Cocaine (Bob Hayes).
Vehicular Manslaughter (Dwayne Goodrich).
Stealing From Your Own Mother (Larry Bethea).
Pot (Nate Newton).
Domestic Abuse (Harvey Martin, Dez Bryant).
Indecency with a Child (Rafael Septien).
Bribery (Thomas Henderson).
DUI (Erik Williams, Jay Ratliff).
Indecent Exposure (Lance Rentzel).
"Runnin' Ho's In and Outta The White House" (Michael Irvin, Deion Sanders, et al).
Intoxication Manslaughter (Josh Brent).
But on the Dallas Cowboys' long and illustrious rap sheet, there has never appeared:
First-Degree Murder.
Imagine - given they're the lazy punch-line to every NFL jurisprudence joke - if Aaron Hernandez played football with a star on the side of his helmet.
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While the New England Patriots are being praised for immediately releasing the Pro Bowl tight end in the wake of his arrest for allegedly murdering a minor-league player near Boston, I believe the Cowboys could've taken the same action yet still been criticized for initially drafting a player with a nefarious background and/or not nurturing an environment of law-abiding civility at Valley Ranch.
Well, am I wrong?
Inexplicably, the news of Hernandez' arrest and ensuing roster release have prompted critics to demand the Cowboys now cut defensive tackle Josh Brent. The attempted correlation is preposterous; The suggested actions nonsensical.
Why? Because of the glaring differences in the crimes.
Hernandez is charged with shooting a man in the head and killing him. Brent is charged with Intoxication Manslaughter for driving drunk and flipping his car in an accident that killed teammate Jerry Brown back in December. I can't believe I have to explain this, but the only similaritiy in the two scenarios is a dead body.
With pre-meditation and malice, Hernandez allegedly pulled a trigger to kill another human being. But it was merely Brent's irresponsibility that led to the accidental ending of another's life.
It's really this simple: Intentional or Accidental?
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While Brent awaits his September trial he is a free man (on bond) and still a member of the Cowboys. If you believe owner Jerry Jones should've long ago cut him to send a moral message to the masses, I get that. But if you believe the Cowboys should cut Brent now just because the Patriots released Hernandez, you're grossly misdirected.
If Hernandez was charged with Intoxication Manslaughter, would the Patriots have released him? No way. Their decision Wednesday - and I believe it was the right one - was based on football, not morality.
There is right, and there is wrong. There are crimes, and there is murder.
There are the Dallas Cowboys, and there is every other team in the NFL.
Excellent point. I was listening to Bryan Broddus on the GBag Nation yesterday tell the story of how Jerry helped out Larry Allen and his family when he was addicted to pain pills. All sports teams take risk based upon does potential high end of talent outweigh the negatives of potential for personal misconduct.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
DeleteLooking more and more like Hernandez is not only a murderer but may be a serial killer.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about that. But it ain't good.
DeleteNot sure why people people think that New England cut him just like that. This investigation has been going on since last week. I'm sure they had conversations with Aaron before hand asking him if he was involved in this crime. At which time they probably said something along the lines of, "Ok, well as of right now you are a member of this team, but if there is any arrest made you will be released." (That's what I would think anyways) Aaron is also involved in that other case, where he "ALLEGEDLY" shot someone in the face. Along with his problems in college, The Pat's knew that this guy was never going to see an NFL field again.
ReplyDeleteJosh Brent's situation is a little different yes, but the outcome was the same in both cases. A human lost his life. I personally think he should have been cut from the start. While I do understand the nurturing side of the Cowboys organization, I feel that at this point the best thing to do would be to release him. Especially after violating his bond terms. Josh Brent is a spare player and likely wouldn't have amounted to or will not amount to much as far as NFL D-Linemen go.
I was thinking about Dwayne Goodrich yesterday and the article you wrote about him. The guy killed 3 people, and did time for it and was remorseful. Did the Cowboys learn anything from that situation? Do they have any ties with Goodrich anymore? He'd be the best person to do a preseason speech to players about the consequences of drunk driving.
ReplyDeleteHe killed two 20-something men, but your point is well taken. Goodrich should be speaking to all incoming rookies in my opinion.
DeleteOnce a homer always a homer huh Whitt?
ReplyDeleteNever understand how "homer" was supposed to be a criticism?
DeleteJosh Brent failed drug test on June 19th landed him back in Jail this morning.... Wow! What an idiot
ReplyDeleteAt this point I think the Cowboys could easily cut ties without much criticism. The end result is the same unfortunately, a young football player is dead in both Brent and Hernandez's cases due to the stupidity of their eventual killer. I have seen people say they feel bad for Brent, I can only hold so much sympathy for what one does to themselves. Hernandez is just a bad guy, and his future looks bleak. These guys have it all, something most of us could only dream of. They have the chance to play a game for a living and make tons of money doing it, yet they waste their talents, their potential, and at least some of if not the rest of their life in jail.
Delete1. You should instead ask what if Hernandez were a Bengal & 2. Bet you feel a little silly now with the Brent defense, eh?
ReplyDeleteMan I'm sorry Richie what were you saying about the Cowboys not releasing Josh Brent?? I missed it I was watching the news about Brent failing yet another drug test and being behind bars at Lew Sterrett without bond.
ReplyDelete"I can't believe I have to explain this, but the only similaritiy in the two scenarios is a dead body." I gotta say that's a pretty fucking big similaritiy. There are two dead bodies one was Hernandez's fault and one was Brent's fault. Pretty cut and dry to me. You say the death that Brent caused was "accidental" huh?? I guess Brent guzzling booze glass after glass and to the point he was twice the legal limit and then getting behind the wheel was also an accident huh? Why don't you go ahead and give MADD a call and tell that story to a few people who have had there sons, daughters, fathers and mothers killed by drunk drivers. Let me know how that work out for you.
- Storm_71
If you can't decipher the difference between intentional and accidental, then we'll just have to go our separate ways on this one. Thanks for the feedback.
DeleteRichie you are completely correct they are not the same crime at all. What Hernandez did was evil what Brent did was stupidity. So initially the Cowboys were standing on solid ground with keeping Brent around. But now that Brent has shown signs of not learning from the incident by failing multiple drug test and contiually tampering with his ankle monitor, word has it he has tried to remove the monitor over 60 times. This demonstrates a person who has no respect for the situation or authority and thus to cut ties with him.
ReplyDeleteThe Great Blood Monkey