Thoughts on the Ray Rice arrest: Proof that the NFL has bigger problems than a gay man in their lockeroom

Close to 9 months after Aaron Hernandez's name first surfaced in connection with the murder of Odin Lloyd, the list of NFL players who have been arrested in the past few years continues to grow. The most recent addition to that list involved a knockout punch, a TMZ video, a fiancé and a struggling running back who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.  

For those who do not have not heard, that above intro may be a little confusing so I will state the focus of this article plainly. Earlier this week, Ray Rice was arrested by Atlantic City police and pegged with an alleged assault of his fiancée. Within just a few hours of that arrest, that pesky web page called TMZ had dug up a security film that showed Rice dragged his limp companion out of an elevator. The film also showed, a security guard approaching and detaining Rice. 

So now what. 

Rice will likely be charged with assault and if so will also be handed close to a year or even more of jail time. Once he comes back the NFL might also impose some justice of their own by either fining or suspending Rice for even longer. But what we also know is that Ray Rice who finished this season aged just 27 will return to the NFL and will, like far too many NFL criminals earn many more millions in contract money once he does so. 

This has become a pattern in the NFL and frankly, this particular fan is beginning to fell disgusted at what has happened. Within the house I live in, it has been strongly instilled in me that someone who makes as much money as these players do should show they deserve it by not only playing with a drive built around selflessness and complete devotion but more importantly living as moral citizens off the field. While definition on what the latter part of that really may differ (one example of this was whether or not David Ortiz' This is Our City speech was justified), what there is no argument on is that being a moral citizen at the very minimum means abiding by straightforward laws such as "don't kill anyone" or "don't punch anyone". 

Is that too hard. 

Apparently yes. 

Between the Aaron Hernandez case last year, Ray Lewis roughly 10 years before that, OJ Simpson even earlier and then Deon Sanders around the same time, football players cannot seem to keep their hands to themselves and are going around killing each-other at a rate much higher than most other people making 10 million dollars a year.  

But this is a story that has already been told. We have already been read the stats on how often these players get arrested. So to make sure that this arrest, this attack frankly is not something that fades away and becomes something someone Ray Lewis might someday erase from his past, I want to use this as a jumping off point not only to call out the actions of Ray Lewis but also to expose the true absurdity of the beliefs harbored by many within the NFL.  

When Michael Sam came out as being gay earlier this month, the shock-waves of his announcement spread quickly. While Jason Collins was the first active player to come out as gay last summer, the timing of Sam's announcement put the NFL in an interesting position. In this league where there had already been little whispers of players not being drafted because of their sexual orientation that had filtered through the headlines, the thought of such a promising player coming through the draft was interesting. But it was what happened next, what happened in the ensuing media storm invoked by hundreds of reporters looking to get the top story turned up countless supportive and a few aggravating quotes. 

In this case it was those that aggravated the reader that drew the strongest reactions. 

"The question you will ask yourself, knowing your team, is, ‘How will drafting him affect your locker room?'" an unidentified GM said to the MMQB's Peter King "And I am sorry to say where we are at this point in time, I think it’s going to affect most locker rooms. A lot of guys will be uncomfortable. Ten years from now, fine. But today, I think being openly gay is a factor in the locker room.”

On this blog alone, I took serious offence to that quote and ripped it apart in my post on the subject. 

Additionally, just a few days before Michael Sam came out, Saints linebacker, Johnathan Vilma said to the Huffington Post said that he  "think[s] that he [a gay football player] would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted. I don't want people to just naturally assume, like, 'Oh, we're all homophobic.' That's really not the case. Imagine if he's the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me. How am I supposed to respond?" 

Well for one a quote like that makes it seem like a gay man working in the professional setting that an NFL lockeroom is, lacks the personal restraint of anyone else and that is simply not true. But also when you expand the subject of that quote out into the whole idea of locker room security and comfort, one who has followed the league at any point in its existence has watched the violent patterns of many of players. 

While I guarantee you that Michael Sam would never cause a problem in a lockerroom because of anything regarding his sexual orientation, guys like Richie Incognito and all those participate in hazing of rookies will and already have caused problems. More so, I personally would like to ask Johnathan Vilma, how would you feel if you were showering next Ray Lewis and he stabbed you, how would you feel if you were showering next to Ray Rice and he knocked you out cold? 

Most people would rather deal with the nonexistent chance of Michael Sam looking at them than someone turning around and physically harming them.  

The conclusion most people would draw from that is that the NFL has bigger problems than having a gay man in their locker room. The alleged Ray Rice assault is proof of that. 

