"It seemed like you're thinking about writing a hit piece," Rodgers said. To my surprise, he said he did want to talk, and called on Thursday afternoon. Last week I sent an email to the Packers, wondering whether Rodgers would agree to speak on the phone, and I crafted some questions I thought might intrigue him. Now he seemed as happy as he'd ever been. At the start of the year, he looked miserable and frustrated with his own team, and admitted he'd contemplated retirement. The two sides of Rodgers felt intertwined, each fueled by the same flood of self-confidence and unapologetic joy. Just as there appears to be no single throw he won't attempt, there is also no opinion he will back down from if he feels he is right. Off the field, he has been equally brazen, leaning into culture wars, showing the world he is unafraid to fight back or denounce anyone he believes has lied about him or wronged him. Every game, Rodgers seemed to make a handful of throws that felt like a testament to his genius: throws where he was off-balance, throws where he was falling down and throws where he couldn't see his receiver, where the ball would whistle through the arms of four defenders, land in someone's arms, and the difference between euphoria and disaster could be measured in fingernails. His stats (4,115 yards, 37 touchdowns, 4 INTs) barely scratch the surface of explaining what it's been like to witness. On the football field, Rodgers has flexed his gifts so frequently and with such brilliance, it is the rare season of quarterback play that feels like he has left behind mechanics of the position and transformed them into something closer to art. Aaron Rodgers has been bold both on and off the field this season, which takes its next turn Saturday in an NFC divisional-round showdown against San Francisco at Lambeau Field. Both in his cleats and from the confines of his couch, he has behaved as though he feels blissfully unrestrained at age 38. It was the perfect anecdote to explain a season that has, in myriad ways, been a distillation of Aaron Rodgers' entire being. And that's the problem with society, is everything is triggering and offensive. I can read something and not immediately have it overtake my personal ideologies.
'That's kind of trashy, he's reading Ayn Rand.' I'm like, I haven't read it! And even if I did, who gives a s-? It's a book. They're like, 'Oh yeah, libertarian, blah, blah, blah.' I'm like, 'What the f-?' And then the people on the other side canceled me. I'm reading some mentions or Twitter stuff and these people are loving me up. "I was moving some books over and replacing some things behind me, I was like, 'Oh dude, I could never read this book.' It's however many pages. "I was laughing about it before," Rodgers said in an exclusive interview with ESPN two days before the Green Bay Packers were set to play the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC divisional round. Rodgers found the whole episode painfully predictable. But in different circles, the selection was applauded, and Rodgers was hailed as an independent thinker. Social media erupted with chatter, thousands ripping into Rodgers because they assumed he was celebrating Rand's most famous novel, a libertarian laudation of capitalism and rugged individualism. He suspected that alone might annoy certain people. He picked it because it was the book with the biggest spine on his bookshelf.
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The truth? He had never read "Atlas Shrugged." Rodgers wasn't even aware of how to properly pronounce Rand's first name. But this was intended for a different audience.
The look on his face was a fairly obvious tell, especially to those who watch him being interviewed weekly. "I've got 'Atlas Shrugged' here by Ayn Rand," Rodgers said, trying hard to suppress a smile.
What had he been reading? Rodgers, who frequently does interviews from his home, with his bookshelf in the background, was happy to share his tastes with the world. Peyton Manning and Eli Manning had just asked him, as part of their ManningCast that streams during Monday Night Football, what some of the books were on the bookshelf behind him. SITTING IN WHAT has become the most famous living room in football, sipping a scotch and wearing a half-zip with a Masters logo, Aaron Rodgers couldn't stop grinning.
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