Carroll’s Column: Long Gone Aaron

[IMPORTANT: Make this 4 times longer with much more detail]

Sports Carroll’s Column: Long Gone Aaron by Lloyd Carroll February 17, 2025 Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports NEW YORK, NY — Now that the NFL season is officially over, teams can begin their offseason work and planning towards the 2025-2026 campaign. At the end of the dismal New York Jets 2024-2025 season, the two questions which needed to be answered were, “Who will comprise the new leadership team for Gang Green?” and “Will Aaron Rodgers return as the team’s quarterback?” Last week the Jets announced that Darren Mougey, most recently a Denver Broncos executive, would be their general manager. The Jets previously announced the hiring of longtime Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to be their head coach. Glenn is familiar to Jets fans of a certain age because he was a first-round draft choice of the team in 1994 and then spent eight years as a top-notch cornerback for the team. Image Credit: NFL On Super Bowl Sunday, FOX Sports NFL insider Jay Glazer broke the news that the Jets brass had informed Aaron Rodgers he would not be returning to Gang Green for the 2025 season. The team confirmed Glazer’s scoop with a press release this past Thursday. Interestingly, Aaron Glenn did not shut the door when he was asked about Rodgers at his introductory press conference. He may have been trying to be diplomatic, or he may have been intrigued by the idea of having Rodgers lead the offense. After all, his stats were quite good. He completed 63 percent of his passes. He threw 28 touchdowns while only being tagged for eleven interceptions in 17 games. He also remained injury-free in 2024. That was poetic justice considering he missed the entire 2023 season after only four plays into his Jets debut when he tore his Achilles. On the debit side for Rodgers was the fact that the Jets only won five games in 2024 which were two games less than they won with Zach Wilson and Mike White handling the QB chores in 2023. Another debit for Rodgers was that he would be turning 41 during 2025. Image Credit: NFL NBC Sports executives told me they doubt the Jets will be on “Sunday Night Football” anytime soon. The Jets are irrelevant to TV executives which cannot please Jets owner Woody Johnson. They will once again be America’s 1PM team. General manager Darren Mougey does not want to deal with the off-field drama Rodgers brings. That includes his unpredictable appearances on Pat McAfee’s ESPN show, criticizing teammates during post-loss press conferences; and missing a mandatory off-season minicamp last June to vacation in Egypt. He also saw how Rodgers bullied his predecessor, Joe Douglas, into signing his old Packers teammates Randall Cobb, Allen Lazard, Tim Boyle, and Davante Adams. Image Credit: AP The first three were total busts. Adams was productive, but Rodgers ignored talented young receiver Garrett Wilson as soon as he joined the team. Wilson hinted he might want to leave the Jets. Mougey understandably values him as a key part of their future. Adios, Aaron. Street of Philadelphia celebrate in Super Bowl LIX Parade Over a million people lined up the streets of Philadelphia Friday to watch the Eagles Super Bowl championship parade. Every Philadelphia commercial broadcasting TV station carried the entire event which included following the eight-mile bus route from South Philly’s Lincoln Financial Field up Broad Street to the Philadelphia Art Museum on the JFK Parkway in Center City. Image Credit: NFL Standing in front of the museum which Sylvester Stallone made famous fifty years ago in “Rocky,” Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro made the obligatory rah-rah speeches, Head coach Nick Sirianni, and many of his players made speeches thanking the fans for their continued support. The highlight was Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata leading the crowd in an a capella version of the Queens rock classic, “We Are The Champions.” My guess is Giants owner John Mara, general manager Joe Schoen, and head coach Brian Daboll did not have the stomach to watch the parade which could be viewed on the Internet. It would have been too painful to watch former Big Blue star running back Saquon Barkley tell the crowd how happy he is to be an Eagle. Mets re-sign Drew Smith The Mets did the right thing in re-signing relief pitcher Drew Smith who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer on his pitching arm at the absolute worst time possible for him as he was scheduled to be a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. Smith told me he did not have an insurance policy which would compensate him if he had to miss a season and was not under contract to a Major League Baseball team. Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports Smith is unlikely to pitch in 2025, but he should return in 2026, which is why the Mets signed him to a two-year contract. Nice sendoff by ABC and ESPN for Hubie Brown ABC and ESPN gave a nice sendoff to 91-year-old basketball savant and superb analyst Hubie Brown last Sunday. Brown still is sharp, but the loss of both his wife and son Brendan, in the past year, understandably took a toll on him. It was wise of the Disney sports empire to schedule his final game on the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday when viewership would be high. “Celtics City” available on Max on March 3rd HBO, and its streaming service Max, will begin showing a nine-part series, “Celtics City,” on March 3. New episodes will debut each Monday. Image Credit: Max The executive producer is media entrepreneur, sports humorist, and