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Fans freak out over Aaron Hernandez tribute at Super Bowl

FALL RIVER, MA - APRIL 7: Closing arguments in the Aaron Hernandez trial for the murder of Odin Llyod at Fall River Superior Court. Hernandez looks at the jurors as the alternates are being chosen. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
FALL RIVER, MA - APRIL 7: Closing arguments in the Aaron Hernandez trial for the murder of Odin Llyod at Fall River Superior Court. Hernandez looks at the jurors as the alternates are being chosen. (Photo by John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Somehow, former New England Patriots tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez got inserted into the tribute before the start of Super Bowl LII.

Aaron Hernandez could have been playing in Super Bowl LII. Instead, his life took a tragic turn, including becoming a convicted murder before a prison suicide.

Somehow, though, whoever put the tribute package together for NBC may have forgotten that Hernandez is a convicted murderer and had little respect for the families that were devastated by his actions.

On the “In memoriam” tribute before the start of Super Bowl LII, the NFL basically decided to let bygones be bygones with the departed Hernandez and include him in their tribute. Let’s say that a number of people who saw the tribute weren’t so happy seeing the deceased killer grace their television screens.

The first one to tweet their apparent disgust with the segment was Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report, who responded to a fan who was in defense of the segment.

In the comments that followed Freeman’s tweet, many supported him in wondering why they would include Hernandez, and I for one is in that camp as well. Hernandez is a disgrace to the NFL and humanity, so why should the league honor that?

Yes, he had CTE in his brain, but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse to kill people and then turn that into an honorary moment. In a season full of gaffes for the NFL, they couldn’t help themselves in providing one more mistake on the biggest stage in sports, the Super Bowl.

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It’s obvious that Hernandez should not have been included in that tribute. He should be a football ghost, one that we quickly forgot could have been one of the game’s great tight ends. Instead, he squandered that away when he decided to commit murder, and that shouldn’t be honored.