As you heard, the New England Patriots took a $275,000 financial loss from Patriots fans turning in their Aaron Hernandez jerseys and t-shirts. However, there a lot more to the Patriots culture of Thug Life than Aaron Hernandez. Here are eight Patriots players who’ve been arrested since 2010!
Aaron Hernandez is the most extreme case, but there’s been plenty of crime, and very little accompanying punishment going on in Foxboro these past few years. Simply put, the Patriots had a noble idea: being the NFL “Island of Misfit Toys,” where the Draconian Bill Belichick and his coaching staff, along with his staid cadre of good guy, stand-up veterans rehabilitate these miscreants. It could have been very well intentioned. Give these guys another chance!
“Boys will be boys” and then they join the NE Patriots to all of a sudden go find Jesus. The Pats win games and these broken wings find themselves and turn their lives around.
However, for every Randy Moss and Corey Dillon that stayed out of legal trouble, you had…
…well, you know how they play the fight song whenever a college football team scores a touchdown? The Patriots could choose from a litany of fight songs: Thug Life featuring 2pac “Pour out a little liquor,” Bone Thugs n Harmony’s “Thuggish Ruggish Bone,” or maybe even 2pac and Snoop Dogg’s “2 of America’s Most wanted. “The Patriot Way” could be swapped out with “Ain’t nothing but a gangsta party.”
The New England Patriots have kept winning every NFL season because “character concerns” wasn’t a primary concern. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done- the Patriots found a home for you. Again, a noble experiment? Or just a simple Urban Meyer style “win at all costs” philosophy?
As Aaron Hernandez rots in solitary confinement, I’m giving my Patriots sweatshirts to goodwill. Throwing out my Patriots keychain. Turning in my Patriots fan card. Yes, the Patriots handled the Aaron Hernandez situation about as well as any NFL team could have. However, New England rolled the dice a few too many times on too many wild cards.
They’ve enabled and employed too many criminals. And this time, it really backfired. This isn’t about NFL players being so called role models for children; I thew that idea out the window by the time I turned 13. This is about the Patriots organization being a horrible business role model. They have made so many bad hiring decisions, player wise, it’s a business school “teachable moment” in corporate crime.
Still, I will be writing and reporting a lot about the Patriots crime and punishment this summer/fall. And since I love hip-hop so much, especially ’90s gangsta rap, my articles will have lots of gangsta rap lyrics when appropriate.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He does a radio spot twice a week for 95.7 The Fan. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook