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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. I'm Jay Harris,

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Speaker 1: your host with the most including tons of juicy sports

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Speaker 1: stories to serve up. Over the past twenty years of

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Speaker 1: my career as a journalist and sportscaster, I've hosted ESPN

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Speaker 1: shows from SportsCenter to Outside the Lines. But here on

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Speaker 1: Playing Dirty, you know, I turn on my dark side

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Speaker 1: to guide you through the murky, behind the scenes world

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Speaker 1: of some of your favorite games. Pull up a chair

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Speaker 1: and pass me your yetty Rambler cup because you are

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Speaker 1: going to need all the insulation for today's tale on tap.

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Speaker 1: It's one of the very darkest bruis I've shared ever.

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Speaker 1: I'm talking about the life of football player Aaron Hernandez,

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Speaker 1: a story that me r ror is the most tragic

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Speaker 1: of Shakespearean dramas, marked by a meteoric rise to playing

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Speaker 1: tight end for the New England Patriots, followed by a

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Speaker 1: harrowing descent into violent despair. Oh yes, Aaron Hernandez was

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Speaker 1: a man who seemingly had it all. Talent that made

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Speaker 1: him a gridiron titan, an amazing career, and a private

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Speaker 1: life that outwardly seemed to fulfill every facet of the

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Speaker 1: American dream. Yet Beneath his veneer of success lay a

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Speaker 1: tumultuous world of secrets, struggles, inner demons, and rage. This

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Speaker 1: scandal goes to show that, much like a chocolate milkshake

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Speaker 1: looks identical to a prune and oat milk smoothie, you

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Speaker 1: never know what lies behind a megawat's smile and epic athleticism.

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Speaker 1: So clear your palette why you can, and let's dive

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Speaker 1: into the depths before the stadium's packed with more than

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Speaker 1: sixty thousand spectators, before the news headlines declared arring him

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Speaker 1: and Rob Gronkowski to be the NFL's top tight end duo,

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Speaker 1: and long before his fall, Aaron Hernandez's life began on

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Speaker 1: November sixth, nineteen eighty nine, in Bristol, Connecticut. Bristol is

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Speaker 1: a pretty new England town with plenty of tree lined streets,

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Speaker 1: quaint attractions like a carousel museum, and even the oldest

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Speaker 1: continually operating amusement park in the US. Like compounds, it

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Speaker 1: seems like a nice place to grow up. But location,

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Speaker 1: location location does not, of course, always translate to a

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Speaker 1: happy childhood in quite the same way a real estate

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Speaker 1: investment might. And Aaron Hernandez youth in Bristol was hardly ideal.

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Speaker 1: His parents, Terry Valentine and Dennis Hernandez, were an unstable combination.

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Speaker 1: Terry fell in love with Dennis when they were both

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Speaker 1: students at Bristol Central High School. They married young, and

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Speaker 1: at first things seemed to be going well for the

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Speaker 1: newly wits. They both had careers in Bristol's public school system,

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Speaker 1: Terry as an administrative secretary and Dennis as a custodian.

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Speaker 1: The small towns sweethearts welcome their first son, Dennis Jonathan Junior,

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Speaker 1: known as DJ and then erin it sounds like an

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Speaker 1: American fairy tale, right boy meets girl. They fall madly

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Speaker 1: in love and then welcome two healthy children into the fold.

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Speaker 1: But sadly, it soon became clear that Dennis and Terry

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Speaker 1: were destined to struggle. Their relationship was, by most accounts,

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Speaker 1: extremely volatile, and Dennis and Terry even briefly divorced in

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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one when Aaron was just a toddler, only

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Speaker 1: to remarry five years later. Day to day life in

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Speaker 1: the Hernandez household was complicated by financial struggles, culminating in

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Speaker 1: a bankruptcy filing, and marred by frequent episodes of alleged

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Speaker 1: domestic violence. Several accounts suggest Dennis Hernandez would often come

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Speaker 1: home drunk and become violent with his wife and boys,

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Speaker 1: prompting Terry to expel him from their home on several occasions.

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Speaker 1: And Terry herself had issues too, with an alleged gaming

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Speaker 1: habit and string of gambling related criminal offenses, such as

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Speaker 1: her arrest in two thousand and one for being a

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Speaker 1: bookie for a local restaurant owner, though she was never

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Speaker 1: formally prosecuted. With Dennis and Terry as an unstable patriarch

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Speaker 1: and matriarch, the only consistent aspect of Fernandez's family life

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Speaker 1: was sports. Dennis Hernandez lived and breathed sports with Terry's

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Speaker 1: full support. The highlight of his life had been playing

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Speaker 1: football in high school, and as anyone from a small

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Speaker 1: town knows, high school football stars are often treated as

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Speaker 1: local celebrities for years after their last performance under the

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Speaker 1: bright lights of the stadium. It was natural for Dennis

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Speaker 1: to push his sons towards football, and fortunately both Aaron

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Speaker 1: and Dj displayed early natural ability. The boys had to

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Speaker 1: be sports standouts because Dennis's affection was often doled out

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Speaker 1: in direct correlation to their athletic performances. He instilled in

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Speaker 1: his sons the belief that greatness comes from within and

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Speaker 1: requires relentless effort. You can't rely on other people. If

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Speaker 1: you do anything great in life, it's going to come

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Speaker 1: from within. Dennis would often say. This self reliant mantra,

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Speaker 1: coupled with the desire to keep their father happy and

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Speaker 1: their home life running as smoothly as possible, created an

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Speaker 1: environment in which both Aaron and dj were constantly pushing

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Speaker 1: themselves to the limit. His father was pretty strict, Bristol

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Speaker 1: Sheriff Thomas Hodgson told CNN in twenty fifteen, I mean,

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Speaker 1: Aaron told me his father used to make him shoot

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Speaker 1: five hundred shots before he went to play with his friends.

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Speaker 1: His dad clearly kept them anchored. But what did Dennis

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Speaker 1: Hernandez version of anchored mean really? Sure, anchored can mean

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Speaker 1: having a solid foundation, but it could also mean weighed down.

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Speaker 1: Beneath the veneer of familiar solidarity around sports that was

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Speaker 1: presented to the outside world, the Hernandez household harbored dark secrets.

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Speaker 1: The Boston Globe unearthed the history of horrific abuse decades Laiter,

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Speaker 1: revealing a pattern of violence where Dennis Hernandez, whom everyone

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Speaker 1: in the family called the King, inflicted severe beatings on Aaron,

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Speaker 1: DJ and their mother, Terry. This kind of cycle of

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Speaker 1: violence has monumental impacts on its victims, especially on children

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Speaker 1: who either witness or suffer violence along with their mother.

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Speaker 1: Unless addressed with mental health intervention, violence in the family

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Speaker 1: can become cyclical, sometimes spanning generations. Our father would hit

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Speaker 1: us for anything from a bad grade to disrespectful behavior

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Speaker 1: to sheer clumsiness, DJ wrote in his memoir. We saw

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Speaker 1: our dad slamming our mom's head against the white sink

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Speaker 1: over and over until she slumped to the ground. At

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Speaker 1: one point, a young DJ even told his dad he

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Speaker 1: would call the Department of Children and Families, but that

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Speaker 1: didn't go well. DJ recalled how his father handed him

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Speaker 1: the phone before saying call them. As soon as you

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Speaker 1: hang up the phone, I will beat you boys harder

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Speaker 1: than you've ever been beat before. They will have to

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Speaker 1: pull me off of you after they break down the door.

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Speaker 1: Jeff Morgan, a former assistant football coach at Aaron Hernandez

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Speaker 1: High School Bristol Central, told The Boston Globe that he'd

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Speaker 1: wondered if Dennis had taken his discipline too far behind

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Speaker 1: closed doors. After Aaron got in trouble for drinking before

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Speaker 1: a school dance, the next time we saw him, he

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Speaker 1: looked like his father did discipline him some Morgan shared

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Speaker 1: with the reporter, Aaron had a black eye. I'm assuming

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Speaker 1: that Dennis is where that came from. Despite living in

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Speaker 1: a violent home and suffering routine physical child abuse, Aaron

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Speaker 1: Hernandez quickly transcended his father's high school athleticism, becoming an

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Speaker 1: absolute phenomenon at Bristol's Central High School. A multi sports standout,

