Being out for the year, it sucks. You know me, I’m a ballplayer and I love the game of football. It sucks. Sucks. It’s something you have to deal with in life, and you know the saying. Whatever don’t kill you makes you stronger. I think this is showing me a lot of things in life that you shouldn’t take for granted.
It’s day-to-day with my mood swings. My wife hates it when I wake up wishing I was still on the field. To tell you the truth, this is the most frustrating thing I’ve been through. I’ve never had nobody close to me pass away. I know that would be harder. But since I’ve never experienced that, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. But I am going to come back even stronger and even hungrier. I promise you that.
You can spent a lot of time at home and get tired of it, but it’s a good thing to be connecting with my family and spending more time with Kaydon in his younger days. I think it’s a blessing.
I had a second surgery. Nobody knows about it. I had caught a real small infection in my knee, so I had to go in about a week ago, had to go back under and get the infection out. I was in the hospital for two days. I’m surprised nobody knew about it. I had to get all these antibiotics in me, get blood drawn four or five times a day. It’s terrible. Right now, I’ve got this IV in my chest, a central line.
Nobody knew about the surgery. Some guys over at the facility had it, and it’s floating around the locker room. I had to go in, it was emergency surgery. I had a 105 fever, I called Doc (team physician Pat McKenzie) and said, ‘I’m not feeling too good,’ and we had to rush in and clean out the infection. I don’t know what it’s called. I guess you could call it a staph infection, but I don’t think that’s what it was. But I had to rush in and they put a central line in my chest. I won’t get this taken out for another month and a half. Three times a day I have to get antibiotics put through it. Courtney, she’s my doctor right now.
I got married real young. Courtney and me, we’ve been married three years. I think as a young lady, she’s real, real mature. She’s stuck through thick and thin with me. We met at Texas. I went there a year before her, and she was moving into the dorms and her mom and dad were walking her in to move in, and I was the first thing that crossed her path. And her dad said, “That’s the guy you don’t want to marry.” And the next thing he knows, I’m at his house for a Fourth of July party. He did not like that at all. He came around, though. We’re the best friends ever now. But he didn’t like my tattoos. That’s why he didn’t want her talking to me.
My son Kaydon is 2. I’m his dad, so I get on him when he does something wrong, but when we’re playing, we’re playing. We’ll play Madden together – well, he thinks he’s playing. I give him a joystick and he thinks he’s playing along. “Kaydon, you scored a touchdown!” It’s almost like a big brother-little brother thing.
My favorite thing about being a dad, especially to a little boy, is now that he’s 2, you can roughhouse a little bit with him and do boy things. Like, I can get a water gun and squirt the mess out of him. With a little girl, you can’t do those things. You have to treat ‘em like a doll.
What if I had a little girl? You know, we’re trying as we speak, as a matter of fact. Well, not as we speak. I’m talking to you, I’m not … well, you know. [Laughs] Courtney wants a girl. Court says I need a girl in my life. I think if I had a girl I’d have to change up my personality a little bit. I think I’d get a little softer.
When she got older? Hey man, I know how boys are. I know what it was like when I was a younger days. No guy will get over on me, I promise you that. There’d be trouble.
My hometown of Diboll is in East Texas. To tell you the truth, it’s very similar to Green Bay and De Pere. It’s real similar. I grew up with 5,000 people, three stoplights in the city. It’s real small, everybody knows everybody, and everybody knows everybody’s business. It’s as country as it gets, I promise you.
I’m just a big kid. My grandma came up to spend a few days with us last week, and she’s like “Boy, you’re still the same.” I like to kid around, I love to make people laugh. I love to play around. There’s a lot of cracked jokes when I’m around. I’m a real playful guy. My wife says she can’t take me seriously. She also says I’m immature. And she’s right. I really am a big kid.
My grandma cooked while she was here, and it was so good. Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, pecan pie … and then she cooked her famous chicken and dumplings. And then the next night, it was lasagna. She cooked all three nights. We never ate a meal out while she was here. And, we had her famous Texas breakfast. Texas toast, which is our version of French toast, with bacon, eggs, cut-up sausages. And grits. You can’t forget the grits. You can’t beat that.
My grandma took me in at the age of 2. I didn’t know any different; I just grew up with her. I was 2 when I went to live with her, and ever since then, that’s why me and her are so close. Her household, it was real strict. When I was in 12th grade, I still had to be in the house before the streetlights came on. It was old school. She’s 65 now, and she brought me up like she was brought up. She was always on me with my schoolwork, and she was like a coach. “You have to pass before you play.” Even when the school would try to pass me because I was an athlete, it didn’t fly with her. She was tough.
One of the things my grandma used to always say was, “Whatever you do in the dark, it’s going to come out in the light.” That meant that whatever you try to hide, it’s going to come out. That’s one thing she always taught me. And it’s true, too.
