MANITOWOC, Wis. -- I'm bellied up at lunchtime, as one does in these parts, at a bar called The Fat Seagull. In front of me is a beer tap with green labels and a yellow background. Cry Baby 12, an amber that goes down smooth, has sparked chuckles from most customers -- and rage from a few -- while giving voice to legions of Green Bay Packers fans who grew weary of their quarterback's offseason dispute with the team.
Aaron Rodgers reported to training camp on time Tuesday, and he is expected to wear his No. 12 jersey when the Packers kick off the season Sept. 12 at the New Orleans Saints. But a couple of days spent in and around Green Bay this week revealed that it will take time for some fans to move on from Rodgers' push to leave the team, if they do so at all.
Most fans realize that the pending restructure of his contract could make 2021 Rodgers' final season in Green Bay, before backup Jordan Love -- whom the Packers traded up to select at No. 26 in the 2020 NFL draft -- takes over. And not all of them are broken up about it.
"He could have handled the whole thing a lot differently," said Rachel Graff, who owns The Fat Seagull along with her husband, Keith, and their friend, Scott Scheurell. "I've always rooted for the team, not for any one player, and he's not the only player on the team. From talking to a lot of Packers fans, there is definitely some animosity for the way it was handled.
"Are we happy that he's back? Yes. Are we surprised that it's probably only for one more season? Nope."
"This wasn't meant to dis Aaron as a person," she added, referring to the beer's moniker. "It was meant to start a conversation, and it has definitely done that."
Rodgers has had a complicated relationship with Packers fans from the moment he replaced Brett Favre, an everyman folk hero who made clear he wanted to remain with the team when he was traded away in 2008. Like Favre, Rodgers was surprised when the Packers drafted his heir and angered that the front office -- president/CEO Mark Murphy, general manager Brian Gutekunst and executive vice president Russ Ball -- didn't consult him first.
But Rodgers' complaints have registered differently with fans, many of whom scoffed at what they considered a mild case of hurt feelings and were insulted by the apparent joy he took in teasing out his discontent through vague interviews and wordless social media posts.
It's not unusual for fans to turn on a player, even for a short period of time, but I'm willing to bet we've never before seen a reigning MVP -- one who has led his team to consecutive appearances in the NFC Championship Game -- mocked by a bar that sits 45 minutes from his home stadium.
"I think everybody is going to be behind him if he shows up," said lifelong Pack fan Nick Suess, who lives in Appleton, Wisconsin, before Rodgers arrived at camp on Tuesday. "But it has definitely tarnished his legacy to sign a contract like he did in 2018, be the highest-paid player on the team and take us so close to the Super Bowl, and then to not want to continue on this course."
Suess spoke Monday at Lambeau Field, where he participated in the Packers' annual shareholders meeting. He was wearing Love's No. 10 jersey, with the names "Love" and "Gute," on the back, a reference to his support of both Love and Green Bay's general manager.
After saying in January that his future was "a beautiful mystery," given Love's presence on the team, Rodgers' desire to move on was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter on April 29, the first day of the 2021 NFL draft. Rodgers then told ESPN in May: "It's just kind of about a philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that make the thing go. It's about character, it's about culture, it's about doing things the right way."
Kyle Cousineau watched the story build up with alarm. Cousineau is recognized around Green Bay as the unofficial mayor, a lifelong resident who knows everyone and has heard everything. He is a relentless optimist, but even he struggled to maintain his enthusiasm during the dispute. Worse, he was shocked by what he viewed as a reversal of Rodgers' typical behavior.
Cousineau winced, for example, when Rodgers and wide receiver Davante Adams posted identical photos on Instagram of Basketball Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, with no further explanation. Were they tweaking the Packers' front office? Were they announcing their intention to return for one final "Last Dance"? (According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Rodgers' restructured contract will void the 2023 season and also allow the sides to revisit 2022 after the 2021 campaign.)
"We've seen him be so calculated in everything he does," Cousineau said. "And now he was being this passive-aggressive guy that posts pictures of the 'Last Dance' and whatever. It's like, what are you doing, man? You said [on ESPN's SportsCenter] that you play for your teammates, coaches and fans. Well, if this is really only about Mark Murphy, Brian Gutekunst and Russ Ball, you're pissing off millions of Packers fans with all of this passive-aggressive BS."
Leaving fans to interpret Instagram posts was, in a word, uncool. But it wasn't surprising for a player who is trying to leverage the team into setting him free, said Waukesha, Wisconsin, native Erick Rolfson.
"Nobody likes uncertainty," Rolfson said, "but it's a big piece when you're negotiating. The fans didn't like it, of course. I'm sure we would have liked him to say, 'Hey, this is what it is,' and lay all of his cards on the table. But from a business standpoint, you just can't do that."
Thirteen years ago, Rolfson organized fans against the Packers' plan to move on from Favre, starting a website and hosting protests in Green Bay and Milwaukee. The team had named Rodgers its starter after Favre announced his retirement that spring, and it refused to take Favre back when he tried to return that summer. Instead, the Packers traded Favre to the New York Jets, a team that had finished 4-12 the previous season.
"That whole Packers-Brett Favre thing showed me the business side of football," Rolfson said. "From Rodgers' perspective, he saw what happened to Favre and must have said there is no way that was going to happen to him. This seems like it's been about Aaron being able to call his shots upon his exit, rather than winding up on a less desirable team and having to play his twilight years out there. If he's going to go somewhere else -- and you would think he would, based on them drafting Jordan Love -- he wants to go somewhere he can be a winner. I get it."
Speaking this week in Green Bay, Murphy acknowledged that fans were "split" on who was to blame in the dispute and suggested they had put "a pox on both houses, us and Aaron." While NFL front offices are perennially under siege from fans, the hard feelings toward Rodgers could linger, as well, even if the Packers are indisputably a better team with Rodgers than without him.
"There are a lot of die-hard Packers fans that I interact with that are like, 'Don't let the door hit you on the way out,'" said Cousineau, speaking a few hours before news broke of Rodgers' intent to report to camp. "Which is crazy to me. What he's done has kind of pissed me off, but I'm also a Packers fan that wants to see them win. We have an unknown in Jordan Love; I hope he's going to be the next all-world quarterback, but we don't know that.
"What we do know is that Aaron Rodgers is probably the most physically gifted thrower of the football we've ever seen. I'm not ready to blow it up for the unknown. But I think we've also come to the realization that it could be one more go-around and then we're moving on. It has all been crazy."
Earlier this summer, a Wisconsin-based distributor was marketing a local beer brewed in nearby Stevens Point, a little over an hour west of Green Bay. To entice bars, the distributor offered a program that allowed them to name the beer. At The Fat Seagull, which sits a few blocks from Lake Michigan in downtown Manitowoc, the conversation was spicy.
"It just kind of came off the tip of my tongue," said Scheurell, one of the bar's co-owners. "We said, 'Let's call it Cry Baby 12.' We did it in good fun, just to start conversations, and it ended up being polarizing."
Fellow co-owner Rachel Graff found herself defending the name on Facebook, redirecting a few angry comments with requests to lighten up. A few folks promised to never set foot inside the bar, "but not from people who have ever been here," Scheurell said.
But as I sat at the bar Tuesday afternoon, slugging down my glass of Cry Baby 12, customer after customer walked in and noticed the tap. They laughed, took pictures and went on with their liquid lunches. On a television behind the bar, SportsCenter provided live updates of Rodgers' arrival in town.
With the dispute apparently over, Scheurell is considering his next step. Maybe it's time to abandon Cry Baby 12 and change the name, he said: "How about One Year Wonder?"