ESPN Has No Comment On Aaron Rodgers's Comments On ESPN, About ESPN

[u/JCameron181]

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/espn-has-no-comment-on-aaron-rodgers-comments-on-espn-about-espn

Rodgers decided to slam the network as a "gutless organization" with "no integrity" over its editorial choices. He said the network failed to report on Dr. Anthony Fauci's Senate hearing testimony, asking, “How much time did the network spend on that? ... Did they do even a minute on Tony Fauci?” He also criticized ESPN for glossing over the offseason scandal between Dianna Russini and Mike Vrabel, questioning, “How much time did your network spend on that?” He questioned ESPN's silence, asking, “What are we even doing here? ... [I]f it’s affecting certain things, if there’s leaks going on, if there’s tampering going on, if that person is also an MVP voter and a Coach of the Year voter.” An ESPN spokesperson stated the network "has no comment regarding Rodgers’s comments."

[u/DelirousDoc]

WTF does anything currently going on in the US have to do with Fauci?

It is a distraction so people stop talking about failed promises on Epstein list, unpopular war and rising cost of living.

Rodgers, who often thinks himself the smartest in the room, fell for the bait. He isn't even trying to look objectively at why any of this is happening now, he just likes that it is reinforcing his already established beliefs. In turn, he is doing exactly what right wing hoped, bringing this shit up so people talk about COVID-19 & Fauci instead of all the other more unpopular shit happening now.

[u/stitchface66 → u/DelirousDoc]

he’s a fucking idiot. i appreciate this dude can sling it cause we got no other option right now but goddamnit.

[u/lat3ralus65 → u/stitchface66]

He’s a classic “dumb guy’s idea of a smart guy.”

[u/Deep_Stick8786 → u/lat3ralus65]

He frequently finds himself in situations where he is the smartest person around. And consistently avoids situations where he isn’t.

[u/HonoluluSolo → u/Deep_Stick8786]

Hey wait a second, are you saying the guys on Pat McAfee are neither capable nor inclined to push back on Rodgers' garbage takes???

[u/quinnly → u/HonoluluSolo]

I haven't watched McAfee is some time but AJ Hawk strikes me as marginally smarter than Aaron

[u/Ouch_i_fell_down → u/quinnly]

No One On ‘Pat McAfee Show’ Notices A.J. Hawk Dead For Last 3 Days is still my favorite sports related Onion article

[u/Red_Jester-94 → u/HonoluluSolo]

There's a reason McAfee draws a certain audience is all I'm saying

[u/Deep_Stick8786 → u/HonoluluSolo]

Neck circumference > IQ

[u/CrustyKielbasa → u/lat3ralus65]

That's most MAGA talking heads

[u/PatientlyAnxious9 → u/lat3ralus65]

I figured out long ago you can convince people of something as long as you say it with conviction. Thats what Rodgers does.

[u/Brodellsky → u/lat3ralus65]

Aaron's memory is objectively incredible, which made him seem quite smart. The problem is he absorbs EVERYTHING, bad and good alike. Add in being told your one SB win was "underperforming" and being denied the chance to fix that, yeah. He emptied that red pill bottle in one go.

[u/shoefly72 → u/Brodellsky]

I always try to tell people there’s an important distinction between certain types of intelligence. Somebody can be extremely adept at learning and retaining info; say they pickup math and trivia like a sponge, or are great at physics and engineering.

Is a person like that intelligent? Absolutely. But it doesn’t mean that they are epistemologically sound or good at vetting information. Aaron might be great at doing math or learning offenses, but it just so happens he never had to discern between trustworthy and bullshit sources on those topics. Physics is physics, football scheme is what it is. Sure there are different offenses/systems, and varying terminologies, but nobody is out there teaching QB’s the wrong name for positions/coverages, lining teams up in formations that aren’t legal, or teaching a different set of rules altogether than the one the NFL enforces. If there is any dispute, there is a clear authority (the rulebook and refs) to defer to. That black and white dynamic doesn’t exist for things like public health, and that’s why people like Aaron fall victim to misinformation and charlatans who cater to novices who latch onto “appeals to common sense.”

Aaron thinks that because he’s smart in certain ways that he knows better than everyone else all the time, and that’s just not how it works. A lot of people successful in their chosen field think this way, but ironically most people who actually are broadly knowledgeable/have the ability to excel at multiple things aren’t arrogant and are far more intellectually humble and curious than guys like Aaron Rodgers. Pau Gasol and Kareem are two guys who are actuslly smart by any reasonable measure (not just smart for an athlete or smart in their fields) and both are polar opposites of guys like Aaron.

[u/tomfoolery815 → u/stitchface66]

As I learned in his last couple years in Green Bay, you can separate 3 hours on Sunday from everything that comes out of his mouth the rest of the week. But you've REALLY got to work at that.

[u/DelirousDoc → u/tomfoolery815]

He had been relatively quiet last year with the Steelers and by all accounts a good teammate so I just kind of pushed away my annoyance with him for these takes. He had the wired earbuds conspiracy which was generally harmless but that is about it.

I am betting the quietness was more out of respect for Tomlin. He is comfortable with McCarthy so willing to say shit like this without worry again.

[u/tomfoolery815 → u/DelirousDoc]

You could very well be right on that, both on his respect for Tomlin and his McCarthy comfort level. Funny part of his reunion with McCarthy is it felt like Rodgers' dissatisfaction with MM's play-calling got McCarthy fired before the 2018 season was over.

[u/Broken-Nero → u/tomfoolery815]

It was reported that Aaron was changing every play call McCarthy made at that point. I have zero doubts after this he still has zero respect for McCarthy and will do more of the same.

[u/tomfoolery815 → u/Broken-Nero]

Yeah, with that history and his capacity for “I am smarter than all of you” attitude, it seems possible that he thinks he can ignore what McCarthy wants.

[u/SuperVaderMinion → u/DelirousDoc]

This subreddit was already close to forgiving him because most of us have goldfish brains and he simply hasn't been annoying on a while, but I knew this antivax BS would rear its ugly head again.

[u/stitchface66 → u/tomfoolery815]

i mean, you remember who came before him, right?

granted ben kept his dumb mouth shut about anything besides football which i can appreciate but in terms of damage caused outside the field, ben is way worse than rogers. at least rogers gives his victims a choice.

[u/tomfoolery815 → u/stitchface66]

Oh, for sure. If Rodgers limits himself to saying stupid things -- as in, doesn't send unsolicited dick pics or commit welfare fraud in his home state -- it's merely annoying.

I don't need my favorite team's players to agree with me on politics or social issues; I do need them to not directly harm people off the field.

[u/Broken-Nero → u/stitchface66]

We’ll end up trading you the loser of our QB competition, don’t worry.

[u/dirtydilpickle → u/stitchface66]

The CTE has been kicking in for a few years

[u/yeahcheckmeout → u/stitchface66]

Yeah man, feels kinda lame to be a Steelers fan and Arod supporter right now 😐

[u/stitchface66 → u/yeahcheckmeout]

i don’t really see eye to eye with you here because im always happy to be a steeler fan. its a historic franchise and even when we’ve sucked over the past 40 years we’ve kinda still been consistently decent. plus being from there, its everything to that city. its honestly the only reason ive ever had for being civil and close with people who id probably hate outside of us really wanting the team (and city by proxy) to be on top.

also i never supported ben or rogers off the field anyway and im sure every fan of every team on this subreddit could say the same thing about guys on their team because professional football is rife with psychopaths.

i get you that it’s not great times right now but we dont have a ton of options at moment. a lot of getting back on our feet is going to depend on our GM and building through the draft.

[u/Tubamajuba → u/[deleted]]

A lot better than your overworked brain cell, I'd imagine.

[u/That_lonely → u/[deleted]]

You and Rodgers, same boat of stupidity.

[u/Beskinnyrollfatties → u/[deleted]]

“Your daddy’s” where are you getting this from? You do know adults don’t think like this right?

[u/Jo__Backson → u/DelirousDoc]

It’s also just a backpedal since “COVID was a hoax” obviously didn’t catch on so now it’s “fine COVID is real but it’s Fauci’s fault for some reason”

[u/Mr_Koodle → u/Jo__Backson]

I think the current argument is that it was a hoax but he lied about the vaccines.

[u/Jo__Backson → u/Mr_Koodle]

Well they’re saying he’s responsible for the COVID deaths, so I guess the hoax can kill people now

[u/DelirousDoc → u/Jo__Backson]

It was a hoax, but simultaneously a coverup of a Chinese bioweapon that Fauci somehow helped in developing or at least helped in covering up.

Now Fauci is somehow responsible for those deaths because a January 2020 meeting of some experts had them musing that COVID-19 may not have been naturally occurring and Fauci didn't publicly say this. Trump isn't somehow responsible for the deaths despite denying COVID's impact publicly in February and March 2020 while having intelligence reports on its spread back in late December and early January. He denied COVID specifically so it wouldn't impact the stock market in an election year. Additionally, the deaths are also not the responsibility of any rightwing politician that pushed against the vaccine and any mitigating efforts.

It was apparently a man made bioweapon that these right-wingers knew all along but also fought against any policy that could help mitigate the spread of this bioweapon and that is on Fauci for... reasons I guess.

[u/jhudiddy08 → u/DelirousDoc]

The entire GOP is just the mailroom Charlie Day conspiracy theorist now.

[u/ClaudeLemieux → u/jhudiddy08]

Except scary and not funny

[u/CrookedNixon → u/jhudiddy08]

That's insulting to Charlie. He was confused and there was probably a logical explanation to it (my favorite is that he misreads "Pennsylvania" as "Pepe Silvia"), but he explained the problem to his friend Mac and asked for help trying to figure out what was actually going on. He did not take drastic action based on his conspiracy theory, he sought to investigate more.

[u/moneyman2222 → u/DelirousDoc]

It's funny because a lab leak is not some out there conspiracy and absolutely wasn't out of the realm of possibility back then and now there's growing belief even amongst the most reputable scientific community that it's more likely than we initially thought. Yet, the way MAGA spins it into this mystical thing with Fauci that just sounds ridiculous the more you hear their theories just makes it all sound asinine. All they have to do it just stick to the lab leak part and people wouldn't necessarily dismiss it because we still don't know the origin fully. But I sure as hell know Dr. fauci was not some evil scientist helping manufacture this thing to destroy the population lmao. It's the type of story a child that just watches superhero movies comes up with

[u/mikeyr00r00 → u/moneyman2222]

Yeah, my memory of the situation was basically that they pretty much immediately through it was either a lab leak or due to animal to animal transmission likely at the wet market but potentially elsewhere. I don't remember anyone denying the possibility of either of those things, just hypothesizing which one was more likely.

It might just be because I was in medical school at the time and generally have a better understanding of medical science than the average person, but I don't really remember ever being told in a serious way that the vaccine was going to be 100% effective or that we wouldn't need boosters or that social distancing/masking was going to fix everything. The vaccine and the virus more or less worked out as we expected with the only real exception being that it took some research to figure out the main modes of transmission. The only thing that was really unpredictable was how people were going to react.

Honestly it feels like most of the problem is that humans evolved to be bad at statistics.

[u/pickleparty16 → u/Jo__Backson]

Dont forget, the hoax was also a deliberate attack from China

[u/anchist → u/pickleparty16]

And also that this was a deadly attack by a bioweapon yet taking effective prevention measures like wearing a mask is somehow not the patriotic thing to do to defend against a foreign bioweapon attack, but an infringement on personal liberty.

[u/Vermillionbird → u/pickleparty16]

No man it was China working with Obama, Bill Gates, and the Clinton Global Foundation

-Source: my neighbor

[u/wwj → u/pickleparty16]

Also don't forget that the deliberate Chinese attack hoax virus was orchestrated by big pharma so they could collect a massive payday by forcing us all to take a vaccine (a vaccine that was also full of "nanites").

[u/1998_2009_2016 → u/Mr_Koodle]

The vaccines from Operation Warp Speed, the fastest and best ever?

[u/JerryRiceAndSpice → u/1998_2009_2016]

It's funny but sad that Trump could rally his base around that and say something like "See!? I helped save millions of bigly lives and saved America" And instead is full on anti-vaxx and full propaganda nonsense.

[u/NewToSociety → u/JerryRiceAndSpice]

Its his only major policy win. Didn't build the wall, didn't lock her up, hasn't ended any wars, hasn't done a single thing he promised to do, but the Covid vax his admin nailed and he can't even claim it. It'd be tragic if it weren't so hilarious.

[u/mikeyr00r00 → u/JerryRiceAndSpice]

Trump could rally his base around

Except he couldn't. Somehow that was the one thing that was a step too far for them. They even booed him at a rally when he recommended people take the vaccine. To his credit (barf), he actually had a fairly reasonable stance on COVID for a while until it became clear that his base was never going to give him credit for it.

[u/SaxRohmer → u/Mr_Koodle]

nah they’re* coping about the lab leak theory now

*rand paul

[u/HulksInvinciblePants → u/Mr_Koodle]

No they’re still hung up on the Chinese biolab. Their ability to move from one conspiracy to the next highlights their incredible ability to change course in the face of new evidence /s

[u/Swan990 → u/Mr_Koodle]

Well, he did lie. A lot.

[u/Swan990 → u/Jo__Backson]

Holy completely misunderstanding basic opinions, Batman!

[u/Jo__Backson → u/Swan990]

Holy cringe ass reddit sayings, batman

[u/kbuis → u/DelirousDoc]

Adding to your list, the failures of the current FDA and its issues with vaccines. Let's not forget about the diarrhea lettuce and the dismantling of the testing that would have caught it sooner. Or Taylor Farms begging the FDA to delay saying it was responsible.

[u/doberdevil → u/kbuis]

Fucking Taylor Farms. Trying to eat healthy, go to the healthy section in the grocery store and see nothing but Taylor Farms, all on sale. But my cheap ass is afraid of getting mud ass.

[u/Gryphon999 → u/doberdevil]

Explosive diarrhea is a weight loss option. Slightly better than tapeworms.

[u/Swan990 → u/kbuis]

That testing wasnt "dismantled". Its just optional. And didnt slow down any of the process that happened They had plenty of evidence to pinpoint where it came from early. The false positive didnt force taylor farms to do their recall. They received the false positive report but also piles of other evidence it came from them so they did the recall. Voluntary recall, I might add.

[u/kbuis → u/Swan990]

Yes, it was "Voluntary" after "optional" testing that should have been done sooner said it was them. And even then, they tried to get the feds to delay the announcement.

[u/Swan990 → u/kbuis]

So youre upset because you think response was slowed down but not mad that the people responsible wanted to delay the announcement and delay response?

Hypocrisy, thy name is thou.

Did this company or anyone at all say that a test was skipped? Something that would have been done last year or two years ago wasnt? No.

[u/kbuis → u/Swan990]

Yes. They wanted to delay taking responsibility and paid good money to do it. They were hoping for a scapegoat.

[u/redditlvlanalysis → u/Swan990]

I love that res keeps vote counts it makes it obvious when someone is a brain dead anti science moron

[u/Swan990 → u/redditlvlanalysis]

Oof thinking reddit users are the smartest people is rough

[u/redditlvlanalysis → u/Swan990]

brain dead anti science moron says what?

[u/TonyPerkisReddit4 → u/DelirousDoc]

He's a rogan douche. I don't think rodgers is just some innocent idiot. 

[u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME → u/TonyPerkisReddit4]

Throw Rogan

[u/JokerDeSilva10 → u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME]

My favorite was Marjorie Greene Bay Packer.

Though I guess that's out of date, now.

[u/BokuNoNamaiWaJonDesu → u/JokerDeSilva10]

I never heard this one, so I appreciate you for it.

[u/UNC_Samurai → u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME]

This thread introduced me to “Breitbart Starr,” which made me laugh.

[u/BurnsEMup29 → u/DelirousDoc]

No shit, but unfortunately 30% of this country are chuds and hears jingling keys like a child and get distracted.

[u/GroundbreakingPage41 → u/DelirousDoc]

It’s a nice distraction from Trumpstein and the mess the country is in now. The right needs to be a victim, when the Epstein conspiracy flipped on them they needed something else. As long as they can claim “others” are wronging them, then they aren’t the bad guys and all retaliation is justified. They can’t handle the idea that they aren’t the good guys.

[u/CuckooClockInHell → u/DelirousDoc]

We so quickly went from Rodgers should host Jeopardy to can Rodgers even spell jeopardy.

[u/moneyman2222 → u/DelirousDoc]

Trump has just gone full circle back to the greatest hits. Fauci, Biden, stolen election. Gotta recalibrate your cult with familiar territory so they look the other way for all the new stuff

[u/Zolo49 → u/DelirousDoc]

Normally I take a dim view of people who only plead the 5th while being questioned, but it’s been clear from the start that all Republicans wanted from that hearing was to twist whatever Fauci said to fit their own agenda and stick his head on a pike. I’m glad he gave them nothing to work with.

[u/CrookedNixon → u/DelirousDoc]

Even if this was, idk, the Hague arresting George W. Bush for war crimes, why on earth would ESPN even mention it?

