Aaron Hernandez Featured In University Of Florida 2014 Calendar
BOSTON (CBS) -- Now that he's behind bars, charged with three murders and a other gun charges, it would seem that the only calendar that might feature Aaron Hernandez in the year 2014 might be Bristol County House of Correction's Infamous Inmates.
Alas, Florida Gators fans found out this morning that someone from the University of Florida believed otherwise.
A photo spread wildly on social media early Tuesday morning, and it depicted Hernandez in his Gators gear running with the football. It included his info: "Height 6'1" - Weight 245 lbs - Hometown: Bristol, CT."
Beneath the picture shows the month: "July 2014."
Deadspin shared a tweet from user Jimi Kunkel, which shows the hard-to-believe calendar shot.
As with anything that appears on the Internet these days, the legitimacy of the photo immediately was questioned. After all, how could such an egregious mistake be made?
Well, the official Twitter account of the Florida Gators, as noted by Deadspin, seems to have confirmed that the photo is real and that Hernandez is indeed Mr. July in the calendar.
"Approval process for those things is over a year out, so that would have been approved in spring of 2013," the account explained. "And it's not from our marketing department, would be a licensed product not something we distributed."
One Twitter user tweeted at the Gators to say the situation was "flat-out embarrassing." The Gators' account didn't disagree.
"Agreed it's not ideal situation," the account tweeted. "Thousands of these projects come through for approval months/years in advance."
That may be true, but to think such a decision could get the approval and not one person could have done anything to halt the printing process is a bit far-fetched. It's much more likely that some folks were completely asleep at the wheel, and a whole bunch of them were reminded of their mistake when they flipped their calendars from June to July.
The school has previously cut some ties with its former star tight end, as last July it removed a brick from campus which honored Hernandez's All-American 2009 season.
"We didn't feel it was appropriate to celebrate Aaron Hernandez," the University Athletic Association said at the time. "We put together an immediate plan after the initial news broke to remove his likeness and name in various private and public areas in the facility, such as the South Endzone team area, locker room football offices, Heavener Complex Kornblau Lobby and the brick display entrance to the fooball facility. We were able to implement some of the changes immediately and this (brick removal) was a more complex process to complete with our vendors."
If only someone from the University Athletic Association had known about the calendar, it seems that Florida fans would be looking at a blank month in July 2014.
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