Aaron Hernandez, like all Americans, deserves the presumption of evidence, even though it's not easy to presume that about the former New England Patriot and Florida Gator.
After all, Hernandez has cultivated an image - a look, an attitude and a gun collection.
There is no question he wanted to be viewed as someone dangerous, as someone who might just do the heinous things he has been accused of doing.
Maybe Hernandez didn't actually shoot someone, or orchestrate a shooting. But he clearly wanted people to think he was the kind of bad dude who might do it.
The state of Massachusetts will make the ultimate determination. In the meantime, we can try to withhold judgment - and not only on Aaron Hernandez, but also on his college football coach.
Alabama fans (among others) have never cared much for Urban Meyer.
They didn't like him in victory at Florida, as the Gators won two BCS titles, and they didn't like him in defeat, when he responded to a 2009 SEC Championship loss by melting down like a snowman in Arizona. All due consideration is granted to his health issues. Now that Meyer is at Ohio State, his current conference rivals in the Big Ten seem to be developing similar attitudes.
But this is not a referendum on Urban Meyer's likability. It is a question of whether he somehow contributed, even tacitly, to the shaping and molding of Aaron Hernandez and could somehow have prevented 10 terrible events to which Hernandez seems connected.
That sort of judgment is a slippery slope on either side. To say Meyer could not have done anything is to deny the capacity of college coaches to have a positive impact in a player's life.
There have been too many counter-examples, too many feel-good stories about lives turned around by a strong role model. It is a rare college or university that doesn't have such stories to tell - and they tell them often.
On the other hand, all coaches have trouble with players. The questions don't arise when players break the rules and are dismissed as happened this spring.
People view that as "discipline." Skepticism arises when players have a hint of trouble in college but finish their careers and then have trouble adapting in future life. Generally, that means the NFL since people have a troubling tendency to forget players when they aren't players anymore.
Hernandez is a glaring example, but there are others. Is Meyer more responsible for Hernandez than Nick Saban is for Rolando McClain? Now, McClain's offenses, while one did involve a gun, fall far, far short of homicide.
Also, my personal opinion is that Saban did help McClain, and will continue to do so. But the illustration serves to show the perils of dishing out blame too quickly, or broadly.
Ultimately, Aaron Hernandez is to blame for Aaron Hernandez. He had it made.
He has already cashed bonus checks for far more money than most of us will earn in a lifetime. If the allegations prove true, he is the one who threw it all away - and one has to wonder if anyone could have stopped him, even by kicking him off a college team.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1520434
After all, Hernandez has cultivated an image - a look, an attitude and a gun collection.
There is no question he wanted to be viewed as someone dangerous, as someone who might just do the heinous things he has been accused of doing.
Maybe Hernandez didn't actually shoot someone, or orchestrate a shooting. But he clearly wanted people to think he was the kind of bad dude who might do it.
The state of Massachusetts will make the ultimate determination. In the meantime, we can try to withhold judgment - and not only on Aaron Hernandez, but also on his college football coach.
Alabama fans (among others) have never cared much for Urban Meyer.
They didn't like him in victory at Florida, as the Gators won two BCS titles, and they didn't like him in defeat, when he responded to a 2009 SEC Championship loss by melting down like a snowman in Arizona. All due consideration is granted to his health issues. Now that Meyer is at Ohio State, his current conference rivals in the Big Ten seem to be developing similar attitudes.
But this is not a referendum on Urban Meyer's likability. It is a question of whether he somehow contributed, even tacitly, to the shaping and molding of Aaron Hernandez and could somehow have prevented 10 terrible events to which Hernandez seems connected.
That sort of judgment is a slippery slope on either side. To say Meyer could not have done anything is to deny the capacity of college coaches to have a positive impact in a player's life.
There have been too many counter-examples, too many feel-good stories about lives turned around by a strong role model. It is a rare college or university that doesn't have such stories to tell - and they tell them often.
On the other hand, all coaches have trouble with players. The questions don't arise when players break the rules and are dismissed as happened this spring.
People view that as "discipline." Skepticism arises when players have a hint of trouble in college but finish their careers and then have trouble adapting in future life. Generally, that means the NFL since people have a troubling tendency to forget players when they aren't players anymore.
Hernandez is a glaring example, but there are others. Is Meyer more responsible for Hernandez than Nick Saban is for Rolando McClain? Now, McClain's offenses, while one did involve a gun, fall far, far short of homicide.
Also, my personal opinion is that Saban did help McClain, and will continue to do so. But the illustration serves to show the perils of dishing out blame too quickly, or broadly.
Ultimately, Aaron Hernandez is to blame for Aaron Hernandez. He had it made.
He has already cashed bonus checks for far more money than most of us will earn in a lifetime. If the allegations prove true, he is the one who threw it all away - and one has to wonder if anyone could have stopped him, even by kicking him off a college team.
http://alabama.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1520434
