Like the vast majority of Americans, I choose not to listen to or read about everything Aaron says publicly. Aaron's relevance on topics outside of football has receded back into its rightful place of irrelevance, except to super fans who enjoy the extra non-football content. Pat McAfee has a large audience, but none of his regular viewers are going to have their views on politics, society, or public health changed by Aaron. He's just not influential enough to change any minds. He's not Muhammad Ali, despite what he may think.
Aaron's two years at Cal are his origin story. It's the scene in the alley where Bruce Wayne sees his dad killed. And a few pages after that. It's also a legacy that is maintained by the NFL because it's tradition to do so -- no other pro league actively reinforces that connection to a college in the same way. I like that the NFL does that.
At this point, I've seen and enjoyed WAY many more games played by him as a Packer than as a Golden Bear. He has been my favorite player in the NFL for all of his 17 years as a Packer (one's favorite player is not usually a bench-warming rookie, but my Cal bias was strong). I love his connection to Cal, but dude has long since left Berkeley. I know that he still cares about how our team does and feels a connection to other Cal football players, and that's important to me.
It's a personal decision about whether you choose to watch the Packers play or hope that Aaron performs well. I'll be watching and following this dude until he can't play anymore. I like the player and I like that we have a community of folks, albeit smaller, on this board who can share in the joy and pride when he excels.
