If you abide by the Lifetime Channel's tried and true axiom, you'll never get burned, never get your heart broken and the murdered young man is always resurrected for the next film.
That's the only lesson that New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick learned from the evil Aaron Hernandez saga. People don't change. They'll talk a good game, even send letters to the owners of National Football League teams begging them to believe that he's put his past behind him.
They may become one of the best and brightest new stars in football, start a family and elude the temptation of past addictions. The people who employ them and the people who watch them play may become blinded by the promise of their potential, pay them many dollars and edify them to idol status.
But in the end you end up disappointed and bitter, holding self-flogging press conferences to try and explain to a cynical media and grieving fan base how you missed the warning signs that your star tight end was in fact nothing more than a punk with a gun fetish.
And that's exactly what Belichick did on Wednesday afternoon.
"I’ve been advised to address the subject once," said the callous Belichick, at the end of his opening remarks "and it’s time for the New England Patriots to move forward. Moving forward consists of what it’s always been here - to build a winning football team, be a strong pillar in the community and be a team that our fans will be proud of. That’s where we are."
Indeed. That's all he really needed to say, and it would have been enough. But Belichick had some things that he needed to get off his chest - not in the way that sinners hit their knees and confess those transgressions and not in the way that one lies on a couch in a shrink's office and spills their guts.
No, this was much more personal than that.
The people gathered in this room had been dragging him, his reputation and his football team through the sewer since the news of Hernandez's involvement in the Odin Lloyd murder broke - from the local media where the hate-fest began to the national media where the hate spread quickly, the organization that Belichick is the very conspicuous leader of had been taking gut shots from these people for weeks, and he wanted a few words with them...
...and a few words for his former employee - because the Patriots needed Belichick to address the situation, get it all out in the open, then drop it forever.
It's no longer a situation to the hooded one - this he made very clear with a seven minute long soliloquy in his first press conference since he and Bob Kraft fired Hernandez - releasing the talented yet apparently mortiferous former tight end after he was arrested for the execution-style slaying of friend and semi-pro linebacker Odin Lloyd.
Belichick is clearly distraught over the nation wide crucifixion of the Patriots' name since the foul deed first hit the digital media, and it came through at crucial spots in his remarks. It bothers him.
He spoke several times of the length of his tenure, of the careful measures taken and exhaustive research that goes into building a franchise the proper way, seemingly oddly defensive - no anger in his voice, just matter-of-factly accepting responsibility and owning his personnel decisions...
...but do not confuse Belichick being defensive and accountable for any admission of guilt. Bill Belichick runs the New England Patriots the way he runs the New England Patriots, and nobody - especially the local Boston media - is going to question the manner in which he brought three championships to this title-starved fan base.
His remarks were measured by the teaspoon, but one got the feeling that the man that was standing at the podium was taking Hernandez to task, the man who let down his family, his teammates, the coach and owner that believed him when he said he had changed - making sure that his message was clear, that he was taking the breaking his trust very personally...
...and then to the media as well, but it wasn't the media that Belichick liked and trusted and brought in to represent and uphold a standard built from his lifetime of work. It wasn't the media who forced Belichick to deal with having to be politically correct and sidestep landmines - and it sure as hell wasn't the media that let down each and every one of the Patriots players and fans.
Well, sometimes they do.
Belichick has a well worn disdain for the media in general and has never been very forthcoming with them, so he expected a certain amount of Patriot bashing from the casual media in cities outside of New England, but he seemed to take exception to the bashing that came from the local media. His voice was stern, pointed even, as he told the crowd gathered that he would not be entertaining questions on the Hernandez matter.
"I know that there are a lot of questions, fair questions, about this subject and related subjects." pausing briefly for effect, then "I respect the judicial process and have been advised not to comment on ongoing legal proceedings and I am advising our players to do the same.".
The end. That was all you will ever hear again on what is clearly a painful and closed chapter in his life and in the history of the Patriots' organization, but he knew better than to expect the national press and, particularly, the Patriots beat writers to let the matter drop without gaining a usable sound bite or two - and he was accommodating to a point, his comments deliberate - at one point answering the redundancy with an exasperated, "This is real life".
"This case involves an individual who happened to be a New England Patriot. We certainly do not condone unacceptable behavior, and this does not in any way represent the way that the New England Patriots want to do things."
And with that, the albatross is gone. Bill Belichick stood in front of the world and bared his soul as much as we've ever witnessed. Hernandez hurt him. The press rubbed it in his face. Today, he made sure that he let all of them know how he feels about them.
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