ESPN, the national media monolith that must contemplate survival without future comment from Tom Brady — how will the Worldwide Leader ever cope? — devoted more than 11,000 words to a report released Tuesday attempting to explain how Spygate begot Deflategate. Some interesting findings, too, including National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell's orders to destroy evidence that would further incriminate the Patriots, if that's possible.

Tremendous effort from authors Don Van Natta and Seth Wickersham.

But was it really worth it?

I mean, who among us read all 11,000 words and had an epiphany? Who among us honestly changed their opinions about the Patriots, Goodell and the NFL an iota? Did we move in the direction of truth?

And what is the truth?

Whose truth?

Is this truth based on truth?

Or is this truth based on agenda?

That's the problem here. The truth shall set you free, unless it's already been set free. Or if it's buried amid the rhetoric. The truth about the New England Patriots is rhetoric now. This is where we are: In the absence of truth, presumption and speculation fill in the blanks. So there's more blathering. Patriot haters piling on. Patriot lovers diving deeper into their persecution complexes.

Rinse.

Repeat.

No end in sight either. That's because there's no anchor. Normally, I'm with Churchill when it comes to the pursuit of the truth. He once said, "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

Or in this case, there it isn't. The lines around the Patriots aren't blurred. They're torched. It's like the Kennedy assassination. The truth isn't available anymore. What, you're going to sort through the dizzying suspicions about videotaped signals, videotaped practices, underinflated footballs, paranoid opponents and stolen playbooks with a hint of objectivity?

C'mon. We're all human here. It's all opinion now. The Patriots are either perpetual cheaters or grossly misunderstood. They have a pathological disdain for rules and sportsmanship or they "hate us 'cause they ain't us." Heels are dug in deeper than a Kimchi pot. It's all what you believe. Because there's no truth left anymore to save us.

Example: media fraud Bill Simmons tweeted Tuesday, "Not sure what to make of the sour grapes stuff. Sure seems like everyone who ever lost to 2001-07 Pats now has a built-in excuse for failure."

Or a built-in reason to wonder if the Patriots didn't cheat their way to victory.

Both sides are plausible. Is it honestly possible in a major professional sport with rules and safeguards to believe any team could cheat as much as the Patriots did? Or would want to? It's impossible to fathom, I'd guess, if you root for the Patriots. Imagine trying to cope with learning how all these years of joy and success are a sham.

And don't think that hasn't crossed the mind of every single Patriot fan. No matter how loud or proud. No wonder Patriot fans are a little touchy, touchy, touchy these days.

So here's what I think: Nothing has changed. I believe Bill Belichick's last honest day in coaching was his last day under Bill Parcells. I believe the Patriots videotaped signals and practices. I believe  Spygate is the biggest cheating scandal in the history of sports because it went on for years. I don't believe those two jamokes in the equipment room acted alone in January. I believe Teflon Tom is a big fraud. I believe the Giants' two victories in recent Super Bowls are up there with Doug Flutie and Mike Eruzione in the pantheon of sports miracles, given the covert advantages the Patriots must have had.

And you know what that all means? Not a damn thing. It's an opinion. Because agendas have staged a coup d'état on the facts. Your facts are not my facts. They may not be facts at all. Which is exactly the way Belichick likes it. What is truth and what is fiction? Who knows? And while we all huff and puff, while we all engage in theory mongering, he's tucked away in his cavern thinking up new ways to cheat. Maybe he really is a genius.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius