I’m ending my Covid isolation today. Flying back to Austin. Did I ask the CDC? No. But I read their website last week. A few times. I was a little delirious that first day.
Anyway, it was a bit of a Covid retreat, locked up in my brother’s Chicago condo with him and his bulldog while the bulldog’s mother and brother also got Covid, but did that out at the bulldog’s country estate (my brother’s in-laws’ house). We watched the 30 for 30 about the 2004 Boston Red Sox. We watched a poorly-grammared YouTube video covering the rise and fall of Nomar Garciaparra. One of us got really excited when asked if she wanted to go for a w-a-l-k.
Last night, to conclude our time together, we watched Aaron Rodgers’s interview on his friend Aubrey Marcus’s podcast. If you don’t know who Aubrey Marcus is, I didn’t either, I would describe my impression of him now as something of a cross between Joe Rogan and Blu of Earth. He’s into alternative medicine, he’s into working out, he has a successful supplement business and he wrote a book and he does this podcast. If you’re looking for the overall vibe of the guy’s enterprise, maybe the episode trailer will help:
Obviously, not endorsing Aubrey Marcus, just recounting the episode here. Definitely endorsing Aaron Rodgers, that man can pass (and really, the episode did make me like him more—and I came in liking him already). I don’t know either of them.
For those wondering about the Ayahuasca, let’s hit that first. Or at least talk about it. It sounds like Rodgers has gone to Peru twice to go on these Ayahuasca journeys, or whatever it is you call those trips to Peru where you trip on Ayahuasca. The first one was with Danica Patrick, about whom he spoke highly and of whom we’re big fans here at The Barking Crow (so don’t you dare talk shit about a fellow child of northern Illinois). It was in March of 2020, right before everything shut down for Covid (so a little after you went with the guy who sold boots, Ben, though I don’t know if you did Ayahuasca while you were there, nor will I snitch to your employer if you did). The second was this offseason, with Marcus and some others. This offseason, specifically, he entered wanting to work through a specific set of things, including issues with his family, but instead he felt the trip led him through an encounter with his own self-judgment. He needed, he believes, to learn how to love himself, and Ayahuasca showed him how to do that by showing him every bad thing he ever believes about himself, then showing him that there were people—including Marcus—who would still love him even if those were true. Now, he wants to show up and model unconditional love for his teammates. If that isn’t what we ask sports to be at their best, I don’t know what is.
Other observations and reports from the interview:
- Marcus and Rodgers appear to be very close. Rodgers teared up multiple times on the podcast, but especially when talking about their friendship. They have not, though, been friends for a very long time. Rodgers met Marcus through Patrick, then became close to him when Marcus sent a text congratulating Rodgers on last fall’s Week 3 win over the 49ers (the one Mason Crosby won with a 51-yard field goal after the Niners gave Rodgers the ball with little time remaining and a one-point deficit to make up). The text, to hear Rodgers tell it, recognized a lot of what Rodgers was feeling at the time and during the postgame interview (the “How can you not be romantic about football?” interview), which sounded like a moment of oneness with the universe (Rodgers used the words “elation” and “love” multiple times).
- Marshawn Lynch, Randall Cobb, Tom Clements, and Rodgers’s fourth grade teacher—Mr. Thomas—all were mentioned, all highly favorably.
- The Tom Clements mention came in the context of Rodgers talking about practicing during what I believe was the 2020 season. Rodgers told a story of how he’d been watching a lot of film from his 2010 and 2011 seasons and was working on getting back to a personal emphasis on fundamentals and body control, remembering phrases Clements had said about the timing of various points of the dropback and release. In a moment in that practice, something clicked—another one of these special moments for Rodgers. It’s worth mentioning here that since Rodgers started going to Peru and doing Ayahuasca, he’s won two MVP’s and committed more firmly to the Packers than he has in years. There is a non-zero chance that the medicine man Rodgers is visiting is actually Brian Gutekunst in disguise.
