Hope the Commissioner is happy with his league's hatchet job on the most successful quarterback to ever play the game.Roger Goodell's league spent four months and a seemingness endless stream of legal resources on the "independent" Ted Wells report to kill the Patriots and*Tom Brady*over something they could never really prove.In the end, what they found was enough evidence to be suspicious of the Patriots quarterback and equipment personnel inside*Gillette Stadium. They did not find anything more than that.If you spent five months turning over pebbles but couldn't move stones, that's on you. If you wanted to bring down*Tom Brady*and thought you had the ammo to do so, fine. It's a free country. And more to the point, as you said to old buddy Robert Kraft, it's your job to do so if you find probable cause.But if you fail, which this independent report clearly did by virtue of its CYA language, then you owe an apology to the Patriots and*Tom Brady. You shouldn't have dragged Brady's name through the mud without a smoking gun.As soon as news broke early Wednesday afternoon and the Wells Report was made public, one line jumped out at me like a neon flashing sign."Tom Brady*(the quarterback for the Patriots) was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls."Exactly what does "at least generally aware" even mean?Either you have the goods on Brady or you don't. This is clearly an attempt by the NFL to say we think you did something wrong but we can't prove it. Still, we're the NFL so we can at least tarnish your image.This isn't the first time the NFL has come down on a legendary quarterback. For those of you who are history buffs, after winning*Super Bowl*III, Joe Namath opened a popular Upper East Side bar called "Bachelors III," which became associated with reputed criminals.To protect the league's reputation, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle ordered Namath to divest himself of his interest in the bar. Namath refused, retiring from football during a teary news conference, but eventually agreed to divest his interest, and reported to the Jets.Tom Brady*won't be holding any tear-filled news conferences to announce he can't take it anymore. Neither will his dad.*Tom Brady*Sr. summed up, as well as anyone, the lunacy of the "at least generally aware" shot at his son."I don't have any doubt about my son's integrity - not one bit,"*Tom Brady*Sr. told USA Today Sports on Wednesday. "In this country, you're innocent until proven guilty. It just seems Tommy is now guilty until proven innocent."This thing is so convoluted. They say that possibly - possibly - he was aware of this," he added. "The reality is if you can't prove he did it, then he's innocent, and lay off him. That's the bottom line."They had to protect their asses, and that's what they're doing," Brady Sr. said. "I just read that four Colts balls were underinflated. Amazing. Amazing."They're saying he's possibly aware. How do you put a cloud over somebody like this?" he asked. "To impugn somebody without conclusive evidence saying this is more probable than not? The reality is they have scientific evidence. Now they're overriding the scientific evidence and badgering the Patriots. It's disgusting."Couldn't have said it better myself.Unfortunately for Brady, his father and the rest of us, the NFL doesn't care how disgusting they are, or look. They know that fans will still pay to watch star quarterbacks like Brady line their pockets while they assassinate his character at the same time. What a daily double.After five months and 243 pages of detailed documentation and investigation, we can now all get on with our lives. Except for*Tom Brady. Sure, he's going about his offseason workout. Yep, he'll be getting a fourth*Super Bowl*ring. No doubt, he has the perfect home life with great kids and the super model wife.But now, thanks to a vague, circumstantial report, his credibility has been permanently scarred. If you're going to go after a guy like Tom Brady, you have to have more in the end than "more probable than not" and "generally aware." A lot more."For the reasons described in this Report, and after a comprehensive investigation, we have concluded that, in connection with the AFC Championship Game, it is more probable than not that*New England Patriots*personnel participated in violations of the Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules.In particular, we have concluded that it is more probable than not that Jim McNally (the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots) and John Jastremski (an equipment assistant for the Patriots) participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee."Not good enough. If you discipline Brady, you're doing so on circumstance and circumspect evidence. You have one final chance to save face. Don't suspend him over a report that fell way short of proving he was directly involved.At least we all now know why the NFL wanted four months to release its report. They wanted to go hard after Tom Brady and prove that he cheated. They failed.he disgusting character assassination of Tom Brady patriots - The disgusting character assassination of Tom Brady - WEEI | Mike Petraglia