Aaron Hernandez' Collateral Damage  ⚐

Amazing article by Michael Rosenberg in Sports Illustrated on Aaron Hernandez’ brother Jonathan and the impact the trial and conviction have had on his life.

Shortly after the conviction, D.J. makes two key decisions. He will leave coaching, and he will no longer be D.J. That was a sports name, he says, and he doesn’t need it anymore. Time to start fresh. He won’t go by his first name, Dennis, because that belongs to his father. So his middle name, Jonathan, it is. He hears about a job working for a roofer in Dallas and decides to try it out.

Aaron, meanwhile, is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Just like that, two football dreams have died—but so did Odin Lloyd, and people think that’s all that matters. Understandably.

It’s a wonderfully written story, covering the brothers growing up in Connecticut, their football success, and the toll Aaron Hernandez took on the various people in and around his life.