I have three cars: A 2010 Jaguar XL, an Escalade and a Tahoe. My wife, Courtney, the Jag is pretty much her car. If I try to get in it, it’s a no-no. For one thing, it’s too little for me, and another thing, she claims it 24-7.
One of my favorite TV shows is Martin. That’s old-school, man. But I love it. It’s hilarious. And another show I love to watch is King of the Hill. It’s a Texas thing.
I don’t have much on my iPod. My wife gets on me about that. I’m not too much on music, but I like Lil’ Wayne. Of course. Everybody likes him. I also like Lynyrd Skynyrd. I love their track, “Sweet Home Alabama.” But Lil’ Wayne, that’s really the guy I listen to the most.
Movies are the one thing that my wife is trying to get me into – going to the movies. The movies are like taking a nap for me. We’ll be 30 minutes into the movie and I’m passed out, and my wife says, “What did we come here for? For you take a nap?”
Twitter is cool. I’m into it. I’m @JermichaelF88. I love to read replies to me. That’s how I’m passing my time right now, sitting reading replies that people write back. I love interacting with the fans. That’s my personality. I love to speak real and tell the truth. That’s just what I do. I’m glad whoever invented Twitter invented it. Dude’s a genius.
I just love to sit around the house and watch TV and play Madden all day. Which team do I use? I play with the Packers – most of the time. If I tell you who I really play with, they’ll hate me.
OK, I’ll tell you. I play with Vikings sometimes. But it’s only because of my guy Percy Harvin. I just throw it deep to Percy every play.
I play a lot online. It’s call a “gamer’s tag,” and a couple guys around the locker room play too. They’ll buzz you in and you connect and you play against each other online. Sometimes I play fans on Twitter. And yes, they know it’s me, for sure. I’ll DM them and give them my gamer tag and then we’ll play.
My favorite moment as a Packer was on Monday Night Football against the Vikings when I put up 128 yards (tying the team record for single-game receiving yards by a tight end). That was my favorite moment, because that was my coming-out party.
I learned a lot from when I was a rookie to now from vets around the league – how to handle yourself on and off the field, what to say and not say to the media, just how to act. I went to this camp that Larry Fitzgerald has, and that was one thing I was going to try to put to use this year. I learned so much about route-running, catching the ball, hand-eye coordination – it helped me tremendously. And obviously you saw it in my four games. I already had 300-some yards.
I wish I was better at communicating with people on how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. I think I wish I was better at that for sure. I know I say what I think in interviews, but I’m not always as open as I should be.
If I wasn’t playing in the NFL, I think I’d be coaching or playing in the NBA. I definitely had a shot at going to the NBA. I played AAU ball, and (Dallas Cowboys and ex-Texas A&M tight end) Martellus Bennett and I, we were on the same team. It was the Houston Hoops. I was committed to verbally to play basketball at Arizona, and then like two days before signing day, I de-committed and went to Texas. That’s when Mack Brown told me I could play both sports. And then when I actually got there, he said, “You have to do one of the two, but we signed you for football.” So I went with football. I tried to convince him to let me play both, but he wouldn’t hear it. He kind of screwed me over on the basketball thing.
Sometimes I look back, especially now that I’m injured, and say, “Man, I should’ve played basketball. Basketball wouldn’t have taken this toll on my body.” But overall, I’m glad I picked football. And basketball helped me be the football player.
I used to play a lot of pick-up basketball, especially my rookie year. I’d play on our Green Bay charity team that travels around the state and plays police officers, firefighters, people like that. My game’s still there. But I’m not sure it’s there today.
I don’t have a hoop in my driveway here. I’m waiting until Kaydon gets a little older, then I plan on putting in a court in my offseason home in Scottsdale. That’s what I plan on Kaydon playing – basketball.
You know about my pre-game superstition, right? The Friday before a game, I always get a fresh pedicure. That started in college, when Courtney, she didn’t make me, but I offered to go with her on Valentine’s Day to get my toenails painted red. It started there, and I just made that my thing. Since my sophomore year in college, I’ve been doing this.
My best friend on the team is Nick Barnett, just because our personalities match up. My best friend outside the team is Jamaal Charles, the running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. We played together at Texas, and we keep in touch often. He calls me every time he sees me on TV, he’ll tell me if I had a good game or not. Obviously since I’m not playing, I’m calling him a lot. He’s doing great. And so are the Chiefs. Isn’t that crazy? The Kansas City Chiefs. Who would’ve thought that?
My favorite place to visit is Los Angeles, the Santa Monica area, Southern California. That’s my favorite place to visit. I’ve been there a handful of times, and the vibe there, I like it. I like the way they dress, they just throw on anything. It’s real laid back. A-Rod (quarterback Aaron Rodgers), he lives in San Diego, and we had planned a visit, but we never went through with it. Put that in there. He’ll know why.
