Aaron Rodgers trashes his legacy
Pete Rose
As Nancy Armour wrote for USA TODAY, as shocking as it is to see one of the greatest players of his generation, one of the greatest quarterbacks the game has ever seen, become the subject of late-night punchlines, it’s even sad.
The epitaph of Aaron Rodgers’s career will no longer be limited to his one Super Bowl title, four NFL MVP awards, and countless excellent stats. It will also have to include his descent into conspiracy theories and misinformation and a baseless attack on Jimmy Kimmel he tried — badly — to excuse as a misunderstanding.
It wasn’t the “woke establishment” that did this. “The mainstream media” isn’t to blame. This is all Rodgers’ own doing, with help from some of his “friends” on The Pat McAfee Show, and he won’t be able to outrun it no matter how many more seasons he plays.
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“This is their game plan,” he continued. “They use these words to cancel people, and they went and ran with this because it’s the crazy, anti-vaxxer whacko again talking about accusing somebody of being a pedophile? Of course. This is the game plan they use. Incorrect, but that’s the environment that we’re in.”
No, this is the environment Rodgers created.
Like all of us, tar athletes are the sum of all their parts, good and bad. But society is usually willing to give our heroes a pass on their flaws and mistakes — until those shortcomings overshadow what makes them great.
Pete Rose can never separate himself from his gambling on baseball. Barry Bonds’ records are forever tainted by the question of how much performance-enhancing drugs contributed to them. Lance Armstrong was undone by both his cheating and his scorched earth campaign to keep it hidden.
Rodgers joins their ranks, someone whose failings are as noteworthy as his triumphs.
He’s become the kooky, cringey relative at family holidays, demanding to be taken seriously as a deep thinker “challenging the establishment” when what he’s parroting is nonsensical and easily debunked. It’s a far cry from when Rodgers acted as a conscience for the league, offering thoughtful and measured responses to thorny issues beyond football.
Had Rodgers not gotten vaccinated or even been caught lying about it, it would have been a blip on his glittering résumé. A footnote at the bottom of stories about him: but he has made his fight for truth the central theme of his narrative, and you can no longer separate Rodgers, the star quarterback, from Rodgers, the quack. Especially when his misinformation, snide remarks about those he disagrees with, or those who call him on his BS go from unfunny to dangerous.
“When you hear” a guy who won a Super Bowl and did all the State Farm commercials say something like this, many people believe it,” Kimmel said “Monday night in a devastating response to Rodgers. “A lot of del “signal people honestly think I am meeting up with Tom Hanks and Oprah at Shakey’s once eat pizza and drink children’s blood.
“And I know t “is because I hear from these people often; my wife hears from them. My kids hear from them. My poor mailman hears from these people. And now we’re hearing we’re many more, thanks to Aaron Rodgers.”
Rodgers tried to “say Tuesday that he wasn’t suggesting Kiwasn’t name would Kimmel’s of people associated with Epstein, who trafficked young women to the rich and famous. But his explanation — that he only wants corruption and corrupt people exposed — was as bogus as his repeated claim that India and Japan successfully used ivermectin to treat COVID. Anyone who heard Rodgers last week and saw the smug look on his face knew he thought he was delivering a savage takedown of Kimmel.
But the only person Rodgers is taking down is himself.
Rodgers is intelligent, and his curiosity about the world outside of football used to be one of his most admirable qualities. But he somehow got lost in a vortex of misinformation and mistruths and can no longer see everyone else’s actions.
Rodgers is a terrific quarterback and an utter fool, and it’s impossible to separate one from the other.
