Aaron Hernandez is No Longer Alive: My Thoughts On the Matter

Aaron Hernandez, latest member of the 27 club.


I don't even know where to begin, so I'll start by talking about my favorite subject, myself.  


I was none too pleased this morning to be awoken from my slumber much earlier than expected by a barrage of texts. I usually have my phone on do not disturb but I must've hit it off by mistake. Talk about the wrong day to do that.  The one day my phone blows up.  I figured that my group chat had started earlier today than usual or something.  It did,  but for reasons I would've never expected.  


I was shocked to find out that former Patriots Tight End, Aaron Hernandez hanged himself in a Massachusetts prison this morning. You know what.... also former University of Florida Tight End. I feel like they get out of a lot of shit from that, but he played just as long for the Gators as he did for the Pats. Yet they take all the brunt of the fact that he was a murderer. Not fair!  The 2008 Gators were a who's who of bad guys. 


My immediate thought was shock, I just didn't see it coming. I can honestly say I did not expect to wake up to this news. Didn't think the Bristol Pistol was a suicide guy. I mean the immediate question everybody must have now is did he watch 13 Reasons Why in Jail?  Are a box of tapes going to show up a 1 Patriot Place?


I find the timing v odd considering how he just was found "not guilty" from a 2012 double-murder five days ago. You'd think he'd be happy.  I mean, I guess as happy as a lifer without the possibility of parole could be. But you'd think he'd be happier. 


Many (including myself) are wondering about the timing of this. Hernandez kills himself the same day as the Patriots are scheduled to be honored at the White House for winning their 2nd Super Bowl since his release. Could it be a coincidence or what sent him over the ledge? 


A major storyline on tv,  the radio and social media so far has been the debate on whether or not this is sad and how to treat Hernandez.  You have the "this man was a father, a girl just lost her father" camp. Then there is the "good riddance, this guy was a murderer" camp. Obviously there are other sides you can take, it's not that black or white, but if there were two major theme umbrellas for the takes to fall under, it'd be those. In my opinion it is kind of disgusting how much people in sports media are trying to humanize this guy and seemingly place blame everywhere else but on Hernandez.


Look, I was the biggest Aaron Hernandez fan there was. I loved watching him at Florida on those Tebow teams. This was back when I was in high school, still playing football and absolutely obsessed with those Gator teams. I didn't just start liking Tim Tebow during Tebowmania, he had been my guy for a while. Hernandez was one of his primary targets.   I loved watching them play.  Then when he declared early for the NFL, Hernandez went to my favorite professional team, the New England Patriots. I was excited they got such a talent in the 4th round and he was a Florida guy.  I was also kind of surprised by his drafting.  I can remember questioning the Patriots drafting TWO tight ends. I can remember saying "What are they thinking drafting two tight ends?". Well it turned out to be Rob Gronkowski and an Aaron Hernandez, who in their brief time healthy together took the NFL by storm. In my defense before that tight ends were not nearly as important in the NFL as they are now. Could've been the greatest combo of all time. Now a few years later Hernandez is dead. It's insane how quickly everything changed. Five years ago he caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl. 


But the dude is a fucking murderer, remember? HE made the decision to kill at least one person. It's not like he just died of cancer. I don't care that his dad died, I don't care that he might of been gay, I don't care about any of it. Don't be a murder. it's really not very hard. Most people can do that. It's a tragedy in the sense of wasted talent, and wasted life but I don't feel bad for Aaron Hernandez. He's the one who had it all and decided to throw it all away. I feel bad for the people like myself who believed in him. 


I'm honestly surprised he didn't kill himself earlier (even though I said I was shocked by the news). I just feel like given how high his highs were (both on and off the football field) and how absolutely lows his lows were that at the very least this is one move by Hernandez I can truly understand. I don't blame him for killing himself. Knowing how badly he fucked his entire life up, if I was in his shoes I'd probably do the same. 


I'm sure I'll talk about this more in the coming days, but it's been a pretty big news morning in the sports world and I need to show my worth. Aaron Hernandez is dead at the age of 27. Never thought I would have said.



P.S. Is it wrong that all I can think about his how much this is taking the Celtics off the hook in Boston media today? I mean talk about totally dodging a bullet. I'm sure they still will get talked about a little, but this totally over shadows them in the media. Definitely no longer the lead on sports talk radio. They just looked HORRIBLE last night and are down 2-0 after losing the first two games of the series at home TO THE 8 SEED.  Ik some people were questioning whether Hernandez actually killed himself or was killed in prison and had it set to look like a suicide. I feel like at the very least we need to see if Danny Ainge has an alibi. Although if he wasn't willing to add a rebounder at the break to help his team, I doubt he'd go through all the trouble of staging a suicide to help them. Although it would be a great way to get back in the good graces of fans. 

Double P.S. I was at Aaron Hernandez' final game, the 2012 season's AFC Championship Game. Fucking horrible game.