Sorrow after Mayor Menino's death reveals the ultimate love his city had for him

October 30th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

As much as sports meant to his city, longtime Boston mayor Tom Menino meant the world to the teams that called his city home.

For over two decades he was the democratically appointed face of Boston. For over two decades, Menino brightened the lives of all within the range of his influential embrace. Furthermore, Menino’s sage like words, the Hyde Park accent that added fluctuation to them and his happy demeanor lifted him to a level of unanimous acceptance that is almost unheard of in modern politics. 

People going about their daily lives in Boston and beyond could be said to have regarded Menino as one of those friends they never met. As a result, when it was announced this morning that Menino had “slipped into eternal rest,” the ensuing outpouring of prayers and gracious well wishes for Menino’s legacy and family were genuine and plentiful.

Patriots owner and Boston cultural magnate in his own right, Robert Kraft, issued a statement just before 2pm on the topic of Menino.

“Today is a sad day for so many in Boston who are mourning the loss of  Mayor Menino. Personally, my three favorite memories were the phone calls that I received from the Mayor after each of our Super Bowl victories inviting the Patriots to celebrate with our fans in downtown Boston. I was so happy to accept his invitations. My thoughts and prayers are with Angela and the entire Menino family today,” read Kraft’s words.

Beyond that, many Boston athletes who were unable to produce formal statements took to Twitter to recognize Menino.

“Today I joined the mourning of all New Englanders, as we lost not only a great Mayor but one of my dearest friends. #MayorMenino may God,” wrote former Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez.

“Sorry to learn of the passing of Mayor Menino. Prayers go out to his family. #BostonStrong,” tweeted catcher David Ross.

Soon after Ross, outfielder, Shane Victorino wrote very similarly, “Very sad to hear about the passing of Mayor Menino. Sending my thoughts and prayers to his family and our city. #BostonStrong”

Menino had a strong connection with many members of the Boston sports subculture. During his five consecutive terms as mayor, the city’s teams won eight world championships. Present at final games and or rolling rallies that followed was a steadfast Menino.

But perhaps his biggest showing of support for that sports subculture came when such a showing actually supported many more people than just sports fans. As shown by the lingering attachment of “#BostonStrong” to many tweets about Menino, his finest hour came at one of his cities darkest.

When the Boston Marathon Bombings took place in April of 2013, Menino, who was then nursing a broken leg, checked out of his hospital to be present at ensuing vigils and church ceremonies for his city.

Selflessly, Menino once even dragged himself out of his wheelchair to stand on his broken leg. He stood showing in touching insistence that neither he nor his city could be held down.

"[He’s] bold, big-hearted, and Boston strong,” said President Obama of Menino after the Marathon Bombing.  

Mayor Menino was a Bostonian in all respects. He stayed rooted to his town throughout his life and he led it right up until his final days were upon him. It was in those days, as Menino’s health began to rapidly decline, that his innocent love for his city most persistently permeated through all aspects of it. 

In reception of his love, leadership and selflessness, Bostonians loved him back.

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Thoughts on Patriots not using the franchise tag

Each year, one of the first signs of which teams are contenders and which teams are pretenders can be seen in what each team does in the off season. Good selfless GM's who truly do what is best for their team with the money and privileges they possess ultimately turn out good, committed teams with at least a chance at winning it all come February. 

But money does get in the way, and no matter how rich they may be, cash does not flow into the NFL's individual teams with infinite quantity. In New England, much of the Patriot's financial talks of late have circled around two players - Aqib Talib and Julian Edelman - and more to the point what might happen if either of them escaped to free agency. 

Fact is, even with the deep cash pool that Robert Kraft has accumulated since he took over the Patriots 20 years ago, with both Edelman and Talib coming off spectacular years in which Talib owned the Patriots secondary and Edelman accumulated over 100 catches, they knew that the price for bringing them back in 2014 might be very stiff. However, at least until 3:00PM Monday, there was another option. 

In what has been named as the franchise tag, each NFL team is presented with the opportunity to retain one player, no matter their level of play and no matter another team's interest for one base rate. In Patriots history, they have never been a team in love with the tag but most notably utilized it 2 years ago on Wes Welker.  

But for the second straight season, the annual deadline for teams to either use or forgo the franchise tag came and passed without action in Foxbourgh and at least for the time being, it appears to be a rather questionable decision.  

In what was surely the best season of his career, Talib in particular made a serious case to get paid the 11.5 million dollar salary for a franchise tagged CB. He made 4 interceptions and defended 13 passes while making 35 tackles.

"[Talib] wasn't on the field a lot of the time since he's been with us," Robert Kraft said at the Super Bowl. "It's a balance, of us balancing all that out and what is he worth. I think he's happy here and would like to be here. We're happy with him and we'd like to have him here. Now it's just about doing business." 

According to ESPN Boston's Matt Reis, one of the biggest reasons the Patriots did not hand Talib those 11 million dollars was his health. Though he played all but 3 games this season and was a key role player in every single one, he has now been knocked out of two straight AFC Championship games. But nevertheless, the latter of those two injures was certainly not his fault. He is no Danny Ammendola. 

