In 2015, Tom Brady allegedly tampered with footballs during the New England Patriots vs Indianapolis Colts game in the NFL Playoffs. Nicknamed "deflategate", the scandal would eventually lead to Brady getting a four game suspension: a decision he strongly disagreed with.
"I am very disappointed by the NFL’s decision to uphold the 4 game suspension against me," he said at the time. "I did nothing wrong, and no one in the Patriots organization did either.
"Despite submitting to hours of testimony over the past 6 months, it is disappointing that the Commissioner upheld my suspension based upon a standard that it was 'probable' that I was 'generally aware' of misconduct. The fact is that neither I, nor any equipment person, did anything of which we have been accused."
Even with his impassioned denial of any wrongdoing, though, many people still maintain that he did cheat... and one 10-year-old claims to have proven it.
Ace Davis, from Millcreek Elementary in Lexington, Kentucky, did his entire science fair project on the cheating scandal, and came to a clear conclusion: Brady definitely cheated.
By conducting experiments with his family at home, 10-year-old Ace set out to prove that it would have benefitted Brady and his team to play with deflated balls, and - whaddya know - he was correct in his hypothesis.
Davis' father, Christopher, posted some snaps of his son with his project on Facebook - and it's clear the little guy is proud of his work.
"Hater level: 100," Christopher captioned the post, before later adding, "UPDATE: He won the science fair and is moving on to district."
Speaking to NFLdraftdiamonds.com, the young football fan made it pretty clear that he has no tolerance "I hate Tom Brady," Ace said. "He's been accused of cheating before. I want him to be caught."
He also drew a fairly blunt conclusion from his research.
"The Patriots were found guilty of doctoring football [sic], thus losing $1,000,000 and future draft picks. Tom Brady is indeed a cheater," he wrote. Later, when asked if he had a message he would like to share with Tom Brady, he said, "Gimme some of your money, you don’t deserve it."
To this day, Brady denies any wrongdoing, and thinks that his temporary suspension was unfair. "I will not allow my unfair discipline to become a precedent for other NFL players without a fight," he said following the action taken against him.
If Ace's research is up to scratch, though, then the quarterback has a whole new set of questions to answer.
Ace himself is a keen football player, and hopes to do as well in the sport as he's doing with his science projects. If his current work is anything to go by, it looks like he's well on his way.
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