Jan. 2015: The start of the most pointless and overblown sports story maybe ever. The month began a witch hunt, a string of lies, and, quite frankly, the last straw for me as a football fan. The NFL was exposed on Sept. 3 and, whether you like Tom Brady or you hate him, it's tough to ignore the facts.

Brady's four-game suspension was, correctly, overturned by Judge Richard Berman in New York. His decision is rare, but when you look at how the NFL screwed this thing up, it's really not surprising.

I've seen a lot of Twitter and Facebook reaction that is divided between camps. There are the Patriots fans who are excited beyond belief at the verdict, then everyone else in the world, angry that "the Patriots got their way again," or "Tom Brady got special treatment," or whatever other statement you might hear from people flat out angry about the verdict.

Here's the thing, regardless of what you think, Brady never should have been suspended for Deflategate. Is Brady innocent? I've said this thousands of times, I think something happened in New England. Either Brady was involved or he knew about it, there's no arguing that point. Brady's hands are not clean of this.

That said, there is no proof. The NFL could not connect Brady to the crime, they had no evidence. Again, I'm not suggesting Brady did nothing wrong, odds are he did do something, but there is no proof.

When asked in court, under oath, the NFL confirmed to Judge Berman they had no "smoking gun," no direct proof to connect Brady with the rumored crimes that took place prior to the AFC Championship game against the Colts.

Now, I know the next thing a lot of people will say is well, he destroyed his cellphone, that's admission of guilt. First off, it's not an admission of anything, but Brady was in the wrong on this. Destroying your phone so close to an investigation looks bad, no matter what excuse you put forth, I'm not going to argue that point at all.

What I will argue, however, is the importance of said phone. Ted Wells, the NFL's investigator, NEVER actually required Brady to turn his phone over and while he wanted it, the phone was never seen as key evidence. Wells even admitted that this was no big deal, it only became an issue for the NFL when they lost their ground to stand on.

"But Alex, 11 of the 12 footballs were under inflated, ESPN told me so!"

That's great, but ESPN lied to your face. Chris Mortensen's report that 11 of the 12 footballs were deflated by two pounds each was factually incorrect. The Wells Report stated that it was not eleven footballs.

So you might be asking now, why was this overturned? Honestly, it has nothing to do with what I said above. Of course, when you read what I've pointed out, you can see how corrupt the investigation and process where. I dove into it a little more heavily back in July here.

Here's why the decision was overturned, according to the CBA, NFL players must be made aware of what they did wrong and warned before being disciplined, Tom Brady was not warned.

The NFL did not make attorney Jeff Pash available for questioning during the appeal process back in June. This is a big deal, because Pash was a key witness in the investigation and actually EDITED the Wells Report. Not allowing him to speak rendered the entire appeals process run by Goodell worthless and, quite clearly, predetermined and biased.

That, folks, is why Brady won. The entire process was out of whack, the NFL tried to run things like a dictatorship and out of line with their CBA. Essentially, Goodell and friends made things up as they went and the results were predictable, they've happened before. As long as this process remains in the NFL, players will continue to appeal in court and win.

Brady, Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, the Saints, on and on it goes. You can hate the decision, but it's no coincidence that the NFL has lost at EVERY turn. They run the league's discipline in a highly corrupt way. Now? They are finally being exposed.

Those of you saying Brady got special treatment also need to check some facts. Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, and other members of the New Orleans Saints who were tabbed as fall guys in Bountygate all appealed in this way and won.

Adrian Peterson appealed and won last year, as did Ray Rice. This isn't new folks; a lot of players have done this before.

So, what did we just waste the last nine months of our lives on? That's a good question, really. We just witnessed a WWE level drama, led by Goodell and his clown show at the NFL league office.

Brady did something or knew of something, again, that I do not doubt. That said, the NFL treated going 56 in a 55 as a double-murder case. It was unwarranted and it was clearly Goodell trying to reestablish control after a nightmare 2014 season off the field.

It failed miserably and now he's suffered arguably his biggest loss in the public eye.

As a Patriots fan, I'm thrilled Brady got off from this suspension, but I don't look at it that way and I don't write about it that way. I don't care who the player is, when you look at the facts, or lack thereof, you can see the NFL had no basis in doing what they did.

Delfategate was overblown from the beginning due to false reports. The NFL tried to make things up as they went and tried to play a PR game against Brady and the Patriots, just like they did against Vilma and the Saints.

Once again, the NFL lost and came out of this looking ridiculous. Maybe one of these days, the NFL will learn.

I don't think that day will include Roger Goodell as commissioner, however.