10-year-old wins science fair with project on Tom Brady cheating

Why did the youngster take on the Patriots quarterback and football's 'Deflategate' scandal? "Because I hate Tom Brady, he's been accused of cheating before, I want him to be caught."

January 25, 2019 at 3:53PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Welcome to the Friday edition of The Cooler, where the truth cannot be controversial. Let's get to it:

*The NFL concluded years ago that Tom Brady cheated as part of the "Deflategate" scandal, eventually suspending Brady for the first four games of the 2016 season as punishment for under-inflated footballs used in the AFC title game against the Colts.

Now a 10-year-old in Kentucky named Ace Davis is taking things to another level. He entered a project on Brady and deflated footballs in his school science fair — and won. While his methodology might not be air-tight — Ace had his mom and sister throw footballs of various levels of inflation as a means of proving how Brady gained a competitive advantage — his trolling of the Patriots QB was rock-solid.

NFL Draft Diamonds did a short interview with him, including this golden response to how he came up with the idea for the project: "Because I hate Tom Brady, he's been accused of cheating before, I want him to be caught."

It's safe to say which team Ace will be rooting for in next weekend's Super Bowl.

*For all the latest breaking news on Russia, election tampering and connections to the White House, your one-stop source is now the Twitter feed of former NFL player Chad Johnson (formerly Ochocinco), who says he watched Roger Stone's arrest unfold Friday morning.

*Reader Tony has a good question: Why have the Timberwolves been defending three-pointers better lately? I'll need to examine things a little more closely, but in the small eight-game sample size of the Ryan Saunders Era things have improved.

Opponents are making 34.2 percent of three-pointers — making the Wolves eighth-best in the NBA during that span after being last (37.3 percent) in that metric at the time Tom Thibodeau was fired. If the trend continues, an examination of Saunders' methods or what he is preaching will certainly be in order. Playing teams like the Lakers — 29th in the NBA in three-point percentage, and just 8 for 28 last night in a loss to the Wolves — sure helps.

*The Golden State Warriors defeated the Wizards in Washington on Thursday, but before that they met with former President Barack Obama. You might recall that there weren't a lot of warm fuzzies exchanged between Warriors players and President Trump when they won the NBA title in 2017.

about the writer

about the writer

Michael Rand

Columnist / Reporter

Michael Rand is the Star Tribune's Digital Sports Senior Writer and host/creator of the Daily Delivery podcast. In 25 years covering Minnesota sports at the Star Tribune, he has seen just about everything (except, of course, a Vikings Super Bowl).

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