All and all, it is time for the NFL to tackle this thing head on (no pun intended). They need to suspended Ray Rice for a period of time and derails his career to an honest extent that his actions warrant and as for Michael Sam, the NFL's players coaches and GM's just need to give it up. There will be a gay man in the NFL before long and even if it is not Michael Sam it will be someone else. 

It is time for these players to just deal with that an focus more on the fact that the player next to them may have killed, punched or otherwise harmed another human being. 

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Aaron Hernandez: Superstar to Inmate - an interpretation of Rolling Stone's recent article: Gangster in the Huddle

"U saw who I’m with... Nfl... just so u know" a 27 year old semi pro football player said late onthe night of June 16th. Just a few hours later, the man who sent that message lay dead, 5 bullets firmly lodged throughout his body and blood pooling outside his 5 foot 11 inch frame. 

Less than a mile away, a football player by the name of Aaron Hernandez strutted into his sleeping home with two men at his side...Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. They all had guns in their hands. 

Over the next few weeks, the man who had been shot's name was released. He was Odin Lloyd, dating partner of the sister of Aaron Hernandez's fiancé. He had been friends with Hernandez prior to his death but as was revealed in a court reading, their relationship quickly fell apart, culminating in that moment in an industrial park when Lloyd was ordered to get on his knees and put his hands behind his head causing a fight that ended with Hernandez shooting him execution style.  

Over the next few weeks everything about what happened leading up to when Aaron Hernandez changed his legacy from one of luster and glory to one of a murderer was closely speculated and profiled both falsely and correctly. He was reviled to be a marijuana addict, a gangster, a hot head and above all, a gun toting, trigger happy phsycopath. He was speculated to have shot a Miami man in the face but that was not confirmed. 

He was linked to a Boston double murder in 2011 and also charged with the assault of a bartender in 2007. That fight was broken up by guess who, Tim Tebow. 

But after almost a month of turmoil all the chaos seemed to die down. Hernandez was in jail, he sent a letter out but that was nothing new. "I'm innocent," he said, no one agreed with him. The illegal gun possession was confirmed time and time again but by the time we reached this month of August the 2013 preseason was upon us and with Hernandez behind bars, his name was all but forgotten…until now. 

Early this morning, PAUL SOLOTAROFF AND RON BORGES released a mega 7,000 word, 15 page article revealing in depth details that chilled you to the bone and succeeded at making our jaws drop at information we already had been informed of. 

It began with one of the strongest accounts of the moment that sparked the murder of a man who had previously given a glowing review of Hernandez to his sister. 

“S**t was crazy,” Lloyd had said also eluding to him and Hernandez' "Smoking that super-duper". 

Long story short Hernandez and Lloyd were clubbing partners riding into Boston every night for one sleepless weekend. But on Sunday night/Monday morning, their interactions would transform from ones of camaraderie and minor substance abuse to ones of anger and violence. According to one of Lloyd's associates, he and Hernandez had been in the top floor of a top Boston club. Lloyd had seen a pair of family members from his perch on a balcony and gone downstairs to see them. Somehow, Hernandez overheard the conversation below. 

After hugging and trading pleasantries, one of the men, a tall man with dreadlocks began to point at Hernandez. 

“I don’t like that n*****, he’s one of them funny people,” The man said. Lloyd tried to defend Hernandez. “You’re gonna start some s**t ’tween me and him.” He said. 

Lloyd treasured his relationship with the celebrity that now watched him from above but like he eluded to when worrying about his cousins comments directed at Hernandez, the very second he returned to his table with Hernandez, an altercation began. Hernandez shoved Lloyd to the ground swearing at him with insane rage.

The entire situation was caught by security cameras. 

They soon left the club and Hernandez texted 2 Connecticut associates who were later revealed to be men named George Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. “You can’t trust anyone anymore!” he said commanding that they drive to Boston. Once they arrived, he rented a Nissan Altima, handgun in hand and thugs by his side. They drove to Lloyd's house which was located in a gang torn section of Dorchester that Hernandez was not new to. 

They picked Lloyd up but he soon recognized that Hernandez was not ready to party, no, he was ready to kill him. He fought back as Hernandez and Wallace attempted to force him to the ground. He ripped a mirror off the Altima and raised his arms as the first shots rained down on him. But nevertheless, his life would not progress past 3:30 AM that Monday morning as police found his riddled body several hours later. 

But there is more to the world of crime and abuse that will likely go down as the few years of mistakes that ended Hernandez' life as a free man. 

