Jury is deliberating in the Aaron Hernandez trial

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

If he is found not guilty on all charges both this trial and the other murder, his future in the NFL will depend on if he remained in football shape while in prison,.

moral character is pretty much irrelevant,  if he can still block, catch the ball and shed tackles he will find a team willing to let him play

[Dave Gray]

I also think that people are generally less disgusted with him because he didn't target a specific group that people can rally around.  He is accused of killing other thugs...it's not defenseless women, kids, old people, animals, etc.  I just don't think people care as much.

Take Vick for example -- I wouldn't watch the Dolphins if he was on the team.  ...just wouldn't.  I'm not saying he shouldn't be allowed or anything, but I just couldn't be a fan.  But Hernandez, I would find a way around it and still watch.  I'm not saying that it's consistent or right, but I can't imagine I'm alone.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

^^^^ either vick or hernadez or ap or ray rice u would still watch. U might grumble for a few days,  but u would still root 4 your team.

Just the way it is

[Dave Gray]

No, I wouldn't.  Honestly.  I wouldn't watch the Dolphins if Vick were on the roster.  ...no question about it.

I don't care that much about sports.  I have stopped watching things for less.  I'm a grown man with 2 kids and other things going on.  I'm looking for reasons to free up time.

[Spider-Dan]

So what would happen to the website?  Would you stop posting about the Dolphins here, too?

I mean, I don't remember a lot of people leaving when Lawrence Phillips was signed.

[MikeO]

I mean, I don't remember a lot of people leaving when Lawrence Phillips was signed.

Speaking of Lawrence Philips, he made some news today
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/04/13/lawrence-phillips-accused-of-murdering-his-prison-cellmate/

[Dave Gray]

So what would happen to the website?  Would you stop posting about the Dolphins here, too?

I'd still post.  I'd still probably follow the outcome of the games and stuff that I read.  I just wouldn't stay home and watch them.

It's specifically the nature of Vick's crimes.  It's sadistic.  I think that he's beyond saving, in terms of me cheering for him.  That's just me.  I wouldn't expect anyone else to act similarly, but I can't root for my quarterback who has done things like that.  It's just too much for me.  If he was a backup corner or something, maybe I wouldn't care -- but the face of the franchise -- nope.

[Phishfan]

He is accused of killing other thugs.

I really have no idea where you got this from. The worst information I have seen about any of them, Lloyd smoked some pot and Abreu & Furtado went to a night club. That doesn't even hint at them being thugs.

I'm a bit surprised on your position. It sounds like my old grumpy neighbor rather than you saying that.

[Tenshot13]

I completely agree with Dave on this one.

Hell, my wife is a Bucs fan and if they draft Winston (which is looking likely) she is defecting to the Dolphins.  There were rumors at one point of Vick coming to Tampa a few years back and she said the same thing.  Now, I don't think Winston's "crimes" are nearly as arduous as Vick's, and it might stem from her love of dogs (we foster rescues) and her hate for FSU, plus Winston being an accused rapist.

Eh, I'm all over the place.  Point is, I couldn't root for the Dolphins either if Vick were our QB.  I wouldn't like Hernandez on our team, but wouldn't stop rooting for Miami either if he hypothetically ended here.

[MikeO]

I'm with Dave as well. I couldn't root for the Fins if they added a Vick or Hernandez.

Hell it was tough for me to root for the Fins when they had Ricky a druggie loser who quit to go smoke dope only to come back when he needed a few bucks. No way I could root for Hernandez (don't care what the jury says he's guilty) or Vick or anyone on that level.

[Dave Gray]

I'm a bit surprised on your position. It sounds like my old grumpy neighbor rather than you saying that.

I'm not making a judgment call on any of this.  I don't mean to discount a man's life.  But I'm told that this is gang activity and this guy was Hernandez's drug dealer....the term "bluntmaster" is what I heard.

[Phishfan]

The drug dealer was the guy he shot in the face but lived. There are no charges at all in that instance. He testified in the current case.

Lloyd was the boyrfriend to the sister of Hernandez's now fiancee. He played what I would call semi-pro football and appears to have been star struck hanging with Hernandez.

There was some early and completely untrue rumors of gang activity in the Abreu and Furtado killings. The DA has come out and said the media was wrong. All reports are these were upstanding guys trying to make better lives for themselves in the US.

You have the people and facts confused. I'll give you the bluntmaster if you want to consider weed dealers as thugs. You typically like to get your facts straight so maybe this will help.

[Dave Gray]

Fair point that I don't know the facts -- I don't.  But I think you're missing my point in all of this. 

I'm not talking about my specific feelings towards Hernandez; I'm just talking about what I feel is the general narrative followed by the average person.

Hernandez is seen as a thugs who is hanging out with other thugs, doing thuggy shit.  In the eyes of the general public, weed dealing is not the work of upstanding citizens, and in the eyes of most people, someone who gets killed by someone they were dealing drugs with is at least somewhat complicit in hanging around with seedy characters.

I use that to juxtapose against Vick, who did horrific, sadistic acts against defenseless animals. I just think that an altercation with a person has a lot of gray area...you don't really know what went down.  But with a child or a pet or an elderly person, you judge it differently.  That's the camp I'm in.

[Spider-Dan]

All I can say is: for all the bluster about Vick, I don't know of any converted Eagles or Jets fans.  So either Dolphins fans have more moral fiber than fans of those teams, or it's easy to talk about how you would quit being a fan when it's all hypothetical morality.

I don't see anyone raising the slightest stink about Suh intentionally trying to injure people after plays, and I think if MIA engineered a trade for convicted child abuser Adrian Peterson tomorrow, activity on this board next season would not be likely to decrease.

[MikeO]

I don't see anyone raising the slightest stink about Suh intentionally trying to injure people after plays, and I think if MIA engineered a trade for convicted child abuser Adrian Peterson tomorrow, activity on this board next season would not be likely to decrease.

BIG difference between being a dirty player on the field in between the lines of play like Suh and taking a humans (or animals) life off the field and being a cold blooded killer.

Peterson would bother me if he was on the Fins. I think he got off real easy for what he did