Tag Archives: Aaron Hernandez

Lindsay Mendez Starring in Ryan Murphy’s FX Anthology Series “American Sports Story”

Posted on by
Reply

Lindsay Mendez is getting in the game…

The 40-year-old Mexican American Broadway singer/actress has been cast as a series regular alongside Josh Andrés Rivera and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology American Sports Story.

American Sports Story, a new extension of Murphy’s “American Story” franchise, is a scripted anthological limited series focusing on a prominent event involving a sports figure and re-examines it through the prism of today’s world, telling that story from multiple perspectives.

The first installment, written by Stu Zicherman, is based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. from the Boston Globe and Wondery.

It charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Aaron Hernandez, played by Rivera, and explores the connections of the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their legacy in sports and American culture. Schwarzenegger portrays Hernandez’s friend, former college teammate and fellow former NFL star Tim Tebow.

Mendez plays Tanya Singleton, Aaron’s cousin and favorite relative who becomes his de-facto mother.

Mendez, a Tony Award winner for Carousel, is currently back on Broadway top-lining the praised revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll along opposite Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff.

She most recently was a series regular on the Warner Bros. series All Rise for CBS and then OWN.

Josh Andrés Rivera to Star as the Late Aaron Hernandez in FX’s “American Sports Story” Anthology Series

Posted on by
Reply

Josh Andrés Rivera is hitting the football field…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican actor will star in the first installment of Ryan Murphy’s American Sports Story anthology series for FX.

Josh Andrés RiveraRivera will portray the late former NFL star Aaron Hernandez in the season that’s based on the podcast Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc. from the Boston Globe and Wondery.

Rivera’s co-star will be Patrick Schwarzenegger as fellow former NFL star Tim Tebow.

The first installment charts the rise and fall of NFL superstar Hernandez and explores the connections of the disparate strands of his identity, his family, his career, his suicide, and their legacy in sports and American culture.

Tebow and Hernandez were longtime friends going back before their time in the National Football League. They were onetime teammates at the University of Florida, where they won the 2008 SEC Championship and went on to beat Oklahoma for the BCS Championship title. Tebow was known for looking out for Hernandez while on the team, including protecting Hernandez from being kicked off over marijuana use and helping to diffuse a situation in a bar when Hernandez got into an altercation with the bar manager. The two first met when Tebow hosted Hernandez on a recruiting trip to UF before he graduated high school.

Both castings were completed in early 2023, prior to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but were never confirmed by FX.

“We have a fairly complete set of scripts for American Sports Story by Stu Zicherman,” FX chairman John Landgraf said back on January 12, noting at the time that the series is “heading toward production.”

That was delayed by the WGA strike, which started in May, and the SAG-AFTRA strike, which has been going on since July.

American Sports Story, one of two new offshoots in Murphy’s “American Story” franchise alongside American Love Story, is a scripted anthological limited series focusing on a prominent event involving a sports figure and re-examines it through the prism of today’s world, telling that story from multiple perspectives.

Rivera next stars in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. He recently played Chino in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of West Side Story. He notably performed in the original company on the first national tour of Hamilton.

Giants Star Cruz Earns His First Super Bowl Ring…

Posted on by
Reply

New York Giants’ star Victor Cruz has plenty of reason to salsa… He’s now the proud owner of a Super Bowl championship ring in only his second season in the National Football League.

Victor Cruz

The 25-year-old half-Puerto Rican wide receiver scored the first touchdown of the night during Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday to help lead the Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots in a tightly-contested match.

New England almost forced a turnover and prevented a score during the Giants’ 10-play, 78-yard drive, but a Cruz fumble on third down in the red zone was undone by a 12 men on the field penalty, which gave the Giants a first and goal. They managed to convert with the scoring pass from Eli Manning, who was named this year’s Super Bowl MVP, to Cruz.

Following his touchdown—at the 3:24 mark in the first quarter—the All-Pro selection even celebrated by doing what he’s done all season long… dance salsa in the end zone… in front of more than 100 million people worldwide.

The New Jersey-born Cruz attended the University of Massachusetts and scored 11 touchdowns in his career and had just under 2,000 receiving yards.

Click here to watch an interview with Cruz reflecting on his improbable journey.

But Cruz wasn’t the only Latino to score a touchdown during the Super Bowl game…

Aaron Hernandez

In the third quarter, Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez caught a 12-yard pass from Tom Brady to put the Patriots up 17-9.

The 22-year-old Connecticut-born Hernandez—also a second year NFL player—attended the University of Florida where he, along with Tim Tebow, led the Gators to a 2009 BCS Championship. While at Florida, he was nicknamed “Chico” by his college teammates because he was the only Puerto Rican on the team, something he came to embrace.