Hub Arkush created a firestorm on Tuesday by admitting that he won’t vote for Aaron Rodgers for MVP for reasons unrelated to Rodgers’s football performance from Week One through Week 18. Appearing Wednesday on 670 The Score in Chicago the day after the eruption, Arkush acknowledged an error not with his reasoning but with his decision to disclose it publicly.
“I made a big mistake last night,” Arkush said.
He explained that the mistake came not from tying the vote to improper factors but in talking about it publicly.
“It’s on me,” Arkush said of his decision to disclose his plan to not vote for Rodgers. “I screwed up. . . . All you can do is own it, and I own it.”
It’s unclear whether he’ll still own one of the 50 votes. He shouldn’t. But not because he talked about his voting plans. He shouldn’t have a vote because he won’t vote for Rodgers for reasons unrelated to merit. And at no point on Wednesday did he say that he has reconsidered the situation or that he realizes he shouldn’t base the vote on offseason drama or vaccination prevarication.
So, yes, he shouldn’t have spoken about it. By doing so, however, he put the AP on notice that he’s not using the right factors in making these important decisions. It will be interesting to see whether AP lets him have what amounts to a two-percent voice for all of the AP awards and the All-Pro team.