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New Netflix documentary coming out on the 15th of January.

Looking forward to this.




For those that are unaware, the subject of this film was a star player in one of America's premiere sports dynasties. At the height of his career, he'd be charged with the murder of two associates and would eventually kill himself in prison. Was a really big case in sports/pop culture media for a good portion of time.

Not sure if the documentary will cover it, but I heard on one of my sports podcasts that Aaron Hernandez's brain had some of the worst cases of CTE (brain damage due to repeated impacts to brain) and I also heard that the Patriots were the worst team to draft Aaron Hernandez, due to the close proximity of his pre-NFL days (gang affiliates and other never do wells from his childhood). It seems like a tragic combination of nature v. nurture, the dangers of CTE, and other negative influences all leading to the ruin of many lives.

I'd be interested in seeing this despite not really caring about sports, because it's an interesting case. After the autopsy results, you start to wonder just how responsible for his behavior this guy actually was.

 Ouze wrote:
After the autopsy results, you start to wonder just how responsible for his behavior this guy actually was.

Yeah, that's definitely an interesting angle. I personally went from "This guy is a punk gang banger who couldn't leave the thug life behind" to kind of conflicted about it, knowing how the brain trauma can effect decision making and impulse control.

But wiping away the responsibility for actions does open up a whole can of worms. OJ Simpson for instance.

At the same time, if CTE afflicted athletes had a killer impulse brought on by the CTE, we'd see alot more cases like this. Its probably a combo deal with this guy.

Assuming the podcast you mean is Gladiator, which is excellent. I'm not a sports fan at all, but I found it fascinating. Not for Hernandez himself, who I have little personal sympathy for, but for how revealing it was about the machine which amplified and facilitated him.

I believe this is now available on Netflix.

Just finished it.

Was a fairly well balanced documentary. Like, it never made you think Aaron was innocent or anything, but it painted a large canvas of his life all leading up to the various murders, the warning signs and ultimately to his suicide.

How physical/sexual abuse at home, terrible relationship with his mother, lost his father at a young age, closeted homosexuality, severe brain damage, an enabling collegiate athletics culture, drug abuse, choosing the wrong types of friends/hanger-ons, the ruthless business of the NFL all coalesced to create this monster that destroyed lives.

And it sounds like a cliche, but the majority of the destruction could have been prevented at various stages, so hopefully this story will prevent any other Aaron Hernandez’s being created.

Its not entirely a sports documentary, nor a strictly True Crime documentary and even has some poignant social commentary. Its alot for a 3-ish hour documentary.

I recommend.

I think I was a little spoiled by the podcast because this felt like a much shallower overview. Good though. It did tell me more about Odin Loyd.

CTE did not kill Odin Lloyd. Aaron Hernandez did.

CTE is, at best, mitigation. It's absolutely not a defence.

Is somebody here arguing otherwise?

It would be a stretch to say that anyone "argued" it, but the first two posts in the thread both imply that CTE equates to some form of not-criminally-responsible.

Also, the recitation in the OP is slightly off. Hernandez allegedly murdered Abreu and Furtado in 2012, played an entire season, then murdered Odin.

He was found Not Guilty in the murders of Abreu and Furtado.