Aaron Hernandez’s family has filed a lawsuit against the NFL after a study of his brain determined Hernandez had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when he died at age 27.
The news about Hernandez’s brain injury comes as the NFL is reeling from poor ticket sales and half empty stadiums in the wake of protests by black NFL players.
A Boston University study found CTE in 110 out of 111 brains of former football players. CTE can only be diagnosed after death.
But the NFL has disputed the findings, saying Dr. Bennet Omalu, who first found CTE in football players, has fueled a hysteria around concussions that can occur in any contact sport.
The NFL cautioned the public not to make a martyr out of the troubled former New England Patriots wide receiver who committed suicide by hanging in his prison cell on April 19, 2017. Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the murder of his friend Odin Lloyd.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said Hernandez showed violent tendencies long before he was drafted by the Patriots.
“His personal story is complex, it doesn’t lend itself to simple answers,” said Lockhart. “He was convicted of a homicide and his well-documented behavioral issues began long before he played in the National Football League. The real victims are the friends and family of those he killed, along with his young daughter.”
Lockhart said more research is needed regarding CTE, since the disease is considered more of an issue with boxers than football players.
“It’s a very complicated puzzle,” he said. “Every piece is important. There are a lot of dots here, and science just hasn’t been able to connect them.”
Lockhart said the NFL will “vigorously contest” the lawsuit filed by Hernandez’s common law wife Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, the mother of his 4-year-old daughter Avielle Hernandez.
The league will probably bring up the league’s concussion class action settlement with the NFL Players’ Union that prevents any future lawsuits from being filed by any football player.
And if he knew he had CTE, how was he going to prevent sucide? Watch him 24/7? I don’t think we need to blame anyone but him for his death. What did the letters say?
Tragic
Is this meant to imply a connection between CTE and him being a murderer (or between CTE and suicide)??????
(funny how i logged in and this football related post is up, just as i’m listening to a breakfast club interview with the beautimous John David Washington of “Ballers”)
Is there a link between CTE and the fact that he loved to shoot people, sometimes to death, sometimes to the loss of an eye? Just wondering. The whole thing is scary, sad for everybody and these ballers need to be careful out on the field. This man was so damn talented on that field but a monster off. Shame.
If they continue starting boys playing football as young as 5-6 years old…then they play until they are NFL level…they will continue to see this. The brain of 67 yo CTE impacted man on a 27 yo CTE impacted man. Like Aaron. Said his brain was 67 years old. I couldnt get over that tidbit ALONE.
Aaron’s brain was the WORSE case they have EVER seen on a player that young. He was at a LATE level 3 with level 4 being the highest.
Yes. Impulsive behavior.
Christ. I’m just saying, those are some impulses. Sheesh. I can’t imgaine living like that.
One of the folks who got blasted stepped on his shoe. He flew into a huge rage. Over something extra trivial. Now we know why
GET THE FOH… His brain was 67 years old????? This is giving me chills. Damn! Poor man. Parents watch your boys.. I know alot of them love the sport and want to play but the risks are just too much :-(. One of the fake storylines on Baller Wives is about one of them not wanting his boy to play at all.
Right !!!!! Trust me I followed every second of his story from the time he killed Odin Lloyd. So easily triggered and yeah you’re right now we know why.
Since his CTE was so advanced he probably didn’t even have a logical thinking ability or brain chemistry. Tendencies to act violent and be paranoid at the drop of a dime. Making rash decisions and impatience along with more Id (Freud) behavior. His moral compass would have been compromised significantly after stage 2 CTE. This does not excuse him for the murder of Odin Lloyd and the other two gentlemen however this just shows that they need to find a way to test for CTE for these players while they are alive.
All of this is well said.
well-documented behavioral issues began long before he played in the National Football League.
BUT YA”LL LET HIM PLAY ANYWAY…BUT COLIN CAN’T FUC THE NFL
“Per McKee and the research team, his advanced stage three CTE is usually found in men around a median age of 67 years old”
YES
I don’t know why LA has two football teams when the city never cared about the first one they had (Rams). Both will be gone before the 2028 Olympics. So much for their state-of-the-art brand new stadium their taxpayers are building.
Football is just not a safe game, period. Was reading a survey where half of adults said they would not let their children play football. Should be higher.
well duh !!! playing football is like getting in a head on collision every Sunday
There’s definitely a link between CTE and violent behavior, yes.
I read somewhere that he told Shayanna he was going to commit suicide so she could get paid from his insurance. That right there tells me his brain was functioning well enough for him to premeditate his own death.
That’s one of the stories that was out there and there’s no proof of that and she told Dr. Phil he never said such a thing.
Then he had CTE in high school.
That sounds like a poorly thought-out, last desperation move to me. And obviously it didn’t work, so I don’t know what was so smart about it.
No worse than boxing or wrestling.
He was violent in high school, hun.
YCN – This has to be true, hubby played pee wee, went to private high school on football, college on scholarship and then shattered his left wrist at combine camp among some of the other injuries he had already sustained.
This man graduated from four university with honors; however in the last few years, I’ve noticed a more significant change of how he recalls things. He says things and I’m like are you a Rhode scholar or a savant. I’m not making fun or light of the situation but it truly breaks my heart.