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Speaker 1: Aaron excelled in basketball and track, but it was on

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Speaker 1: the football field where his rising star shone brightest. Beside

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Speaker 1: him on the grid iron was his brother DJ, who

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Speaker 1: played quarterback while Aaron played receiver. In their first ever

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Speaker 1: game together, DJ threw Aaron a touchdown, leaving their duplicitous father, Dennis,

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Speaker 1: crying with pride and joy. DJ remembered that day well,

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Speaker 1: writing years later that quote, our dad opened his arms

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Speaker 1: and pulled us in a giant bear hug, holding the

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Speaker 1: two of us so tight and not wanted to let go.

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Speaker 1: I'm the luckiest father in the world, he said in

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Speaker 1: a whisper, I love you boys, I could hold you

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Speaker 1: both here forever. How complicated it must have been for

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Speaker 1: Aaron and DJ to have a father who could be

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Speaker 1: a loving parent one moment and a violent disciplinarian the next.

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Speaker 1: And so it was, with the Hernandez household existing as

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Speaker 1: an environment of contrasts, for achievements on the field were

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Speaker 1: what the outside world saw, while inside the house the

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Speaker 1: story was largely one of pain and criminality. Per the

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Speaker 1: National Library of Medicine article titled Fear in Love, Attachment

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Speaker 1: of use, and the developing brain, it seems inconceivable that

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Speaker 1: any child would develop an enduring bond with an abusive parent,

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Speaker 1: but the research of Harry Harlow at the University of

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Speaker 1: Wisconsin and Madison beginning in the nineteen sixties demonstrated that

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Speaker 1: that is exactly what tends to happen. Harlow raised infant

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Speaker 1: monkeys with a surrogate mother he built out of a

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Speaker 1: wire tube wrapped in cloth with a plastic monkey head

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Speaker 1: on top. Then, once an infant monkey was attached to

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Speaker 1: the constructed surrogate, he would have the wire tube blast

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Speaker 1: an unpleasant puff of air. The baby monkeys would still

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Speaker 1: cling to the makeshift surrogate wire tube, even though it

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Speaker 1: was blasting them with air. Harlow repeated the experiment with

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Speaker 1: other species, including chickens and rats, and again and again

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Speaker 1: the same result presented. Since Harlow's groundbreaking studies in the sixties,

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Speaker 1: additional research has supported his findings, and we the public

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Speaker 1: see the pattern ourselves in the many heart wrenching headlines

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Speaker 1: of kidnapping victims, battered wives, and abused children who stand

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Speaker 1: by their tormentors. So, while it seems counterintuitive, Aaron Hernandez

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Speaker 1: considered himself to be extremely close to his abusive father, Dennis,

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Speaker 1: despite the overbearing expectations, despite the beatings, despite witnessing the

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Speaker 1: repeated battery of his mother and brother. Keeping this in mind,

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Speaker 1: it is understandable, if somewhat alarmingly so, that Aaron Hernandez

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Speaker 1: were all crumbled in two thousand and six when Dennis

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Speaker 1: unexpectedly died. Dennis Hernandez went into the hospital for what

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Speaker 1: was supposed to be a routine hernia surgery and never

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Speaker 1: came out. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Aaron's brother

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Speaker 1: Dj Hernandez recounted the eerie premonitions that clouded the day

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Speaker 1: after their father's surgery, saying he said he wasn't feeling well.

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Speaker 1: It was an alarm bell for a family accustomed to

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Speaker 1: Dennis's unwavering strength. The last hour of the father's life

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Speaker 1: wore a blur. Sports Illustrated wrote, painting a haunting picture

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Speaker 1: of the family's vigil by Dennis's side, a stark prelude

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Speaker 1: to the grief that would envelop erin and envelop him.

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Speaker 1: It would. The loss of Dennis Hernandez left an unimaginable

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Speaker 1: void in sixteen year old Aaron's life. It was like

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Speaker 1: a shock. Everyone was close to my father, but I

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Speaker 1: was the closest, Aaron reflected in a conversation with USA today.

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Speaker 1: I was with him more than my friends when that happened.

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Speaker 1: Who do I talk to? Who do I hang with?

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Speaker 1: It was tough. Aaron's words capture his state of flux,

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Speaker 1: and indeed, Dennis's death was not just a personal loss

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Speaker 1: for Arin, but a seismic shift in the foundation of

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Speaker 1: his world. The structure and discipline his father had enforced evaporated,

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Speaker 1: and Arin, in his grief, turned to drugs, seeking solace

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Speaker 1: and substances that offered temporary escape but led to problems

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Speaker 1: of their own. I didn't know what to do for him,

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Speaker 1: His mother, Terry reflected years later about this time in

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Speaker 1: Aaron's life. He would rebel It was very very hard,

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Speaker 1: and he was very very angry. He wasn't the same

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Speaker 1: kid the way he spoke to me. The shock of

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Speaker 1: losing his dad, there was so much anger. Anger is,

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Speaker 1: of course a common reaction to the untimely death of

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Speaker 1: a parent. It is also a very common reaction to

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Speaker 1: the death of a violent parent. After all, children have

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Speaker 1: complex emotions around an abusive parent. Guilt, shame, sadness, confusion, anger.

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Speaker 1: All of these feelings swirling around inside a teenage boy

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Speaker 1: was not surprisingly a recipe for disaster. Aaron later spoke

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Speaker 1: about it to USA Today, describing the aftermath of his

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Speaker 1: father's unexpected death as quote a mess with a lot

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Speaker 1: of family issues, fighting, and disagreements to top off an

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Speaker 1: already tumultuous situation. Aaron's mom, Terry, was distracted, focused on

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Speaker 1: grappling with her own new reality. She had suddenly transformed

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Speaker 1: from a wife to a widow. In her grief, which,

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Speaker 1: given Dennis's violence, may well have been tempered by relief,

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Speaker 1: Terry found comfort in a new relationship with Jeff Cummings,

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Speaker 1: a landscaper and Aaron's cousin, Tanya Singleton's husband. Now it's

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Speaker 1: important to understand that Tanya Singleton was very important to Aaron.

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Speaker 1: Since Terry had never really been a parent, Aaron felt

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Speaker 1: he could count on. He had often turned to his

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Speaker 1: cousin Tanya over the years as a makeshift mother figure.

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Speaker 1: The two were very close, and Aaron was beyond outraged

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Speaker 1: to discover that Tanya's husband, Jeff, was having an extramarital

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Speaker 1: affair with none other than his own mother, Terry, Despite

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Speaker 1: the fact that her teenage sons were reeling from the

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Speaker 1: loss of their father and that Aaron completely objected to

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Speaker 1: her relationship, Terry Hernandez nonetheless succeeded in breaking up Tanya

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Speaker 1: Singleton's marriage and marrying Jeff Cummings, whose nickname was Meathead,

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Speaker 1: in Las Vegas in two thousand and nine. This development

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Speaker 1: unmoored Aaron from any moral center. He moved in with

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Speaker 1: his cousin Tanya and seeming defiance of Terry, totally distancing

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Speaker 1: himself from his mother. Even when Terry's new husband proved

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Speaker 1: more abusive than Dennis Hernandez had been slicing a three

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Speaker 1: and a half inch deep laceration in her right cheek

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Speaker 1: with an eight inch knife blade. Aaron could not see

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Speaker 1: past his mother's choices. It seemed Terry was drawn to

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Speaker 1: dangerous men, and even though being knifed by Jeff the

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Speaker 1: Meathead resulted in their divorce in twenty nineteen, we know

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Speaker 1: that they were back together based on Terry's mother's obituary.

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Speaker 1: Edith Valentine's August sixth, twenty nineteen obituary actually lists Jeff

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Speaker 1: Cummings as a surviving family member alongside her daughter Terry.

