2/1/11

February: Love & Football


This month the Compound Confessions header has a theme: love & football...which makes sense, right? February is the month of love...according to Hallmark, FTD and Russell Stover...so that explains the love theme. As for the football theme...bear with me.
I don't normally get too worked up about sports of any kind, professional or otherwise. I learned my lesson a long time ago. Ever since Debi Thomas got bronze in the Calgary Olympics, I haven't gotten emotionally attached to any athlete. Watching her long program, while sitting in my parents' basement, sent me into what I call "The Devastating Depression of the Winter of '88." It was terrible.  I didn't want to go to 5th grade anymore, my grades went from bad to worse, and I started hanging out with the wrong crowd...the Slalom fans. I'm lucky to have made it out alive!





I would usually argue that professional athletes are over-paid, over-idolized and a few of them have lots of overage charges - do to so much testicle text messaging.  Enter Aaron Rodgers, he is the 2011 version of Debi Thomas in Canada-minus the ice skates, fancy leotard and extra melanin. I'm not really as attached as I was back in the day.  I can promise there will be no tears and screaming if he "double foots the second triple toe" in the game on Sunday.  Although, I may pee my pants laughing if anything even remotely like that happens.
Anyway, I'm crushing on Aaron Rodgers a little. Why?  I can't really put my finger on one thing, but I'll try to explain here. Keep in mind, these are my opinions and since I didn't do much fact checking they may be based on lies, which I'm cool with...because I know Aaron doesn't check my blog...regularly.
1. He played back-up first. He paid his dues. He watched and practiced long enough to learn everything he needed to know to take his talent as a quarterback to the next level...which is about 6 stories above Jay Cutler...just sayin'.
2. He has to continually deal with being "The guy that replaced the Legend" which he does gracefully while winning games.
3. He doesn't comment on the other guy or get caught up in the drama. He kept the class in Green Bay.
4. He is always smiling...seriously, search for images of Aaron Rodgers and look for yourself! He looks like a happy down to earth guy.
5. He gets "it."  When he was asked a question about the way his career has gone until now in a Sacramento sports radio show, he replied the following.  I highlighted what I think"it"is.
   
   “I appreciate that. It really has come full circle and this has been a good week to reflect.…Just the road I’ve been on and the journey has been so sweet for me. Just to be able to go to junior  college and make my way there, starting out my career, and go to Cal and be able to work with Coach Tedford. Obviously things didn’t work out the way I thought they were going to on draft day, but to just never doubt myself and my abilities and keep working hard, believing that my time would come, has just made this journey that much more special.
6. I read this blog. Which was forwarded to me as an email.  Sweet story...I cried like a baby! 
So there.  For those reasons, I like Aaron Rodgers.  Could he turn out to be the biggest wife-beating, gun-toting, dog-fighting, drug-doing dick in the NFL?  Yeah maybe, but this weekend he and the rest of the Green Bay Packers are going to the Super Bowl, so like any other fair-weather football fan from Wisconsin, I'm going to pay tribute...and probably eat a bunch of dip!