NFL: Aaron Hernandez found to have "severe" CTE

[Didalee Hed]

Also Hernandez was also questioning his sexuality as well, who knew he swung both ways.

Some guys just have a taste for bratwurst. That’s life.

 

[PG Canuck]

Some guys just have a taste for bratwurst. That’s life.

And comments like this are exact proof of just how far we still have to go when discussing this topic.

 

[PG Canuck]

Serial killer trapped in a football players body

In all seriousness, its good you mentioned his dad passing. Its one thing for your mother to remarry or meet someone so quickly afterward (usually not good for the kids, especially if they are teenagers), but for it to be your cousins husband?????? Whom she was still married to! ............... thats SUPER ****ed up.

Stuff like that will kill someones emotions and really screw them up.

Yeah, his mother definitely did not seem stable. And the phone call of when he was in jail, his mom asking him for 1 million - his answer pretty much summed up what his mother meant to his life.

 

[Didalee Hed]

And comments like this are exact proof of just how far we still have to go when discussing this topic.

Bolded blue text. Definitely cannot reply here.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Bolded blue text. Definitely cannot reply here.

what a goon

 

[PG Canuck]

Bolded blue text. Definitely cannot reply here.

That’s racist

 

[Bounces R Way]

Football is not good for you. The body just isn't meant to clash like that so often. 27 years old with advanced CTE is a different kind of eye opening for me though. That's scary. After watching the mini-series you get the feeling he was just a total idiot. I'm not sure to what degree CTE contributed to his behaviour but I really don't think you can discount it totally.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

I think the "he wanted to be a gangster" narrative is really dumb.

Hernandez was a tortured soul. His whole life was a series of events that led to him becoming the monster he became. According to his Wiki, he was beat by his father growing up and was sexually molested as young as 6 years old and it "continued for years". He also was apparently secretly gay and it killed him on the inside that he was attracted to men, and blames the molesting on it (I don't know if there's sound science to back that up).

He obviously had extreme mental issues and the head trauma only amplified it. Not to mention smoking weed and doing a lot of blow in that state of mind.

There's tons of anecdotes about him being paranoid and thinking people were out for him. And stranger ones like this "D.J. (his brother) found Hernandez alone on the roof of the building one night, looking defeated and rubbing the barrel of a gun against his face."

In the end he still was sane enough to plan out a calculated murder and destroy evidence and what not but to me he was a severely mentally ill person for the multitude of reasons listed above and was what caused him to become the monster he was, not wanting to be a gangster.

 

[Lt Dan]

The documentary was excellent.

I think Aaron's biggest problem was the timing of his Dad's death, compounded by his Mom hooking up with his cousin's man. Aaron starting hanging out with her thug friends and (somewhat understandably) lashing back against what his dad instilled in him.
It was made even worse by him being able to get away with the things he got away with in college.

Sad story

 

[MikeyMike01]

There’s no reason to believe that CTE caused his violent behavior.

 

[Voight]

Jose Baez Rips Aaron Hernandez Documentary, Says CTE Was Issue Not Sexuality

Some are alleging SanSoucie wasn't his QB for all of high school and made up the gay thing between them.

 

[DangleCity]

There’s no reason to believe that CTE caused his violent behavior.

I think you're right to some degree in the sense that he still would have been a very disturbed individual even if he didn't play football, but you can't rule out CTE having a significant impact on his behavior. There is plenty of evidence that backs up CTE causing a whole array of mental issues.

 

[Voight]

I think the "he wanted to be a gangster" narrative is really dumb.

Hernandez was a tortured soul. His whole life was a series of events that led to him becoming the monster he became. According to his Wiki, he was beat by his father growing up and was sexually molested as young as 6 years old and it "continued for years". He also was apparently secretly gay and it killed him on the inside that he was attracted to men, and blames the molesting on it (I don't know if there's sound science to back that up).

He obviously had extreme mental issues and the head trauma only amplified it. Not to mention smoking weed and doing a lot of blow in that state of mind.

There's tons of anecdotes about him being paranoid and thinking people were out for him. And stranger ones like this "D.J. (his brother) found Hernandez alone on the roof of the building one night, looking defeated and rubbing the barrel of a gun against his face."

In the end he still was sane enough to plan out a calculated murder and destroy evidence and what not but to me he was a severely mentally ill person for the multitude of reasons listed above and was what caused him to become the monster he was, not wanting to be a gangster.

He was paranoid because he shot a noted gangster/criminal in the eye and left him for dead in a parking lot. Hence why he installed a top of the line security system (that ultimately resulted in his downfall, ironically).

He definitely wanted to be a gangster. Part of it was due to hanging around suspicious dudes at his cousins house but people make their own choices. There is a reason why he continued hanging out with criminals even after he made it to the NFL & started making millions of dollars.

