Really? Part III?
I know, I know. It makes about as much sense as the Rambo titles, but I should really go back and rename the two posts prior to this one as “Worst Week in Boston Sports” parts I and II. I had no idea things would escalate like this in EVERY SPORT BUT BASEBALL (By the way, the Red Sox are the only team in town with games scheduled in the next two months, but they’re still on the back burner. This never would have happened before 2007.).
This is a time of year where the Patriots are usually an afterthought. The draft has come and gone, so has the height of free agency, and training camp has not yet begun. Then the Pats signed Tim Tebow to interrupt the Bruins’ Stanley Cup Finals news cycle. Then news breaks about how Vladimir Putin stole Bob Kraft’s first Super Bowl ring, and then serious news hit.
Aaron Hernandez has squandered a life most people his age will only ever dream of. A caller into 98.5 The Sports Hub the other day said that Hernandez (and I’m paraphrasing) “had the talent to be an NFL player, but he grew up wanting to be Tony Montana instead of Joe Montana.” This is disturbing on several levels. Hernandez was the fourth best selling Patriots jersey last season (after Tom Brady, Wes Welker, and Rob Gronkowski). When the OJ Simpson trial was going on, elementary school age kids weren’t wearing his jersey. Also, Hernandez is now being connected to a double murder in Boston from last summer, which would have occurred a month before the Patriots handed him a seven year contract extension. All of this feels like it’s from the script of a bad network TV ripoff of The Wire with Hernandez playing the role of a really really stupid Marlo Stanfield. Seriously, you don’t rent a car in your name if you’re going to (allegedly) murder someone, you don’t smash your cellphone before handing it over to authorities, you don’t leave the shell casings in the rental car, and YOU DON’T MURDER PEOPLE IF YOU’RE GETTING PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS A YEAR TO CATCH A FOOTBALL (OR EVER FOR THAT MATTER)!!!
The other thing is that the Patriots thought this guy was worthy of a contract extension, but they made Wes Welker play out his contract and then get in a dispute with his agent over the details once he hit free agency? So they trusted a guy with a history of drug use and gang connections more than the guy that goes over the middle on every down, pulls in 100 catches for five straight seasons, and bounces right back up after every hit, but gets stuck in Belichick’s doghouse because he enjoys the occasional Rex Ryan foot joke? Please. The Patriots were right to cut Hernandez this week, but they’re looking more and more wrong about not coughing up the money to sign Wes Welker.
Dave's Words 