American Sports Story

American Sports Story is a solid spin-off of the incredible series American Crime Story. It's basically the same show. I'm not even sure why they didn't just add this to another season of American Crime Story instead of renaming it. Unlike that show this stars mostly unknown actors who all do a great job portraying their real life counterparts. I see some people are upset because they think the shows goes easy on Aaron Hernandez and blames others for his mistakes. I don't see it that way at all. It shows every despicable thing he's done but there's a reason he ended up becoming the person he is. He had an abusive father, a mom who cared about herself above all others, how he was ashamed he was bisexual and that he had CTE. Those are all facts that led to him becoming who he is. He was not a good person and this shows that. American Sports Story is another compelling show in a long line of them from Ryan Murphy.

This is a subject that was done to very close detail on many true crime documentaries. It really was unlike anything we've seen before. You had a super star New England Patriot no less at the pinnacle of sports. He was moonlighting as a double murderer and criminal. So of course this is going to be done over and over. One of the reviewers wasn't totally wrong about the Ryan Murphy take. He usually show horns homosexuality into his work, but to be fair there were a lot of accusations about him being gay or bi sexual. It has a part to play in the story, especially him being this macho football player in NFL. So leaving that apart I think the actor does a good job at playing him. The story follows the facts for most part and then of course there is Hollywood stuff in the story. That goes for everything pretty much. Certain things are necessary for the sake of a full series and not everything is absolutely as it was. We will never get the whole story about who this monster was, but by now I think we have a good enough idea. Not since OJ has their been something like it, and Aaron Hernandez was actually convicted and doing these things while actively playing on Tom Brady led Patriot Super Bowl teams. I mean the story is incredible and made for tv. Basically a serial killer by night that we are watching and glorifying every Sunday in what is like religion in this country in the NFL. Anybody complaining on here that it puts Aaron in a bad light is totally missing the point or some kind of family member or something. Guy was a total monster who executed his friend in cold blood and left his body like garbage. Let's remember who the real victims were here. I don't care how bad his upbringing in Bristol was it doesn't excuse what he did. The angle that somehow if his sexuality could have freed him that he wouldn't have been a murderer is also a bit ridiculous to be kind. In the end it is a decent series but like I said you can get much more facts in any one of the 3-4 documentaries that Netflix or Oxygen channel did on him. This is typical Ryan Murphy style show and not a doc. So that is the major difference. It's not the worst thing I ever saw. If you never saw the Netflix doc or OXYGEN one then skip the show and just warm.

I don't know why they did it but this series almost makes excuses for Hernandez's psychotic actions. They present Hernandez as this sensitive, sexually confused person who's addled by concussions. They treat his victims as if they're just some tally. They make little attempt to humanize any of them.

The real Aaron Hernandez was a charming sociopath. He was an emotional chameleon who could instantly adjust his personality to fit his audience. Aaron Hernandez had three faces, the good guy, jokester footballer, the closed homosexual and the cold blooded killer. The cold blooded killer is the real Aaron Hernandez.

The mini-series glazed over these facts: Hernandez didn't just punch a bartender across a bar. He sucker punched a bar manager who was turned away from him, rupturing his ear drum and causing bleeding from the ear. The two men who were shot in their car in Gainesville identified Hernandez from a photo lineup. This was after they'd had an altercation in a bar with Hernandez. This was probably Hernandez's first attempted murder. It appears the Gator's fixers made those problems go away.

They do actually show Hernandez murdering the two men in another car shooting in Boston but they totally mischaracterize the Odin Loyd killing. There was no soulful discussion before the murder.

Hernandez shot Lloyd without warning in the car. As Lloyd tried to run he shot him more times. Then he got out of the car and stood over Lloyd's prone body as he delivered the final fatal shots.

There are many people who suffer from CTE. There are many men who are closeted homosexuals. Hardly any of them are multiple murderers.

Hernandez was a spoiled kid who was told everyday how special he was. His father had rage issues. His mother displays sociopathic tendencies. If nothing else, she is a cold person who refused to attend the bulk of her son's court appearances.

Hernandez was shown that he was above the Law while with the Gators. He realized he could literally 'get away with murder' and he did, for a while.

Out of the three faces of Aaron Hernandez the only true one was cold hearted killer. This series fails to capture that face. The series also fails to show proper respect and empathy for the victims, while lavishing sympathy on Hernandez.

I was pleasantly surprised I didn't think that this would be as good as it was. My heart bleeds for Aaron after watching this he was a terribly tortured soul. Prior to this I thought that he was just an arrogant jerk. Being molested as a kid really set his tragic life on the path that it went down. Not to say that he was totally innocent and as a man he had choices but choose the wrong paths. It is so sad that such a talented guy ended up like he did. Family was definitely dysfunctional and his dad was crazy. His poor brother was full of envy I just hope that he found his self obviously it was not a football career.

This show just makes me question the league more than anything...the drug use especially...so everyone is high now? OK cool but the league is also aware of the signs of brain injury they didn't stop to assess this dude a little more? He was showing signs when Murphy was pressing him. Seems the league doesn't even care about the players they profit off of

The story is bland for all the issues it has, and could have been more elaborate with the actual situations he was facing. It was too much about irrelevant issues...but the actor portrayals are believable so I'll give it that

It's quite a downward spiral for him and in a way I feel so bad for his struggles and the mess he left behind but he could have gotten help too so ....