As a former talk show host, Dom Salvia can’t hold his tongue. For more than a decade, the Bay View resident pontificated on politicians on Wisconsin radio.
Unsurprisingly, he also doesn’t hold back on sports figures, particularly those as peculiar as Aaron Rodgers. “I don’t want to see him successful, because he is a douchebag,” Salvia said the other day. “But I appreciate the athlete. I end up pulling for him, even though I don’t want to.”
I had told Salvia I enjoyed watching the former Green Bay Packers quarterback in his critical Week 18 game a week-plus ago. Rodgers, now in his 21st NFL season, ran for a touchdown and threw a late TD pass to lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to victory over the Baltimore Ravens. That propelled Pittsburgh (10-7) to the AFC North title; Rodgers, Tomlin & Co. host a wild-card game against the Houston Texans tonight.
Rodgers, 42, has hinted he might retire after this season. That could mean the next time the Steelers lose – they are 3-point home underdogs tonight – will be his final game.
And that means it’s time to love Aaron Rodgers again.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
It’s true that even before completing his 18 seasons in Green Bay, one of the three Packers Mount Rushmore quarterbacks (with Bart Starr and Brett Favre) became a superstar who was stunningly unpopular.
In succeeding Favre, whom Packers fans found a lovable, hell-raising redneck, Rodgers could be an aloof and maybe too-pretty California elitist.
Both players alienated Packers fans with too much will-he-stay or will-he-go drama near the end of their time in Green Bay. (Interestingly, both were traded to the lowly New York Jets.)
But Rodgers, despite being popular enough to be on State Farm commercials for more than a decade (“discount double-check!”), eventually became so disliked that you could imagine his own dog running away from him.
Near the end of his tenure in Green Bay, and since, he consistently ranked as the most disliked, or most annoying, player in the NFL.
Rodgers seemed to find any number of ways to turn off fans. In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he misleadingly said he had been “immunized” (not vaccinated) against COVID-19. He tripped out on ayahuasca. There was the “darkness retreat.” The Netflix special showcasing all of his weirdness. There were the girlfriends.
But those were off-the-field things. Our main connection to Rodgers was him as the quarterback of the Packers.
On that front, there were the come-from-behind wins: In 2015, defeating the Detroit Lions with a 61-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Richard Rodgers as time ran out. And in 2018, after leaving the game with a knee injury, returning to lead the Packers from a 20-point deficit to defeat the Chicago Bears, 24-23.
And, boy, did Rodgers check many other boxes:
- One Super Bowl victory (same as Favre).
- Most valuable player in the NFL four times (one more than Favre).
- Making the playoffs in 11 of his 15 seasons as a starter.
- Winning 25 of 30 games (83%!) versus the Bears.
Let’s cling to that last bit, given the Packers’ collapse against the Bears Saturday night.
And aside from the black-and-white accomplishments, he played quarterback with a style and precision that was a treat for us fans for the generation that he wore Green and Gold. Age has showed in recent seasons, but for so long, man, Aaron Rodgers could play football really well.
He may yet do something else off-putting. It might be his nature, and he may surprise us and give us another entire season to do or say something outrageous.
But it’s not healthy to hold a grudge. I’ve put aside what irks me about Rodgers to revel in how much joy he brought us as a player.
After Saturday night, that could feel real good right about now.
