How stupid people lose large sums of money (Part 1)                         

There are many ways of losing money. Gambling is a common way and so are bad investments. However, in this article, (the first of a series) I am going to show you how someone lost it for only one reason. It was because of his uncontrolled anger. Yes, uncontrolled anger can cause you to act in a very stupid way which can cost you dearly. And now, I will give you a true story of a fool who blew it all away because of his uncontrolled anger.

Aaron Hernandez

This man was a national Football League player. Despite his size that makes him a capable blocker, Hernandez has the speed and moves of a wide receiver and is elusive after making a catch. That being as it is, football clubs would normally be most interested in inviting him to play on their teams.

The Cincinnati Bengals were known for taking chances on players with troubled pasts and questionable characters. However, they decided several years ago that they wanted to stay clear of Aaron Hernandez. Bengals owner and general manager, Mike Brown told FOX Sports that the franchise intentionally passed on selecting Hernandez in the 2010 draft.  Why was that decision made?

An unfavorable pre-draft report the Bengals had received about Hernandez stated that there was the potential for more off-field problems and that was the reason for that decision. In other words, Hernandez was a troublemaker with a bad temper. Although he displayed NFL-quality athleticism as the 2009 winner of the Mackey Award annually given to college football’s tight end, he was too much of a risk that could harm the reputation of the football club. The Cincinnati Bengals already had bad eggs in their basket. Ten Bengals players accounted for 17 arrests in a 17-month span between December 2005 and June 2007. Eight of their ten players involved were Cincinnati draft picks. They later decided to be a bit pickier when choosing who would play in their club. The Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t the only club to feel skittish about Hernandez because of his violent past off the field.

A portrait of Hernandez has emerged of a man whose life away from the field included frequent police-related incidents that started as long ago as his freshman year at the University of Florida. An acquaintance of this player who sued Hernandez, claimed that he was shot by Hernandez after a fight in a strip club earlier this year. The man lost his right eye as a result of the shooting. Then there was the 2007 bar fight that left a restaurant worker with a burst ear drum. The restaurant worker told police that Hernandez, who was then 17, punched him in the head while he was escorting Hernandez out of the restaurant after a dispute about an alleged non-payment of a bill. Then there is the unsolved double murder at a Boston nightclub last summer in which Fernandez’s name was bandied about. Hernandez also lost his temper and threatened teammate, Wes Welker during an argument in the team’s weight room shortly after being drafted by the New England Patriots. All these violent incidents were related to Hernandez in some manner or other and were the direct results of his uncontrolled anger. And like a spider looking for its prey, he pounced again and this time it would really cost him dearly. 

He was on June 3, 2013 charged with murdering his friend after the two had a dispute during a trip to a nightclub. He was upset that his friend, 27-year-old Odin Lloyd (a fellow football player and friend) was talking to some people on June 14, 2013 whom Hernandez previously had troubles with.

Two days later, on the night of June 16, Hernandez texted two friends from out of state and asked them to hurry back to Massachusetts. Surveillance footage from outside Hernandez's home showed him leaving with a gun, and he told someone in the house that he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore.

The three men picked up the victim at his home around 2:30 a.m., according to authorities. As they drove around, they discussed what happened at the nightclub, and Lloyd started getting nervous.

Lloyd might have known his fate when he got into the car with Hernandez, because he texted his sister, “Did you see who I am with?” When she asked who, Lloyd answered, at 3:22 a.m., “NFL” then, a minute later, he texted, ”Just so you know.” I have to presume that she saw the faces of the three men that were in the car with him via his camera in his cell phone. Within a few minutes after that, people working at a nearby industrial park and working on their overnight shift reported hearing gunshots. Lloyd’s body was found in a nearby vacant lot which was about a mile from Fernandez’s home. Lloyd had been shot in the back and in the chest.

Using surveillance camera videos that tracked Hernandez from his home in North Attleborough to Boston and back, cellphone pings, text messages and evidence left in a rental car and collected in two searches of his house and surrounding areas, Bristol County assistant district attorney William McCauley presented a tight timeline he insisted placed Hernandez with victim Odin Lloyd for roughly an hour the morning he was killed, right up to the minute Lloyd was executed. Prosecutors said investigators tracked the Hernandez’s rental car's movement to a gas station, to Lloyd's home at 2:35 a.m. and then to the empty lot where Lloyd was shot. They said Hernandez also was incriminated by the rental car he used, and chewed bubblegum that was the same brand of gum Hernandez bought at the gas station and which were found in the vehicle. Tire tracks found near the body were consistent with the rented Nissan. Admittedly, that is all circumstantial evidence. Further, total of five spent .45-caliber casings were recovered at the scene and in the car. No doubt, tests of the bullets fired into Lloyd’s body will be proof that they came from Fernandez’s gun.

Here is what I believe is the direct evidence. The prosecutor, McCauley gave a blow-by-blow of the killing, saying Lloyd was shot once as he got out of the car, crumpling to the ground. As he raised his arm to protect himself, he was shot multiple times. I think I am safe is saying that in my opinion, the other two men were arrested and told by the police that they too would be charged with the murder of Lloyd and facing that dilemma, they told the police that it was Hernandez who committed the murder. If that is so then Hernandez will get convicted. 

Now I said earlier that his stupidity would cost him dearly. Aside for a sentence of natural life in prison without any hope of parole, his alleged crime is costing him big time with respect to his financial loss. If he had controlled his temper instead of running amok every time someone displeased him, he wouldn’t have been dumped by the New England Patriots and he would be then getting $8 million dollars a year for the next five years. He blew $40 million dollars because of his uncontrolled temper.

Hernandez currently spends 21 hours of the day in his cell alone in the Medical unit in the Bristol County Detention Center for his own protection. He spends three hours outside of his cell. During the first hour outside, he can use the phone. He has no access to email, but he has limited access to the phone, which he can use in that one hour. During that hour, he can also use the shower. The second hour, he can mill about the medical unit. The third hour, he has access to what’s known as “the rec yard”. However, there are no weights or basketball courts or anything like that at this facility. There is a book exchange, which Hernandez has access to. He also has access to writing material. He currently has no direct interactions with other inmates, but they can hear and see him. He can see and hear them, as well. Hernandez’s attorneys have no limits on number of times they can visit or how long they can stay. The attorneys must alert the jail they are coming so the jail can schedule them for their visit.

I imagine that if he is sentenced to natural life in prison, he will be able to mingle with the other convicts but his life in prison will be far different than the life he could have had if he hadn’t blown it away like he blew Lloyd away. If he becomes violent in prison because of his uncontrolled anger, he may end up be spending the rest of his life in a prison cell all alone.  

I would be less than honest if I didn’t say that he isn’t the only football player charged with murder. Since 1967, there have been 20 football players who were either convicted of murder or manslaughter. They too lost great sums of money for their stupidity.