CTE Leads to Murder- Aaron Hernandez Spotlight

My 6 year old son Keller asked me today if he could play football like the character I dressed him up as for “hero day” to present to the class. The unmistakable 12 on the back of his too large jersey that he wears it with such joy. Now, I already know that Keller will not get a lot of compliments on his hero choice because this is not New England and people hate winners. #SorryNotSorry. Stop. He didn’t cheat. Shhh. But seriously, the Patriots have been no stranger to scandal; the G.O.A.T and even Bellechick facing scrutiny for cheating and hookers. However, the biggest scandal of the Patriot’s is the NFL prodigy that turned stone-cold killer and then killed himself in a Florida penitentiary almost 3 years on June 17, 2013, after being arrested and charged in connection with the shooting death of Odin Lloyd; a semi-professional football player that was with the all-star at a strip club in Miami Florida the night he was killed close to Hernandez’s sprawling mansion. I heard that Odin was actually the boyfriend of Hernandez’s fiancé’s family member, I don’t know if that was confirmed or not. Although he hadn’t even had time to get booked in before Bellechic was Donald Trump in the '90s and publicly fired him within like 2 hours I think. Pretty much every New England Patriots was devastated. I mean, he and Brady were heading to the Super Bowl that upcoming season. He had just signed a 40 million dollar contract extension, the largest NFL payout yet. While the jury trial prepared the Pats fans were all in mourning. It was almost that same feeling as when Michael Jackson was arrested in the '90s. Was he guilty? No, that’s impossible.

How could he do it? Betrayed. That’s the best euphemism I could conjure up. Ultimately, the trial was sensationalized based on who the defendant was but honestly, I didn’t know the guy he shot’s name until the trial was over in 2015. Aside from the body being found suspiciously right next to the superstar's house. Outside. Just chillin. Not even really covered up but I am assuming no one was even sober that night based on recovered deleted data from Hernandez's home and surrounding property that was implicating on the day of the murder. There was also a shell casing found at the scene and one in the Nissan Altima he was allegedly driving and that one had his D.N.A. The only true “hard” evidence in my opinion that serves as definitive proof outside of a confession but then again, falsies happen on a common basis. Everyone was stunned at the seemingly out of character accusation but no one really knew about the past either. Aaron was a disadvantaged and very troubled kid. Left high school a year early to go to college early to try and enter the NFL so he goes on to become the youngest player to sign; on top of the other awards, he won in just 3 short years. This was around the time there was controversy regarding football helmets, and players were learning that they had been exposing/risking themselves to this traumatic brain injury that had become known as Chronic Traumatic Encepathology (CTE). When the history of Hernandez was told it was unfathomable that he didn’t have some adverse reactions to his upbringing and one of the primary areas of the brain affected by CTE control emotions, empathy, and self-regulation. Symptoms include violence and other

behavioral problems but currently there is no other test other than an autopsy that can definitively diagnose the condition (while many doctors may presume to their patients if they are experiencing long-term symptoms and depending on their frequency. Looking into Aaron’s past, it is amazing that no one ever put the two together but his *crimes* (he never made it to trial on the 2 men that were shot and injured in association with Aaron. A year before signing with the Patriots Hernandez was interviewing after punching a bar employee and of course; rich and famous. No charges. What is even wilder is that another one of Hernandez’s friends was shot in the face in his home; miraculously he woke up but he contends and even civilly sued for the incident. No charges were never filed. Granted, these are extreme crimes that display no remorse if he is guilty (I hate to say it but he so did it). Not even a month after he was charged in connection with the other two murders and other crimes Aaron hung himself in his Jail cell. He was only 27. CTE is visibly and physiologically different but made differently. The most common symptoms recorded in studies include anger and excessive violence. The medical examiner that performed the autopsy on Aaron stated that it was one of the most advanced cases that she’d ever seen and even estimated that the damage that Aaron suffered would have taken almost 20 years to occur. 20 years. Kids really start getting into Pee-Wee football when? That is right, mid-childhood. After the autopsy was released, there was a definitive shift from hating the man to feeling really bad for him and wishing they could have caught that sooner. My kids use hoverboards

around the house. This is literally the damned Jetsons but we can’t scan for this disease? Really, the NFL lost their golden boy and the victim’s family lost their chance to face him for what he did. What everyone did get though was more education and research towards the disorder that took both of their boys from them. Now there is an active community working together to manufacture a safer, sleeker, less invasive helmet that will be more protection but still a ways off. I don’t know if there is any type of test that will say “hey, stop; your brain is eating itself” but I do think that a goal should be assessing the players on a period-based basis to ensure that they are not displaying any symptoms. Aaron Hernandez was not the first “NFL Badboy” but I am pretty sure him perhaps shooting four of his “friends” makes him at least the “baddest.”