Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Aaron Rodgers said something that generated controversy.
The four-time MVP’s latest venture into the spotlight comes via a comment he made regarding his former Green Bay Packers teammate, Davante Adams. Speaking to a reporter at the American Century Championships in Lake Tahoe last week, Rodgers was asked about the Las Vegas Raiders and replied with an answer that seemingly indicated a reunion with his former star receiver could be in the works.
“I love Davante. Can’t wait to play with him… again,” the New York Jets quarterback said.
Rodgers’ answer was music to the ears of sports talk show producers who are desperate to fill the hours of their mid-July shows. That included on Monday’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up, in which Mike Greenberg began a conversation regarding Rodgers’ recent comments and what they might mean for his beloved Jets.
One of Greeny’s panelists, however, wasn’t willing to play along. Rather, Bart Scott insisted that he has access to audio that indicates that Rodgers was only referring to playing golf with Adams — who was also playing in the celebrity tournament in Lake Tahoe — and not an on-field reunion.
“I got this, right? See, if you take down all the sound and you lift up the background sound, you would see that he said, ‘golf,'” Scott said. “That’s just why you have to love Aaron Rodgers. Because we played this on my radio show and in some background noise, somebody says, ‘golf.’ I think he played with him in golf that day, but this is Aaron Rodgers always being able to push the news cycle and give us something to lean on.”
As he noticed Greenberg and Dan Graziano weren’t buying what he was selling, the former Jets and Ravens linebacker doubled down.
“Yes, we isolated it on my show — Bart & Hahn, you should listen to it sometime,” Scott insisted.
“What is this, The Beatles?” Greenberg replied. “People are playing it backwards?”
“They picked up the background sound and they did say, ‘golf,'” Scott reiterated.
“Let me make this very very clear: I couldn’t be less interested in whether or not Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams play golf together again,” Greenberg replied, trying to get the segment on track. “I am extremely interested in whether or not Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams play football together again.”
Listening back to Friday’s segment from Bart & Hahn, the show hardly unlocked the Da Vinci Code — at least not in the manner that the Pro Bowl linebacker portrayed on Get Up. Rather, a caller simply noted that if you listen close enough, you can hear somebody say “on Saturday” after Rodgers said he can’t wait to play with Adams again.
It’s unclear who the voice belonged to, although it didn’t seem to be Rodgers’. It’s also worth noting that Rodgers and Adams weren’t paired together during Saturday’s round and it very well could have been an unrelated conversation that the camera picked up.
In any event, whether Rodgers was referring to golf or football is somewhat beside the point, as he seemed to be very aware of how his comment regarding Adams would be perceived. Scott, to his credit, seemed aware of that — although that didn’t stop him from overstating his radio show’s detective work on the matter.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.