Congratulations, Aaron Rodgers! You’re now the Green Bay Packers’ new starting quarterback. More importantly, you’ve just joined an elite fraternity.
There is no President, Vice President, or Secretary. Just a bunch of members identified simply as “What's His Name?”
Your dues have already been paid in full. Mr. Rodgers, you just replaced a legend.
Why not ask fellow fraternity member, Pete Myers, how it feels?
In recent years Dan Marino, John Elway, Barry Sanders, Cal Ripken, and Tony Gwynn all retired from their respective sports after playing their entire careers in the same uniform.
And today, Brett Favre did the same. Sure he started his career with the Atlanta Falcons, but he will forever be remembered as a Green Bay Packer. For the last 16 years, he was the face of the franchise.
For the last couple of years, Aaron Rodgers has been the star in his own lonely rendition of The Apprentice.
It’s hard enough to make it to the pro level of any sport. To replace a legend makes it almost impossible to be successful.
Taking the place of a great would be the equivalent of following in your father's footsteps—if your dad were, say, Michael Jordan. You decide you want to play basketball. Sadly, your fate was sealed long before that first jump ball.
The fraternity is always looking for new members. In LA, when Kobe steps aside, it will welcome another.
When Tom Brady moves on, they’ll have to make more room. And when Peyton Manning plays his last game, the fraternity will grow again.
Elite athletes are so few and far between. We as fans cheer for these special athletes and dissect their every move. Unfortunately, by doing this, we’re also setting the next guy up for failure. Every time!
Perhaps Rodgers will find success in the NFL. But it’s very doubtful he’ll find it in Green Bay.
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7 months ago
That would mean that one man's success and fame mean than the next one will be a failure. I think that really depends on your definition of failure - like you said, it takes a lot to even be playing the game. I'm not sure I'm ready to call any of those athletes failures.
Having really big shoes to fill can be intimidating, but if success is getting to play in the NFL and following in the footsteps of the elite, seems like Rodgers just found a different kind of success.
7 months ago
i think he means that you are looked at as a failure based upon what the guy before you did. they become used to that greatness and when they aren't seeing it from a position that they are used to seeing it from, they just assume that that person is failing, which can really hurt a players phsycee seeing that he isn't as good as another guy who played before him.
look at jake plummer, he had an extremely successful career from our standpoint, but because he had to follow the great john elway, he was looked at as a huge drop from what they had before instead of a good quarterback.
6 months ago
Often times there is a sense of failure and disappointment...but what about Steve Young? he's a HOFer lol.
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