(Editor’s note: As Masthay sat down in the Packers locker room to do this interview, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose locker is a few feet away, shouts “Wolverine!” to him with a laugh, in reference to the nickname Rodgers bestowed upon him recently. And so begins this installment of “Tuesdays With Wilde.”)

Aaron hasn’t given me an opinion on my facial hair other than nickname me “Wolverine.”That’s just his M.O., to call people names like that. I was just “Ginger” for awhile, and then I guess I let my sideburns get a little bit out of control, so now I’ve become “Ginger Wolverine” together.

The sideburns, really, it’s two things:One, I’ve had them since high school, so they’ve really become a part of me, and two, I don’t really pay attention. So I haven’t groomed myself as well as I probably should. My wife, she kind of just looks at me and shakes her head. But she doesn’t fight it.

You know, Aaron is great. He’s a really inclusive guy.He really pulls the team together. The thing I’ll never forget about Aaron, when I first got here back in March, I was in the Hutson Center holding for Mason, and they were doing quarterback school. They were taking a break, and he came over and started razzing me, yelling my name and stuff. And I was kind of taken aback. I didn’t think this guy even knew my name. I had been in Indianapolis, and Peyton (Manning) and I never had an exchange or anything. I was like, just recently signed, who knows if I’m going to be on the team in the fall. I thought that was cool, that he took the time. Now, if he would pay a little less attention to me and not be yelling my “new” name, that’d be great.

My wife Amanda and I,we both went to the University of Kentucky. We met there in accounting class our sophomore year. We were friends, and then we started dating at the very end of our junior year, got engaged shortly thereafter and got married after college. She’s been everything for me. We got married when I was with Indianapolis, and she’s had to put up with us living apart – the first three, four weeks of being married we were apart. Then I got released and came back to Lexington, and she had a full-time job and I picked up a part-time job tutoring to have a stable income. She worked at a bank in Kentucky and now she’s working at Pioneer Credit Union in Howard. It’s just great because my value to her doesn’t change at all regardless of if I’m in the league or out of the league, if I have a job or don’t have a job. She’s just been great.

Free agency is a tough thing.It’s just tough to keep working really hard when you don’t know if you’re ever even going to get another shot, another look. The four and a half months where I was a free agent, it was all through football season, so watching games on Sunday and continuing to work out, staying in shape and working on punting, it’s a hard thing. You just don’t know if it’s ever going to happen. And I didn’t want to jump into another career because I was still giving this a shot. It’s a hard thing. And even when I got signed by the Packers, you’re still trying to make it. It’s not like you sign a contract and you’re on the team. It’s a difficult thing, but it’s good to go through. There’s challenges in life, and this was one of those.

I drive a 2006 Chevy Cobalt,which is great – I enjoy driving in and out of the stadium, because I know people never think I’m a player coming in and out. I have a good time with that. But it’s been a trusty car, so I have no reason to get another one.

I like the show "House."I don’t watch a ton of TV. I watch "SportsCenter" and stuff, football games and sports in general, but that’s about it. The one show my wife and I watch is "The Amazing Race." We would love to be on "The Amazing Race." We joke around about sending in the application. Whether or not we’re actually going to do it, I don’t know.

I have an iPod, but I don’t use it too much.I actually have two iPods. One has some music on it, but I don’t really use that. I have another iPod that is full of sermons from pastors all around the country that a friend of mine gave to me, and I take that with me sometimes when we go on plane trips and stuff.

Jesus Christ is my all-in-all.He’s my Lord and Savior, and so that is most important in my life. And I guess I don’t come on heavy about it, and I may not come on as heavy as I should. It’s one of those things where, I try to live out my faith and talk about it when I think it’s good to talk about. I may not always be wise in when I broadcast it and when I don’t.

I haven’t been to many movies since the season started,but I do like movies a lot – going to movies, watching them at home. We make it every once in awhile. I was lobbying to see the "Wall Street" sequel, but we ended up going to see that movie about the couple that becomes parents … "Life As We Know It." Which was fine. I lost that one.

