The New England Patriots and Florida Gators can't seem to escape the Aaron Hernandez spotlight. The calendars a company produced for both teams featured Hernandez in both of them, according to the Washington Post.
The calendars are still available for sale through Target.com and feature tight end No. 81 in the Gators’ white jersey and blue pants with an orange stripe carrying the football under his right arm and almost looking into the camera. It includes his height, weight and hometown of Bristol, Connecticut.
In the Patriots calendar, Hernandez is seen holding the ball in red-gloved hands and wearing a dark blue jersey, silver pants and high socks. It’s hard to tell from the Target ad in which month he is featured. It has the NFL and NFL Players Association logos on the back.
Trolling ... or nah? It appears that it was the latter, since the calendars were made months before the Hernandez fiasco came up.
Officials approved the calendar last spring, months before the arrest, said Florida spokesman Daniel Apple. The calendars’ maker, Turner Licensing, a division of Perfect Timing Inc., did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Apple says there's really nothing they can do about it.
Apple said the calendar was not produced by the university, but a third party. Since it’s already been printed and distributed for sale, there’s not much the school can do, Apple said.
“There are thousands of Gator products in the pipeline for approval at any given time and it’s not common practice to re-review them once they have already been approved. We have since notified the licensee that it is no longer approved,” he said.
He added that the school just became aware of the situation on Monday.
Apple says the school advised the calendar’s maker that Florida no longer approves of the product, but that those already printed will not be recalled.
