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It’s that one interview that’s been going around the web since yesterday.
Aaron Rodgers spoke with ESPN’s Mina Kimes—in her own house—to discuss a variety of subjects. Yes, they did touch on his careers, possible future Super Bowls, and his reputation for holding grudges. And yes, they talked about non-Rodgers football subjects, like Colin Kapernick’s protests, racial profiling, Ryan O’Callaghan coming out, and Presidents Obama and Trump.
But the profile also went pretty deep into Rodgers’ life and philosophy at a time when the public could characterize Rodgers as shying away. Rodgers discusses his recent turn from organized religion and his post-football business plans—that don’t currently involve coaching or broadcasting. You feel sympathy for him and his whole family when he discusses his desire to deal with his family issues the right way—in private. After his recent break-up with Olivia Munn, Rodgers discusses the difficulties of dating in the public eye and the misogyny of critical football fans. Rodgers pontificates on the balance between losing privacy and being misrepresented vs. swinging too far in the other way and being too shut off from everything.
A recurring motif in the article is that Rodgers feels misrepresented in the media for taking his quotes out of context, so I wouldn’t feel right picking out any quotes from Kimes’s piece—plus it’s a good read, so why not take a minute to read it all on your own?
And a bonus! Rodgers named the three most talented players he’s played with, one of whom was Marshawn Lynch.
When @minakimes took out her recorder to chat with Aaron Rodgers...ARod took out his. Mina explains more pic.twitter.com/j8VeyJxk1w
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) August 30, 2017
Women’s Soccer
The Bears improve to 3–1–0 with a 2–0 win over the UC Davis Aggies.
Field Hockey
In a double-overtime heartbreaker, Cal fell 5–4 to Michigan State.
Men’s and Women’s Rowing
Two male and three female alumni have been selected for the US National Teams at the 2017 World Rowing Championships.
Women’s Water Polo
In her first year as a Cal alumna, Stephanie Mutafyan helped bring gold to Team USA at the World University Games in Taiwan—assisted by another Golden Bear (Taylor Dodson) on the staff as team as manager. Three Bears played for fifth-place Team Canada; head coach Coralie Simmons will lead the US team at the upcoming 2017 FINA World Junior Championships.
Men’s Water Polo
Football
In what will probably be the last bit of offseason fluff for 2017, Athlon Sports released their All-Name team and Cal placed four players: RB Biaggio Ali-Walsh, WR Matt Rockett, and OL Gentle Williams and Poutasi Poutasi.
According to Athlon Sports, Cal–North Carolina is the 17th-best Week 1 game for 2017.
Okay, for the final bit of Athlon-mining, their analysis of the game calls for a 31–17 win for the North Carolina Tar Heels.