Welcome to Deadspin’s IDIOT OF THE YEAR festivities! Nos. 50 through 11 are available for your enjoyment here. And our top 10 thus far:
10. Thom Brennaman
9. Ted Cruz
8. Rob Manfred
7. Kyrie Irving
6. Sage Steele
5. Urban Meyer
3. Trevor Bauer
2. Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers was really good as a Jeopardy! guest host this year, and even though he didn’t get the job, the Packers quarterback still looked like he might have a future in television once he’s done playing.
Unfortunately, John Cena already beat Rodgers to the new version of Jeff Foxworthy’s old game show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
After putting all of his teammates in jeopardy, Rodgers it turns out, is not smarter than a fifth grader. Or a third grader. Or a first grader. Even young children know that when it comes to getting vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, if you have questions, the person to ask is a doctor and not Joe Rogan.
There is nothing idiotic about getting infected with COVID-19. You can get vaccinated, wear a mask, regularly wash your hands, and still get the virus. Not taking those precautions, however, is idiotic, both because of the enhanced risk of catching the bug and because of the higher chance of severe outcomes for the unvaccinated.
Rodgers, thankfully, was able to avoid serious illness, and only missed one game after his “alternative treatment” plan did not prevent him from getting SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, he learned nothing from his experience, and not only continued to tout horse deworming medication as a way to treat COVID (it isn’t), but whined that the “media is trying to shame and cancel us unvaccinated people.”
He’s partially right about that. The media has tried to shame the unvaccinated by pointing out that it’s a selfish decision that puts everyone around you at a higher risk of catching a deadly virus. And the media has tried to cancel the unvaccinated by getting them to get vaccinated and protect themselves and everyone around them from the deadly virus.
All of this is plenty dumb, but what really makes Rodgers the poster boy of covidiocy is that he’s a big fat liar. Because he thought he could get away with it, Rodgers had answered a question about his vaccination status in August by saying that he was “immunized.” That was a lie. So, all of that time, for three months until he tested positive and his spot got blown up, Rodgers was running around and breaking NFL protocol rules, not only risking his own health, but everyone he came in contact with.
Rodgers’ claims of an allergy to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines may have been real. His skepticism of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may have been at least somewhat valid, as the other shots have proven more effective. None of that should have stopped him from telling the truth instead of trying to play footsie with it by saying he was “immunized,” which he absolutely was not.
Do you know how big of an idiot you have to be to make Tom Brady the voice of reason about what to put in your body? Deadspin’s No. 2 IDIOT OF THE YEAR level, that’s how big. And that’s what Rodgers is.
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