condemn quarterback Tom Brady and the New England Patriots for breaking NFL rules. After all, the Patriots have cheated before, and the circumstantial evidence against them appeared to be strong in this case too. According to the NFL, the air pressure of all eleven of the Patriots’ footballs were reported to be under-inflated, while the air pressure of four footballs used by the Colts were within the rules. What the NFL did not tell us, however, is that two different types of gauges may have been used when the referees measured the air pressure of the footballs. Worse yet, the experts hired by attorney Ted Wells, the hack lawyer the NFL hired to investigate Tom Brady, railroaded Tom Brady from the very start of their investigation. These hired guns used only one type of gauge when they conducted their rigged experiments, and they either were grossly incompetent or engaged in outright fraud when they prepared their “expert” report. See the image below for a clear example of their gross incompetence or outright fraud. Do you detect their misconduct? If not, this legal brief by professor Robert Blecker explains the misconduct of these so-called experts and makes a larger point: the idea of a level playing field applies not only to our athletes on the field but also to the NFL when it investigates misconduct (or hires outside parties to conduct investigations). In other words, Tom Brady shouldn’t be above the rules, and neither should the Commissioner or his cronies be.

Fraud or incompetence?