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 backup quarterback Matt Flynn, who talks about growing up in football-crazy Texas, his Broadway-acting sister, how winning the 2007 BCS championship changed how people view him and what it’s like going to Mardi Gras.

 

I drive a 2007 GMC Yukon. I got it my third year in college. My dad bought it for me. He told me it was the last car he was going to buy me. It’s got 50,000 miles on it. That’s all I need. Gets me from A to B.

 

I have about 10 shows I record on my DVR on cable. I used to have TiVo. It’s tough to rank ‘em. I’d say my top four are 24, The Sopranos, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – that’s a great show, by the way – and The Family Guy. Entourage is off right now, but I’d say that’s my fifth one. I don’t have an entourage though. My dog is my entourage.

 

My three favorite bands are Pearl Jam, O.A.R. and Kings of Leon. I’m big on the classic stuff, too, though. I love Led Zeppelin. I could listen to them all day. I like the Stones, the Beatles – I listen to them a lot. But mainly those three. When I was growing up, we used to listen to oldies a lot, oldies stations that played like The Turtles and stuff like that. But I guess in college, I really got into the classics and started listening to everything.

 

I listen to a lot of country music, but it’s not mainstream country. It’s a genre called “Texas Country.” It’s stuff a lot of people haven’t heard. It’s a little less pop and mainstream. I’m from Texas, and I’m not a big fan of most of the stuff that comes on the radio. It’s a little too catered to pop culture. I like some stuff, but not all of it.

 

I’m a movie guy. My top three would be The Shawshank Redemption, Boondock Saints and Gladiator – you’ve got to throw that in there. And Old School. But Shawshank is probably my all-time favorite. I like Morgan Freeman; I like anything he does. Tim Robbins is so good in it. And I just like the story. I like how it’s set a long time ago.

 

I’ve never had a job. Ever. My parents told me when I was in high school that they would help buy me the nick-nack things without a job if I worked out all the time. My job was to get a scholarship. And I did.

 

My parents went to every game of my college career at LSU except one. Even when I wasn’t playing. In five years. It was after Hurricane Katrina. It was the second game of the season, the game got moved to Monday night. My dad’s an attorney, and he had to be in court. It was great. I’m very fortunate and privileged that I have parents that are not only willing to do that but able to do that – they had the freedom in their jobs to do that. They went through some rough years, wanting their son to play. It was kind of tough on them for awhile. But we got through it and everything worked out my senior year.

 

One thing my parents taught me was to never quit on anything. When I was growing up, anything I committed to do – whether it be piano lessons, karate, anything – they never let me quit. I remember wanting to quit karate, and they made me fulfill my commitment and finish it. That was one of the things they instilled in me, and that’s what was always expected of me. I guess I never thought anything of it. Also, not to get real uptight or nervous about anything. They always told me, ‘Don’t look back on anything, don’t have any regrets, just look forward.’ Most people in my family are like that. That’s how my dad is. My mom not as much, but my dad is real even-keeled.

 

I have two older brothers and two older sisters. I’m the youngest. Both my brothers played golf in college. The time I spent on the football field and baseball field, they spent on the golf course growing up. They’re phenomenal golfers. I always try to beat ‘em, but I can’t. Adam played at Baylor for three years, and then he graduated and went to medical school. My other brother Bill played and Navarro Junior College. My one sister, Becca, is a teacher, and my other sister Amanda is a singer/dancer and does stage acting in New York. Her first gig was traveling with Footloose. Then she was in Ragtime, Mamma Mia! in Vegas, and then Wicked in L.A. In Mamma Mia!, she was the understudy for the lead and was in the ensemble, and then she played the lead for awhile, which is awesome. And then in Wicked, she was in the ensemble, and then she was the understudy to the good witch, Glinda. She’s in New York now. She did each of those for about a year. I went to Mamma Mia! in Vegas, which was pretty sweet.

 

As a kid, I was real competitive. I was also kind of quiet around people I didn’t know. I was real outgoing with people I did know. But I was extremely competitive – probably to the point where it was extremely obnoxious to people. I’d get real mad real easy, had a little bit of a temper. But I had a normal childhood. Nothing crazy.

 

The worst part of this job is being away from everybody – my girlfriend, my good friends back home. I’ve never lived by myself or been my myself for this long. When I get done at the stadium, I go home and sit with my dog, my English bulldog, ‘Moose’ and watch TV. ‘Moose’ is a year and two months. I got him last season in like October, I got him from Florida. My girlfriend and her family, they had bulldogs, and you have to get those from a good breeder because they have some health problems if you don’t.

 

My girlfriend, Lacey, is the former Miss Louisiana. She just gave up her crown last weekend. I went to see her in the Miss USA pageant in Vegas last spring. She’s an actress, she’s done some modeling. Her main gig is acting. I saw her more last year than this year. The last time she was up here was in preseason for the Buffalo game. I saw her when I went home for the bye week, and then she’ll come up here for Thanksgiving. But she’s been busy with acting and the last couple months of being Miss Louisiana, she had a lot of things she had to do. I definitely outkicked my coverage with her. I would definitely confess to that, for sure.

