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"It's so dumb I wouldn't even joke about it. That's how dumb it is."
You've heard WFAN host Boomer Esiason talk Monday about the false Aaron Rodgers Super Bowl boycott story that originated on Boomer and Gio late last week. On Tuesday during his regular weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers spoke more about it.
Esiason said Monday on WEEI in Boston that the story was completely fabricated, as it was originally shared on a Twitter account with the handle @BackAftaThis. The account is verified and has more than 116,000 followers. The video, which is clearly edited together, has more than 1.8 million views. Esiason and co-host Gregg Giannotti acknowledged the story was fake, and the Twitter account has in its bio that Rodgers would not be boycotting the Super Bowl should the Packers get to LA.
Rodgers said normally he wouldn't give the time of day to stories like that. But because Boomer and Gio were cited as the ones to break the story based on a text message from someone claiming to have sources close to Rodgers, the Packers QB couldn't stay silent.
"I just felt like it was time to end that," he told McAfee, noting he, Packers backup quarterback Jordan Love and others had fun on Twitter in response. He also made it clear that he wasn't pleased that it became such a big deal.
"Why would I play in, to the majority of people, a meaningless Week 18 game and then what I care about and train for in the offseason, and focus on during the season, and manifest thoughts to my teammates to have this on our mind. Winning a Super Bowl," he said. "You think I would do all that and play in a meaningless game to most people in Week 18 and then boycott the Super Bowl? You don't know me."
"I've giving a lot less fucks the last couple years but 1 thing I do give a major fuck about is ridiculous narratives about me. I'm gonna boycott the Super Bowl.. that's the dumbest shit I've heard" @AaronRodgers12 on the rumors about him sitting out the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/n8RA1iG09N
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 11, 2022
"It's the dumbest f***ing thing," he added. "It's so dumb I wouldn't even joke about it. That's how dumb it is."
Rodgers insisted no one in his inner circle was talking to the media.
"Whether you're 'Porn Hub' (Hub Arkush) or whoever this direct source is, you don't know me, so stop talking as if you do know me or you have some sort of idea."
"You think I would boycott the Super Bowl?? You don't know me so stop talking as if you do know me" ~@AaronRodgers12#PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/oLSuyfB1v4
This is one of those times where some media members may call for the Packers QB to be challenged more by The Pat McAfee Show because 'Boomer and Gio' never treated the story as plausible on air. Both have since gone on separate shows to set the record straight that the video Rodgers responded to in the first place was edited to make it look like something it wasn't.
Rodgers though has had most of his time and focus on football, so he's appeared to take this personally, even though there are other layers to the story which make it clear that the New York radio hosts shot down the report. Given how much off-field chatter Rodgers has dealt with this year, it's understandable why he might be ticked off with the sports media.
Related Topics:Aaron RodgersBarrett Sports MediaBoomer and GioPat McAfeesports radio
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"If I just said, look I'm not voting for anyone that has a connection to PEDs, that would be easier."
The results of the Baseball Hall of Fame vote will be revealed next week, and ESPN MLB writer Tim Kurkjian has been on the fence about a lot of the players on the ballot.
Speaking Wednesday with Tim McKernan of 101 ESPN in St. Louis, Kurkjian said having the opportunity to elect some of baseball's greatest players to the Hall of Fame is not lost on him. But the task of choosing players with ties to performance-enhancing drugs has been hard.
"It's the greatest privilege I have," he said of being a voter. "I love it, but it's really, really difficult. I don't think there are any right answers anymore."
Kurkjian himself will be honored at the induction ceremony, and will be enshrined in the media wing as the winner of the Baseball Writers Association of America Career Excellence Award.
In the lead-up to the results of the voting, ESPN's Outside the Lines is presenting a series on the Hall of Fame cases for five controversial candidates: Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.
McKernan asked Tim Kurkjian what his voting process was, and if he considers voting for players on a case-by-case basis. Kurkjian said that was indeed the case given how each player's ties to banned substances is different, and that in his mind, doing it that way is the most balanced way of voting.
"If I just said, look I'm not voting for anyone that has a connection to PEDs, that would be easier," he said. "But I do care, and I'm kind of trapped in the middle as I so often am."
Some of the other voters have a more hard-lined stance. Guys like Bonds, A-Rod, Mark McGwire and others will never get a particular writer's vote simply because they admitted to using PEDs. But Kurkjian said that's not how he does it.
He also said others should model how he votes.
"I'm not suggesting it's the right way, because I'm not sure there is a right way," he said. "I just don't think I'm wrong in what I'm doing. I'm doing the best I can, and it is a very difficult assignment these days."
ESPN's series will conclude on Wednesday with reaction to the results of the hall of fame vote. Tim Kurkjian will be a part of the series.