Tarlam!
09-09-2006, 06:27 AM
Q&A with Green Bay Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk
By Dylan B. Tomlinson
PackersNews.com
Each week, Packers preview stories include a question and answer with a Packers player. This week, the player is linebacker A.J. Hawk.
Question: What's the better stadium, Lambeau Field or the Horseshoe?
Answer: I definitely can't pick one. Honestly, they're both really similar with how much the people are into it and how loud they are. I can't pick one as of now.
Question: You won the national title at Ohio State in 2002. When was the last time you wore your national championship ring?
Answer: It was probably the day they gave it to me. It didn't even fit actually. I sized it wrong. It's something that my dad has and it's not something I'm going to wear around. I'm going to have it my whole life, but I'm not going to wear it around too much.
Question: What's been your biggest surprise since moving to Green Bay?
Answer: That's tough. I guess just that the fans have gone above and beyond with all the fan support. The fans really care. I knew it was huge here, but you can never expect it to be how it is. There's so many fans at every practice waiting all the time.
Question: Ohio State has pretty huge fan support, is it not at the same level as it is here?
Answer: It's similar, but in college, the fans don't have the access that they do here. Practices are all closed and they weren't allowed anywhere near the parking lots. Now, they have access to everything.
Question:
Question: Who is the better quarterback, Ohio State's Troy Smith, or your brother-in-law, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn?
Answer: (Laughing) That's a good one. You're trying to get me in trouble. I like that. I gotta go with the family and with Brady. Brady's great, but I owe a lot to Troy. He got us a bunch of wins.
Question: Now that you're gone, if Ohio State plays Notre Dame for the national title, which is what a lot of people are predicting, who do you root for?
Answer: That's a good question, because it could happen. I'd be put in a similar spot that my wife was last year. I don't know … If that happens, I'll let you know then. Obviously, I'm an Ohio State guy. It'd be a great problem to have.
Question: How much grief did you give Brady when you sacked him twice in the Fiesta Bowl?
Answer: Not much. I didn't say too much. We still joke about that game every once in a while. At the time of the game, I knew him, but I didn't know him too well. I'd probably only hung around him two or three times. Since then, we've hung out a lot more and we've become really good friends.
Question: How strange of a situation was that for your wife, Laura to be in? You were on one team and her brother was on the other?
Answer: It was so tough for her. People just keep bringing it up to her. Every time people see her, they tell her that they saw her at the game with that jersey and people try to say stuff to her and joke with her that she wasn't supporting me. I completely understand. If my brother was out there, I'm going with my brother.
Question: Ohio State lost nine defensive starters, including you, and the Buckeyes are still No. 1. How does that happen?
Answer: Offense gets a lot of respect. Our offense is great at Ohio State. Also, the people who are voting on it are smart. They're looking at the guys who are coming in, and they're not necessarily young, they're just inexperienced. There are guys who have been sitting behind us for two to three years, and now they're getting their chance. They're going to be fine, believe me.
Question: What was the best wedding gift you got?
Answer: We're not even having our religious ceremony until next March, so we haven't really gotten anything yet because we were trying to keep things a secret when we got married here.
Question: It didn't really work out that way.
Answer: (Laughs) No. It got out pretty quick.
Question: What's the best movie you've seen recently?
Answer: I'm going to see "Talladega Nights" right now. I liked "The Break-Up" a lot with Vince Vaughn. That was a really good movie.Question:
Question: What's your favorite TV show?
Answer: "Entourage."
Question: Question:
Question: What was your favorite NFL team growing up?
Answer: I never had one specific team. I was more of an Ohio State fan, but I was also more of a fan of certain players. I was a big Boomer Esiason fan and Bernie Kosar. I liked the Bengals and the Browns. I never really had one specific favorite team growing up.
Question: Who was your favorite player?
Answer: Boomer. I loved Boomer. Boomer and Ickey Woods.
Question: Was there a linebacker you modeled your game after?
Answer: There's a lot of them. I don't remember if there was one when I was really young, but I was a big Andy Katzenmoyer fan when he was at Ohio State. I was in middle school and high school when he was there. I got to know him when I was at Ohio State. He was a guy I loved to watch play.
Question: Who is the best player you've played against?
Answer: That's a good question. When I was in high school, my brother was the quarterback and he was two years older than me and I couldn't stop him every day in practice. There's been a ton of other players since then. My middle brother, he was unbelievable.
Question: What's the strangest thing a fan has ever asked you to do?
Answer: When I was at Ohio State, there was a guy hanging around outside, and he made the three linebackers sign the bumper of his car. I thought that was pretty weird.
Question: How many times did you have to say "Click, Clack" during the filming of the Under Armour commercial?
Answer: (Laughs) A bunch. Probably not as many as you'd think. I had to pull that sled like 50 times and that's what I did the most. I had to pull that sled for about five or six hours.
Question: You couldn't get the take right?
Answer: I could, but they had it set up one way and it would take 30 minutes to set up a shot and I'd pull it seven or eight times and then they'd set up another shot and I'd pull it seven or eight times. We just kept going.
Question: Did they have all of you together to film that?
Answer: No. We all came in separately. Jeremy Bloom, he came in during the morning and I came in at night. They did it over four or five days. It was pretty fun.
