Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers
By Ian O'Connor
Mariner Books; hardcover, 384 pages; $29.99; available today, Tuesday, August 20th
Ian O'Connor has established himself as one of the foremost biographers of historic sports figures, including four straight New York Times bestsellers, Belichick (please click here for our review from September 2018), Coach K, Arnie and Jack, and The Captain, on Yankees legend Derek Jeter. O'Connor has also long been known as one of the best sports columnists in the country for such outlets as The New York Daily News, ESPN, and most recently, the New York Post. He has finished in first place twenty times in national writing contests, including those conducted by the Pro Football Writers of America, Golf Writers Association of America, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Associated Press Sports Editors, which honored him as the No. 1 columnist in the country in his circulation category three times.
In the highly-anticipated new book, Out of the Darkness, O'Connor turns his lens onto one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, who has stirred controversy in recent years, and is about to enter his second season with the Jets, Aaron Rodgers.
This is the first definitive biography of Rodgers, whom O'Connor interviewed officially for this book. In addition, he conducted 250 exclusive interviews to capture the full scope of a man "widely regarded to be among the two or three most talented players ever at the most glamorous position in American team sports," O'Connor writes. "He was a Super Bowl MVP who had won the NFL's regular-season MVP award four times, more than Tom Brady (three times) or any other player in league history not named Peyton Manning (five). By the metric that used completion percentage and yards, touchdowns, and interceptions per attempt to measure performance, Rodgers was the best NFL passer of all time, a hair better than Patrick Mahomes."
O'Connor starts this engrossing biography with never-before-reported details on Rodgers' heroic grandfather, B-24 pilot Edward Rodgers, who flew 43 successful combat missions in World War II against Hitler's war machine and saved his crew of ten in a burning plane above Nazi Germany before he told war-crimes investigators of what he suffered as a POW. He never shared these details with his family, and O'Connor sent Rodgers a copy of that war-crimes interview so this book wouldn't be the first time he reads it. That's one of many revelations that O'Connor makes that gives the book an intimacy with its subject, which is refreshing in a book of this kind.
The more-recent Rodgers family history that O'Connor delves into is his estrangement from his parents for nearly a decade, one of many fractures in the Rodgers family. This also includes Rodgers becoming estranged from his two siblings and several longtime friends around the same time.
This also is a story of an underdog, how Rodgers went from a high school player without a single scholarship offer, to how he plunged in the 2005 NFL Draft from a possible number-one pick to being selected 24th overall, and evolving into an NFL great.
Though he enjoyed plenty of success in Green Bay, Rodgers had complicated relationships with coaches Mike McCarthy and Matt LaFleur, as well as the Packers franchise quarterback he replaced, Brett Favre.
Rodgers also waded into the controversies around the Covid-19 vaccine when he revealed in a press conference on August 26, 2021 that he was "immunized" against the virus. Around this time was when he read Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s book, The Real Anthony Fauci, which led Rodgers to believe that Dr. Fauci was only pushing treatments for HIV/AIDS and COVID that he was invested financially in. This was also the start of Rodgers' relationship with Kennedy, which culminated in speculation he would be the current Independent Presidential candidate's running mate this past March.
O'Connor reveals that this was not Rodgers' first brush with alternative thinking, as he was fascinated with conspiracies starting when he was a sophomore in high school, and he was examining the life and death of President John F. Kennedy for a school project. He questioned the common knowledge of JFK's assassination, and that led him to question a lot of historical truths. That includes 9/11, which was confirmed by his backup in 2018, Jordan Kizer, who said on a podcast that Rodgers told him to read up on it, and that it was the start of a thought experiment that included conspiracy theories on Inner Earth, the moon landing, and reptile people.
Just before the pandemic, another variable entered Rodgers' life that would alter his view of the world. He took a trip to Peru with his then-girlfriend Danica Patrick to experience the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca. Rodgers has called it a life- and career-altering experience, and it was something he was first introduced to by his close friend Jordan Russell, who had made a 2019 trip to an Amazonian retreat known as the Temple of the Way of Light in Iquitos, Peru.
Russell sat with ayahuasca for five nights, and the fourth ceremony was all centered on Rodgers. He described the vision he received to O'Connor as, "I saw who Aaron is, and I saw the reason that his potential was not being met, because his potential is not who he is on the football field. That is what has given him the platform and profile to give his gift, is the way I see it." Russell was playing golf with Rodgers a few months after this when he told him about it, and that inspired Rogers' trip to Peru with Patrick, and then retreats with Russell to Costa Rica.
Rodgers told O'Connor that this experience led him to have the best season of his career in 2020, when he won an MVP, and he won another one the following season - the fourth overall in his career - and second since Green Bay drafted his replacement, Jordan Love.
The 2022 season would be challenging one for Rodgers in Green Bay, mostly because he did not feel the way he once did about Packers' decision-makers the prior off-season, in which he signed a fresh three-year, $150 million contract. The season began with Rodgers watching rookie receiver Christian Watson drop a 75-yard touchdown pass in their loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and eventually they fell to a 4-8, a record unheard of for a long time in Green Bay. That included Rodgers losing seven out of eight games in the middle of the season as he was playing with a fractured right thumb suffered in a game in London against the Giants. By the season-finale, in which Green Bay still had a shot at the playoffs before losing to the Detroit Lions, it was clear that Rodgers had spent one year too many with his original team and both sides needed a divorce.
The question then became where to trade him, and that is where the Jets entered the picture. O'Connor chronicles their five-hour recruiting trip to Rodgers' Malibu home in March 2023.
O'Connor writes, "Rodgers hosted Woody and Christopher Johnson, chairman and vice chairman, along with general manager Joe Douglas, team president Hymie Elhai, head coach Robert Saleh, and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, a Rodgers favorite from their days in Green Bay.
"Woody, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, presented Rodgers with an interesting gift during the recruiting visit.
"'He gave me some honey from the queen's garden,' the quarterback said.
"Honey from Queen Elizabeth's garden?
"'It is a cool gift,' Rodgers said."
The trade was completed the following month, and at his introductory press conference, Rodgers was asked if he ever thought the trade wouldn't happen, and he said, "Not really. I believed it was going to happen the entire time. It was just a matter of waiting each other out. My intentions coming out of the darkness was to pursue this opportunity."
After months of fanfare and excitement over the summer, Rodgers' 2023 campaign ended just four plays into it, when he tore his Achilles tendon on opening night. In another bit of new information that makes this book valuable, Rodgers reveals the error he made on the play that left him prone to injury, and there are new details on his rehabilitation, including a stem-cell treatment and aggressive laser therapies in an attempt to make a late-season return. There is also an interview with the never-before-identified trainer who moved into Rodgers' home after the injury and guided him through what the trainer terms "an incredibly dark period" full of regrets and doubts. There also is a lot about how Rodgers went through this off-season, in anticipation of his return.
Out of the Darkness is one of the most complete biographies of a pivotal figure of his times. It is also one of the best books on football you will read, a perfect one to fill the time before kickoff on what the Jets hope will be a full season with Rodgers at the helm.
No comments:
Post a Comment