So if that does not make sense, what does?

More than any other, a logical explanation for the Patriots' negligence is that that there have been rumors that he and the team are negotiating a contract at a substantially lower annual salary. In a scenario like that, the Patriots are being smart in knowing that by locking down Talib for 2 or 3 years at say 7 or 8 million a year, they would then have the additional 3 or 4 million dollars to add on to a big contract to lock down Julian Edelman who will most likely be a far more sought after name than Talib. 

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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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Bill Belicheck breaks silence on Aaron Hernandez case: Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork and others also speak.

After weeks of assuming that whenever Bill Belichick DID talk, all we would get was "he is not a member of this football team, I only talk about members of this football team.", the poker faced manager of the New England Patriots surprised us yesterday. He spoke  deeply on the subject of Aaron Hernandez all while never actually saying his name.

"It's a sad day, it's a really a sad day on so many levels," Belichick said, reading from a prepared statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim, and I extend my sympathy, really, to everyone that's been impacted. A young man lost his life. And his family's suffered a tragic loss, and there's no way to understate that.

When I was out of the country, I learned about the ongoing criminal investigation that involved one of our players. I and other members were shocked and disappointed in what we had learned. Having someone in your organization that's involved in a murder investigation is a terrible thing. After consultation with ownership, we acted swiftly and decisively (in cutting Hernandez)."

Fact is for many, Bill Belichick had never shown the type of emotion he did last night. But nevertheless, in a way, displaying this slew of apologetic answers may have been a necessary move.

"As the coach of the team, I'm primarily responsible for the people that we bring into the football operation," Belichick said. ... Overall, I'm proud of the hundreds of players that have come through this program, but I'm personally disappointed and hurt in a situation like this."

"I've been advised to address the subject once," Belichick said. "It's time for the New England Patriots to move forward."

Move forward... move forward.

Now while Bill Belichick spoke largely on the emotional side of this terrible investigation. Two different men each involved in a different facet of the team than Bill Belichick touched mainly on the football side of this all.

For star QB Tom Brady: "You know I think everyone had a range of emotions .but at some point we need to move forward and i think we are all doing that."

And for defensive captain Vince Wilfork: "Its real life and I think sometimes, we get caught up in doing what we do, but like I said, this is a real life situation, someone lost a loved one, a friend a son, its tough, its hard to see someone loose like that

We just stick together, when we walk through this door, you have to reed a sign, "you put the team first", were all gonna read it, that's what you have to do....were gonna have to ignore the noise and win ball games.

"how do you ignore the noise?" a reporter said

"do your job.:"

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The Mount Rushmore of Boston sports: Patriots

Over the past few weeks, the NFL network has been compiling the "Mount Rushmores" of different teams, in reaction to that, I thought it would be fun to do a similar collection for different members of Boston's sports lore.

Patriots:

1) Tom Brady: In the minds of many across the NFL world he is THE greatest quarterback in the history of football and when he retires in 4 or 5 seasons, as much as Pats fans deny it, they will be hard pressed to see the kind of results he had given them with any other guy.

2) Bob Kraft: It seems crazy that an owner should be on this list livid with so many super star players but nevertheless, Bob Kraft deserves every bit of recognition he is given. He brought a kind of winning to New England that this team had never known and no part of that can be understated.

3) Bill Belicheck: Well it seems like the only thing keeping Belicheck from standing alone as the greatest coach of all time remains as 1 scandal named Spygate and a terrible signing named Aaron Hernandez. Belicheck won 3 super bowls in 4 seasons and that reigns supreme.

4) Teddy Bruschi: Well, fact is, Bruschi's career was cut short in 2009 by a heart wrenching stoke that ended one of the most offensively minded defensive career's in the history of the NFL.  

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The Mount Rushmore of Boston sports: Front office members

Over the past few weeks, the NFL network has been compiling the "Mount Rushmores" of different teams, in reaction to that, I thought it would be fun to do a similar collection for different members of Boston's sports lore.

Front office members:

1) Bob Kraft: It seems crazy that an owner should be on this list livid with so many super star players but nevertheless, Bob Kraft deserves every bit of recognition he his given. He brought a kind of winning to New England that this team had never knew and no part of that can be understated.

2) Terry Francona: Much like the tainted legacy of Bill Belicheck, the remembrance of Terry Francona was tarnished 2 seasons ago by that heart wrenching September collapse that took what many belelived to be the greatest Red Sox team in franchise history out of contention.

3) Claude Jullian: He saved the Bruins. Fresh off one of the worst stretches of pathetic hockey in team history, Jullian came to Boston, picked up the pieces of a shattered team and in the words of NBC announcer Doc Emeric: "The coach lead them to the high road was the road to the cup!"

4) Bill Belichck: Well it seems like the only thing keeping Belicheck from standing alone as the greatest coach of all time remains as 1 scandal named Spygate and a terrible signing named Aaron Hernandez. Belicheck won 3 super bowls in 4 seasons and that reigns supreme.

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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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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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