We all know he grew up in a broken home. Hernandez's father was violent and raised Hernandez to follow in his footsteps. They all played football and it is highly speculated that drugs were constantly prevalent in their Bristol home. He had no friends, no he had victims of his bullying, people feared him, they did not like him. But still, Aaron's father: Dennis Hernandez was his role model...for better or worse. 

“He was the perfect dad: He went to every scrimmage, and got ’em up at dawn to work out," one of Hernandez' high-school opponents: Brandon Beam said. 

He raised his kids to build muscle. They had a bench press in his basement and Hernandez was pretty much a body builder by age 12. He played running back but did not preform ankle breaking jukes like most pro rushers. "He preferred to run through people rather than go around then," the Rolling Stone article read. 

“They were the roughest kids by far in Guinea Alley,” says Eddy Fortier, who went to Bristol Central with them in the Seventies and is a former youth counselor. “They had to be tough – they were about the only Puerto Ricans in an Irish-Italian town,” says Fortier’s brother, Gary.  

They had to be tough...tough. That was all that Hernandez had, his strength and his father. But even that was eventually stolen from him as before Hernandez was even out of high-school, his father died of a lethal infection sustained at a hospital. 

The future NFL'er was in trouble. He quickly became associated with high school gangs but according to Beam, had the maturity of a middle school-er. “The guy would do anything to crack us up,” he said. 

But like was said before, when Dennis Hernandez died, everything changed. His humor vanished, his innocence was lost and he turned to the dark side if you will. “He’d open up the tiniest bit, then say nothing for weeks, like it was a sign of weakness to be sad,” says Beam. “His brother was at college, and the only other person he would really talk to was the one who was taken away.” 

So with no friends, no people that could save him, his 360 degree turn to evil was rapidly coming to a climax. Hernandez enrolled in the University of Florida, continued his gang associations, and developed a barrage of anger issues.  He smoked pot, fought bartenders, and was benched in game one of the 2007 NCAA season. But mighty Urban Myer came in and saved his tight end the embarrassment that would accompany his labeling of the benching a suspension. 

"He's just not ready to play." Myer said

But that was obviously not the case. He failed countless additional drug tests and according to Rolling Stone should have faced suspensions as massive as season long bans but as it stood, "he did not miss a single snap." 

He would hang out with Ernest Wallace and supposedly Wallace was the Senator Palpatine that assisted in finally pulling Hernandez over the line.

“I never saw him with them, but misery attracts misery: There’s vultures waiting to swoop,” says Coach Hevesy, who attempted to act as a father to Hernandez “He played video games with my son, and my daughter wore his jersey to sleep. But whenever he left campus, he’d come back different. That’s when the problems happened.”

Midway through his joiner year in Florida, Hernandez and two fellow footballers known to the world as "The Poncey Twins" were linked to a drive by murder outside a Miami bar. 

“He was out with the Pounceys and [ex-Gator safety] Reggie Nelson, and some guys tried to snatch a chain off one of the Pounceys,” says a local Gators reporter. “The guys drive off, then stop at a light, and someone gets out of a car and shoots into their car through the passenger window. One victim described the shooter as possibly Hispanic or Hawaiian, with lots of tattoos on his arms.”

Hernandez' fits the description. His arms are almost completely covered in tattoos as several signs possibly labeled as gang depictions  are largely concealed on his knuckles and forearms. He fits the description but after that specific incident he was not even questioned by police...so the problems continued. 

But nevertheless, all problems aside, Hernandez was a very good college player. In 2009, he led the team in catches with 68 and eventually complied 12 touchdown receptions in his 3 years of NCAA action. It was because of this that Hernandez felt pressured to help his image and attempted to earn himself a higher position on teams draft boards. 

He sent a letter to every NFL team. 

“My coaches have told you that nobody worked harder than me,” he wrote. “The only X-factor is concerns about my use of recreational drugs. To address that, I am putting my money where my mouth is [if you sign me I will accept a contract that would allow you to drop me without pay if I ever used]”

Well that never happened.

For a long time, it seemed that Hernandez' pleas would be for not as after the first 3 rounds had been completed he was still left underrated. But Bill Belicheck would finally fulfill Aaron's dreams.

The Patriots needed a top receiver. They had recently added Wes Welker but had long ago lost Troy Brown and Randy Moss. Hernandez seemed to be the best guy to fill the job and almost immediately he proved just that. He caught 6 touchdowns in his first year but  soon tag teamed with fellow tight end Rob Gronkowski in 2011 to blow away any and all marks for tight end play. This was all en-route to earning himself a 40 million dollar contract long before his rookie deal expired. 

