It all started with one interception. Ever since Indianapolis Colts’ linebacker D’Qwell Jackson caught a pass thrown by New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady and threw the ball to the sidelines, Americans have coined #DeflateGate as a new hashtag.

Let’s start at the beginning of a controversy that has taken over the world of football in a week of constant negotiation and speculation. The Patriots trampled over the Colts in a 45-7 victory in the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game, setting them up for a Super Bowl matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. That should be the end of it, right? Hands down, the Patriots clearly seem to be the better team in comparison to the Colts.

However, the NFL is currently investigating claims that accuse the Patriots of deflating their balls prior to the game, giving them an unfair advantage over their opponents.

When I first heard this claim, I found it ludicrous. Why would anyone intentionally deflate a ball? Isn’t it harder to play with a softer ball? Turns out, I was wrong.

Both teams in a football game play with a different set of balls in order to keep the game moving faster without unnecessary pauses. A ball with lower air pressure is easier to throw and catch. Considering the rainy conditions on the day of the game, the already slick ball would now be much easier to throw for the quarterback and catch for the receiver, giving the team that is playing with a deflated ball an unfair advantage.

Once I fully grasped the enormity of this situation, I could then understand the reasons for society’s uproar over this issue. A scandal arising during a NFL conference championship game is an uncommon occurrence, and one of utmost importance with the Super Bowl, one of the biggest sporting events of the year, looming on the horizon.

During a week when the media frenzy is supposed to be focusing on analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of each team in the upcoming Super Bowl, this year’s coverage has been overshadowed by the so-called deflate gate scandal.

After listening to interviews of both Bill Belichick, head coach of the Patriots, and Brady, I believe that at least one of the two has to have played a role in the deflation of the game balls. With Belichick’s reputation of knowing exactly what goes on in every aspect of his team’s preparation for a game, I find it hard to believe that something as important as the air pressure of the game balls went unnoticed.

I find it suspicious that only the Patriots’ footballs were low on air pressure. Analysts claim that the rainy weather could have caused the balls to be underinflated. If this theory is true, however, then why didn’t the Colts play with deflated balls as well?

Even the famed Bill Nye the Science Guy pointed a guilty finger towards the Patriots.

Besides the scientific analysis that has gone behind this investigation, I feel that it is important to recognize that this is not the first time the Patriots’ organization has been caught in a cheating scandal — In 2007, the NFL found the team guilty of spying on the New York Jets by taping the Jets’ defensive signals.

The Patriots were forced to pay a hefty fine and lost a first-round draft pick that year, and I would be more than happy to see a similar punishment inflicted on the organization if the NFL finds them guilty of intentionally deflating their footballs.

The joy of football, just like any other sport, is the fun of playing the game itself. These kinds of scandals ruin the fun of watching the sport, and it’s definitely not what the Belichick-Brady team wants as they look to win a fourth Super Bowl.

Based on the Patriots’ reputation and the fact that science can’t go wrong, uncertainty still revolves around this situation. One thing’s for sure: #DeflateGate will be talked about for years to come.