In a story posted Thursday that investigated the Rolling Stone's investigation, the Boston Globe found "sensationalism, hearsay, convenient fact-bending, and even one blatant falsity." The most obvious incorrect assertion the Globe found was that last spring, Hernandez "skipped out on team training drills, going to California to rehab an aching shoulder and take a much-needed break from New England.'' Calling that "flat-out wrong,'' the Globe story said that Hernandez attended the Patriots' offseason workouts during the NFL-prescribed period from April to June, and that his presence is at the core of the NFLPA's grievance to recover the $82,000 workout bonus the team is trying not to pay. The Globe also disputes the timeline of when Hernandez "cemented his don't-touch rep" as the 2010 draft approached – Rolling Stone singled out the 2007 bar room fight when he was a freshman at Florida, three seasons before the draft and long before the reported drug-test failures and other incidents that raised the real red flags for NFL teams. Also described as overinflated and sensationalized were the magazine's claims that Belichick's new head of security, Mark Briggs, was partly responsible for the Patriots' inability to stay on top of Hernandez's behavior; and its account of how much marijuana Hernandez regularly consumed while driving home from games ("three or four blunts"). The Globe, however, found at least some credibility, albeit with some shock, in the report that Hernandez was a heavy user of the drug PCP, or angel dust, despite the NFL's recreational drug-testing program; that Belichick had advised Hernandez earlier this year to find a "safe house," and that Hernandez carried a gun at all times to protect himself. Source: Sporting News
