USA Hockey In Defeat

The United States Olympic hockey team started out strong in the games at Sochi, Russia, however that was all changed by a disappointing performance against Canada. With their hopes of gold lost, the hockey team did still have a shot at a medal in the bronze medal game. Unfortunately, Finland wanted it more, and thrashed the United States 5 - 0. According to an article on USA Today,the game changer was when, "Teemu Selanne and Jussi Jokinen scored 11 seconds apart in the second period to give the always-defensive-minded Finns all of the scoring they needed. Both goals occurred with USA's top defensive pair of Ryan Suter and Ryan McDonagh on the ice." These events built up a lot of frustration for the Americans, and seemed to put the game away in Finland's favor. The game was obviously very disappointing for the Americans, and left them without a medal in the games. Perhaps this would count as revenge for Finland, as they lost 6 - 1 to the United States during the semi-finals of the 2010 winter Olympics. Without a medal for men's hockey, the United States finished at Sochi with 28 total medals, 9 of them gold.

Aaron Hernandez was a kid from Bristol, who excelled at athletics, but also crime. Hernandez' father, Dennis, also had been known for a life of crime, and violence during his upbringing in the seventies, and eighties. After Aaron was born however, he made sure to keep him on a straight path. He had steady work, and no more drugs, or problems with the law. That all changed in Aaron's sophomore year of high school, as his father had died. This meant that the father figure keeping his son from a life of crime, was no longer there, and Aaron turned to recreational drugs, and kept to himself. Before long, he had new "gangster" friends, and even worse, his mother had remarried to an abusive drug dealer. Aaron was deeply hurt by the fact that his mother was being abused by her new husband. Despite all of the trouble he had endured, Hernandez still had a scholarship to the University of Connecticut, however he was persuaded to instead attend Florida, and join the likes of Tim Tebow, en route to a national championship. Tebow would become the teams leading catcher, and became one of the best tight ends in the game. However, his childhood problems had also followed him all the way from Bristol. He had been getting into drugs, and violence, as he took part in a bar altercation in which he shattered a waiters eardrum (he was under-age at the time). Ernest Wallace, a gangster friend,  had also followed him to Florida, as he became Hernandez' muscle. Instances such as these, as well as considerable suspensions, had raised red flags, and caused his first round draft stock to plummet. However these issues were greatly outweighed by his overwhelming amount of talent, ad were not enough to stop the great Bill Bellichick from drafting him. You could blame his collage coaches for not doing enough to stop his life of crime, but the real blame should lie with his childhood friends, who as it seems, have turned Hernandez into a full fledged gangster. He should have received bigger suspensions, and possibly arrests to show him that just because he was a talented athlete, he is not above the law.