At that time, Hernandez insisted that the “Patriot way” had changed him and he was “a new man.” He knew how to push the buttons of owner Bob Kraft.

But nevertheless, with so much big money now credited to his name Hernandez seemed to lose the will to be a good little boy and soon returned to his gang associated ways. He began to miss practices, and forgo rehab assignments angering his coach Bill Belichick and in Bill's words coming "one misstep away from being dropped."  

He would conceal his drug use, alienating himself from his teammates and making them feel as if they did not know who he was. He began to take a highly addictive and body wrecking drug named PCP or more informally referred to as simply Angel Dust. He would get high after games smoking constantly on his car rides home from games. But nobody knew about any of it. Well that is, nobody that could either punish him, help him or at least get him to focus not on football but on his problems. 

About 1 year before the murder of Lloyd, Hernandez and a "cohort of thugs" as they were labeled by Rolling Stone became engaged in a bar fight with members of a group that Hernandez did not harbor fond feelings for. It is suspected that two murders were committed by someone involved in the fight although it is suspected that Hernandez was not the trigger man in these crimes. 

But nevertheless, an old Toyota 4Runner was seen speeding off away from the club following the murders. The driver was not identified as the car soon vanished only to be found, caked in dust in a garage owned by Hernandez' uncle. 

Meanwhile, the Patriots had just lost the AFC championship game and he was right in the time of this life when he allegedly shot a man named Avery Bradly in the face before dumping him in an abandoned ally-way. As all this happened, Hernandez suddenly began to fear for his life as he suspected that the very gangsters he had assembled around him "were trying to kill him". For this reason he illegally carried a gun where ever he went. 

He added 12 security cameras in his home and stashed an assault rifle in his gym bag as he feared retribution for leaving his gang behind. 

But the guns were not where the panic ended. According to Carlos Ortiz, Hernandez rented an undisclosed condo 12 miles away from his multi-million dollar mansion. Ortiz refereed to the condo as a "flop house." 

Much like he did before the draft, Hernandez may have been TRYING to clean himself up, but with his name so deeply wound into the gang world that was no simple task meaning that when Lloyd's cousins began racially insulting Hernandez, he quickly reverted to his old ways.

He has wormed his way out of so much, but after what has come out through the court investigations, the various reports and most recently this mega description by Rolling Stone, the hole he has now dug himself might now seem just a little too deep for this master of deception to climb out of. 

For all his life, Aaron Hernandez was the star, the big buff unstoppable football player who broke records and broke bones. But with 5 brutal gunshots he revealed to the world that those days of success were all a lie. With 5 brutal gunshots, Aaron Hernandez' luck ran out and as police officers came to his doorstep, the Patriot tight end quickly went from superstar to inmate. 

To read the Rolling Stone article click here

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Bob Kraft breaks silence on Aaron Hernandez: A look at what the Patriots have done in relation to Hernandez so far

"If this stuff is true, then I've been duped and our whole organization has been duped."

"You can be sure we'll be looking at our procedures and auditing how we do things. My heart goes out to the Lloyd family I feel bad that someone connected to our organization is connected to this. Following Aaron's arrest, I read a number of different accounts of how things transpired in our organization. Let me be clear: We decided the week prior to Aaron's arrest that if Aaron was arrested in connection with the Lloyd murder case that we would cut him immediately after. The rationale behind that decision was that if any member of the New England Patriots organization is close enough to a murder investigation to actually get arrested -- whether it be for obstruction of justice or the crime itself, it is too close to an unthinkable act for that person to be part of this organization going forward. When he was in our building, we never saw anything where he was not polite. He was always respectful to me. We only know what's going on inside the building. We don't put private eyes on people."

"He spoke to me about wanting to be a role model in the Hispanic community," Kraft said. "... I believed him. ... He knew how to push my buttons." ~ Bob Kraft to ESPN reporters today 

On June 17th, a 27 year old semi pro football player named Odin Lloyd was found by a 14 year old jogger. Lloyd was hidden in an industrial park, covered in blood... and dead. As police quietly began to investigate the situation, a broken mirror traced to a car rented in the name of Aaron Hernandez began to beg the unthinkable. Was this "most likable young man," According to Patriots owner Bob Kraft, a murderer?

Well, at this point while technically, Hernandez is innocent until proven guilty, at least in the court of public opinion the answer to that question is yes. 

Regardless of that after dropping Hernandez mere minutes after his shocking arrest back in June, speculation quickly arose mainly questioning how the Patriots were to deal with the cloud of animosity and confusion hurtfully gathering around their formerly admirable organization.

To answer that question I say well, nothing: sort of.

