The NFL has had its tryst with bad boys over the years. The Superbowl(the annual final of the NFL season) regularly attracts record-breaking numbers for both attendance and worldwide viewers. The league also boasts of some of the biggest names of the athlete world and regular features in the Forbes list of richest sport stars. Whether you are familiar with the league or not, the majority of us have heard of top names like Tom Brady and Odell Beckham Jr.
Despite the glitz and the glamour of the sport, there have been moments where it has been associated with some sordid memories. The most famous incident that comes to mind is the murder lawsuit against NFL legend, O.J. Simpson. In recent years, another dark chapter has unveiled itself in the form of New England Patriots tight end, Aaron Josef Hernandez, and his multiple homicide cases. Aaron was found guilty of the murder of Odin Loyd, who was dating Aaron Hernandez’s girlfriend’s sister at the time. The incident occurred on June 17, 2013 in Attleborough, Massachusetts.
Aaron Hernandez was a bright prospect in his high school and was tipped to become an NFL star from his younger years. There was a secret though that none of his close ones were aware of, he was a closeted gay man. The secret was laid out bare for the world to know when his jailhouse lover opened up to the media and reporters to talk about their relationship.
Aaron came from a Puerto Rican-cum-Italian descent. He grew up with a brother and the two of them were constantly physically abused by their father. Alcohol related issues were the cause at times and a number of times there was no reason at all for the violence. At an early age, Hernandez knew he would need to hide his sexuality from his parents and the people around him for the fear of being shunned by his family and society as a whole. This resulted in Aaron amassing negative feelings and resentment for people around him while he slowly developed into a man and thus, could be credited for his sociopathic nature.
Aaron was always a loose cannon and when he went to Florida State University, after his father’s death, the boy would run into trouble there as well. One of the earliest instances was when Aaron and his college teammate, Tim Tebow, had visited Swamp restaurant in Florida and after ordering drinks, Hernandez refused to pay the tab, got into an argument with restaurant staff and punched the restaurant manager which lead to a rupture in his ear drum. Since Aaron and Tim were both minors at the time, the restaurant authorities wished to put the scene behind them instead of involving legal proceedings.
The cherry on top of Aaron’s misdemeanours was when in the early hours of July 16th, 2012, Hernandez pulled up near a car in South Boston and opened fire on the 2 men inside before speeding away. In the car with him was a man named Alexander Bradley who was known to be a scum of the Earth himself. Bradley was involved in drug dealing and other sorts of illegal activities and was clearly not the name a future NFL star should have been spending his time with. The record shows that Bradley reprimanded Aaron for the hit-and-run incident. To protect his name, Aaron drove him to an empty parking lot, shot him in the head and sped away leaving Bradley to die. Unfortunately for Aaron, Bradley had survived this surprise attack. When the police questioned him about the suspect, Bradley refused to give Aaron’s name because being a Man of The Street he wanted to get even instead. Once he was discharged, he gave Aaron an ominous phone call that left the Patriots boy shivering in his boots.
This lead Aaron to get involved with more shady characters like Carlos Ortiz and Ernest Wallace. It is debated that this was a strategic move by Aaron to get some protection from a dangerous Alex Bradley who was out for blood. The sheer cheekiness of the entire Aaron-scenario is visible in 2 incidents:
The hit and run coolness
After Aaron Hernandez murdered two immigrants in cold blood at a traffic stop in South Boston on July 16 2012, Aaron showed no remorse for the killings and the motive behind the murders was a spilled drink at a nightclub that caused him to follow the victims in his car and shoot them at a traffic stop. Days after this, on August 27th 2012, the Patriots awarded him a $39.58 million contract extension for his great performances until then. The police found no leads at the scene of the crime and Aaron went on to play in that season’s NFL without having to suffer and repercussions.
Sociopathic response to Odin Loyd’s murder
When Aaron Hernandez had murdered Odin Loyd at a short distance from his residence, he had just set up surveillance cameras in and around his house at the time. The footage from the cameras, though attempted to be erased before the police could arrive, served as evidence for law enforcement bodies. In this footage, they found Aaron portraying no signs of nervousness or stress which should be common with a law abiding citizen who had just committed a murder. He was seen playing with his baby daughter, hugging and high-fiving his friends in the hours after he had killed his former friend.
Aaron went on to be convicted of the Odin Loyd felony and the police managed to tie him to the South Boston hit-and-run case as well. While he was serving his sentence for the Odin Loyd murder, during the hit-and-run trial in 2017, Aaron’s new attorney, Jose Baez, managed to get him an acquittal. There are images of Aaron crying in court when the decision was announced. What happened days after his acquittal, stunned the world. Aaron Hernandez committed suicide in his jail cell. He left behind 3 notes, one for his wife, the other for his daughter and the last one for his attorney.
Aaron did this for love because despite being acquitted in the second trial, his career was still over. He found out that if he died during the appeal, the murder suit would need to be dropped and thus his wife and child could receive the money from his Patriots contract so that they could be taken care of. It was later learned that Aaron had the worst kind of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy(CTE), which was common amongst NFL players due to repeated and massive blows to the head.
It is said that this condition had rendered him emotionless and could have altered his brain chemistry. This apparently explains the sociopathic and brute-like behaviour that he displayed. If this is true, it is time the NFL takes a long, hard look at how they intend to protect their players because, if proven, this trauma could cripple and ruin multiple people’s lives and result in more gut-wrenching incidents. Aaron Hernandez did what every father would do at the end of the day, when he sacrificed his life so that his family would be taken care of financially, and this shows there was still goodness in him.
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