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Speaker 1: In a sense, it's understandable that Aaron Hernandez allegedly saw

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Speaker 1: red when he witnessed his mother wreaking havoc on his

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Speaker 1: beloved cousin's life and perpetuating the cycle of abuse. It's

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Speaker 1: also not surprising that Aaron was spiraling, looking for other

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Speaker 1: people to fill the enormous void left by his father. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: it was in this new, unhinged orbit that Aaron encountered

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Speaker 1: Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, Bristol, locals who would later

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Speaker 1: be implicated in the very darkest chapter of his life

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Speaker 1: ever heard. The saying the company you keep will have

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Speaker 1: a positive or negative impact on you, So choose your

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Speaker 1: friends wisely. Well. For all three boys, Aaron, Ernest and Carlos,

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Speaker 1: their association, steeped in collective feelings of anger, rejection, and disenchantment,

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Speaker 1: was doomed from the start. They pulled one another down

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Speaker 1: even as Aaron's football career was going up and up

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Speaker 1: and up. Aaron's burgeoning football careers seemed to offer real

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Speaker 1: hope for his future, even amidst the unrelenting darkness of

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Speaker 1: his personal life. For Aarin, his skills on the field

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Speaker 1: were also a testament to his unwavering dedication to his

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Speaker 1: father's memory. I wasn't the number one tied end in

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Speaker 1: the country, and then my dad passed away, and so

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Speaker 1: I started to work harder and harder for him, Aaron

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Speaker 1: once stated, encapsulating both his enduring drive and deep despair.

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Speaker 1: As captain of the Bristol Central High School football team,

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Speaker 1: Aaron rose above his inner turmoil to display a talent

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Speaker 1: destined for the national stage. His senior year performance was electrifying,

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Speaker 1: securing his place as a high school All American and

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Speaker 1: setting state records that heralded his potential for the NFL

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Speaker 1: Hernandez racked up one thousand, eight hundred and seven receiving

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Speaker 1: yards and twenty four touchdowns. Amazing, But football is a

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Speaker 1: tough sport, and as many players discover, it's not all

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Speaker 1: cheers and celebration, even for the winners. In one game,

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Speaker 1: Aaron was hit on his blind side and lay motionless.

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Speaker 1: A registered nurse in the crowd thought Aaron was unconscious,

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Speaker 1: since coaches called for an ambulance. He was taken off

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Speaker 1: the field and diagnosed with a concussion. Now concussions are

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Speaker 1: much talked about, especially after the film Concussion starring Will Smith,

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Speaker 1: came out in twenty fifteen, featuring the story of Bennett Amalu,

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Speaker 1: a forensic pathologist who fought against the NFL's efforts to

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Speaker 1: suppress his research on chronic traumatic incepalopathy or CTE. But

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Speaker 1: back in the two thousand and six two thousand and

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Speaker 1: seven school year at Bristol Central High School, no one

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Speaker 1: was thinking about concussions, let alone talking about them. Aaron's

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Speaker 1: hard knock high school play was brushed off at the time,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't until years later that doctors flagged it

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Speaker 1: as a major injury contributing to the onset of CTE

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Speaker 1: in his behavioral the and there was definitely a behavioral decline.

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Speaker 1: His high school coach told the Hartford Current that he

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Speaker 1: personally always had concerns about Aaron and his increasing engagement

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Speaker 1: with what many would consider a bad element of local associates,

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Speaker 1: but no one did anything to intervene. After all, Aaron

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Speaker 1: was a teenager, and for all of his acting out,

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Speaker 1: he towed the line where most people thought it counted

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Speaker 1: on the gridiron and in the classroom. Amazingly, even while

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Speaker 1: juggling his sports commitments, Aaron was an honor student who

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Speaker 1: graduated early at age seventeen. For those looking at this

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Speaker 1: young man from the outside, it appeared that he had

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Speaker 1: teenage angst, but surely he would come through it. He

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Speaker 1: had everything going for him. For one thing, the University

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Speaker 1: of Florida, which is a powerhouse in college football, offered

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Speaker 1: Aaron Hernandez a scholarship out of high school. This was

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Speaker 1: a golden opportunity that promised to catapult him into the

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Speaker 1: national spotlight. Aaron grabbed hold of this lifeline, and just

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Speaker 1: like that, he was out of Bristol, Connecticut and headed

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Speaker 1: for glory in sunny Gainesville, Florida. At the University of Florida.

