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Aaron Rodgers is reportedly giving up cheese thanks to Tom Brady
This is how you start a brawl in Wisconsin.
The Green Bay Packers are synonymous with cheese, which is an incredibly weird thing to type. If any other fans were to wear giant foam food products on their heads, it would be ridiculous. But Packers fans can get away with massive triangle-shaped blocks of cheese on Sundays (and Mondays, and Thursdays, and the occasional Saturday) because that's what we've come to expect from the Green Bay faithful.
How, then, should Packers fans react to the news that star quarterback Aaron Rodgers is giving up that curd-based dairy goodness? This is sacrilege!
The Cheeseheads' quarterback won't be eating cheddar, provolone or any other kinds of cheese anymore. Believe it: The Green Bay Packers' leader has eliminated dairy products from his diet. [...]
"I just wanted to get healthier," said Rodgers, who turned 32 last December. "I've done a lot of research and talked with Adam Korzun, our [team] nutritionist, and some other friends around the league about how I can extend my career and how I can be and feel healthier."
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been an influence on Rodgers, who said last week that he has followed an 80/20 eating rule: Make sure 80 percent of what you eat is healthy, and enjoy the other 20 percent.
We get that this is all in the name of being a better quarterback, which is fine. Rodgers is entering his his 12th season in the NFL, and he's no longer at his physical peak. Taking a page out of Tom Brady's book is a great way to make sure that Rodgers maintains his outstanding play headed into next season and the near future.
But did he have to give up cheese cold-turkey? Rodgers is apparently abiding by the aforementioned 80/20 theory of nutrition, so why couldn't he sneak some fried curds into that 20-percent-enjoyable part of his diet every now and again?
What do we tell this poor fan?
Cheese -- in the form of the cheesehead -- is part of who Packers fans are. In 1985, after Chicago Bears fans (in a possibly apocryphal incident) taunted Green Bay fans for their affinity for the good stuff, Wisconsites assumed the term "cheesehead" as a sports badge of honor that extended beyond football. The original cheesehead hat was worn not to a Packers game, but to a Milwaukee Brewers tilt in 1987. From there, the unique headwear took off with Wisconsin sports fans of all stripes before becoming synonymous with the Packers. Now, Rodgers is turning his back on that history.
We kid, of course. Rodgers should do whatever he wants; this is America, after all. But what's next? Brady not being patriotic? Tony Romo not being a renegade cowboy with his decision-making? Nick Foles not butting heads (like a ram, you see) with his coaching staff over a first-round rookie quarterback?
What is this world coming to when Rodgers bans cheese from his life? What do we tell the children?