Within hours of Hernandez being dropped from the team, the Patriots quickly scoured their pro shop removing any and all acknowledgment of the former tight end ever being a part of the team.  Yet that wasn't the last of the memorabilia saga. As we now know, at several different points between Hernandez' arrest and the present, the team would host "Jersey Exchanges" in which, owners of a number 81 Aaron Hernandez jersey could come into the pro shop and exchange their jerseys for either a Vince Wilfork, Tom Brady, or Rob Gronkowski shirt.

Now while that generous gesture did at least help further erase Hernandez' footprint in Foxborough it came with a cost, a pretty big one. A quarter million dollar one. According to Bob Kraft due to the teams decision to not only replace any Hernandez jerseys but also destroy anything emblazoned with the suspect's 9 letter name, they lost almost 250,000 dollars, but even that massive number is rendered mute by the one 40 times larger caused by a fight for closure on Hernandez' contract.

Fact is, the Patriots will never be ridden of the mark of their former tight end meaning that after doing nearly everything that they could do to lessen that mark, the time to break the silence had long come and was beginning to pass. Nevertheless, when Bob Kraft spoke today it began to give closure and began to make Aaron Hernandez seem less like a New England Patriot and more like the suspected murderer that he is.

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The Football side of this all: Why the Patriots need to turn away from their passing game and hand the ball to Shane Vereen and Stephan Ridley

On March 13th, longtime patriots wide receiver and offensive stud Wes Welker was lost to the Broncos after a final few years in New England that literally fell through his fingertips (talking about the '12 Super Bowl where Welker dropped what would have been a game sealing catch) 

3 months later on the 18th of June and after yet another complication with his noncompliant back that forced surgery, the Patriots were informed that tight end Rob Gronkowski would be out until at least week one of the season. (Yet in all likely hood, without any sort of training camp or preseason conditioning for "Gronk", the Pro Bowl tight end might very well have to spend several additional weeks making up the workouts he missed, therefore pushing his estimated time of return to as late as weeks Six or Seven.) 

Nevertheless after knowing that they would be without Welker and Gronkoski, the Patriots organization was delivered a metaphorical punch to the face when just after 8 oclock on June 26th a crucial development in a then 9 day old  murder investigation surrounding Aaron Hernandez was born. On that late June morning, Aaron Hernandez, long member of "the greatest tight end tandem in NFL history" was arrested before, just a few hours later, being charged with murder and 6 counts of gun possession charges. 

Now with his Patriots team frantically trying to distance themselves from a man basically dubbed to be a psychopath, Hernandez was dropped by the team who over the next few days would continue to fight to free  themselves of the mega 40 million dollar contract that bound them to Hernandez who will, in all likelihood, spend the rest of his life sitting in a jail cell. 

At the conclusion of the 2012- 2013 NFL season, the Patriots were in a reasonably comfortable place: Brady had been signed to spend basically the rest of his career with New England, Wes Welker had played great in the regular season and had guided his Patriots to a 6th straight division championship despite dropping yet another crucial pass in the AFC championship game against the Ravens. And last but not least, with Gronkowski coming back from injury and Aaron Hernandez still a prime target of Tom Brady, the 2 man tandem was poised for yet another heroic run. Nevertheless, as profiled in the 4 paragraphs above, in the blink of an eye, that wonderful array of assets and offensive talent fell apart meaning that with Week One now just 70 days away Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are trapped between a rock and a hard place all poised with one huge question: how to maintain the offensive talent that they need to win games?

Well, the Pats have an answer for that question yet for many Patriots fans, it’s not a good one. In the immediate wake of the Welker signing with Denver, St Louis wide receiver Danny Amendola was immediately acquired as a replacement. The only problem with that plan is that Amendola is NOTHING compared to Welker. 

After joining the league 4 years ago, a now 27 year old Amendola has never ran for a touchdown, while receiving just 7 through the air. It is obvious, Amendola is not the guy who can tag team with Brady to win games yet the problem here is that should the Pats continue to rely heavily on their passing game he will be at least until Gronkowski returns towards the middle of the year. 

"The Patriots need to turn away from their passing game and hand the ball to Shane Vereen and Stephan Ridley"

With all that in mind, it seems that the only escape for the Patriots, is to basically forget about Brady and make guys like Steven Ridley and Shane Vereen the centerpieces of their attack. 

Both boating young talent and intriguing promise, it isn't even like neither of these guys have proved themselves before. In last season alone the two combined for 6 100+ yard games and a total 20 touchdowns (17 rushing and 3 receiving (Vereen caught all 3 receiving touchdowns between the two)). In addition to that,  neither man is making more than a million dollars a year so should they become intricate parts of this offence retaining them would not be a Herculean task of money manipulations and careful contract negotiations.  

