Skip Bayless Takes Victory Lap For Calling Aaron Rodgers a Diva 14 Years Ago

Aaron Rodgers took center stage in the sports world for nearly an hour on Wednesday as he appeared on the Pat McAfee Show to let everybody know where he'll play in 2023. He also took aim at multiple media insiders and said he told Adam Schefter to lose his number. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel for the Rodgers saga, but he firmly re-inserted himself into the center of the sports discourse with the interview.

To whit, Skip Bayless talked about the current but soon to be former Green Bay Packers quarterback and took a victory lap for correctly identifying Rodgers as a "finger-pointing diva" and "master media manipulator" 14 years ago when he was still at ESPN.

One of the benefits of being Skip Bayless is that he does not have to acknowledge when he is wrong but has every opportunity to celebrate when he was right. So well-earned, I guess.

In all seriousness, it is understandable if you're sick of Rodgers talk but it's interesting to reflect on how much things have changed in terms of perception over the last decade-plus. It feels like he pivoted from great but uninteresting quarterback with some low-key family issues to full-blown weirdo who likes picking fights with media members in the public eye and openly discussing his psychedelic drug usage. I mean, as far as a narrative switch, has any athlete come close to the drastic swerve that Rodgers' narrative has taken?

There's no way Bayless saw all this coming when arguing with the other guy at the other network over 10 years ago. But to get any part of Rodgers' personality right given how much our perception of it has changed is somewhat impressive. I would still love a fact-check from someone at the ESPN archives, though.