Aaron Rodgers will enter his age-40 season in his first year with the Jets, and one of his big challenges might be relating to his younger teammates.
New York completed its trade with the Green Bay Packers for the future Hall of Fame quarterback following a season where it had the Offensive and Defensive Rookies of the Year. The young Jets are among the favorites to win the Super Bowl because of Rodgers, and he has not wasted any time getting to know his new teammates.
He and Sauce Gardner attended Game 2 of the Miami Heat-New York Knicks series, and Madison Square Garden is famous for welcoming in the biggest celebrities around the world. Tuesday night wasn’t any different, but it was a different experience for the 22-year-old defensive star.
“I got to meet a few movie stars,” Gardner told reporters Wednesday, per SNY video. “I got to meet Chris Rock. Who else? Dave Chappelle, Tracy Morgan. Who else did I meet? I met quite a few people. But when we were getting seated, he was just picking on me a little bit for being young. We were getting seated, and he was like, ‘We’re about to sit by Jessica Alba.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know who that is.’ He looked at me like I’m crazy.
“You know what I mean. It was just great being able to sit over there. I got to meet her, and one of her friends was from Detroit, actually. It was great vibes, but that whole night, he just kept asking me out of nowhere, ‘You know who that person is?’ And I’m like, ‘That’s Amar’e Stoudemire. I know who that is. Now you just picking on me at this point.’ “
It must have been a tough reality check for Rodgers to realize how much older he is than Gardner, who was not alive when “Dark Angel” premiered in 2000 and was only three years old when “Sin City” and “Fantastic Four” were released in 2005.
The night ended with New York tying up the series 1-1, and Game 3 of Heat-Knicks will be played at Kaseya Center, but Garrett Wilson hopes to tag along for the next trip to Madison Square Garden, where he also might not recognize a major celebrity.