 

[PG Canuck]

I think you're right to some degree in the sense that he still would have been a very disturbed individual even if he didn't play football, but you can't rule out CTE having a significant impact on his behavior. There is plenty of evidence that backs up CTE causing a whole array of mental issues.

Agreed, but I think to rule out CTE completely is a bit shortsighted. He had issues and no one is denying that but you can’t really rule it out by looking at the symptoms of it. CTE could’ve easily helped trigger and control certain parts of the brain, where Hernandez was already messed up mentally in.

He played football his entire life - he probably had CTE for a long time. There were likely many hits to the hit from high school football etc even before he went to Florida. It’s no excuse to end up how he did but we can’t understand CTE and what it can do to a person specifically, if we just completely rule it out without first trying to understand what it is and how it can warp the brain.

A males brain doesn’t fully develop until age 25, Hernandez was 27 when he died and had severe CTE - the worst they’ve seen IIRC. I don’t buy into the fact that CTE did not play ANY part of this. Is it an excuse? No, and no one is advocating for that but we have to understand CTE more before completely dismissing it as a valid reason.

 

[Voight]

I guess CTE affects people differently, cause its surprising he'd have one of the worst cases ever after playing football for only 10-12 years.

 

[BGDDYKWL]

There’s no reason to believe that CTE caused his violent behavior.

Couldn't agree more. CTE is being used as an excuse FAR too often these days to take personal responsibility out of the equation. It's disgraceful. This guy was a piece of garbage LONG before the NFL.

To say football was the cause is not only horribly lazy, but factually incorrect. We need to quit giving every one of these knuckleheads who can't control themselves an excuse with, "oh but they have CTE because football is so violent" nonsense. Take some personal responsibility for God's sake.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

There’s no reason to believe that CTE caused his violent behavior.

Wasnt that the case with Junior Seau?

 

[PG Canuck]

Couldn't agree more. CTE is being used as an excuse FAR too often these days to take personal responsibility out of the equation. It's disgraceful. This guy was a piece of garbage LONG before the NFL.

To say football was the cause is not only horribly lazy, but factually incorrect. We need to quit giving every one of these knuckleheads who can't control themselves an excuse with, "oh but they have CTE because football is so violent" nonsense. Take some personal responsibility for God's sake.

Literally not one person here has used CTE as an excuse.

 

[These Are The Days]

I'm dying to know how the brain of former Bengal WR Chris Henry holds up in comparison to Hernandez. When he was playing it felt like he was in trouble every 6 months. It was hard not to notice. Then the dude straight up got himself killed falling out of a truck that was moving in a domestic dispute and died by the age of 26 and autopsy showed... you guessed it. CTE

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

I guess CTE affects people differently, cause its surprising he'd have one of the worst cases ever after playing football for only 10-12 years.

Who knows how many former football players, who never even played professionally, are out there suffering from severe case of CTE.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Does your body heal CTE? Like, is a player further removed from his playing days going to show less damage than a player a few years retired?

 

[DangleCity]

Agreed, but I think to rule out CTE completely is a bit shortsighted. He had issues and no one is denying that but you can’t really rule it out by looking at the symptoms of it. CTE could’ve easily helped trigger and control certain parts of the brain, where Hernandez was already messed up mentally in.

He played football his entire life - he probably had CTE for a long time. There were likely many hits to the hit from high school football etc even before he went to Florida. It’s no excuse to end up how he did but we can’t understand CTE and what it can do to a person specifically, if we just completely rule it out without first trying to understand what it is and how it can warp the brain.

A males brain doesn’t fully develop until age 25, Hernandez was 27 when he died and had severe CTE - the worst they’ve seen IIRC. I don’t buy into the fact that CTE did not play ANY part of this. Is it an excuse? No, and no one is advocating for that but we have to understand CTE more before completely dismissing it as a valid reason.

Yes, I think we actually agree on this. CTE definitely has to be taken into effect when looking at Hernandez's situation. I agree that its not an excuse to say CTE played a role or affected his behavior.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

I've been thinking this for years....

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Why do people keep saying Hernandez was 'Wannabee Gangster"?

He a member of Bristol Bloods (Pics of him flashing signs and documents in court show he was proud member) and killed people

He proudly ink'd bloods tattoos on himself thru years and had longstanding ties to group going back to his days in high school

He was a gang member/gangster

 

[PG Canuck]

Does your body heal CTE? Like, is a player further removed from his playing days going to show less damage than a player a few years retired?

From my quick research, it looks like it's a permanent thing. It seems as if symptoms may even get worse over time, instead of better. CTE is still a very new thing and it's going to take many more years to understand it in the slightest - the surface for it hasn't really been scratched I think.