As Hard Knocks fosters a feud between Aaron Rodgers and New York Giants linebacker Jihad Ward, Rachel Nichols reminds us the series is just reality TV.
In the latest episode of Hard Knocks, Ward was seen shoving Rodgers during the Jets and Giants preseason game, prompting the 39-year-old quarterback to say, “show some respect…I don’t even know who you are, bro.” Ward has since complained that Hard Knocks failed to explain that his shove of Rodgers was a retaliation to Jets wide receiver Randall Cobb delivering an illegal blindside block on Giants cornerback Bobby McCain, who remains in concussion protocol.
“They’re going to entertain, they’re going to show his part, HBO,’’ Ward said. “They weren’t even in on the whole scenario with what really went down, so they’re going to show his side of the story and make me look like a sucker. But I ain’t going for that. My side of the story is I’m not going to let any of my teammates get knocked down like that.’’
But according to Rachel Nichols, who made her debut on FS1’s revamped version of Undisputed alongside Skip Bayless Thursday morning, Ward should know Hard Knocks was always going to make Rodgers out to be the hero.
Rachel Nichols made her Undisputed debut this morning pic.twitter.com/zVuaTXZV0L
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 31, 2023
“He is wrong expecting that Hard Knocks would edit this in any way other than to make Aaron Rodgers the star,” Nichols said in response to Ward’s gripe. “This is literally the Aaron Rodgers Show on Hard Knocks. And Ward came out yesterday and said, ‘They made me look like a sucker and it wasn’t fair.’
“Boohoo! This is a reality show! This isn’t 60 Minutes, it’s not journalism. This is like on The Kardashians if Kanye came out and said, ‘Man, Kim Kardashian is making me look bad.’ You know what Kanye? Not your show. Same thing with this, with Ward.”
In her first appearance on Undisputed, Rachel Nichols compared the Aaron Rodgers-Jihad Ward feud to the drama we’ve already witnessed between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. That’s quite the debut! Nichols is right, Hard Knocks is just entertainment, it’s reality TV, not an episode of HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. But that probably doesn’t make Ward feel any better after watching HBO portray Rodgers as the conquering hero.
