Tuesday, July 2, 2013

On they Contrary: Hernandez case not an example for rookies

I haven't felt the need to write about the Aaron Hernandez situation, because I didn't think there was anything worth saying.  At least nothing that probably hasn't been said on talk radio, or written by columnists, that will be regurgitated ad nauseum.  That was until I came across Alex Marvez's piece "Hernandez an example for rookies."  Here's how he starts it:

"The NFL Rookie Symposium features guest speakers who try to help young players avoid the pitfalls that derailed their own pro careers.

This year the most powerful message was delivered from almost 700 miles away.

Aaron Hernandez attended the same symposium in 2010 after being drafted by the New England Patriots. Clearly, he didn’t take what was preached to heart."

That's absurd.  Hernandez is accused of first-degree murder.  This isn't a case of wrong place, wrong time.  It's not like he was hanging out at a club with a bad group of friends and things escalated, and now he's accused of assault or something.  He's accused of driving someone to an industrial park to kill him; which may or may not be associated to previous murders he possibly committed.  Does Alex Marvez really think a four-day symposium is the difference between upstanding citizen and murderer?

Apparently so, because he had this to say near the end:

"The NFL knows the symposium itself isn’t a cure-all for the off-field problems that some players can find themselves in. But if it can prevent another situation like the one Hernandez finds himself in, staging the event is well worth it for an image-conscious league."

It can't cure all of the off-field problems, but it can prevent murder?  How can something be impactful enough to prevent first-degree murder, but not enough to prevent less serious issues?

I'm sorry, but I don't agree with the notion that what Aaron Hernandez is accused of doing could have been prevented by him listening at a symposium.  I'm not going to pretend to know what events transpired that could lead to Hernandez (possibly) committing first-degree murder, but I'm guessing they were more serious, and would require more intervention, than a NFL rookie symposium could provide.

I don't know what makes less sense, that he thinks a symposium could've prevented Aaron Hernandez's situation or that he thinks a similar situation will need to be prevented in the future.

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