Seventh grader Ben Goodell might have just disproved Deflategate

Indianapolis Colts v New England Patriots.
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A Massachusetts seventh grader might have just proved Tom Brady's innocence. St. Pius V Elementary School's Ben Goodell — no relation to NFL commissioner Roger — won his second-straight science fair with a football PSI experiment, Sports Illustrated reports.

Goodell's Deflategate project required taking properly inflated footballs and exposing them to different weather conditions such as snow, wind chill, humidity, cold, and ice. "Every time, it dropped two PSI. The lowest PSI recorded during deflategate was two PSI under proper inflation. I had [the football] at proper inflation when I started," Goodell said.

"I think some people think science is only in a laboratory. It's really all around us all the time. That's what gets kids hooked: relevance," Principal Paul D. Maestranzi explained.

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Indeed. "I wanted to prove that Tom Brady wasn't guilty," Goodell said.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.