Gone Baby, Gone

Just deal with it, Packer fans. Aaron Rodgers is history.

Here’s who I care about in the world of sports: 1. The fans, who, by the way, pay all the bills. 2. The players, who actually perform on the field. 3. The owners, who.. what is it that the owners do, exactly, besides print money?

By “owners” I suppose I really mean front office, since the Green Bay Packers are the only professional sports team owned by the public. So, the question for me about Aaron Rodgers’ demand that he be traded is simply, what’s the best outcome for the fans?

The answer would be to keep Rodgers if that were possible, but it’s not. It’s all gone too far. Rodgers had his feelings hurt last year when the Pack drafted his heir apparent, Jordon Love, in the first round. Ironically, it was Rodgers’ pick in 2005 that angered Brett Favre for the very same reason.

Yesterday, he leaked the story of his unhappiness on the first day of the NFL draft. That was designed for maximum impact. He wants out and he won’t be talked down.

Look, what the Packers did made perfect sense. Rodgers is now 37 and quarterbacks get injured. He’s just a prima donna for being upset with his employers for doing what made sense for the organization. It is true that the front office should have given him a heads up about drafting another quarterback, but they did that with Favre and look where it got them.

Now, if they refuse to trade Rodgers he’ll sulk, which is what he did in the last couple of years under coach Mike McCarthy when he wasn’t seeing eye-to-eye with him. And a sulking star quarterback is like a cancer on the whole team. It’ll be no fun for the fans to watch.

So, let’s just accept reality. Aaron Rodgers was a hell of a great quarterback and, personally, I liked his quirky personality. But he always wanted to play back home in California and I don’t necessarily blame him for wanting to end his career there. My guess is that he’ll end up with one of the West Coast teams.

Thanks for the memories, Aaron. The best thing for the fans is for the Packer front office to trade Rodgers for something like the other team’s first round draft picks for the next 20 years. That’d be fair. And then, after an appropriate period of mourning, let’s go all in on Jordan Love.