 

My favorite moment as a Packer is probably the fake punt last year against Chicago. That was a pretty good moment. That was fun. Especially doing it to an old teammate of mine, a friend of mine. He was on the defense pointing and yelling at me – ‘Flynn’s in, it’s a fake punt!’ That was pretty sweet.

 

I wish I was better at golf. I’m about a 7 handicap. But it’s one of those humbling games.

 

I don’t get recognized around here too often, honestly. I get recognized more as being a Packer when I’m hanging out with the offensive linemen, and people go, ‘Oh, those are Packers.’ Unless it’s places I go a lot, not really – Koko, Nakashima, my two places for sushi. A lot of us live in DePere, so we stay around there a lot.

 

My closest friend on the team is Josh Sitton. We came in together, and we’re a lot alike. He from the South, and he actually has family from my hometown (Tyler, Texas). One of his good friends back home is the son of the official painter at LSU – he’s actually pretty famous. So we just had a connection early.

 

LSU, I love it. I love going back there, I love everything about it. It’s different than any other place I’ve ever been. Southern Louisiana, the culture’s different, the people are different, I loved everything about it. Being a student athlete there, at the time we were there, it was a lot of fun. It was cool. Our bye week, they played Florida, and I went. It was awesome. It’s a little bit different for me down there than it is up here. I go back there, and it’s not like everyone sees me – or any other former student-athlete – and they’re trying to get autographs or anything like that. People come up to you and they appreciate what we accomplished. A lot of them thank me for staying, because they know I had opportunities to leave LSU after my junior year. It’s just really nice. They’re good fans. It’s crazy. I went down there and the game started at like 7:30 or 8 o’clock, and we started tailgating at like 11 o’clock, and there were 300,000 people on campus and ESPN GameDay was there. It was crazy.

 

I think I’ve learned to be a pretty patient guy. I learned that starting in high school, and it continued through college. My sophomore year in high school, me and my best friend growing up, we both played quarterback. Our freshman year, I was the JV quarterback, he was the freshman quarterback. He beat me out my sophomore year for the varsity quarterback job. And it was a time where – and my dad told me this – I had to say, either I wanted to be a starter and work for it, or give up and settle for being the backup. I got a personal trainer and worked out before school and after school every day and ended up winning the job. I started my junior year, got scholarship offers after that. And the same thing happened in college. Me and JaMarcus (Russell) signed together, and I just told myself that I was going to keep fighting, keep competing with him. It never really worked out, and I was fortunate enough that he left early for the NFL and I ended up playing in 2007 (and winning the national title).

 

The spot I’m in now, I don’t mind waiting my turn. I’ve learned how to become a better quarterback when I’m not playing – just watching. And I’ve also learned perseverance. I don’t let anything get me down. I don’t let what people say get me down, I don’t let what happens get me down. If something doesn’t go my way, I just work harder. That’s what I’ve always done.

 

Someday, I’m going to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. No doubt. I wouldn’t think it’d be here. My goal, and I’ve said this since I got here, was to sit here and learn as much as I can, and I think if anybody comes in the league and doesn’t have the goal of being a starter, they’re not here for the right reason. I’m extremely happy to be here and get reps and be the backup and learn from these guys, because I had one year in college as the starter. I’d like to be the backup here for a few years and see what happens after that.

 

I’m hard-headed. When people tell me I can’t do something, it fires me up. I’m a really stubborn person.

 

The key to success is character. My definition of character is doing things the right way when people aren’t watching. That’s what I’ve always believed in. And working hard, not giving up.

 

I haven’t really traveled many places. I’d like to, but obviously I can’t with this job. I’ve driven up here – I drive back and forth between Baton Rouge and here a couple times, because of my dog. Bulldogs can’t breathe real well, so they can’t really fly. It’s 17, 18 hours. I listen to books on tape. And a lot of time to think. My girlfriend was nice enough to come along the last time I made the drive, and then she flew back down. After she said, ‘Never again.’

 

I never had Denzel Washington come to one of my birthday parties like Ryan Grant. I’ve never had anything cool like that happen. But I was the grand marshal of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Baton Rouge one year. That was pretty cool. That celebration is huge. This was after we won the national championship. I have Irish heritage – O’Flynn, and then we dropped the O when my great-granddad or my great-great-granddad came to America.

 

I’ve been to Mardi Gras. Baton Rouge is 60 miles from New Orleans, so we went there for Mardi Gras and just for a night. The great thing about people down there, they’ll find any reason to have a good time. It’s fun. Every year I go to the Endymion Ball. Endymion is one of the parades, and it’s one of the bigger ones. Every parade has a ball, and this one happens to be at the Superdome. Thousands of people dress up and party in the Superdome. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve been to that the past four years. I did the bead-throwing thing my first couple years. We’ll probably do that this year. I actually invited a couple guys on the team to come down with me this year. Sitton, Korey Hall and John Kuhn, so far. And maybe their girlfriends.