OK, let me get this straight: In the NFL, it’s a big no-no to throw a tantrum in a strip club, but no problem if a star quarterback throws a deflated football in the AFC championship game. And that’s why Broncos safety T.J. Ward will be suspended for the season opener, but Tom Brady was issued a get-out-of-jail-free card to play on national television for New England.

Hey, don’t ask me to explain it. This is the messed-up football world that commissioner Roger Goodell created. Blame him.

Brady skates and another Bronco gets busted.

“My last name’s not Brady,” said Ward, explaining why he’s the player who will be forced to sit out a game.

Pardon me for the nagging thought that on the summer day when Brady saw his four-game suspension erased, an embarrassed NFL had to take it out on somebody, and that poor sap was Ward.

Tell me if this makes any sense. Ward was suspended for Denver’s season-opening game against Baltimore on Sept. 13 for a transgression he committed nearly 15 months ago.

“I feel it’s really unfair,” Ward told me after Denver’s preseason game against Arizona. “I’m getting punished for being accused of doing something. Not doing something, but being accused. And I’ve got to pay the consequences.”

What got the 28-year-old Denver safety busted was an incident at PT’s All-Nude, where Ward allegedly tossed a mug at a bartender after she told him outside drinks were not allowed, according to court documents. He was accused of misdemeanor assault and disturbing the peace, but charges were dropped when Ward agreed to do a whopping four community-service hours, which is roughly the time that would be required to mop the floors and clean the restroom at a strip club.

Ward was a knucklehead. But was this really an offense that merited a suspension? And why couldn’t the NFL find the time to settle the case sometime in 2014? Was Goodell otherwise preoccupied, issuing parking citations on the streets of New York?

Well, nobody said life in the NFL was fair. And the league doesn’t really care, because in all his arrogant glory, Goodell knows everyone in America is hopelessly addicted to football.

I’m so old I can remember when the NBA and its superstar calls caused the worst integrity issue in pro sports. But can anybody in Broncos Country be blamed for turning into a raging conspiracy theorist, certain in the belief all NFL playing fields are uneven and tilted in the direction of Bill Belichick and his cheatin’ Patriots?

In a New York courtroom on Thursday, the runaway Deflategate train went completely off the rails and again ran over the reputation of Goodell, when Judge Richard Berman laughed in the face of the commissioner for dispensing “his own brand of industrial justice” and promptly flushed Brady’s four-game suspension.

For those of you keeping score at home, Brady beat Goodell in a big game and walked away smiling. Hey, commish, Peyton Manning knows exactly how you feel.

The moral of the Deflategate story: When in doubt, destroy your cellphone. Brady instinctively knew. Tiger Woods did not. Is this a great country or what?

In 2015, when judgment is passed instantaneously and 140 characters at a time, the most priceless reaction to Brady was posted in big, block letters on the marquee outside a Dunkin’ Donuts shop in New England: “Judge Richard Berman gets free coffee for life.”

In a misguided effort to protect the league’s shield, Goodell keeps falling on his sword. Throughout most of football-crazy America, the Patriots are still regarded as a team that will fold, spindle and deflate the rules to get ahead. So maybe there are no winners here, unless you’re calculating the chances of Brady earning another Super Bowl ring.

Make no mistake, a judge dealt a blow to Denver’s championship aspirations. Without Brady, there was a distinct possibility the Patriots could have started the season 2-2. With the punishment for Ward heaped on top of the four-game suspension being served by defensive end Derek Wolfe, winning the AFC West won’t be a walk in the park for the Broncos. Can you say playoff game in New England on a frosty night in January?

The NFL has an integrity problem, and it starts in the commissioner’s office.

How to fix what’s gone wrong? My humble suggestion: As penance, Goodell should be required to go out for a night in the clubs with Ward. This is an NFL commish that clearly needs to learn how to chill.

Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla