I tried to hold off writing this letter, but just couldn’t.

If two quarterbacks have footballs inflated to the level best for each, then neither “has an advantage” over the other. The preposterous “Deflategate” mess arises from the ridiculous “slot” rule about inflation pressure. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers has said he likes the balls highly inflated. Tom Brady has told everybody he likes them low. So if the Patriot footballs leave the 70 degree locker room and go out onto the 40 degree field and are used, (with Gronk maybe falling on a few), might there not be a couple that by halftime had fallen below the “legal” level?

Much false information put out by the NFL is coming to light. There were only a few underinflated balls, and not down as much as first stated.

No one cared about this before. The worst fine for under- or overinflated balls was $25,000. Lunch money. Certainly not a million bucks, two draft picks, and a four-game suspension for the quarterback. This is a vendetta arising from internal jealousies about the Patriots’ excellence.

When one listens to TV sports analysts and ex-jocks, you can tell a lot about what sort of people they are — whether they would be, or were “cheaters” themselves, and whether they assume others to be so as well. Brady has said he never asked for balls to be underinflated. I believe him. He was drafted number 199 in the sixth round and has always been out to prove that he can do it himself. This is not a person who looks for dishonest means to win.

And in the second half, with reinflated footballs, Brady and the Pats cleaned the Colts’ clock. So?

Abbott Meader

Oakland