From Aaron Rodgers to Antonio Brown, reality TV is infiltrating the NFL playoffs
In the past 15 years, reality television has stealthily infiltrated every aspect of our culture (see: the president-elect). Now it has shown up during the NFL playoffs.
Over playoff weekend, which sent the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons to next week’s conference championship round, three top players in the news all have reality TV ties — and it affected them in one way or another. Here’s how:
1) The Aaron Rodgers family feud.
The Packers’ quarterback had a phenomenal performance, narrowly beating the Dallas Cowboys in a thrilling matchup. Another reason he was trending this weekend? A Sunday New York Times profile that centered on Rodgers’s rift with his family, a topic made very public last summer when his younger brother, Jordan, was a contestant on ABC’s “The Bachelorette.”
During the show — which Jordan won, becoming engaged to JoJo Fletcher — Jordan repeatedly talked about being estranged from Aaron. He never really explained why, but hinted at sibling rivalry, and that Aaron grew distant after he became a superstar. “It’s just kind of the way he’s chosen to do life,” Jordan said. “I chose to stay close with my family.” This was a central theme in Jordan’s story line; the show traveled to Jordan’s childhood home in Chico, Calif., where Aaron’s absence was the elephant in the room. “It pains both of us, like, not to have that relationship. We miss our brother,” Luke Rodgers, Jordan’s other sibling, told Fletcher.
The Times article delved further into the estrangement, as Aaron’s…