Aaron’s father gets off WAY too easy on this podcast. He beat his wife and sons! Got drunk and beat his family! Then the host “wonders” who could have made a difference???? Aaron’s father was a demon. That’s where the trouble started

Excellent!! thoroughly and truthfully investigated from all sides, exposing the Patriots failures and family dysfunction. I would never condone murder but this is a deep dive into how troubled he was, and how physical and emotional trauma affected him. It makes one question if Aaron Hernandez was drafted to a team anywhere else, would he have walked a different path? Maybe not, but this podcast made me wonder.

Really good reporting. Thanks for being so thorough!

They podcast didn’t go into why Aaron killed his friend, didn’t explore or delve into his early life or upbringing. This was a general over view of case

No one held Hernández responsible for his actions ever. He got away with way too much. He was put on a pedal stool and everyone enabled him because he was a great football player. Change the culture and take responsibility both coaches and players and everyone involved.

Well researched, reported, told and educated story, yet a sad one. Aaron battled his own issues and physically espoused trauma from an early age and speculatively didn’t want to nor could’ve break from those things.

Thank you for telling his story. This podcast was amazing. While his acts were unspeakable, the backstory and history provide at least some context and humanize him.

His life seemed riddled with pain and confusion. I learned a lot by listening. Very well told and detailed!

Unfortunate a sad story but an interesting story. I enjoyed listening!

If Hernandez was bi, then so what?? This father son team see too desperate and contrived. Also, hasn’t it been proven that San Soucie was not the football star he claims to be?

I normally really love the research that goes into Wondery podcasts, but this felt like a watered down version of the Netflix docuseries. There are a few tidbits you get but not a ton. It was a good easy listen.

Very sad story on every aspect. Excellent production.

Read the article series, and hoped this would be better. This is nothing but crooning about who is responsible for the behavior of a sociopath who exhibited misanthropy and misogyny for *decades*. Terrible childhood, absolutely. But just because he could play a sport, he gets a pass at accountability for murder. This man was a serial killer, full stop. Don't kid yourselves.

Football is kool

I love football. I always have. Listening to the Gladiator series makes me doubtful about the viability of football moving forward. I’m sure it will continue unabated, and Aaron’s case has just been another hurdle to contend with. Aaron’s entire story has been fascinating, and there was so much I didn’t know that this series brought to light, most notably the phone calls from jail. I’m not a clinician, but I think that his advanced CTE was certainly a contributing factor in unraveling his life. If people had stepped up, would things have been different? Maybe, but would any substantive changes, born out of that intervention, have been genuine, or would the chameleon inside have just put up a front? I have no idea. Still, I’m glad I listened to the series, and hope they come out with more on this story.

This was an excellent podcast, enlightening and well reported. I love the details given that were unknown to me. Maybe in New England more of this was available, but for people in other parts of the country a lot was new to me.

You guys should continue with phone calls from jail. Amazing podcast!!!

Humanized story of a young man that was gifted but so troubled.

Brian McGrory is a sexual deviant.

I really like how there is no attempt to justify anything that happened with him, but try to show us everything that influenced how his journey turned out. Excellent narration.

Informative and well told.

Great listen!

Can’t believe it and it was very tragic and being in medicine and I can relate to his Brain damage. My father died of this too.. love to talk

Bob and his team did an awesome job on this. I listened to the whole thing on my way back from California. I’m not a huge football fan, but appreciate the game. I’m also from CT, so the story is close to home - I remember when this was in the local/national news cycles. I look forward to listening to more Podcasts from Bob and his team. -TK

Such a great podcast and really kept me interested. They really put things together well and presented it in such a respectful way.

Well told. Like a page turner for podcasts.

Well researched and presented in an orderly sequence. The reporting is exceptional. Thanks to The Spotlight Team.

This is a great series, I wish it was on tv..lol...I been following all the shows on him. Thank you!

Calling this podcast Gladiator as though Aaron Hernandez is some kind of hero is disturbing. He’s a murderer who played football for a few years. He is NO Gladiator. This is so messed up.

Really loved the narration followed by the interviews and sound effects, you really get caught into the story with everything combined into one!!

I don’t like football 🏈 probably not very good

I absolutely loved this podcast!! I think it’s my favorite one by wondery!!

A 5 minute google search shows Dennis wasn’t Aaron’s quarterback, he wasn’t even listed as a qb also didn’t play the same years as him. Don’t continue putting out wrong information

After watching the Netflix series, I decided to listen to this podcast and the podcast did a much better job at explaining the story.

A PERFECTLY named series that dives deep into football culture and all of the darkness the players carry with them.

I think this series as well as the Netflix show failed to focus on the trauma A. Hernandez suffered as a physically and sexually abused child. This most likely contributed to his behaviors also.

It’s a shame that Nobody did anything to help Hernandez! It also a shame that he became part of the 27 club, that is much too young to lose your life.

One thing that stuck out in my mind was, “CTE never made any other athlete commit homicide” ummm what about Oj????!

This podcast is very well done , lots of info and interviews that give you the complete story of a troubled individual. One disappointment was the episode where they pretty much blame CTE for all of Hernandez’s problems and question why us sickos watch this violent game and let our children play it ....that was a little much. Stick to the facts , don’t preach and spout nonsense.

A very well presented story of a young man with so much promise.

Good info, presented very well. Enough serial without going too far into it.

Very good reporting, interviews, content and narrating. Very professional story telling. I don’t watch NFL football; however, I still found the story to be very interesting.

Good

The last two episodes were seemingly anticlimactic for my taste it would have been 5 stars had it ended with the same degree of intensity that carried the story beforehand.

Much like munchkins, this podcast is garbage!!!!!

I was impressed at the level of journalism in this podcast. Great reporting, better then Netflix documentary

Serious and well produced. No giggling podcasters or comedic commercial breaks to disrupt the tone of the of the story. No scratchy muffled phone recordings. Well modulated, even toned professional broadcaster voices. Thank you and more please.

This was great! Love Spotlight! Can we get more

This podcast covers far more detail and aspects of Aaron's life than the mini series on Netflix. I thoroughly enjoyed that, but found this twice as good.

I really appreciate how fair this podcast by telling the truth with facts and with real evidence luke the phone recordings. Loved the class of the narrators and their opinions! Definitely would love to hear more about this in light of recent news. Peace and prayers to all effected.