Welker is gone, Hernandez is gone, Rob Gronkowski is hurt and with his luck could very well get injured again in the next few years, Amendola is well Danny Amendola, and with the days of Tom Brady's career numbered, switching your offence from one with a focus on immaculate passing, to one of grit and rushing power, might not be a be a  bad approach for New England.  

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Aaron Hernandez charged with murder: Are Patriots overestimating their ability to change at risk players?

For the first time in 8 long days, the veil of secrecy imposed by police when talking and investigating this Aaron Hernandez murder case has been lifted. For the first time in 8 long days of unsure confusion and conflicting reports, the truth has been reviled: Aaron Hernandez has been charged with the murder of Odin Lloyd and is now being investigated in a brutal triple shooting last July. He has been linked to a law suit in Miami and according to Sports Illustrated pointed a gun at someone in Providence. He has a long history of violence and what’s more; Hernandez is not legally allowed to carry a firearm. Whopie. So    long story short, at this point in time Aaron Hernandez might very well be a psychopath. Just let that sink in.  

Nevertheless, while Hernandez' gun violence problems do showcase a pattern: a slightly lesser but still negative pattern regarding the drafting habits of Bob Kraft himself. 

Long regarded as the best owner in sports, Robert Kraft has long been the owner of the pats as after his inaugural 1994 season, Kraft picked his team up from the ashes and would eventually lead them to three Super Bowls in less than 5 years. Nevertheless while Kraft's style has paid its dividends it does come with a price tag and at times that price tag can verge on illegal activity. Now while I am not accusing this multi billionaire NFL owner of criminal actions what I am doing is reporting on the shady side of several players whom Hernandez has worked hard to draft. 

Aqib Talib. July, 2008, after being drafted as a rookie, he and fellow rookie Cory Boyd seemingly got involved in an altercation and eventually began throwing punches at one another. 1 year later, Talib was brought back into court on terms of assaulting a taxi driver and then resisting prosecution yet even after 2 years after when Talib was charged on terms of shooting an assault rifle at his sister’s boyfriend, the Patriots payed big money to bring him into their acclaimed football team. And then there's Moss.

September 24th 2002, Miniapolis Minnisota, Randy Moss runs over a traffic officer simply for getting in his way. Yet perhaps a lasting aspect of Moss' troubled time in the NFL was his lasting struggles with Marijuana as he failed multiple drug test from college all the way up to his final days with the Patriots. 

So with that in mind and now as more and more comes out about the violent ways of Aaron Hernandez you begin to wonder. Are the Patriots putting to much faith in skillful players? Yes. Is Robert Kraft's belief that he can change troubled players for the better naive, arrogant or even  pathetic? Loosely: yes.

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Aaron Hernandez arrested: still yet to be read charges

After putting out 4 posts in the span of about 2 and a half days on this subject, I haven't written anything on the Aaron Hernandez situation in about 5 days. Why: because there really hasn't been anything definitive to report. 

Back on the 21st of June, it was reported that a warrant for the arrest of Hernandez had been issued yet mere hours later, that report was forcefully shot down as the local police denied allegations that Hernandez had been charged with "obstruction of justice" 

Nevertheless after 5 days of continued searching and a few various confiscations of evidence, the news surrounding this case blew up as just before 9 am this morning, 5 police officers marched up to the front door of Hernandez' 1.7 million dollar home ringing his buzzer doorbell once before waiting about 5 minutes with no answer from Hernandez. After buzzing the home once again, Hernandez finally came to the door and appeared surprised at the police’s presence as he had no shirt on.

Officers walked into the home handcuffing Hernandez' all before he emerged from the home now with a shirt on and was placed inside the confinement of one of the black police sedans in his driveway. 

Yet less than 2 hours later perhaps the most current piece of news was made. Exactly 90 minutes after the arrest, a statement released on the Patriots website stated the shocking truth that after being drafted deep in the 4th round the star Patriots tight end has been released from the team’s roster simply because "it is the right thing to do".

At this point in time, the charges presented against Hernandez have not been named as he is still yet to be arraigned and is expected to be brought to local court at some point in either the next hour or early afternoon. 

Hernandez was brought into this situation about 9 days ago after a teenage jogger reported finding the bloodied body of a 27 year old semi pro football player who was later identified as a man named Odin Lloyd. As more and more news came out regarding the death, the situation was ruled a homicide, and it was made evident that Hernandez had been drinking with Lloyd the night of his death. 

