Huh. They finally got enough goods on him for those earlier shootings, eh?

When this broke last summer (after he allegedly shot another person, this time leaving a lot more evidence) and it was revealed he was a suspect in the 2012 murders, it was a shock to realize that an actual murderer might have played a full season in the NFL, earning all pro status along the way. (People will point to Ray Lewis, but whatever happened that night, it didn't have any of the cold calculation exhibited in the murders Hernandez is accused of committing. AND Lewis didn't apparently play an entire season having gotten away clean.)

Anyway, since his arrest last summer he has been completely vilified by football fans everywhere. His team cut him less than two hours after his arrest, and offered a free exchange to anyone with a Hernandez jersey. It's not exactly as if fans liked him any better than Michael Sam once the news hit.

America has always been more comfortable with violence than sex. Even a kiss. Even multiple murders.

WTF was wrong with the people who immigrated here? And how have they managed to hand it down for all these generations? Considering comparable attitudes in Western Europe today, it makes it look like we got all their fucked-up undesirables. Or maybe just their toxic religious denominations and some new ones of our own.

Dan is correct.

There are so many things we let pass or hardly raise an eyebrow about in our society, horrible things.

Yet the two dudes kissing has stopped many people in their tracks and caused them to walk off the job.

Why - and no, he should never accept it.

"Nothing to explain to your kids" ? Actually, as much as I dislike the New England Patriots and their fans, I feel for any parent whose kid was a Hernandez fan, especially if he or she was too young to have been disillusioned by one of their heroes before.

@1 Is correct. Anyone around Hernandez already knew he was a piece of shit, and the moment it became apparent how guilty he was, everyone connected to the NFL cut ties immediately. Although I would add that Ray Lewis showed qite a bit of cold calculation after the murders, as he made sure his friends were cleaned up and evidence destroyed.

Ray Lewis is a better example of the point Dan is making, if you ask me. People basically treat him like a god.

Hernandez is also being charged with a bunch of stuff he has done while in prison, so he is not getting out anytime soon. Cops also found a Hungarian assault weapon in his home chambered to fire 7.62 NATO rounds, which are large enough to qualify as anti-aircraft ammunition. Terrifying.

@ 5, I was thinking of the planning and the going scott free for a year the first time around. Whatever happened with Lewis happened in the heat of the moment, and I'd bet the coverup was panic driven, not a calm plan of how to get away with it.

But you're right about how his example better makes Dan's point. There are NFL players who belong in prison. Mostly they come from the worst neighborhoods in America and it's no wonder that they have a gangbanger mentality, but the NFL has to develop a way to help players grow out of that. Cut them off from their friends, give them a personal babysitter if you have to. The Broncos lost a player when he was shot after some club altercation. (These things always happen at clubs, or get started there. You almost think keeping them out of clubs will keep them out of almost all trouble they can get into.) Do something. Sometimes they hurt people, sometimes someone dies, and sometimes the dead person IS a football player. You wonder how many fights and club riots get covered up because nobody was seriously hurt.

2 is onto something. A huge number of europeans who came to the New Word were misfits and worse. Much worse. And when they got here, they often had free rein to do what they wanted to do and to nearly anybody they wanted to do it to. It's not as if they showed up and just started farming. There were people here that had to be gotten rid of. Genocide ensued. Genocide hailed as the patriotic and Christian thing to do. Enslave and kill. That's how you build a nation out of "wilderness". In the New World, traits that would have led to your death in the Old World were rewarded. More psycho/sociopaths flourished and spread their genes around. Back in Europe, most of the sick bastards were Nobility and Clergy. Nobles tended to spread their genes among a small group of already related people. The odd bastard was not likely to survive to adulthood, nor would be the children of the odd bastard. The Clergy fucked boys, so no worry about spreading genes there. A study needs to be done on how much more psycho/sociopathic Americans are than others.

@6: I found Richard Sherman's article about that very interesting and powerful. It's easy for us white guys on the internet to talk about separating yourself from bad situations/influences, but those people may have saved your life, you are going to have a harder time separating.