Sports

Sports Fans Share Emotional Reactions To Star Athletes’ Criminal Behavior

Darren - April 23, 2021

Sports

Sports Fans Share Emotional Reactions To Star Athletes’ Criminal Behavior

Darren - April 23, 2021

5. War Machine

War Machine started life as Jonathan Koppenhaver before he legally changed his name to the former. The MMA fighter fought for promotions that included the UFC and Bellator. In the end, he became notorious after almost murdering his former girlfriend Christy Mack. As well as battering and slicing her with a knife, he also raped her. A court sentenced him to life in prison for the heinous act.

“Seriously, looking at photos of her after this happened is absolutely heartbreaking,” perfumebunny007 wrote. “How somebody could ever harm their significant other like this is astounding. It sounds like she’s on a better life path now though. The emotional scarring has got to still be horrific though.” As one of the most well-known porn stars on the planet, Mack’s suffering attracted a lot of media attention.

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4. Adam Johnson

Johnson burst onto the scene as a fresh-faced winger. His exciting and dynamic performances convinced Manchester City to sign him before finally moving back to his hometown Premier League club, Sunderland. The England international stunned the soccer world after a criminal conviction in 2015. Police arrested him after he groomed a 15-year-old girl and he duly went to prison.

Finally, in 2019, he left prison after serving half of his sentence. @PaulChocky never expected to hear about him again because of his dark past. “Players have come back from robbery, drink driving, tax evasion and even assault to play professional football (soccer) again,” he tweeted. “But this was sexual assault of a minor, there’s no coming back from that. This guy will never kick a ball in anger again!”

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3. Michael Vick

Vick singlehandedly changed the quarterback position during his time with the Atlanta Falcons. However, he never became the transcendent superstar that he could have been. This was because of his outrageous criminal behavior behind the scenes. It emerged that Vick was the ringleader of a dog-fighting ring. He did time for this atrocious action and lost many of his former fans. Of course, Vick returned to the NFL after his release but it was a dark period.

nohipstersallowed noted: “If Vick wasn’t arrested and convicted I think it’s pretty safe to say he would still be torturing dogs. I’m not saying people shouldn’t root for him, but I also don’t think people out there realize that prison isn’t often the cure for sociopaths. He certainly has seemed to turn his life around and deserves credit for that, but I would never cheer for someone who has derived pleasure from torturing another living creature.”

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2. Oscar Pistorius

Tiger Wood, Lance Armstrong, and now Oscar Pistorius, Nike should really just tell the athletes and change the motto to “Don’t do it,” 10steps noted after the latter’s arrest in 2013. Before this, Pistorious was a rare package. He transcended the achievements of most Paralympic athletes after he medalled in ablebodied track racing. But it all came crashing down when he murdered his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

This was one of the most high-profile murder trials of the decade. The South African court initially rejected the murder conviction and Pistorious was even out on house arrest at one point. However, a retrial found him guilty of murder and he went to prison for 13 years. It was a dramatic and traumatic sequence of events but one that will never be forgotten because of Pistorious’s fame.

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1. Aaron Hernandez

There was a time when Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski were the top tight end duo in the NFL. Sadly, Hernandez has one of the darkest criminal convictions on this list after he murdered Odin Lloyd. Furthermore, investigations link him to several other homicides. In the end, Hernandez, a closet bisexual and abuse sufferer, killed himself in prison.

“There’s actually a lot that’s come out about his childhood and some repressed issues he had. I’m not excusing what he did but he had a really f***ed up life. And there’s no “may have had CTE” about it, he had one of the more advanced cases they had ever seen,” @drew_bare observed. Of course, this doesn’t take away the tragedy that occured nor the suffering of the victims. But it shows the need for an investigation into CTE in contact sports.

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Sports Fans Share Emotional Reactions To Star Athletes’ Criminal Behavior

Sports Fans Share Emotional Reactions To Star Athletes’ Criminal Behavior

5. War Machine

4. Adam Johnson

3. Michael Vick

2. Oscar Pistorius

1. Aaron Hernandez

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