It’s day-to-day with my mood swings. My wife hates it when I wake up wishing I was still on the field. To tell you the truth, this is the most frustrating thing I’ve been through. I’ve never had nobody close to me pass away. I know that would be harder. But since I’ve never experienced that, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. But I am going to come back even stronger and even hungrier. I promise you that.
You can spent a lot of time at home and get tired of it, but it’s a good thing to be connecting with my family and spending more time with Kaydon in his younger days. I think it’s a blessing.
I had a second surgery. Nobody knows about it. I had caught a real small infection in my knee, so I had to go in about a week ago, had to go back under and get the infection out. I was in the hospital for two days. I’m surprised nobody knew about it. I had to get all these antibiotics in me, get blood drawn four or five times a day. It’s terrible. Right now, I’ve got this IV in my chest, a central line.
Nobody knew about the surgery. Some guys over at the facility had it, and it’s floating around the locker room. I had to go in, it was emergency surgery. I had a 105 fever, I called Doc (team physician Pat McKenzie) and said, ‘I’m not feeling too good,’ and we had to rush in and clean out the infection. I don’t know what it’s called. I guess you could call it a staph infection, but I don’t think that’s what it was. But I had to rush in and they put a central line in my chest. I won’t get this taken out for another month and a half. Three times a day I have to get antibiotics put through it. Courtney, she’s my doctor right now.
I got married real young. Courtney and me, we’ve been married three years. I think as a young lady, she’s real, real mature. She’s stuck through thick and thin with me. We met at Texas. I went there a year before her, and she was moving into the dorms and her mom and dad were walking her in to move in, and I was the first thing that crossed her path. And her dad said, “That’s the guy you don’t want to marry.” And the next thing he knows, I’m at his house for a Fourth of July party. He did not like that at all. He came around, though. We’re the best friends ever now. But he didn’t like my tattoos. That’s why he didn’t want her talking to me.
My son Kaydon is 2. I’m his dad, so I get on him when he does something wrong, but when we’re playing, we’re playing. We’ll play Madden together – well, he thinks he’s playing. I give him a joystick and he thinks he’s playing along. “Kaydon, you scored a touchdown!” It’s almost like a big brother-little brother thing.
My favorite thing about being a dad, especially to a little boy, is now that he’s 2, you can roughhouse a little bit with him and do boy things. Like, I can get a water gun and squirt the mess out of him. With a little girl, you can’t do those things. You have to treat ‘em like a doll.
What if I had a little girl? You know, we’re trying as we speak, as a matter of fact. Well, not as we speak. I’m talking to you, I’m not … well, you know. [Laughs] Courtney wants a girl. Court says I need a girl in my life. I think if I had a girl I’d have to change up my personality a little bit. I think I’d get a little softer.
When she got older? Hey man, I know how boys are. I know what it was like when I was a younger days. No guy will get over on me, I promise you that. There’d be trouble.
My hometown of Diboll is in East Texas. To tell you the truth, it’s very similar to Green Bay and De Pere. It’s real similar. I grew up with 5,000 people, three stoplights in the city. It’s real small, everybody knows everybody, and everybody knows everybody’s business. It’s as country as it gets, I promise you.
I’m just a big kid. My grandma came up to spend a few days with us last week, and she’s like “Boy, you’re still the same.” I like to kid around, I love to make people laugh. I love to play around. There’s a lot of cracked jokes when I’m around. I’m a real playful guy. My wife says she can’t take me seriously. She also says I’m immature. And she’s right. I really am a big kid.
My grandma cooked while she was here, and it was so good. Fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, cornbread, pecan pie … and then she cooked her famous chicken and dumplings. And then the next night, it was lasagna. She cooked all three nights. We never ate a meal out while she was here. And, we had her famous Texas breakfast. Texas toast, which is our version of French toast, with bacon, eggs, cut-up sausages. And grits. You can’t forget the grits. You can’t beat that.
My grandma took me in at the age of 2. I didn’t know any different; I just grew up with her. I was 2 when I went to live with her, and ever since then, that’s why me and her are so close. Her household, it was real strict. When I was in 12th grade, I still had to be in the house before the streetlights came on. It was old school. She’s 65 now, and she brought me up like she was brought up. She was always on me with my schoolwork, and she was like a coach. “You have to pass before you play.” Even when the school would try to pass me because I was an athlete, it didn’t fly with her. She was tough.
One of the things my grandma used to always say was, “Whatever you do in the dark, it’s going to come out in the light.” That meant that whatever you try to hide, it’s going to come out. That’s one thing she always taught me. And it’s true, too.
