Early this morning former Patriots star tight end Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his prison cell after the late star tight end hung himself. It brings a close to what can only be described as the biggest tragedy in the NFL over the last ten years. A star tight end who became extremely troubled and committed murder and ended up taking his life in a Boston prison cell.
It’s a stark reminder that even star athletes are not above the troubles of real life and the law. Hernandez was extremely talented in his first three years in the league and had just received a contract extension when rumors of his growing off field troubles began to brew. Hernandez failed several drug tests in 2012 and then was arrested for the murder that would put him behind bars. When asked for one word to describe Hernandez last week in an interview Bill Belichick used tragedy. That is the correct word.
Hernandez story is that of a tragedy. A hero driven to the murder and put away who ends his own life. Shakespere could have written this script. This is not a play though this is real life and there are real life implications to Hernandez’s death. Leaving behind a four-year-old daughter a fiancé, brother, and mother. Words can’t begin to describe the pain those people will have to go through throughout their entire life after today’s events. No matter Hernandez’s crimes no four-year-old deserves to grow up without a father even if she would do so with him behind bars. Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the murder victims and that of Hernandez.
There is just not much more to say about the events of this morning. The league is speechless so too are the Patriots who visit the white house today. A story of an individual with so much talent who ended up taking another’s life and in the end his own. Belichick said it best, Tragedy.