There's a point in the movie The Sting when Johnny Hooker looks from afar at super-hoodlum Doyle Lonnegan and tells Henry Gondorf, "He's not as tough as he thinks." Gondorf replies, "Neither are we."
The scene came to mind after reading a recent Dan Wetzel (Yahoo Sports) column.
Wetzel is one of the pre-eminent sports writers in the country. I don’t always agree with him, but he’s pretty darn solid, and I think he truly hit the nail on the head with a recent article.
I’d already determined to share Wetzel’s article on Aaron Hernandez with my grandson (now in college), before I decided to also share it with the public at large. The grandson is light years different than Hernandez, so overall I don’t fret that much about him engaging in a path to destruction. Still, we’re all capable of making mistakes, so occasional reminders about potential consequences for bad decisions are worthwhile.
I would go so far as to call Wetzel’s article a “really good read,” especially for those who might underestimate incarceration.
Wetzel notes . . .
The scene came to mind after reading a recent Dan Wetzel (Yahoo Sports) column.
Wetzel is one of the pre-eminent sports writers in the country. I don’t always agree with him, but he’s pretty darn solid, and I think he truly hit the nail on the head with a recent article.
I’d already determined to share Wetzel’s article on Aaron Hernandez with my grandson (now in college), before I decided to also share it with the public at large. The grandson is light years different than Hernandez, so overall I don’t fret that much about him engaging in a path to destruction. Still, we’re all capable of making mistakes, so occasional reminders about potential consequences for bad decisions are worthwhile.
I would go so far as to call Wetzel’s article a “really good read,” especially for those who might underestimate incarceration.
Wetzel notes . . .
. . . Hernandez entered the prison system with an attitude.
“This place ain’t [expletive] to me,” Hernandez once told officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts, according to an incident report. “I’ll run this place and keep running [expletive]. Prison ain’t [expletive] to me.”
Sadly, there are probably a lot of other people out there who hold similar views – at least to the point of being able to handle time in the joint. Others live their lives as if there will never be a consequence. Still yet another group actually anticipates a “bad ending,” but why care about tomorrow, next week, next month or, for that matter, the next 20 years or so.
I’m relatively confident there are worse places than where Hernandez lived his final days. However, Wetzel’s article illustrates a kind of hellish situation for somebody who seemed to “have it all” before his incarceration. There was the massive NFL contract ($40 million) and a 7,100-square-foot mansion -- not to mention the celebrity status and everything that comes with such things.
His murder conviction put him in a 7-by-10-foot cell with seemingly endless days and nights filled with angst and frustration. The sentence specified life without parole.
Wetzel’s article is a really good read for anybody. It could be a great read for those who are smart enough to learn from somebody else’s experiences.
For the Wetzel article, click HERE
“This place ain’t [expletive] to me,” Hernandez once told officers at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, Massachusetts, according to an incident report. “I’ll run this place and keep running [expletive]. Prison ain’t [expletive] to me.”
Sadly, there are probably a lot of other people out there who hold similar views – at least to the point of being able to handle time in the joint. Others live their lives as if there will never be a consequence. Still yet another group actually anticipates a “bad ending,” but why care about tomorrow, next week, next month or, for that matter, the next 20 years or so.
I’m relatively confident there are worse places than where Hernandez lived his final days. However, Wetzel’s article illustrates a kind of hellish situation for somebody who seemed to “have it all” before his incarceration. There was the massive NFL contract ($40 million) and a 7,100-square-foot mansion -- not to mention the celebrity status and everything that comes with such things.
His murder conviction put him in a 7-by-10-foot cell with seemingly endless days and nights filled with angst and frustration. The sentence specified life without parole.
Wetzel’s article is a really good read for anybody. It could be a great read for those who are smart enough to learn from somebody else’s experiences.
For the Wetzel article, click HERE
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