I have three cars: A 2010 Jaguar XL, an Escalade and a Tahoe. My wife, Courtney, the Jag is pretty much her car. If I try to get in it, it’s a no-no. For one thing, it’s too little for me, and another thing, she claims it 24-7.
One of my favorite TV shows is Martin. That’s old-school, man. But I love it. It’s hilarious. And another show I love to watch is King of the Hill. It’s a Texas thing.
I don’t have much on my iPod. My wife gets on me about that. I’m not too much on music, but I like Lil’ Wayne. Of course. Everybody likes him. I also like Lynyrd Skynyrd. I love their track, “Sweet Home Alabama.” But Lil’ Wayne, that’s really the guy I listen to the most.
Movies are the one thing that my wife is trying to get me into – going to the movies. The movies are like taking a nap for me. We’ll be 30 minutes into the movie and I’m passed out, and my wife says, “What did we come here for? For you take a nap?”
Twitter is cool. I’m into it. I’m @JermichaelF88. I love to read replies to me. That’s how I’m passing my time right now, sitting reading replies that people write back. I love interacting with the fans. That’s my personality. I love to speak real and tell the truth. That’s just what I do. I’m glad whoever invented Twitter invented it. Dude’s a genius.
I just love to sit around the house and watch TV and play Madden all day. Which team do I use? I play with the Packers – most of the time. If I tell you who I really play with, they’ll hate me.
OK, I’ll tell you. I play with Vikings sometimes. But it’s only because of my guy Percy Harvin. I just throw it deep to Percy every play.
I play a lot online. It’s call a “gamer’s tag,” and a couple guys around the locker room play too. They’ll buzz you in and you connect and you play against each other online. Sometimes I play fans on Twitter. And yes, they know it’s me, for sure. I’ll DM them and give them my gamer tag and then we’ll play.
My favorite moment as a Packer was on Monday Night Football against the Vikings when I put up 128 yards (tying the team record for single-game receiving yards by a tight end). That was my favorite moment, because that was my coming-out party.
I learned a lot from when I was a rookie to now from vets around the league – how to handle yourself on and off the field, what to say and not say to the media, just how to act. I went to this camp that Larry Fitzgerald has, and that was one thing I was going to try to put to use this year. I learned so much about route-running, catching the ball, hand-eye coordination – it helped me tremendously. And obviously you saw it in my four games. I already had 300-some yards.
I wish I was better at communicating with people on how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking. I think I wish I was better at that for sure. I know I say what I think in interviews, but I’m not always as open as I should be.
If I wasn’t playing in the NFL, I think I’d be coaching or playing in the NBA. I definitely had a shot at going to the NBA. I played AAU ball, and (Dallas Cowboys and ex-Texas A&M tight end) Martellus Bennett and I, we were on the same team. It was the Houston Hoops. I was committed to verbally to play basketball at Arizona, and then like two days before signing day, I de-committed and went to Texas. That’s when Mack Brown told me I could play both sports. And then when I actually got there, he said, “You have to do one of the two, but we signed you for football.” So I went with football. I tried to convince him to let me play both, but he wouldn’t hear it. He kind of screwed me over on the basketball thing.
Sometimes I look back, especially now that I’m injured, and say, “Man, I should’ve played basketball. Basketball wouldn’t have taken this toll on my body.” But overall, I’m glad I picked football. And basketball helped me be the football player.
I used to play a lot of pick-up basketball, especially my rookie year. I’d play on our Green Bay charity team that travels around the state and plays police officers, firefighters, people like that. My game’s still there. But I’m not sure it’s there today.
I don’t have a hoop in my driveway here. I’m waiting until Kaydon gets a little older, then I plan on putting in a court in my offseason home in Scottsdale. That’s what I plan on Kaydon playing – basketball.
You know about my pre-game superstition, right? The Friday before a game, I always get a fresh pedicure. That started in college, when Courtney, she didn’t make me, but I offered to go with her on Valentine’s Day to get my toenails painted red. It started there, and I just made that my thing. Since my sophomore year in college, I’ve been doing this.
My best friend on the team is Nick Barnett, just because our personalities match up. My best friend outside the team is Jamaal Charles, the running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. We played together at Texas, and we keep in touch often. He calls me every time he sees me on TV, he’ll tell me if I had a good game or not. Obviously since I’m not playing, I’m calling him a lot. He’s doing great. And so are the Chiefs. Isn’t that crazy? The Kansas City Chiefs. Who would’ve thought that?
My favorite place to visit is Los Angeles, the Santa Monica area, Southern California. That’s my favorite place to visit. I’ve been there a handful of times, and the vibe there, I like it. I like the way they dress, they just throw on anything. It’s real laid back. A-Rod (quarterback Aaron Rodgers), he lives in San Diego, and we had planned a visit, but we never went through with it. Put that in there. He’ll know why.
