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A Violent Femme’s View – So What
Well, despite his modesty (snarky grin above notwithstanding and kudos to Anita for previously posting this hilarious shot), our QB1 has done quite the job of grabbing the spotlight this year, hasn’t he?
One of the things I have enjoyed about Aaron Rodgers is his grace in the public eye; his ability to balance enjoying the spotlight with a very apparent desire to be out of it. Now, I don’t buy all of his “aw shucks” attitude. Quarterback is a position with inherent attention paid to it, and those who play that position, whether they are in pee-wee football or on the Green Bay Packers, have egos. Attention is paid, and on a certain level they expect and yes, I would even say crave it.
Some of this attention grabbing has been deliberate – putting Skip Classless firmly in his place during his “Tuesdays with Aaron” show (the show being an attention grabber in and of itself), being in a music video…and some of it has not. The “Aaron Rodgers is mean to women with cancer” story being one example, and more recently the (I’m sure on his part) unwanted, unnecessary comparisons to his record of three years as a starter compared to the career of “that guy” being another.
This in particular is a well written article by Tom Silverstein and it makes some great points. “That guy” was a great quarterback. Of course he was! You don’t earn three NFL MVP titles consecutively if you suck. QB1 is a great quarterback. Well, duh! Of course he is! You don’t earn a Super Bowl MVP and have a QB rating of over 100 for your lifetime if you are not an elite quarterback.
The thing that amazes me, though, is that people feel the need to continue to debate which of these two men have superior abilities. The first season Aaron started, it’s true, we ALL compared the two. But that, to me, was certainly understandable, especially considering the Packers had just made it to the NFC title game, and the drama with which “that guy” was dispatched on his not-so-merry way. Maybe even the second season it made some sense. But now? It’s laughable. One career has (apparently) concluded. The other, barring something that would cause me to have a heart attack (WOULD the OLine do a better job now, please?) is still going strong and has plenty of life in it. Each man has a ring, and brought a trophy back to Titletown. One has opportunity to earn more, and the opportunity to lead a team to an undefeated season but, again, until those things happen, or until Aaron’s career concludes, there’s nothing to compare.
Aaron Rodgers is a rock star. “That guy” WAS a rock star. And I don’t really care how the two compare. Each has their place in Packers’ history. Aaron’s busy making a comparison at this point all right – comparing his performance each week to his vision of a higher performing self, and working to make those improvements. He’s got a Super Bowl to win. All I care about is him achieving that goal and continuing to do it with his high level of class and dignity. And a bit of snarky humor here and there.
To the rest, I say “so what”?
3 Comments
Of course you are correct…in a purely dispassionate way. But sports fans rarely view their subject from that vantage point. For better and/or worse, the history of the succession from ’4′ to ’12′ (with everything that entailed) virtually insures that neither of their careers will ever be evaluated in a vacuum.
I find the fact that “dispassionate” and my writing about Brett Favre can be used in the same sentence pleasing. I must be growing up.
That is a big step for you.