By Dylan B. Tomlinson
PackersNews.com
Each week, Packers preview stories include a question and answer with a Packers player. This week, the player is linebacker A.J. Hawk.
Question: What's the better stadium, Lambeau Field or the Horseshoe?
Answer: I definitely can't pick one. Honestly, they're both really similar with how much the people are into it and how loud they are. I can't pick one as of now.
Question: You won the national title at Ohio State in 2002. When was the last time you wore your national championship ring?
Answer: It was probably the day they gave it to me. It didn't even fit actually. I sized it wrong. It's something that my dad has and it's not something I'm going to wear around. I'm going to have it my whole life, but I'm not going to wear it around too much.
Question: What's been your biggest surprise since moving to Green Bay?
Answer: That's tough. I guess just that the fans have gone above and beyond with all the fan support. The fans really care. I knew it was huge here, but you can never expect it to be how it is. There's so many fans at every practice waiting all the time.
Question: Ohio State has pretty huge fan support, is it not at the same level as it is here?
Answer: It's similar, but in college, the fans don't have the access that they do here. Practices are all closed and they weren't allowed anywhere near the parking lots. Now, they have access to everything.
Question:
Question: Who is the better quarterback, Ohio State's Troy Smith, or your brother-in-law, Notre Dame's Brady Quinn?
Answer: (Laughing) That's a good one. You're trying to get me in trouble. I like that. I gotta go with the family and with Brady. Brady's great, but I owe a lot to Troy. He got us a bunch of wins.
Question: Now that you're gone, if Ohio State plays Notre Dame for the national title, which is what a lot of people are predicting, who do you root for?
Answer: That's a good question, because it could happen. I'd be put in a similar spot that my wife was last year. I don't know … If that happens, I'll let you know then. Obviously, I'm an Ohio State guy. It'd be a great problem to have.
Question: How much grief did you give Brady when you sacked him twice in the Fiesta Bowl?
Answer: Not much. I didn't say too much. We still joke about that game every once in a while. At the time of the game, I knew him, but I didn't know him too well. I'd probably only hung around him two or three times. Since then, we've hung out a lot more and we've become really good friends.
Question: How strange of a situation was that for your wife, Laura to be in? You were on one team and her brother was on the other?
Answer: It was so tough for her. People just keep bringing it up to her. Every time people see her, they tell her that they saw her at the game with that jersey and people try to say stuff to her and joke with her that she wasn't supporting me. I completely understand. If my brother was out there, I'm going with my brother.
Question: Ohio State lost nine defensive starters, including you, and the Buckeyes are still No. 1. How does that happen?
Answer: Offense gets a lot of respect. Our offense is great at Ohio State. Also, the people who are voting on it are smart. They're looking at the guys who are coming in, and they're not necessarily young, they're just inexperienced. There are guys who have been sitting behind us for two to three years, and now they're getting their chance. They're going to be fine, believe me.
Question: What was the best wedding gift you got?
Answer: We're not even having our religious ceremony until next March, so we haven't really gotten anything yet because we were trying to keep things a secret when we got married here.
Question: It didn't really work out that way.
Answer: (Laughs) No. It got out pretty quick.
Question: What's the best movie you've seen recently?
Answer: I'm going to see "Talladega Nights" right now. I liked "The Break-Up" a lot with Vince Vaughn. That was a really good movie.Question:
Question: What's your favorite TV show?
Answer: "Entourage."
Question: Question:
Question: What was your favorite NFL team growing up?
Answer: I never had one specific team. I was more of an Ohio State fan, but I was also more of a fan of certain players. I was a big Boomer Esiason fan and Bernie Kosar. I liked the Bengals and the Browns. I never really had one specific favorite team growing up.
Question: Who was your favorite player?
Answer: Boomer. I loved Boomer. Boomer and Ickey Woods.
Question: Was there a linebacker you modeled your game after?
Answer: There's a lot of them. I don't remember if there was one when I was really young, but I was a big Andy Katzenmoyer fan when he was at Ohio State. I was in middle school and high school when he was there. I got to know him when I was at Ohio State. He was a guy I loved to watch play.
Question: Who is the best player you've played against?
Answer: That's a good question. When I was in high school, my brother was the quarterback and he was two years older than me and I couldn't stop him every day in practice. There's been a ton of other players since then. My middle brother, he was unbelievable.
Question: What's the strangest thing a fan has ever asked you to do?
Answer: When I was at Ohio State, there was a guy hanging around outside, and he made the three linebackers sign the bumper of his car. I thought that was pretty weird.
Question: How many times did you have to say "Click, Clack" during the filming of the Under Armour commercial?
Answer: (Laughs) A bunch. Probably not as many as you'd think. I had to pull that sled like 50 times and that's what I did the most. I had to pull that sled for about five or six hours.
Question: You couldn't get the take right?
Answer: I could, but they had it set up one way and it would take 30 minutes to set up a shot and I'd pull it seven or eight times and then they'd set up another shot and I'd pull it seven or eight times. We just kept going.
Question: Did they have all of you together to film that?
Answer: No. We all came in separately. Jeremy Bloom, he came in during the morning and I came in at night. They did it over four or five days. It was pretty fun.