Hernandez was signed to a 5 year 40 million dollar contract last August.

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Warrant issued for the arrest of Aaron Hernandez: The police don't like it when you mess with their evidence

Lesson number one: when the police list you as a possible suspect in a homicide case, don't mess with their evidence.

Simple, right? Well apparently Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez didn't get that memo and now he is going to be arrested for it.  

It seems like months ago when this all began: a semi pro football player, Odin Lloyd is found in an industrial park with a bullet wound through his head. As things quickly developed, the case was linked back to Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez via a rental car under his name, before, 24 hours later it was reported that for almost three hours, Massachusetts State Police descended on the home where Hernandez lives picking through undergrowth on both sides of the as well as moving inside the home and returning a few hours later with a large box. 

And then there was Thursday. From sunrise on, Hernandez' home was a media circus as it was soon reported that while a cell phone was given to the police as evidence, it was "in pieces." But that's wasn't even the worst of this all. As you may assume, this near muti million dollar residence was, leading up to this homicide, livid with an intense security system. The keyword in sentence: was. Immediately after officers left his house it was reported that Hernandez had destroyed his security system as well as hired a team of professional cleaners to scrub his house. The police of course did not like that.  

At this point in time it has been widely confirmed that a warrant for the arrest of Aaron Hernandez has been issued all based on a charge of obstructing justice. Now what does this mean for Hernandez? Obviously, the past few days for Patriots fans have not been fun as for almost 4 years now, Hernandez has been a monster compliment to the killer scoring punch of fellow tight end Rob Gronkowski. Nevertheless, while having a warrant for your arrest is never a good thing, the situation could be worse for Hernandez as he could already be deemed lucky for not having additional charges pinned against him. 

As said before, police did remove a box from Hernandez' home and while we don't know what was in that box an additional piece of prime evidence has recently been made public. According to officials, Lloyd and Hernandez had been good friends for several years and were seen partying in a bar just hours before Lloyd was murdered.  

It confirmed via a text sent out by Lloyd, that the 4 men supposedly left the bar in the same car all destined for Hernandez' home.  According to a Fox 25 report released a few hours after Hernandez was linked to the murder, "It is unclear where the car went or what happened during the ride, but according to the source only three men returned to Hernandez’s home at the end of the night and Lloyd was not one of them." 

So: you have the homicide case but still Hernandez should be counting his blessings that he is only getting sued for an incident outside a Miami club that resulted in Hernandez allegedly shooting a man in the face causing the loss of an eye.  

I have said it once and I'm going to say it again. Aaron Hernandez is in some real trouble and this time it’s because the police don't like it when you mess with their evidence. 

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Aaron Hernandez case once again developing: tight end is "destroying evidence" according to ABC

Okay so let’s get this straight: Aaron Hernandez is not legally allowed to carry a gun, he has shot a man in the face and is getting sued for it, Aaron Hernandez seems to have gone on a destructive spree and appears to be attempting to hide or destroy evidence linked to the homicide he is assumed to be involved in. Long story short, this 245 pound NFL star is a mess. 

In a report published by ABC sports earlier today, it was reported that Hernandez stopped cooperating with police and even after police requested possession of his phone; while it was given to them it was broken and pulverized by supposedly Hernandez. To compliment that, addition details have surfaced surrounding even more unnerving attempts to destroy evidence. Immediately after being notified that the police held a search warrant, Hernandez ran through his house, breaking the screens and lenses of his vast security system which supposedly held many hours of surveillance video. In addition to that reports have been made that over the weekend, a team of house cleaners were hired to scrub his house. Wow. 

Regardless of it all as more and more attention is directed at Hernandez' current and past actions you begin to wonder, why on earth did the Patriots draft this guy. As many hard core Pats fans have known for a long time now, in the days leading up to the 2010 draft in which Hernandez was drafted in the 4th round, it was reported that Hernandez had failed multiple drug tests relating to Marijuana use yet even then the Pats drafted him. Next in line is the fact that even before we knew about the marijuana it was widely reported that  Hernandez had a gun problem. 

In 2007 after his team lost a college football game to Auburn, Hernandez was interview in yet another possible homicide that was linked to his name. And even there things are still just getting started. 

Of course there is the Miami law suit. A man claiming he was shot in the face by Hernadez back in February yet for some reason he is only fighting along the grounds of a civil law suit and still has not pressed charges against the Patriot tight end. And now reports are surfacing surrounding obvious gang affiliations centered around a Providence incident where he was caught illegally carrying a gun.   