Boston native Bill Simmons. Props to Columbia Women’s Basketball Congratulations to the Columbia University Lions women’s basketball team for clinching a berth in the Ivy League tournament which will be held at Brown University in Providence next month. Pepsi Zero Sugar vs. Coke Zero Sugar? The cola wars are coming back! Pepsi-Cola executives announced they will be bringing back the Pepsi Challenge for a series of television commercials. The Pepsi Challenge was a blind taste test where Coca-Cola drinkers were “shocked” to discover they preferred the taste of Pepsi. This time around, the battleground will be Pepsi Zero Sugar versus Coke Zero Sugar. Image Credit: Tasting Table Controversial Secretary of Health & Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been outspoken about the dangers of sugar as part of the diets of Americans, so the decision of Pepsi to take on Coca-Cola in the world of zero-sugar soft drinks is not coincidental. Langer’s Juices is also jumping on the anti-sugar bandwagon with its new line of 5-calorie juices. The company hopes they will be used as cocktail mixers for those who want to imbibe with less guilt. “Sly Lives!” out now on Hulu Hulu is streaming a well-done documentary on Sylvester Stewart, better known to the world as Sly Stone, the leader of the great late 1960s and early 1970s band, Sly & the Family Stone. It is titled “Sly Lives!” which given his lifestyle is a bit of surprise for the 81-year-old Stone. “Sly Lives!” starts out with early days as a popular Bay Area disc jockey and a behind-the scenes music producer who worked with San Francisco music acts as Bobby Freeman, the Beau Brummels, and Grace Slick. Image Credit: Hulu It then segues into the formation of his pioneering band, Sly & the Family Stone, who broke all the boundaries of the time both musically and socially. They were integrated racially and featured both male and female musicians. They quickly had hits with joyous, unifying tunes as “Dance to the Music,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Stand,” “Everyday People,” and “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” Sly was also a favorite guest of such establishment talk show figures at the time as Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas. More on Sly Stone By 1971, there were signs of trouble. Sly was starting to dabble in drug use, and his behavior became erratic. The band started getting a bad reputation for coming late to concerts or missing them all together. Sly could still come up with catchy hits such as “Family Affair,” “Running Away,” “If You Want Me to Stay,” and “Time for Livin’”, but his lyrics were becoming quite obtuse. By 1975, music styles, as they always do, were changing and the hits stopped. And that is when Sly’s troubles really began. “Sly Lives!” does not shy away from the good, the bad, or the ugly in his life. “90s Boy Band Boom” and “Millennium 2.0” Two weeks ago, the CW television network debuted a documentary, “‘90s Boy Band Boom,” which devoted a great deal of time to the biggest one at the time, the Backstreet Boys. Over a quarter of a century later, the five guys are still together. In July, the Backstreet Boys will have a new album which will be titled “Millennium 2.0,” and they will have a two-week residency at the world’s most talked about concert venue, the Sphere in Las Vegas. You can read more of Lloyd Carroll’s columns posted weekly on The Queens Chronicle. Related Topics 90’s Boy Band Boom Aaron Glenn Aaron Rodgers ABC Bill Simmons Boston Celtics Celtics Coke Columbia University Columbia Women’s Basketball Davante Adams Drew Smith Eagles ESPN Garret Wilson HBO Max Hubie Brown Hulu Jets Major League Baseball Mets Millenium 2.0 MLB National Basketball Association National Football League NBA New York Jets New York Mets NFL Pepsi Philadelphia Eagles Sly Lives Click to comment Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Advertisement Facebook Latest Article Baseball / 1 week ago 35TH ANNUAL LATINO MVP AWARDS – 2024 OFFICIAL BALLOT ANNOUNCED BRONX, NY (February 10th, 2025) — It has been thirty five (35) years since… By Press Release Basketball / 4 hours ago Dominican-American Karl-Anthony Towns introduced in style for 2025 NBA All-Star Game NEW YORK, NY — During the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Game introductions on Sunday night… By Robert Rizzo Sports / 7 hours ago Carroll’s Column: Long Gone Aaron NEW YORK, NY — Now that the NFL season is officially over, teams can… By Lloyd Carroll Baseball / 12 hours ago Letters from the Beyond: From Juan Adam to Nicolás Salomón – Cartas desde el Más Allá: De Juan Adam para Nicolás Salomón My dear Nicolás: I am writing to you from this More Here, which you… By Juan Vené Basketball / 20 hours ago Victory Sunday for No. 9 St. John’s at The Garden NEW YORK, NY — The streets of New York are beginning to feel the… By Robert Rizzo More in Sports Dominican-American Karl-Anthony Towns introduced in style for 2025 NBA All-Star Game NEW YORK, NY — During the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Game introductions on Sunday night… Letters from the Beyond: From Juan Adam to Nicolás Salomón – Cartas desde el Más Allá: De Juan Adam para Nicolás Salomón My dear Nicolás: I am writing to you from this More Here, which you… Victory Sunday for No. 9 St. John’s at The Garden NEW YORK, NY — The streets of New York are beginning to feel the… Stetson Breaks Through Late Tie for 9-7 Victory over Missouri The following article was first published on StetsonAthletics.com – Stetson Breaks Through Late Tie… Letters from the Beyond: From Juan Adam to Nicolás Salomón – Cartas desde el Más Allá: De Juan Adam para Nicolás Salomón