I can’t imagine someone playing at Hernandez level (We don’t have to imagine anymore) FACTS.
Very sad
I think he most likely had it even then Sandra from what the “tess” said. What say you? This is sad and very scary man. I saw late stage 3 and was like OMG.
The impact is far greater for football players, they begin earlier and end much lighter if they can take the physical pain.
Monday, Wednesday Saturday, then you make it to the pros…Monday, Thursday and Sunday
I agree with YCN
sad how the spotlight isnt on CTE in the other sports like the NFL. There was a YT vid a few years ago showing several boxing legends and most could not even complete sentences any longer. it was AWFUL.
If you come in acting out they need to not allow you to play. Sad bc its all money driven and its obvious.
Sorry if it offends anyone, but it’s the new slave trade.
Especially for the black college athletes.
Give Kaepernick a job to stop alienating the black fan base.
He had been playing contact football since he was 6 years old. Thats why most leagues up here dont do contact anymore under the age of 13 because the kids kept getting concussion.
I agree…black players are the new Clydesdale they need to perform for masters or they will be taken out to pasture….
i was just thinking, they regard and ‘care for’ those players like they’re prized race horses. let one pull a career-ending injury though – they’d just as soon tear up that contract and send them to an animal rescue facility (or shoot them)
get. out. mine. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/615d380290005c75f2b73b61063d678adb00cb683258e4273a2f5c12b8d5723d.gif
Ms. Sandra please don’t use Levi Stadium as a example! It’s hell getting to that stadium and working all day?! No ma’am! The Rams and the Forty Niners both stink!
His family is trying to get money from the NFL. They know that they ain’t getting anything from Robert Kraft the Patriots owner.
beautimous though lolol?
LOL over 3/4 of the NFL is black.
Hernandez was a paranoid punk. There I said it. I don’t buy the prosecution theory he killed them 2 men over a spilled drink because they had video from the whole night. But Hernandez was a bully with a gun.
It’s not Aaron, not the teams mentioned, not Colin, not the thuggery, not one thing in particular. It’s Everything. The fans have had it with NFL punk players and owners, the entitlement mentality, wishy washy commissioner, politics interjected into the sports, political correctness run amok, too many competing outlets for my $$. They have managed to kill their $9B golden goose. I would love to be a consultant for the NFL and tell them how a real business is run. Rule one, check your shit at the door. You don’t comply, you don’t get drafted, you don’t play, you are gone. Don’t mess with the money.
The NFL is full of shit! They hate Dr. Bennet Omalu and tried to discredit him and make him out to be a loony. The NFL draft looks like a slave auction. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3a186ce4f789d4bccbca0d21633a57c34b6fefb50ba9d4b8d1a81a6f73d775ca.jpg
Dayum! I never knew they had them strip down like this? Football is lame anyways, takes too long to get to the point.
After learning about CTE and the damage it causes, parents would be foolish to allow their kids to play this sport anymore.
just said this… they just ‘male specimens’
Strip them down weigh and measure them. Test their endurance and their strength. Make them do an obstacle course etc. Then out them on the auction block aka the draft.
LOL! he is a beautiful boy though (no cougar)
I think it isn’t higher because so many adults have played it and they are fine. The NFL represents like 1 out of 10,000 HS Seniors. So there are 9,999 people who played football in
HS for every 1 NFL player. If you, your dad, your uncle, and brother played football and are absolutely fine, you probably would not worry about your child playing.
He was a thug and destined for a life as a criminal. The NFL just helped him along that path and enabled him with its embrace of barbarism, lack of accountability and financing his criminal endeavors.
Sure is!
More revenue for the city. It’s all about money, baby.
Of course she would. She wants money.
You never lied. They go even further with their exam when alone with their doctors. To be fair, this happens in most sports!
They are pulling their product from mostly broken homes. They have an idea of what they’re getting.
Not the one and only Sugarfoot!
He’s still a murderer no matter what.
All players know that CTE is possible if they play football yet they still are playing today.
The love of mammon is real… Devil strikes again.
now. they just found out a few years ago. before that everyone told them they were crazy and only boxers get it. I think the nfl started those concussions aren’t lasting dialogue.
lol
tom brady killed it. he cheated and they tried to punish people who said that he was wrong. then the bounties. micheal sam not taking it seriously.
I see you’re not the brightest bulb.
Yaaassss Gomer!!! LOL!!
You spelled “you’re” right. I am so proud of you. Most people f* it up and spell it “your” ?
It’s amazing how many parents rush to put their boys in this sport at such an early age. No thought or care to all of the permanent damage done to their bodies and brain. As long as they get a scholarship and make it to the NFL, (fame and money)nothing else really matters.
B.I.N.G.O!!!
The sport of football is losing its lure and it’s showing in the half empty stadiums. Young children are no longer being encouraged to play football in middle and high school (parents have awoken) – all these football players can say good bye to their million dollar salaries.
more and more ppl are realizing how violent the sport is however I cant help but watch it #HTTR dont judge me
Now days, folks are using their own children as “meal tickets”.