Nevertheless is is this current homicide case that has him in real trouble. If Hernandez is in fact taken to court, he could be charged with any number of crimes. Conspiracy, gang violence, illegal possession of a firearm, homicide, obstructing a police investigation, harboring fugitives but that's not all. Even if Hernandez somehow worms his way out of all this, he will run right into the grasp of NFL commissioner Rodger Godell. 

Rodger Godell a commissioner, dubbed by the radio show "Felger and Mazz" on 98.5 The Sports Hub, a "law and order" commissioner will inevitably dish out some major suspensions and fines surrounding the incident. Long story short, for Aaron Hernandez, there is no escape. 

 I have said this time and time again but I'm going to repeat it again, Aaron Hernandez is in some huge trouble all because it is illegal to shoot people. 

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Latest developmets in possible Hernandez' homicide case: Hernandez to be sued for shooting a man in the face

At just after 11 o'clock, WEEI posted on Google plus a link to an article basically stating that according to police, Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez now holds the possibility of becoming a suspect in the murder of a man whose name has now recently been released. The first comment on the post was simply 2 words written in all caps "AWW CR*P". Well that pretty much sums up the feelings most all Patriots fans are feeling right now.

Nevertheless it seems to be more and more like that possibility of being named a suspect is turning instead into a probability. And in addition to that a terrifying new development has been announced. A growing lawsuit has already been filed showing prime evidence to support the fact that Aaron Hernandez attempted to murder a man in Miami fired a bullet in his direction that ricocheted into his face causing the loss of an eye. As crazy as it seems, the Patriots, the NFL and Aaron Hernandez are now in the center of something far more terrible than a scandal. This is criminal and while it is no time to make accusations one can’t help but wonder. Is Aaron Herandez, this man who we see on a weekly basis during football season, a murderer in plain sight?

As we all know, the home of the Pats tight end was searched last night as they returned for more , earlier today.  Cars were searched, backgrounds were checked and now there's more. According to a TMZ and Sports Illustrated report a man claiming personal injury has filed a lawsuit against Hernandez and I can tell you as I read into the details of the suit, chills run down my spine. 

According to victim, Alexander Bradley, he and Hernandez had been good friends up until an incident occurring in a Miami night club back on February 13th. Just after 9 PM an argument occurred between the two men and continued for the duration of the night. Upon leaving the club the men continued their argument in the car that that both took home. It is unclear who was driving but at one point, the scuffle escalated to the point where Hernandez pointed a gun at Bradley's face and either intentionally or unintentionally shot him directly in the face causing him to lose an eye. 

Bradly went on to spend weeks in the hospital as he underwent several carious reconstructive surgeries to repair the damage caused by the bullet that allegedly ricocheted throughout his body.  

In the blink of an eye, things have got pretty bad for Aaron Hernandez and while we cannot any definitive accusation as of now it seems that in the coming month's Hernandez might very well be convicted of something. We just don't know what.

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Police search home of Arron Hernandez in connection to Massachusetts homicide case

Aaron Michael Hernandez: 6 foot 1 inch, 245 pounds and now a person of interest in a murder case?! Since about 10 AM yesterday, the home of the Patriots tight end/wide receiver has been a focal point of police as an ongoing investigation into the death of an "associate" of Hernandez as led authorities right down to the former pro bowler.

Yet while police continue to unearth more disturbing details about the death, media and players alike have been in a frenzy for information as, at this point in time, really the best account of the investigation so far has been a 3 paragraph post on the Sports Illustrated website. 

Basically, after finding a 27 year old man dead in an industrial park not far from Hernandez' North Attleboro home, officers traced a Road Island plated rental car back to Hernandez. Whiten hours, police requested permission to search Hernandez' home who was initially worryingly uncooperative. After several attempts, police returned late last night and were finally able to search the home. Now this is where things get really sketchy. As police arrived at the massive residence, two friends of the Hernandez attempted to flee the premises. After their car was stopped at the end of the driveway, it was searched yet nothing was found. 

Yet while countless news crews reported from the street in front of Hernandez' home, countless others descended on Foxborugh desperate to get a statement from the Patriots. Well they got something: but it sure wasn't a real informative statement. "I am aware of the reports, but I do not anticipate that we will be commenting publicly during an ongoing police investigation," a Patriots spokesperson said.

Okay. 

Hernandez has played 37 games since being drafted into the NFL and I can tell you for sure that no one wants him to become a suspect in this case. He is a key asset for the Patriots and while they cannot afford to lose him to jail time, one fact remains more important than any other. It is illegal to kill people and when you do something illegal whether you are a celebrity or not: you go to jail. 

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