We’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks questioning the intelligence of New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers without first questioning our own.
I prepared the writing of this column before receiving a synopsis of what the Jets quarterback said on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, not because I have any particular objection to the show, but because I feel like I’ve seen the episode before. No offense to McAfee, or his talents as a carnival barker and producer of engaging television, but I grew up watching professional wrestling and now work in a medium where, once a week, I rank the nebulous concept of “power” in the NFL and can see the difference in reaction and engagement when one popular fan base is either snubbed or praised. I lived as a sentient human being from 2016 to ’20; I’ve watched cable news before major coastal hurricanes; and, as a dad prone to embarrassing his kids, I understand the very basic concepts of how to get a rise out of someone.
Rodgers is indeed free to say whatever he wants about whatever he wants, and I’m happy we live in a country where this is true. I, too, am afforded that right and I don’t think it’s nearly controversial to suggest that most of the drama surrounding Rodgers’s appearances and the show in general are sloppily manufactured. Just look at the last week or so. This, to me, is where Rodgers shows the one place he does have some kind of cognitive superiority over the rest of us. He traps us in a cycle that leads to the inevitable conclusion that we will watch what he has to say next. Some of us are unwittingly stuck in the Rodgers algorithm.
