AUDIO: Dan Patrick Discusses Whether Bill Simmons Should've Asked Aaron Rodgers About Brother

Dan Patrick did a segment in the third hour of his radio show today about whether Bill Simmons should have asked Aaron Rodgers about comments his younger brother made on The Bachelorette. We covered this topic in-depth on Thursday. Here is the audio:

At the outset, Patrick’s co-host Andrew Perloff summarized the predicament, and added that it “seems weird” that Simmons didn’t bring it up with Rodgers, and that a friend of his was “really angry” about the omission. Perloff also said that we don’t know whether Rodgers asked Simmons not to ask about it.

Patrick (who acknowledged at the beginning that he did not see the Rodgers interview Update: Paul Pabst of the DP show writes in to say Patrick did see the Rodgers interview on re-air) brought up that Chris Bosh had asked Simmons last week not to inquire about his health.

“I think Bill Simmons has wrestled with this – ‘Am I a journalist?'” Patrick said. “Because a journalist would ask [about uncomfortable topics], or you wouldn’t have that person on. We’ve been in situations like that where somebody says, ‘Hey, we can’t talk about that.’ Then I’m like then I can’t [do the interview].’ If I’m having you on, I’m having you on and that’s one of the reasons why I can’t have you on and not ask that question.”

Patrick said that he will ask questions, and then it is up to the guest to say on-air that he/she will not talk about that topic.

“I think it’s a must ask,” Patrick continued. “Now, it’s not a football question. Like I didn’t come away from it going, ‘Boy, I wish he would’ve asked about his brother.’ I’m gonna guess, as adept as Aaron Rodgers is, he would have said, ‘My family’s off limits … It’s a little bit complicated, but it’s our complication, not for America to consume.'”

Patrick repeated that Simmons is “trying to figure out if he’s a journalist or not in that role [on HBO].” Patrick said that when people say topics are off-limits beforehand, he can just forego the interview; however, he acknowledged that it’s different on his own radio show versus Simmons’s program, which relies for a majority of its airtime on long conversations with guests.

Here is our site’s post from yesterday: