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Something Doesn’t Add Up About Pat McAfee Pausing Aaron Rodgers Interviews

Also in Traina Thoughts: New ‘SI Media With Jimmy Traina,’ our favorite Bill Belichick memory; Kelce Brothers give red zone lesson and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. Pat McAfee opened his Wednesday show by announcing that Aaron Rodgers wouldn’t be appearing for his weekly interviews during the NFL postseason.

“Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays Season 4 is done,” said McAfee. “There is going to be a lot of people happy with that, myself included, to be honest. The way it ended got real loud.”

McAfee later added, “Some of [Rodgers’s] thoughts and opinions do piss off a lot of people. And I’m pumped that is no longer going to be every single Wednesday of my life—which it has been for the last few weeks.”

The assumption by most people is that after Rodgers spent nearly a half hour talking about vaccines, Dr. Anthony Fauci and conspiracy theories on Tuesday, the decision to no longer have him on for the remainder of the season was made.

Here’s what I know from sources. The decision to put the Rodgers spots on hold was 100 percent McAfee’s, and ESPN had zero to do with it. That’s not to say the folks inside of Bristol aren’t happy with the decision, but they did not have a hand in McAfee putting a temporary end to Rodgers’s weekly appearance.

What’s confusing, though, is when the decision was made. At the end of Tuesday’s controversial interview, McAfee said two things to Rodgers that make me think he already knew this was going to be the quarterback’s final appearance for this season. McAfee told Rodgers, “Hell of a year, pal” and “Have an incredible offseason.”

Those comments tell me that McAfee, probably not thrilled with Rodgers trying to connect Jimmy Kimmel with Jeffrey Epstein the week before, either had already decided Tuesday would be the last interview until next season or he was leaning heavily toward Tuesday being the last interview and then cemented the decision after Rodgers turned McAfee’s show into a QAnon message board.

After McAfee’s announcement Wednesday, the headlines across the World Wide Web screamed, “Rodgers Cut From McAfee’s Show” and “Rodgers Gets Kicked Off McAfee’s Show” and “McAfee Happy Rodgers Is No Longer on His Show.”

Of course those headlines implied that Rodgers is completely done with the McAfee show, which is false. All that’s established is that he won’t be appearing for the remainder of this season. 

McAfee then tried to clear up the narrative with a tweet where he implied Rodgers was never supposed to be on his show every week during the playoffs and that he’d like him back next season, saying, in part, “Our fans know that ART ends shortly after Aaron’s team’s season ends. … That’s how it’s been. He’ll make random surprise welcomed pop-ins during big events or offseason adventures, but it’s always been a season thing. I never said he’ll never be on the show again. I hope he chooses to still chat with us. 

The only problem with this is that Rodgers WAS on McAfee’s show every single week during the playoffs last season.

It’s conceivable McAfee just forgot about that, although, I still maintain that McAfee’s two comments to Rodgers at the end of Tuesday’s interview, which I cited earlier, make me think McAfee knew Tuesday that he was going to put the weekly spot on hold for the postseason.

Regardless of when McAfee’s decision was made, he deserves credit for doing what he felt was best for his show. You can’t deny that Rodgers brings attention to McAfee’s show. And I’m sure McAfee feels indebted to Rodgers because Rodgers has broken some big news on McAfee’s show. And putting the Rodgers interviews on hold will probably make Rodgers turn around at some point and say, “See, I was right, everyone is trying to cancel me.”

But McAfee didn't like the direction his show was going in and did something about it. Good for him.

2. A brand-new SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning, and this week’s show features an interview with author, journalist and reporter James Andrew Miller. 

Two topics Miller knows as well as anyone are ESPN and HBO. So Miller shared his insight into McAfee calling out ESPN executive Norby Williamson and the McAfee/Jimmy Kimmel/Aaron Rodgers drama.

Miller also shared his thoughts on The Sopranos’ 25th anniversary and the upcoming return of Curb Your Enthusiasm for its final season.

Following Miller, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, we talk about wild-card weekend, the Dolphins-Chiefs playoff game being available on only Peacock and much more.

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

3. Today started with the news that Bill Belichick and the Patriots are parting ways. While it’s expected that Belichick will coach again, I just want to make sure we properly honor him in case he doesn’t. So while everyone will focus today on Belichick’s success on the field, I want to point out one of his other great contributions to the game of football.

Nobody—and I mean nobody—in the history of the NFL has ever thrown the challenge flag better than Bill.

4. Just an FYI, Nick Saban is still alive.

5. I laughed at Travis and Jason Kelce giving their take on the creation of the phrase “red zone.”

6. Good news for wrestling fans. A&E’s two excellent shows, WWE Rivals and Biography: WWE Legends will return for new seasons Sunday, Feb. 25.

Rivals episodes will feature Triple H vs. The Rock, Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, John Cena vs. Randy Orton, Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz vs. Edge & Christian, and The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan.

Biography episodes will feature Randy Orton, Sgt. Slaughter, Scott Hall, Diamond Dallas Page, British Bulldog and Roman Reigns.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: We continue our weeklong celebration of The Sopranos’ 25th anniversary with what I think is the greatest scene in the show’s history.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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