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Speaker 1: Aaron Hernandez was more than just a football player. He

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Speaker 1: was a symbol of the diversity and talent that thrived

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Speaker 1: within the Florida Gators' ranks. We call him Chico, said

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Speaker 1: offensive guard Mike Pouncy to USA Today, highlighting not just

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Speaker 1: a nickname with a nod to Aaron's proud Puerto Rican heritage,

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Speaker 1: but a shared camaraderie that transcended the field. This bond,

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Speaker 1: rooted in respect and mutual recognition, underscored Aaron hernandez place

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Speaker 1: within the Florida Gators. It seemed that at last he

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00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:49,800
Speaker 1: had found an environment in which he was fully accepted,

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Speaker 1: where he truly belonged. But sadly, even Aaron's warm welcome

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00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:01,160
Speaker 1: in Florida proved too little, too late. Aaron simply hadn't

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00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,480
Speaker 1: developed a sense of right and wrong that might have

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00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:07,640
Speaker 1: helped him avoid his violent date with destiny. How could

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00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,880
Speaker 1: he After our childhood marred by brutal expectations, inconsistency, and violence,

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00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,200
Speaker 1: It seemed that Aaron's inner demons simply could not be contained,

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Speaker 1: and even his relatively happy time at the University of

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Speaker 1: Florida was not without its controversies, His emotions simmered always

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Speaker 1: and outbursts were inevitable, and wasn't long before seventeen year

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Speaker 1: old Aaron Hernandez found himself in a physical altercation. It

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00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,960
Speaker 1: was just a few months into his time playing for

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Speaker 1: the University of Florida, and already the signs of volatility

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Speaker 1: were there. Despite the efforts of his teammate Tim Tebow,

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Speaker 1: who was known for his composure and leadership, Aaron's tempered

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00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:52,600
Speaker 1: flared uncontrollably, culminating in a violent fight with a restaurant manager.

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00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:55,679
Speaker 1: Tebou attempted to keep Hernandez out of trouble during the

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Speaker 1: infamous two thousand and seven bar squabble, but not even

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Speaker 1: the mild mannered quarter could keep the hot headed, tied

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Speaker 1: end from slugging a Gainesville, Florida, restaurant manager and puncturing

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Speaker 1: his ear drum, reported USA Today's Sports. This incident, which

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Speaker 1: occurred before Aaron even took his freshman year finals, revolved

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Speaker 1: around an argument over an unpaid tab for two drinks,

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00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,640
Speaker 1: just two drinks at the Swamp restaurant. According to police reports,

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Speaker 1: Aaron Hernandez, who was under age at the time and

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Speaker 1: was not even legally entitled to, Drake had refused to

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00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,920
Speaker 1: settle the bill for the beverages he consumed. The situation

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00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:37,000
Speaker 1: escalated when the restaurant's manager, Michael Taphorn, confronted Aaron, asked

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Speaker 1: him to leave, and led him outside the bar. Aaron's

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Speaker 1: response was violent and impulsive. Police records detail how after

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Speaker 1: Michael Taphorn turned to re enter the bar, Aaron Hernandez

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Speaker 1: struck him on the side of the head. Aaron didn't

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Speaker 1: deny having done so when questioned. His response certainly suggested

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Speaker 1: that he lacked critical impulse control and had yet to

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Speaker 1: learn to leave physical encounters on the football field. The

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Speaker 1: aftermath of the punch Aaron landed on bar owner Michael

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Speaker 1: Taphorn saw Tim Tebow stepping in, attempting to mediate the

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00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:14,159
Speaker 1: situation by urging Aaron to leave peacefully and offering to

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Speaker 1: settle the bill himself, but despite Tebow's intervention, the damage

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00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:23,119
Speaker 1: had been done. Initially adamant about pressing charges, Taphorn's stance

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00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,679
Speaker 1: softened following discussions with the University of Florida's legal staff

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Speaker 1: and coaches. Michael Taphorn did state that he had been

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Speaker 1: contacted by legal staff and coaches with uf and that

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Speaker 1: they may be working on an agreement, noted the police

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Speaker 1: in their supplemental report. Ultimately, Taphorn decided against pursuing criminal action.

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Speaker 1: So was it a happy ending to the episode at

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Speaker 1: the Swamp restaurant? And not really? And we should take

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00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:53,120
Speaker 1: a moment to review the various flavors flowing from what transpired.