- The Mr. Thomas mention came while Rodgers was talking about his love of poetry. Mr. Thomas made students memorize poems. Rodgers memorized “The Road Not Taken” and still has it memorized today. He talked earlier in the interview about “acquiring knowledge,” and his affinities for astrology, chess, and mental pieces of golf came up.
- The shirt is weird. But it does look really soft.
- Rodgers believes in miracles.
- Marcus pushed against the “medical industrial complex” moments after an ad break showcased his brand of supplements and moments before holding a can of Spindrift such that its logo was angled directly towards the camera for what felt like multiple minutes.
- Marcus has a farm out in Lockhart, which I learned is the Lockhart near Austin when I googled him and learned he lives in Austin. Go figure. Everyone wants to be like Stu.
- It was interesting watching Marcus and Rodgers discuss what I think can best be described as their opposition to certain ways western medicine is promoted. Marcus talked about being grateful to Pfizer, specifically for Viagra, and he definitely seemed to leave the door open to western medicine, but he had some confrontational tone at points, and that might be putting it mildly. Rodgers was softer on the topics, though he did display what felt like defiance to me. He was firmest in his condemnation of what he seemed to describe as people trying to dictate the decisions of others. There was some “both sides” in here, specifically about the Covid vaccine’s proponents and opponents. Each explicitly said at least one negative thing about at least some of whom I believe they called anti-vaxxers.
- Rodgers stressed that during the 2020 season, he was following the NFL’s strict testing regimen and never went out in public unless he’d tested negative that morning. When he contracted Covid, he says he told the Packers that morning that he wasn’t feeling well, came in, got tested, waited in his car for the results, then went home when the results came back positive and stayed isolated for ten days. He spoke about valuing his health and the health of those around him.
- Overall, I think the message of the interview was not that everyone should do psychedelics, or that western medicine is bad, but that people should seek their own truth and seek to love themselves and others, which is a pretty good thing to have as your central message. They talked about being vulnerable and sensitive as men. Rodgers spoke about the divine living inside us, referencing the ripping of the curtain in the temple after Jesus’s crucifixion. It was an unusual interview, but if Rodgers is as genuine as he says he’s being, it’s hard not to support the guy, though I do say that as a person who was raised to love the Packers. There’s nothing wrong with love. There’s a lot right with it, in fact. And in the spirit of that, I’m going to delete the next bullet about Jordan Rodgers, even if I can’t get myself to not mention him at all.
- Blu commented on Marcus’s post of the trailer, but as of last night, it didn’t look like she’d commented on the post of the podcast episode itself. It does appear she was on Marcus’s podcast at one point and was described in the episode description as a “witch.” This might be where people got the idea that she is a witch, something she’s denied.
Nico Hoerner Didn’t Have a TV Growing Up
In other news regarding athletes of Bay Area origin, Stanford-educated and social media-eschewing shortstop Nico Hoerner didn’t have a TV in his house growing up. From Jordan Bastian’s piece on the Cubs’ response to Vin Scully’s passing:
“Hoerner grew up in Oakland, but he remembers listening to Scully on the radio, as his family did not have a TV in the house.”
There’s more to it than that—Hoerner had a really nice quote about Scully’s longevity which demonstrated his appreciation for baseball history—but yeah, Hoerner was one of those kids without a TV. It makes a lot of sense. He’s going to outlive us all.
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Viewing schedule for the day:
2:15 PM EDT: Cubs @ Cardinals – Game 1 (MLB TV)
7:45 PM EDT: Cubs @ Cardinals – Game 2 (MLB TV)
The Cubs play two against the Cardinals today in what’s now the second of three doubleheaders the teams will complete on the season. The first one? The Cubs managed a split. Kind of a nice thing about doubleheaders when you’re the worst team. If you just split, it’s a good day.
8:05 PM EDT: White Sox @ Rangers (MLB TV, second screen)
Joe Kelly plays the Rangers today in what might be his first game against the team all year. Have they played already? Was Joe Kelly healthy if they did? Did Joe Kelly pitch if he was? There is simply no way to know.
