Doyel on DeflateGate: Accept it, and get over it

This story ends the way it should, with DeflateGate mastermind Tom Brady paying for that with a four-game suspension that will stick to his Hall of Fame resume like a splatter of stink.

And now, can this story please go away?

Of course not. You know better. This story will rage for a few days in some NFL cities — not this one; we came to grips long ago that the Colts were cheated in the 2015 AFC title game — and then it will resume this summer as the Patriots prepare Brady’s backup during minicamp.

In the fall, the story will reach a hysterical shriek in some cities, if not this one, as the Patriots prepare to play four games without one of the greatest, and most busted, quarterbacks in NFL history.

Then Brady will return for Game 5. Imagine that noise. Then the postseason. Imagine that noise. What if the Patriots make another playoff run? What if they don’t? What if they fall a game or two out of the playoffs, games they lost in the first month with Jimmy Garoppolo playing for Brady?

This story won’t go away, even though it should. To deny what happened in the 2015 AFC title game — and what role Brady had to have played — is to stick your fingers in your ears and chant: I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, I can’t …

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This isn’t a day to gloat, certainly not here in Indianapolis, where the local team was cheated out of a level playing field on Jan. 18, 2015,  in one of the biggest games in franchise history. The Patriots didn’t need to cheat that day, had the clearly superior team in a 45-7 blowout of the Colts, but they did cheat. They did get caught. To ignore that, whether by the NFL or the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, would be to cover your eyes with your hands and chant: You can’t see me, You can’t see me, You can’t …

Of course we can see you, Tom Brady. The texts we saw, the texts we didn’t because of the destroyed phone, the greatest nickname in NFL ball boy history, The Deflator — we know what happened.

Can we now let it go?

Much of America has. A few hours before the 2nd Circuit Court issued its ruling late Monday morning, the NFLPA announced the top 50 players in terms of merchandise sales for this past season.

Guess which player was No. 1?

Tom Brady reaped more than $20 million from sales of his No. 12 gear, more than any player in the league. Last season was on the heels of DeflateGate, remember. Brady was originally suspended four games by the NFL in May. Federal judge Richard M. Berman overturned that suspension in September. One week later Brady threw for 288 yards and four touchdowns in a season-opening victory against the Steelers. He was adored, and judging from those sales numbers he was adored not just in New England.

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Brady has made more money than that in recent months, too. He signed a two-year contract in March that inflated his 2016 earnings to $29 million — while deflating the amount he’d lose in the event of a four-game suspension this season. According to Spotrac, an authority on sports contracts, Brady’s previous contract called for him to forfeit more than $2 million for a four-game suspension. His newer, richer contract? It’s written in such a way that he will lose less than $250,000.

Brilliant guy, Tom Brady. Finds a way to win even when he loses, though his NFL epitaph will always include this scandal —  even if the Patriots launch a Hail Mary toward the Supreme Court, even if Chief Justice John Roberts and his crew catch that Hail Mary and spike the suspension once and for all.

Maybe that happens. Maybe not. Either way, we know what we know. We know what Tom Brady did, we know how he tried to conceal it, and we know what will happen today, tomorrow and in the coming months.

Hysteria from New England. Shrugs here in Indianapolis. Jokes pretty much everywhere else. Rinse, repeat — and repeat after me:

 I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you, I can’t …

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter: @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.