60 Minutes ran a profile of Aaron Rodgers last night, and it was, as is customary for most of their non-tennis sports segments, not really designed for sports fans. (Did you know the Packers play in a small town, but have won a lot of championships, and their fans really love the team? I hope you didn't, because Scott Pelley spent nearly half the piece hammering that home.)
Rodgers's late growth spurt isn't new ground either; in his E:60 profile last year, we learned he wasn't recruited out of high school because he was just 5'11", 165 pounds. But he's clearly still very salty about it, even three inches and 60 pounds later. One poor fan who won a contest to meet him, clearly the high point of the guy's life, made the mistake of telling Rodgers he looks smaller in person. Bad move.
Why did that send Rodgers into a full-on sulk?
"You know I— I just that, that's one of the more ridiculous comments that could be thrown at me is that. Especially coming from somebody who's 5'7"."
Later in the segment, Greg Jennings and Clay Matthews explain that this doesn't surprise them—Rodgers takes a lot of things personally.
Jennings: He's sensitive. So you got to be careful what you say around him.
Matthews: Real sensitive.
Jennings: You know, he takes everything to heart.
Pelley: What kind of things are you talking about?
Jennings: Like once he sees this interview, he's going to be sensitive to what, the fact that we're saying he's sensitive.
Matthews: Yeah. So, I'll compliment him on the clothes he wears. Just make him feel good. And consequently he'll go out, feel good, play good, make us feel good. So, we just, you know, give him a pat on the back every once in a while.
Pelley: A little quarterback management?
Both: Absolutely.
That's OK. QBs are human too. But it's delightful and maybe a little incongruous that Aaron Rodgers's teammates need to give him daily affirmations to keep him from moping like a sullen teenager.