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Speaker 1: That certainly doesn't sit well on the palette. After all,

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Speaker 1: the incident not only highlighted Aaron hernandez propensity for confrontational behavior,

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Speaker 1: but also suggested an environment at the University of Florida

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00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 1: where the football program's influence could mitigate legal repercussions of

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Speaker 1: criminal actions. Double yuck. The settlement reached to prevent Michael

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Speaker 1: tap On from pressing charges against Aaron Hernandez raises unsavory

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Speaker 1: questions about the extent to which the university was willing

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Speaker 1: to go to protect its athletes, seemingly at the cost

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Speaker 1: of their individual accountability and personal growth. During Urban Meyer's

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Speaker 1: tenure as coach of the Florida Gators, the football program

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00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:40,280
Speaker 1: experienced significant success, including a national championship in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight that Aaron Hernandez contributed to significantly. However, this

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Speaker 1: period was also marked by a troubling number of player

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Speaker 1: arrests and a culture that appeared to prioritize on field

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Speaker 1: success over acceptable player behavior. Of course, influence wielding to

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Speaker 1: protect star athletes isn't limited to the University of Florida.

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Speaker 1: It's a disturbing and enduring hallmark of sports programs across

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Speaker 1: the US, in both high school and college. Nonetheless, coach

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Speaker 1: urban Meyer's time with the Gators was particularly notable, as

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Speaker 1: he dealt with at least thirty one arrests involving twenty

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Speaker 1: five players, but he also oversaw the careers of future

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Speaker 1: NFL stars like Cam Newton, Percy Harvin, and Mike Poucey.

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Speaker 1: He even mentored assistant coaches who were going to lead

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Speaker 1: their own major football school programs. Through the lens of history,

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Speaker 1: Meyer's time as head coach would ultimately be remembered more

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Speaker 1: for turmoil, criminal behavior hushed up, and the kind of

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Speaker 1: favoritism that ultimately destroyed team cohesion. But in the moment,

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00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,200
Speaker 1: back when Aaron Hernandez was a Gator, well, many thought

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Speaker 1: urban Meyer was doing his job by protecting his star

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Speaker 1: players at any cost. It was in the anything goes

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00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,879
Speaker 1: for athleteses environment enabled by coacher and Meyer that in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, Aaron Hernandez found himself entangled in

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Speaker 1: a particularly grave situation along with three other Gator football players.

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Speaker 1: Aaron was questioned by detectives in Gainesville concerning a nightclubs

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Speaker 1: shooting that critically wounded two men, twenty eight year old

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Speaker 1: Corey Smith and nineteen year old Justin Glass. At around

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00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:25,440
Speaker 1: two twenty am, Smith and Glass were leaving the Venue nightclub,

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Speaker 1: which had been packed with Gator players drowning their sorrows

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Speaker 1: after a defeat to Auburn, when someone went up to

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Speaker 1: their car and began firing shots into the vehicle. Corey

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00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,440
Speaker 1: Smith was shot in the head, which left him in

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00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:42,639
Speaker 1: critical condition, and Justin Glass was wounded in the arm.

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Speaker 1: This alarming incident, wherein Aaron Hernandez was implicated but never charged,

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Speaker 1: raised significant concerns about his associations and decision making off

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Speaker 1: the field, but coach Urban Meyer and the University of

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00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,479
Speaker 1: Florida largely turned a blind eye because despite his off

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00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:04,720
Speaker 1: field issue, Aaron's on field performance was absolutely stellar. By

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Speaker 1: his sophomore year, Aaron Hernandez had become an integral part

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Speaker 1: of the Florida Gators offensive strategy. He consistently showcased his

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00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 1: unique blend of speed, power, and agility and became a

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00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:20,680
Speaker 1: favorite target of Gator quarterbacks. In two thousand and nine,

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00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,159
Speaker 1: Aaron Hernandez achieved what he'd set out to do in

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00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,000
Speaker 1: his father's memory. He won the John Mackie Award, awarded

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00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: to the nation's best collegiate tight end. His contributions were

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00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:33,920
Speaker 1: pivotal in leading the Florida Gators to a thirteen and

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00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: one record and a Sugar Bowl victory. He was a

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00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:41,600
Speaker 1: veritable force of nature, amassing sixty eight receptions for eight

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty yards and five touchdowns. Yet, as Aaron

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00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 1: Hernandez prepared to make the leap to the NFL, concerns

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00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:53,040
Speaker 1: about his past behavior in the company he kept did surface.

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00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,560
Speaker 1: His draft stock was affected by multiple failed drug tests

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00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,520
Speaker 1: and the dubious reputation of some of his friends. Remember

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00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:04,400
Speaker 1: how I mentioned some of the questionable pals from Bristol

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00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 1: in addition to his rowdy mates on the Gators team. Well,

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00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: they all became red flags during the highly selective draft process.

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00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,480
Speaker 1: We stayed away because we hated the people Aaron hung

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00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: out with, and how trouble always finds this guy, An

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00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 1: unnamed NFL scout told cbssports dot com. You see, NFL

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00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:28,880
Speaker 1: teams really investigate the approximately three hundred players who ultimately

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00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 1: get drafted, and they look to more than just talent

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00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 1: when deciding who to pick and win in the NFL draft.

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00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:40,000
Speaker 1: After all, team cohesion is critically important to winning, and

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00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,560
Speaker 1: teams want a player to fit in. They definitely don't

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00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,400
Speaker 1: want to bring on someone who would generate publicity headaches

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00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: with bad behavior off the field. Aaron Hernandez himself knew

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00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 1: his off field issues jeopardized his chances of getting drafted

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00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,639
Speaker 1: and being highly paid, so he wrote letters to the

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00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: NFL teams directly offering to get frequent drug tests and

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Speaker 1: assuring prospective teams that he was a reasonable risk. If

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00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,959
Speaker 1: you draft me as a member of your team, Aaron penned,

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00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 1: I will willfully submit to a bi weekly drug test

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00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,120
Speaker 1: throughout my rookie season. In addition, I will tie any

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00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,000
Speaker 1: guaranteed portion of my twenty ten compensation to these drug

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00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 1: tests and reimburse the team a pro rata amount for

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00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 1: any failed drug test. I realized that this offer is

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00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,080
Speaker 1: somewhat unorthodox, but it is also the only way I

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00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: could think of to let you know how serious I

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00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:36,720
Speaker 1: am about reaching my potential in the NFL. I am

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00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 1: literally putting my money where my mouth is and taking

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00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 1: the financial risk away from the team and putting it

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00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,800
Speaker 1: directly on my back where it belongs. Between Aaron's efforts

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00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: to appear rehabilitated and his undeniable natural talent, there was

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00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: little doubt that he was destined to be an impact

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00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 1: player in the NFL. Someone was going to bet on him.

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00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 1: It was just a matter of which team was going

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00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,600
Speaker 1: to take the gamble. In the twenty ten NFL Draft,

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00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 1: ignoring the cacophony of concerns about Aaron's character and off

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00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,520
Speaker 1: field demeanor, the New England Patriots selected Aaron Hernandez in

447
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,080
Speaker 1: the fourth round. This decision would add a new chapter

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00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 1: to his story, one filled with promise but ultimately marred

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00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: by darkness and a parallel to most of Aaron hernandez life.

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00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: Back in New England, close to where he grew up,

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00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,240
Speaker 1: Aaron's life of crime would finally reveal itself in full,

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00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: rearing its ugly head, and one young man would pay

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00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,240
Speaker 1: the ultimate price. No doubt that the rise and fall

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00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 1: of Aaron Hernandez is a truly tragic tale, but stay

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00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,320
Speaker 1: thirsty and join me. Jay harrisse I explained how one

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00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:49,960
Speaker 1: of the NFL's most promising players totally unraveled on next

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00:29:50,000 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: week's episode of Playing Dirty Sports Scandals. Playing Dirty Sports

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Speaker 1: Scandals is a production of Dan Patrick Productions, Never Ever

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00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 1: Productions and Workhouse Media from executive producers Dan Patrick, Paul Anderson,

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00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:16,000
Speaker 1: Nick Panela, Maya Glickman, and Jennifer Clary. Hosted by Jay Harris,

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00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: Written and produced by Jen Brown, Francie Haiks, Maya Glickman,

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00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: and Jennifer Claren.