Aaron Rodgers Said What?

From an upcoming interview in SI Aaron says -

"I don't feel I need to sell myself to fans. They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut."

Hell yeah buddy.

I have liked Rodgers' confidence and willingness to speak what is on his mind from day one!! Good for him.......sounds like a starting QB should.

The only negative, is if he struggles out of the gate, there will be fans that jump on statements like that..

Otherwise.. be confident young man..

Hell yeah! Love that kind of attitude!

A little more on said article..

Rodgers:"Get Aboard Or Shut-Up"

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has done the national talk show circuit lately.

Two appearances on “The Jim Rome Show” (heard 11am – 2pm weekdays on Milwaukee’s 1250 WSSP-AM) . A guest spot on Romes’ network television show “Rome Is Burning”.

And he drew quite a crowd of national sports writers during the Packers most recent Mini Camp in mid-June. Some of the best NFL’s reporters in the business like Jason Cole, Yahoo Sports, and John Clayton, ESPN flew in just to do a sit down with Rodgers.

They all had the same story angle. “What’s it going to be like taking over for Brett Favre?

After three years of being asked the same question over and over “are you getting anxious to play?” it has now turned to “how can you follow a legend like Favre?” And with each of those interviews, the 24-year-old has handled it like a pro.

Until now.

In the latest Sports Illustrated, Rodgers was asked about his connection to the fans of the Green Bay Packers. How does he sell himself to a stadium full of generations of Packer backers still wearing their #4 jerseys?

Here is an excerpt of that article, written by SI’s Chris Ballard:

“(Rodgers) grew up admiring how athletes like Montana, David Robinson and Michael Jordan handled the press, and he can already mimic their measured, bland responses. He even has a checklist of sorts for interviews: Be available, be friendly, be brief and be "mostly honest."

On occasion, however, he forgets his own checklist and is perhaps too honest. Asked whether he feels pressure to connect with the fans the way Favre did, Rodgers answers unequivocally. "I don't feel I need to sell myself to the fans," he says. "They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut."

Oops.

Fans need to get on board now? Get on board what?

It took fans three years to get on board Brett Favre’s train. After the trip stopped short in Dallas a few times, it wasn’t until Favre hoisted the Super Bowl XXXI trophy that his whistle stop tour of Wisconsin carried all 72 counties in the state.

It hasn’t been easy being Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay the last three years. Here’s a guy ( as John Madden might say ) who was a stand out in high school, did a great job at Cal.

Then on draft day, he sits there on live TV waiting to be picked, dropping like a rock in the first round. Finally he gets selected with the 24th pick, sent to Green Bay, the NFL's no-man’s land for back-up quarterbacks. Just another body to spend the first two or three years of his career watching Mr. Lucky, the Ironman Favre, rack up his consecutive streak of starts.

"Why me?," Rodgers has asked himself over and over the past two seasons, knowing he had to think more in terms of Steve Young, and less Joe Montana, and others who had to wait to get their shot.

HEY ARRON, WHEN YA' COMIN' BACK?

When the Packers played the 49ers in San Francisco in 2006, Rodgers was on crutches after breaking his foot against the Patriots. I happened to get on an elevator from the press box to the field, just as Rodgers was getting on, to get down to the field for the end of the game.

49ers fans were not pleased watching Alex Smith making mistakes for a second year.

As the elevator doors opened, a Packers security person and Rodgers looked back, and invited me to tag along to the locker room.

Instantly the fans of Monster/Candlestick Park recognized their hero from Cal.

“Hey, look it’s Aaron Rodgers. Hey Aaron, come here and help us out!”.

Everywhere. Fans stopping in their tracks. Rodgers has a following in his home territory, the bay area. He would have loved to have played for the team he followed as a kid.

"There must be a reason for all of this," Rodgers has told me. The wait to play. And in Green Bay, not the San Francisco bay area.

Last year at Packers offensive tackle Mark Tauscher’s golf outing for his Trifecta Foundation, Rodgers was waiting for his tee time by the golf carts at The Bull, Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin.

I was asking him what is there to do in Lake Tahoe. Everyone talks about it. I’d never been there, and I wanted to hear what he likes to do there. Rodgers hometown of Chico, CA is not far, and he goes to Tahoe regularly.

As he told me about the lake, the golf courses, the restaurants and resorts, a kind of goofy looking guy comes walking up, and interrupts our conversation. Although the man was all decked out in his K-Mart golf wear, he had to have some cash in his pocket to be on the course that day.

“Hey Aaron,” the man says. “I’m so-and-so from Madison. You know my friend so-and-so from blah-blah. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know the newspaper in Madison is saying you’re never going to amount to much and they should trade you now. And they were saying the same thing on the radio the other day. I just wanted to let you know. Don’t know if you’d heard about it. Ok, ‘dere, (Wisconsin dialect) gotta go. Have a good day now.”

“Ok, thanks.” Rodgers just smiled, thanked the man for his breaking news bulletin. Then looked back at me, shook his head a little.

“It never ends for you, does it?,” I said.

“Nope,” said Rodgers.

I dont mind Aaron saying those things but the last statement is pretty harsh IMO "keep their mouths shut"? You dont make any fans by saying things like this IMO. Just do your job and do your job as well as you can and the fans will be behind you all the way. But if you tell your fans to keep their mouths shut many will take that the wrong way in which they should. Its not nice, again IMO...It will be hard to follow in a legends footsteps, but you have to prove yourself just like Favre did to the fans and with Green Bay fans it dont take much and they get behind you for life.

A-Rod does the Peoples' Elbow on Fan Pressure.

It is funny that Aaron's still popular here. I've been talking to a lot of Cal fans who are anxious to see how well he does in the NFL.

:agree:

"Here's the deal. I wake up in the morning and I piss excellence." - Ricky Bobby

I think he just needs to stay away from the press and quit listening to what they are saying the fans are saying. I think most Packer fans and hyped about him. The season can't srtart soon enough. Hopefully then we can shut the press up about all this and get on to what really matters. Winning.

I agree with Heather. I think this is Aaron's first real mis-step since taking over. Let's hope it is his last. You should never, ever dis the fans, even if they deserve it. Just smile through the interviews and go out there on the field and prove them wrong.

He's GOT to be getting sick and tired of the "Favre" questions. I think he just snapped. Can't blame the kid.
I myself am already on the bandwagon (never got off, really) so whatever happens, i'll be there, just as i have for years.
I want him to be great....and he may just be! Only time will tell of course.

I agree with Cheesey.

We got a bunch of hypersensitves here......AR said nothing wrong...he is right...there are many people who call themselves "Packer" fans, but are more Favre fans than anything else.

The radio made such a big deal about this all day. The local radio that is. Really I could care less what Aaron Rodgers says. As long as he plays well I'm happy. I don't think he should of said it but I'm not going to complain about it either.

I don't care about it either. I'm just saying don't throw meat to the wolves. We've been through this so many times with Favre when he threw these kind of juicy quotes out there. You end up with a big stink which could've easily been avoided by being a little more careful.

IMO think before you say, because you cant take anything back.

who cares?

you shut your mouth!

...when you're talking to me!!

He's not here to make fans, he's here to make championships.

and babies.

I have no problem with what he said. How many times can one person be asked the same question before it gets old? The kid is not Favre, and I couldn't be happier that he's nothing like him. I don't want him to be anything like Favre, and I don't expect him to be. The kid is being set up to fail by a lot of fans who just want a Favre clone.

Do you really think he's being set up to fail? maybe by sports writers, but I am not seeing that any fans are setting him up to fail. I expected that to happen, but i haven't seen that. i'm pleasantly surprised.