The Gangster in the Huddle - Rolling Stone (Aaron Hernandez)

[thebanjodude]

What a read.

http://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-gangster-in-the-huddle

 

[-The Glove-]

I couldn't put my phone down once I started on that article this morning. Great read. AH is one crazy SOB.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

Maaaan, I don't think it's the NFL that has anything to do with this. The dude was paranoid because of heavy drug use and comes from a culture of that values a weird sense of "loyalty" in place of typical family structures that more stable cultures have. This isn't Junior Seau killing himself.

 

[Marvin49]

WOW.

Sad.

 

[FlyingGreg]

Angel Dust...? Holy crap, I didn't know people used that crap anymore.

Thought it went out in the 80's...

 

[Subzero717]

^ so did I.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

Angel Dust...? Holy crap, I d idn't know people used that crap anymore.

Thought it went out in the 80's...

Obligatory:

 

[Stephen SeaHawking]

Problem: Your friend's friends don't like you.

Solution: Murder your friend.

MAKES SENSE.

 

[SharkHawk]

A serial killer making millions. Some people are just insane.

 

[EverydayImRusselin]

Good writing. Sad for Hernandez. Imagine what he could have been if his dad never died.

 

[SharkHawk]

I feel the dad thing is kind of a copout. DJ hasn't had problems. I think the worst thing that happened to him quite honestly was going to Florida. All of a sudden he's in a place where football is so big he gets in trouble and gets away with it. I think Urban Meyer's preaching and denial (which is a constant with that guy) didn't do him any favors. I think the NFL's drug testing program is a joke.

Has anybody ever heard Steve "Bruiser" Broussard talk about the NFL drug testing program? He said it was a complete joke. He knew exactly what day he was going to be tested every year, and he'd smoke weed all off-season, then he'd stop for the required time period to clear his system of all drugs (typically 2 weeks to pee clean). Then he'd take his pee test, go home and smoke a bowl, and continue it through the whole season. He said you just had to basically take a 2 week break from drugs and then you had 50 weeks to do whatever you wanted.

I think we're seeing what happens when everybody turns a blind eye. I realize that pot isn't addictive and this isn't about pot. But this guy obviously worked his way up the drug chain. I think it's fair to say that if a guy is smoking a lot of pot AND acting crazy, then chances are good he's picked up another habit (crack usually, meth, cocaine, but angel dust in this situation). Seems like somebody should have been watching closer. Even if they hired a private detective to see what their 40 million dollar investment was doing.

Basically he is not just immature... he's also a complete sociopath that feels he's untouchable. So he's a narcissist as well. If he beats this rap I'll be sick to my stomach. Odin Lloyd was no choir boy and should have stayed away from this guy, but he sure didn't deserve to die. It sickens me that he might skate.

 

[brimsalabim]

You can't equate smoking pot to using pcp. Anyway the issue here is that the kid is a gangster. The gang culture and life style brought him to this. Kids grow up thinking its cool to be a gangster. That baseball player murdered in Arizona was part of a gang initiation. I do agree that AH going to Florida to play for look the other way saint urban didn't help him.

 

[Happypuppy]

It's not about the school , coaches IMO. This is all on him, no one else to blame. It does not sound like his parents were all that great but a lot of players in the league had bad upbringings and overcame them. He didn't ....my gut feeling with some of these young men is they honestly don't know right from wrong the moral compass is busted.

 

[ivotuk]

It doesn't matter how you were brought up or what kinds of mistakes you made, there is no excuse for that kind of behaviour. Aaron made those choices knowing it was wrong and after he made promises to the Patriots. People need to take responsibility for their own actions, their own choices and bringing up one's tough childhood only distracts from the real issue which is cold-blooded murder. Does anyone even give a shit about Odin Loyd's family and how devastated they are? How do they feel when they see an article like that come out? I'd be pissed. But then again, this is the same magazine that put a terrorist on the front page, I"m sure the victims in Boston really appreciate that. When did Rolling Stone decide that they should start making excuses for common criminals?

 

[SharkHawk]

You can't equate smoking pot to using pcp. Anyway the issue here is that the kid is a gangster. The gang culture and life style brought him to this. Kids grow up thinking its cool to be a gangster. That baseball player murdered in Arizona was part of a gang initiation. I do agree that AH going to Florida to play for look the other way saint urban didn't help him.

The Bruiser "smoked pot" thing was a basic rundown. He also was using cocaine, was an alcoholic, etc. etc. I was giving the basics. I don't equate "smoking pot" to PCP use, but Hernandez was a pot smoker, and then got into much worse things. I don't want to have the "gateway drug" argument, because I don't believe in it myself. The point I was making was the NFL clearly does test for marijuana. They test for a multitude of things. Marijuana use is probably as prevalent as alcoholism in NFL players, but it seems like only 2 or 3 guys test positive per year. The positive tests seem to happen at the combine. The NFL players know how to beat the system. Hernandez didn't just start using angel dust one day this offseason I'm sure. I'm sure if he was doing that, he was doing other drugs that were in violation of the CBA, but he supposedly hasn't tested positive since college. That alone tells you that the drug testing system is broken.

If it weren't... they might have seen something going on and had a way of stopping him by forced rehab or something.

 

[The Radish]

I think its a classic example of never having to accept responsibility for your actions from his early years.

Scary as hell tho that he was getting away with that versus Bellichik