Quote:
Originally Posted by raysachs
...I can only imagine what being in the closet would do to a guy like that, let alone in a macho environment like the NFL...
|
Especially being raised by a pretty domineering father who seemed to cast a long shadow in Hernandez's life, even after the father's death. Although mentioned and dismissed as a motive regarding the Odin Lloyd murder, I think sexual identity may have played a greater part. I thought that the CTE was kind of an addendum in the series, and it didn't do a great job connecting the dots.
It was said that his brain showed the greatest degree of damage on the internal aspects, but I wondered why the exterior of his brain didn't show damage if this was a contrecoup type injury. I also wondered if his brain and ability to reason was so compromised, how was he able to function so well on the field let alone accomplish the daily life functions. I would have thought that his coordination would have been compromised to say the least. I also wonder about the affects of drug use if he rented an apartment just so he had a place to go and chain smoke pot. I read that he had a genetic marker that would have increased his brain disease deterioration. I read that it typically takes 8-10 years for symptoms of CTE to show up so that would have gone back to severe brain injury in adolescence. Dr. McKee was amazed that Hernandez had such extensive brain abnormality for a person of his young age which also makes me wonder if football may have contributed but not really been the cause. For me the series left more questions unanswered than solved.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think one can gloss over the physical affects of long term head injury; I just think he had other issues and possible causes for his behavior. His story reminded me of that of Mike Tyson. A "kid" who becomes rich and famous at a very young age without a stable influence to guide him through the shark-infested waters of young adulthood before even a non-damaged brain is fully formed. Add to that a possibly closeted male trying to be successful in a very macho world, and you've got a potential time bomb as he tried to wrapped himself in a thug personna...