Jim Souhan: Aaron Rodgers’ arrogance in full view while Packers’ season suddenly in jeopardy
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Big news in the NFC North: Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will miss at least 10 days because he’s unvaccinated and Bears coach Matt Nagy will return from COVID-19 protocols, damaging both teams’ chances of winning this week.
Rodgers is about to experience unwanted side effects.
He has destroyed his curated image as an elevated thinker.
He has forfeited any sympathy he may have garnered as the Packers treated him like an asset instead of a god.
He has damaged his team’s chances to win the Super Bowl before Green Bay kicks him out of town.
In August, reporters asked Rodgers if he was vaccinated. He answered “yeah” and that he was “immunized,” indicating he was vaccinated.
Rodgers will not play on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. Whether he can return in time to play against Seattle the following week remains in doubt.
If Rodgers’ absence contributes to one or two losses and those one or two losses cost the Packers a home berth in a playoff game and the Packers lose that game, Rodgers will be to blame.
The Vikings’ solidarity has been damaged by key players refusing to get the vaccine. Mike Zimmer sounded disgusted this summer when talking about star players refusing to do what would benefit the health and viability of the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings’ performance this year — and especially on Sunday night against Dallas, when the entire team seemed to blow mental and emotional gaskets — may well have been sabotaged by divisions in the organization over vaccines.
Kirk Cousins demonstrated his lack of leadership by refusing to get vaccinated for the good of the team that has paid him $161 million. The difference between Cousins and Rodgers is that Rodgers lied about it, and did so in a typically smarmy way.
Rodgers reportedly sought homeopathic solutions to COVID-19 and petitioned the NFL to be considered vaccinated. Apparently, chamomile tea doesn’t cut it. The NFL refused. Rodgers then pretended he was vaccinated.
Defenders of people like Rodgers and Cousins use the phrase “personal choice” to explain the decision to avoid vaccines.
It would only be a personal choice if you lived alone on an island. If you want to participate in society, it’s a dangerous, selfish choice. It is an anti-fact and anti-science choice. It is a conscious decision to believe in weaponized disinformation instead of league doctors, team doctors and America’s brightest medical minds. It’s a betrayal of team values.
This summer, when the Cowboys were dealing with their own unvaccinated players, Cowboys great Michael Irvin said: “My thing is, even if I had them, even if I had those fears, that there’s something here, I still am going to get vaccinated,” he said. “Because the fear don’t override my desire to win a championship.”
We hear coaches and athletes say so often that winning is of paramount importance that we sometimes mistakenly believe it.
Rodgers has always painted himself as an intellectual. He spends interviews belittling any question or questioner that doesn’t ascend to his level of genius. He is a hypersensitive bully who has gotten away with his arrogance because he is also one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to snap on a chinstrap.
Beware the athlete who equates sporting success with worldly intelligence, or virtue.
The Packers have had two Hall of Fame quarterbacks start almost all of their games since 1992. Brett Favre allegedly sent inappropriate photos to a sideline reporter and is now repaying money to the state of Mississippi as the result of fraud charges against him. Rodgers has pouted about the Packers drafting Jordan Love ever since the Packers drafted Jordan Love, even though he once played the role of Jordan Love.
I used to enjoy entertaining the idea of Rodgers following Favre to Minnesota. Now I hope he leaves football to host a game show I’ll never watch, one where he gets the answers in advance so he can pretend he’s the smartest guy in the room, even though we now know better.
Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
Mike McCarn
Did Kaep change the vote? Did Kaepernick's protest, and the movement his protests birthed, convince otherwise uninterested citizens to vote for upset winner Donald Trump in 2016 ... or, at least, to vote against Kaepernick supporter Hillary Clinton?
No, Kaepernick probably didn't move the needle that much.
"If anything, I think it's the opposite," said Lonna Rae Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico and an expert on voting who contributes to the MIT Election Data Science Lab. "It might have impacted how people felt about football more than how they felt about voting."
No doubt, politicizing the playing field annoyed millions, and the causes seemed tangential compared with more tangible problems.
"This was such a small issue compared with policy that affects people directly," Atkeson explained. "'If they raise taxes, that affects me directly. If they give me $300 a month because I have kids, that affects me directly. Football players kneel at a football game — that has no effect on me.' It's symbolic. That symbolism, per se, would not have any causal impact on voter decision-making."
That might be true, but it sure felt like Kaepernick's shadow colored everything last year. In the wake of more deaths of Black people at the hands of police, culminating with the videotaped murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the echo of Kaepernick's concerns resonated through the streets of U.S. cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore.
Mike McCarn
Did Kaep change the vote? Did Kaepernick's protest, and the movement his protests birthed, convince otherwise uninterested citizens to vote for upset winner Donald Trump in 2016 ... or, at least, to vote against Kaepernick supporter Hillary Clinton?
No, Kaepernick probably didn't move the needle that much.
"If anything, I think it's the opposite," said Lonna Rae Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico and an expert on voting who contributes to the MIT Election Data Science Lab. "It might have impacted how people felt about football more than how they felt about voting."