We love Grazies.That’s our favorite Green Bay restaurant hands-down. I always get the chicken curry, and she always gets the bruschetta chicken salad. So we’re boring, we wind up getting the same thing every time.

Sports has always been my thing.It’s always been my passion. Not football as much, but growing up I played soccer, basketball and baseball. I lived for sports and did them year-round. I was always in-season for something. I still feel the same way. I picked up football when I was a junior in high school, and started playing wide receiver and stuff and loved it. High school football was a blast. I still pinch myself thinking, ‘I get to play competitive sports for a living.’ I love it. It was a quick journey. I just worked hard at the craft all along and now I’m here.

I have four brothers and one sister.I’m No. 2, the second-oldest. My sister is the youngest. It was competitive, and we all love sports. Me and my older brother, and my next youngest brother, we were always competing – pick-up basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, whatever. We just competed. I do think sometimes that competing with my older brother – because he was better than me at everything – I was always having to play him one-on-one and it was really tough. I think he helped me a lot growing up with his work ethic and just competing with me.

My parents always told meto work hard, but I think their best advice was that they always told us to listen to their advice, but at the same time make your own decisions. Don’t just do what we think or what we say.

I’m on Twitter.I actually opened it in training camp. I don’t even know why I did it. I think I just thought, ‘Maybe that’d be fun.’ But then I never Tweeted. I kind of forgot that I set it up. And then last week, I did an interview with CheeseheadTV.com, and they asked me something about Twitter. And so I told them my Twitter – it’s @TimMasthay – and in my settings, I guess I put in for them to send me an e-mail anytime anyone follows me. So as soon as I finished that interview, on my BlackBerry, which gets e-mail, the thing just blew up with more than 100 messages. So I was like, ‘I guess I better give this thing a shot.’ I’ve only Tweeted like three times. My wife’s been helping me, telling me what things to say. So I’m still a work in progress. But I’m going to go with it.

My closest friendson the team are Mason Crosby and Brett Goode. I work with them every day a lot, and we’ve become close. I really cherish those relationships.

What would I be doing if I wasn’t playing football?My wife and I, we have a strong interest in going into the Peace Corps. I’m not sure we’ll get to do it, but there’s a good chance that if we weren’t doing this right now, we’d be overseas right now in the Peace Corps.

I wish I was better at Sheepshead.My debt is growing daily. If I could get better, that would help me out a lot. It’s usually me, Mason, Brett and when the quarterbacks go on break, Matt Flynn and Aaron come and play. Aaron doesn’t like it when I’m his partner and his fortunes are tied to mine.

The game against the Jets,that has to be my best moment as a Packer so far. There’s something about winning on the road. It is just a blast. I mean, it’s fun to win at home, too, don’t get me wrong. I love winning at home. But there’s something special about being able to go into someone else’s house and beat them. That game, a defensive battle, a special teams battle, to have a good game and have Mike (McCarthy) say the things he said to me, that meant a lot. That was a special moment in my life.

When my career is over,I would like to go back to school. I’d like to go into the Peace Corps.

Ilove to go visit my grandparents – my dad’s parents – in Carlsbad, California. I always like going to see family. Now, my immediate family lives around Dayton, Ohio. I grew up in Murray, Kentucky, where Murray State University is. I don’t have any family back there anymore. In December – I won’t be able to be a part of it – but my family is going out to visit my grandparents in California, and I have a great-grandmother there who’s 103. And my brother has a son, and we’re all hoping they can get together and take a picture. It’d be a five-generation picture, which I think would be awesome. That’d be pretty cool. Can you imagine being 103?

I get back to UK every once in awhile.I may try to go back on the bye week. I’m hoping to go back for their game on Saturday. Lexington will always be a special place to me. I do enjoy going back there and seeing friends and being around the program.