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Aaron Rodgers Is Still Dropping Bombshells on 'The Pat McAfee Show,' and McAfee Deserves a Lot of Credit: TRAINA THOUGHTS

Aaron Rodgers is still dropping bombshells on 'The Pat McAfee Show'

Jimmy Traina

1. You would’ve maybe thought that Aaron Rodgers would keep things low key for a little bit after wrapping himself in controversy regarding his vaccination status and lashing out at the “woke mob” for, in his opinion, being out to get him.

However, that is far from the case. During his weekly appearance Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers still brought the heat.

He shared the news that surgery for his injured toe was still a possibility.

The Packers quarterback hinted that it could be a team coach or coaches who have leaked information about him to the media.

Regarding the stories about whether Rodgers would have surgery on his injured toe, he said, “With these reports—I don’t know where they’re coming from. I don’t know who’s talking. It seems like there are certain coaches that may have friends in the media that they don’t realize are actually just trying to report things.”

Rodgers also revealed that he spoke via phone to the Wall Street Journal reporter who wrote a story last week about Rodgers having "Covid Toe."

“We had a very respectful conversation. I was interested to hear his reasoning and had a good conversation. So I respect the fact that he got on the phone. There was no official apology from the Wall Street Journal or much of a recanting of the story. There was an adjustment of the title to the article.”

https://youtu.be/sxKVOrmalDc

Rodgers’s weekly interviews with McAfee have been must-hear events since they started last season. However, things have gone to a new level this season, with Rodgers causing a stir almost each week by dropping news.

Last year’s interviews just seemed to be about letting us see Rodgers's unique personality. This year’s interviews are about making headlines.

And that is a direct result of Rodgers feeling comfortable with McAfee and co-host (and former Rodgers teammate) A.J. Hawk.

Some people may not like that McAfee and Hawk won’t grill Rodgers. And yes, that was an issue in the one interview when Rodgers had a lot to say about COVID-19, but during their regular interviews, McAfee and Hawk don’t have to push Rodgers. By making Rodgers comfortable and giving him a forum to speak without interruption, McAfee and Hawk have gotten newsworthy headlines from every interview .

McAfee and Hawk know when to let Rodgers go, but also do a solid job of asking follow ups for clarity. When Rodgers speculated this week about coaches leaking information about the future Hall of Famer to members of the media, Hawk was quick to ask whether Rodgers was talking about Packers coaches, and Rodgers confirmed that he was.

A star player accusing his own coaches of leaking information is a big deal. And while Rodgers is the one choosing to drop the bombshells, McAfee and Hawk deserve praise for creating the environment that gives Rodgers the desire to do that.

Getting access to one of the top three or four players in the NFL for 40 minutes every week is a gift and McAfee and Hawk have made the most of it each and every week.

2. A lot of you decided to ignore your families on Thanksgiving. The NFL reports that last Thursday's three games drew the highest viewership for Thanksgiving games since 1998. 

The Raiders-Cowboys game led the way with 38.3 million views, making it the second-most-watched Thanksgiving game behind Dolphins-Cowboys in 1998.

3. Here is this week's installment of the best segment on all of sports TV: Bad Beats.

4. It was on this date, Dec. 1, in 1997 that Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell choked coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice and gave us one of the all-time great sports quotes: "I wasn't choking P.J. that hard," Sprewell told 60 Minutes. "I mean, he could breathe."

5. I thought this was a very good piece by Awful Announcing's Ben Koo on Adam Schefter's rough 2021.

6. If you missed any recent episodes of the SI Media Podcast, you can catch up by  listening on Apple, Spotify and Stitcher.

Recent guests include Kenny Mayne, Becky Lynch, Kevin Clark, Al Michaels, Chris Long, Steve Levy and Jeff Garlin.

Last week's show was an all-Traina Thoughts edition.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 76th birthday to Bette Midler.

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Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.

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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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