I understand what you're saying.
But none of that accounts for an investigation that may have been working backwards from a bias "Pats footballs measured low at halftime, how did that happen?".
It also doesn't account for the fact that the Patriots cooperated fully, with the sole exception being that Tom refused to turn over his personal property for inspection.
Now I know there are a lot of "what's he hiding on the phone then?!?" people, but what they ignore in this argument is:
Brady was not under any legal or league mandated requirement to turn over the phone. His lawyer and the Patriots lawyer both recommended he not turn over his phone.
Brady has a reasonable expectation of privacy on said device. I'm sure being who he is he would have all kinds of sensitive/personal information - not just for him, but for all of his famous friends
The league leaks like a sieve. Once they got a hold of the phone things could have gotten nuts
He could have handed over texts/emails on his own - which the Wells investigators could have spun to mean that he never turned his phone over, so he might still have things he's hiding...blah blah blah
Finally, and maybe most importantly...
Look at your phone right now - you have both messages from the sender as well as yourself, right there in conversation form. Brady's phone or electronic records wouldn't have turned up anything else they didn't already have (according to their own conclusion).
The Wells investigators didn't need his phone - but they did need to ask him, knowing that his lawyers would refuse, so that Goodell could in turn punish him and the team for not fully cooperating.
Which, of course, is nuts...considering the fact that Brady alone sat for more than 6 hours of questioning and (according to Ted Wells during his conference call) answered every question without hesitation or reservation.
= =
Pats fans aren't pissed because Brady or the team got caught cheating.
We're pissed because the investigation was flawed and biased, the conclusion as floppy as it gets, that Walt Anderson's testimony is held to be gospel throughout the Wells Report except when he remembers using the gauge that would prove science/physics/weather conditions deflated the balls, and that most casual fans aren't ready things critically or are just running off of headlines.
We're pissed because the punishment doesn't fit the crime - that cannot be conclusively proven to have happened in the first place.
We're pissed because fans are saying "Brady is guilty because he's hiding his phone!" and not asking why Goodell wouldn't appoint an independent arbitrator if he believed the case was so strong that it wouldn't be overturned.
But most of all we're pissed because this all could have been avoided with a quick fine the day after the story broke (since they had the right numbers the day of), but instead leak after leak - later to be proven laughably wrong - came out which led to the public witch hunt.
I guess we're on to number 5 though. Fuck it. #FreeBrady