Aaron Rodgers fueled by mean professor
Aaron Rodgers might be a big time NFL quarterback with swarms of fans now, but it turns out he didn’t always have so much support. Rodgers told ESPN Radio about a college professor who thought very little of his NFL dreams.
It all started when he received an F on a paper for not citing information correctly. While the other students who failed were allowed to revise their papers, Rodgers was not, and the instructor in charge of his section of the class was unable to tell him why the professor wouldn’t allow a rewrite from Rodgers. So he did what any student would do: he skipped the beginning of football practice to have a chat with his professor.
“I went in there,” he said on ESPN radio, via NESN, “and she was ready for me.
“She basically ripped me apart and said that athletes always want stuff given to them, that I wasn’t going to be able to re-write my paper, and on and on and on,” he added. “She went into this tirade about athletes and entitlements and whatnot.”
Rodgers probably figured at that point his professor wasn’t on his side, but he was surprised because he excelled academically at Cal as a second-team All-Academic. However, her critique didn’t end there.
“She’s looking at me, condescending, talking down to me,” Rodgers said. “And she says, ‘What do you want to do with yourself?’ I said, ‘I want to play in the NFL.’
“She laughed. She laughed at me. It was a condescending laugh, and she said, ‘You’ll never make it. You’ll get hurt. You’ll need your education, and you’re going to make it through school here.’ ”
Rodgers said he thanks her for “adding to that chip on my shoulder.” You have to wonder if the professor remembers Rodgers and her accusations he wouldn’t make it in the NFL. If she’s keeping score, Rodgers has not only succeed in the NFL, but he’s been league MVP and Super Bowl champion.