No doubt, politicizing the playing field annoyed millions, and the causes seemed tangential compared with more tangible problems.
"This was such a small issue compared with policy that affects people directly," Atkeson explained. "'If they raise taxes, that affects me directly. If they give me $300 a month because I have kids, that affects me directly. Football players kneel at a football game — that has no effect on me.' It's symbolic. That symbolism, per se, would not have any causal impact on voter decision-making."
That might be true, but it sure felt like Kaepernick's shadow colored everything last year. In the wake of more deaths of Black people at the hands of police, culminating with the videotaped murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the echo of Kaepernick's concerns resonated through the streets of U.S. cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore.
Tagliabue memoir a strong look into the NFL’s inner workings
David Zalubowski
On May 26, 2020, Floyd, a Black man arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd lay in the street, handcuffed and helpless, while three other officers prevented passersby from intervening. The horror was videotaped by a 17-year-old girl. The killing sparked the largest protests in U.S. history; as many as 26 million people spent the summer voicing their exhaustion with the epidemic of racist violence in America and the impunity with which police can operate.
From the NBA and WNBA, from soccer to softball, from youth sports through high schools through college, some emboldened by Kaepernick's sacrifice, athletes took the lead.
Zirin began researching his book in early 2020, examining how Kaepernick's stance influenced their own decisions to protest, often in small towns, where community sports rule all, and where anonymity is impossible. After Floyd's murder, Zirin re-interviewed several of the subjects in his book.
"They were all in the streets," he said. "For these people — especially the high-school level people — taking a knee while they were playing football, soccer, volleyball, cheerleader, whatever, that was the first political act they'd ever taken in their lives. And now, here they are, leading serious street demonstrations."
From the little guy to superstars, everyone got in on the act — even cowards from yesteryear.
In the 1990s, Michael Jordan refused to engage politically so he could sell more shoes. Charles Barkley was a Republican. Jordan has since called his pro-commerce stance "selfish," and he issued a rare statement after Floyd's murder. Barkley, no longer a member of the GOP, last year campaigned for Doug Jones, who upset Roy Moore in a Senate race in Barkley's deep-red home state of Alabama. Barkley has been all over the map regarding protests during the anthem, but in June 2020 he finally called Kaepernick "courageous" and "honorable."
If you can get Sir Charles to change his mind, you've done something. Kaepernick has changed millions of minds, and he has enlightened millions more.
"He created a bridge from what was happening on the athletic field to real antipathy for racism and police violence," Zirin said. "Of the many bridges that led us to the summer of 2020, one significant one was paved by athletes, and, most centrally, by Colin Kaepernick."
David Zalubowski
On May 26, 2020, Floyd, a Black man arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Floyd lay in the street, handcuffed and helpless, while three other officers prevented passersby from intervening. The horror was videotaped by a 17-year-old girl. The killing sparked the largest protests in U.S. history; as many as 26 million people spent the summer voicing their exhaustion with the epidemic of racist violence in America and the impunity with which police can operate.
From the NBA and WNBA, from soccer to softball, from youth sports through high schools through college, some emboldened by Kaepernick's sacrifice, athletes took the lead.
Zirin began researching his book in early 2020, examining how Kaepernick's stance influenced their own decisions to protest, often in small towns, where community sports rule all, and where anonymity is impossible. After Floyd's murder, Zirin re-interviewed several of the subjects in his book.
"They were all in the streets," he said. "For these people — especially the high-school level people — taking a knee while they were playing football, soccer, volleyball, cheerleader, whatever, that was the first political act they'd ever taken in their lives. And now, here they are, leading serious street demonstrations."
From the little guy to superstars, everyone got in on the act — even cowards from yesteryear.
In the 1990s, Michael Jordan refused to engage politically so he could sell more shoes. Charles Barkley was a Republican. Jordan has since called his pro-commerce stance "selfish," and he issued a rare statement after Floyd's murder. Barkley, no longer a member of the GOP, last year campaigned for Doug Jones, who upset Roy Moore in a Senate race in Barkley's deep-red home state of Alabama. Barkley has been all over the map regarding protests during the anthem, but in June 2020 he finally called Kaepernick "courageous" and "honorable."
If you can get Sir Charles to change his mind, you've done something. Kaepernick has changed millions of minds, and he has enlightened millions more.
"He created a bridge from what was happening on the athletic field to real antipathy for racism and police violence," Zirin said. "Of the many bridges that led us to the summer of 2020, one significant one was paved by athletes, and, most centrally, by Colin Kaepernick."
Jim Souhan: Aaron Rodgers’ arrogance in full view while Packers’ season suddenly in jeopardy
Wesley Hitt/Getty Images North America/TNS
Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers passes against the Detroit Lions during the first half at Lambeau Field on September 20, 2021 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images/TNS)
Wesley Hitt/Getty Images North America/TNS
Aaron Rodgers #12 of the Green Bay Packers passes against the Detroit Lions during the first half at Lambeau Field on September 20, 2021 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images/TNS)
