Every Tuesday, we’ll sit down with one of the Packers players, coaches or administrators and spend some time getting a small glimpse into their lives away from football. This week, it’s wide receiver Greg Jennings, who talks about his pregame rituals, his best and worst moments, his basketball skills, and much, much more.

 

The most important thing my parents taught me was how to respect others, and that it wasn’t about me. My mom used these sayings all the time: “Life is short,” and, “Don’t ever take anything for granted,” and “Don’t hold a grudge – move forward.” That’s just the beginning.

 

The game against Cincinnati, when I didn’t have a catch, it was frustrating for me. Because in all my sports life, I’d never been through anything like that. I’d never gone without scoring a bucket or catching a ball. So it was something that was an out-of-the-box experience for me. Because I’d never experienced it, and never thought I would. But if I did, I thought at least we’d win – something, anything, would go right. But everything – everything – was in the negative. And my mom was like, “God has a plan for everything.” And my wife sent me an email that night and it said at the bottom, “If you live a positive life, you can’t have a negative mind.” After that, I wanted to be negative, but that’s not who I am. It was my birthday the Monday after the game, and here she was trying to cheer me up. But my daughter was absolutely the only thing that could make me smile. I had never really went through anything like that. That was tough for me.

 

The first job I ever had was working on a paint crew as a painter. I was in high school, probably 14. And I was the best painter on the paint crew. I’m very big on details.

 

Growing up in the church made me humble, definitely. And, it made me– how can I put this – not take things for granted. I’ll give you a little story. I played the drums, and I was like the best drummer ever. I was young, and I got to the point where I thought I was so good, I was playing with my eyes closed and just showboating, getting a little arrogant with it. And my mom told me, “Son, you’ve got to stop doing that. God gave you a gift, he can take it away.” The following Sunday, I get on the drums, and it was like starting all over again. All I could do was hold the beat. That’s it. I couldn’t do anything. It was the most jaw-dropping experience at a young age. That was like, “I will never brag about anything.” That was really one of the moments in my life where I really took to heart that you never should brag if you’re good at something. Let your actions speak for you. I was young, probably 10, if that, and while I still played the drums, I never got back to as good as I was. I can still play, but I never had the desire to really keep it going.

 

I drive a Nissan Armada. I have a car deal with Russ Darrow, and I just fell in love with it. It’s like the Infinity Q – it’s the exact same truck, except it’s not as luxurious.

 

My favorite TV show is Martin. It doesn’t come on anymore, but I just watched it last night on DVD. I’ve got all the episodes. He actually has a stand-up show now that’s called “Last Man Standing,” where he has a lot of comics who are just starting out who are doing comedy shows out in D.C. He hosts that. They did 43, 45 episodes of that, and I’ve seen that too. I just think the guy’s hilarious.

 

On my iPod, you’ll find a lot of gospel music. I listen to it all the time. I was listening to it when I was walking into the stadium today. That’s pretty much all I listen to. And an occasional Michael Jackson song when my daughter’s in the car and she’s like, “Daddy, I want to listen to Michael Jackson!” Then I’ll pop that in. She loves Bad. It’s her favorite.

 

My all-time favorite movies are Ray, 300 and Shooter. I know, that’s a strange mix. I absolutely love Shooter. That might be No. 1. I might be alone in that. You’ve never seen Shooter? I’ve got like three copies. I’ll give you a copy. I guarantee it was good. You’ll love it. It’s got Mark Walberg in it. He’s an assassin. Don’t sleep on it. Shooter is good.

 

My favorite team growing up was the Pistons. I love basketball. I was probably a better basketball player than I was a football player. I was up for Michigan’s Mr. Basketball. I had a lot of offers for basketball – more than I had for football, honestly. I actually got recruited by Michigan basketball – you know the story about Michigan football – and by Michigan State basketball. But I was thinking of the professional realm. You’ve got a 15-man roster, 12 guys dress in basketball. Versus a 53-man roster where 45 guys dress.

 

When I have time to read, it’s the Bible, definitely, but right now I’m reading Hinds Feet on High Places. It’s a Christian book. Really good book.

 

I definitely would pay to see LeBron James. I had the opportunity to watch him play in Milwaukee, and he’s a character. Great personality, and it trickles down to everybody on the team.

 

Fans don’t know how much I pray. Just for health and the success of others, other guys on the field. If someone goes down, I’m one of the first people to go down on one knee. I say basically the same prayer every time. “Lord, please cover them and keep them. You know their body better than they know themselves.”

 

I don’t do Twitter. But I do have a Facebook page.

 

If my house was on fire and you gave me one minute to run back in and get something, it’d probably be my camera. It has all my pictures of my girls. I’m that dad. I’ve taken pictures of my daughters doing the dumbest things. They’re just laying in bed, asleep, and I’ll take a picture of it. Those are the moments you can’t get back. When I go to this birthday party – which my wife is probably wondering where I’m at – I’ll take pictures galore.

 

When I got my contract, I really didn’t buy anything major. That’s just how I am. I took my family out to eat, but I really haven’t bought anything.

 

Before every game, I oil myself down with blessed oil. Have you heard that story? If I’m on the road, I take a shower in the hotel, and I’ll oil myself down with blessed oil – it’s oil that I’ve prayed over. And if I’m at home, I get in the hot tub, I get in the shower, and then I oil myself down. And that’s all I put on. Well, that and deodorant. It’s just regular oil – Palmolive. And then I pray over it.

 

My favorite moment as a Packer so far is either the Denver game in 2007, or the Chicago game this year. Denver still probably takes it. There’s no better feeling. It’s hard to describe. There’s so much that goes into it. And, it’s not just me. But as a youngster, you watch guys and the first thing you think is, “He just won the game.” Whoever scored. And everybody is cheering not just because the team won but because of the action I just fulfilled for everybody. And I just did my part. I don’t know if aside from giving birth to a child – and I haven’t done that, obviously – I don’t know if there’s a better feeling.

 

I feel like I can always improve on everything. I strive to be the best dad, the best husband – a better dad, a better husband, a better brother, a better son, a better teammate, a better player. That’s the advice I’d give to kids. Always strive to be better.

 

One of the biggest things on my bucket list is, I want to take my family on a vacation where it’s us and no one else – to an island somewhere and spend time with my family without being bothered by anyone, whether it be fans or the Packers organization.

 

In high school, I got along with everybody. Everybody thought I was the comedian, the funny guy, the jokester. I just liked to have fun. My wife kind of hated it. We weren’t together, but we were together. I took to anybody. Very sociable, didn’t have any enemies. I mean, there were probably people who didn’t like me, but nobody hated me. I don’t think so, anyway. I got along with everybody. I never failed to appreciate what I was able to do as an athlete. I don’t think I ever let it go to my head. My team was always first. And that really stemmed from, I knew I was good. But I hated the arrogant guy. I absolutely hated that. And if I had to play against the arrogant guy, it kind of came out of me because I wanted to show him, “You are not that good.”

 

The best thing about being a dad is the moment when you leave work, and you had a bad day, and you go home and they couldn’t care less about what you did at work. They’re all about, “Daddy!” You hear those footsteps running up to the door, and it’s the best feeling.

 

My wife is the best thing to ever happen to me. We’ve known each other since the fifth grade. We didn’t technically “get together” until we left high school. But if you’d have known us in high school, you’d have known. We were basically boyfriend-girlfriend from the seventh grade summer on.