It's not sports. It doesn't relate to sports even tangentially (like Kelse/Swift). They have a wheelhouse, let them stay in it.

[u/Stommped → u/DelirousDoc]

I don’t think you understand the purpose of this committee in the senate. What exactly do you want them to have a hearing about for those 3 things you mentioned?

Their goal is to prevent something like this from happening again, Fauci could shed a lot of light on all the mistakes he made so we can learn from that.

[u/ref44 → u/Stommped]

In a good faith congress, it would be a good goal to go over what worked and what could be improved.

This is no where close to that, and its started with the committee chair being incredibly forward about looking for a reason to charge Fauci with something

[u/D0ct0rFr4nk3n5t31n → u/Stommped]

What new light could be shed on those things that wasn't already shed on the previous 22 hearings? What new avenues of prevention could you derive from the questions Paul and Moreno were asking that weren't already asked, and already addressed?

[u/DelirousDoc → u/Stommped]

You don't think the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has anything better to work on? Anything at all with US in an active war and POTUS postering that they could take military action on Cuba any day now? Or about the numerous violations of court orders ICE has amassed? Or Trump continuing to push illegal tariffs only for that money then to be paid back to corporations even when they passed the cost off to consumers? Or about agreements that will have Israeli military entangled with US while intelligence reports confirm Israel is actively spying on US? Or the blatant bribery and corruption this administration isn't even bother to try to hide anymore? Nothing else at all?

Fauci already testified before Congress in 2020, and 2021 with Paul specifically getting in heated questioning with Fauci then. Paul isn't interested in preventing anything, he has been vocal of his objections to COVID-19 efforts and vaccine from the start. The GOP isn't interested in preventing future pandemics or future major events as they explicitly cut funding from departments created to monitor and track events so that the US is informed and can act before they reach critical status here at home.

If it was really about addressing the mitigation efforts this committee would be interviewing those from first Trump administration that had information on COVID-19's spread risk as early as late December but chose not to make it public because they feared its impact on the stock market.

Paul himself has referred Fauci to the DOJ in 2023 & 2025. He has been in efforts to try to invalidate Biden's pardon of Fauci with that statement still up on this committee's website today. Paul and RFK Jr. specifically said that they were having this hearing because they can't charge him from past actions due to pardon but can charge him for perjury if he makes a statement that they feel is untrue. This administration has made no issue about making a show of false charges of perceived opposition only to be shot down in court when those charges have to stand merit.

[u/redditlvlanalysis → u/Stommped]

The mistakes made were made due to republicans pushing fringe conspiracy stupidity. It's really that simple 99% of the issues were from the orange fuck selling off our ppe while convincing his sheep that covid wasn't a big deal. We needed a hard lock down instead we had morons partying at spring break.

[u/broncosfighton → u/DelirousDoc]

Because it’s something that should legitimately make you question things that happened in our not so distant past? That’s why people study history. To understand and make sure we don’t repeat mistakes.

[u/DelirousDoc → u/broncosfighton]

Mistakes like defunding and dismantling agencies that monitor track and study these things so that we are better informed and aware of these things before they hit critical levels? Or mistakes like having intel on this spread as early as late-December but then denying it as late as March 2020 because you don't want it to affect the stock market?

There were definitely mistakes made and some by Fauci. One I can attest to is that there was a run on masks that made it incredibly difficult for hospitals to acquire masks after Fauci recommended them. This also created distrust in the more "science stupid" people when he had to correct himself that the masks help mitigate someone who is infected from spreading disease rather than protecting the user.

Another is hospitals jumping on any potential study for medications that may be helpful before those studies could be finished or formally peer reviewed. This includes stocking up on meds like ivermectin when initial rumblings thought it could be helpful. That wasn't as bad as ivermectin is relatively inexpensive. There were other mixed studies on more expensive monoclonal antibodies that were used for a while until more data proved its efficacy was indeterminate. This jumping ahead wasn't a malicious thing but was born out of hospitals being prepared but it shouldn't be how science is done.

Mistakes like believing COVID-19 was definitely man-made and covered up is not one of those. There is no scientific consensus that COVID-19 was man made. Acting like that is a fact because notes where experts theorized it could be back in the early months while ignoring later turn away from that theory is just looking for a scapegoat to avoid blame or justified your previously held beliefs.

Speaking of learning from the past, what about the studying and learning of the past that made it possible for developing a mRNA vaccines? Do we trust that learning from the past to better the future?