By Dylan B. Tomlinson
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This week's question and answer is with Green Bay Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga.
Question: As a part of your Mormon mission, you spent two years in Uruguay. What was that like for you?
Answer: It was a different experience in the sense that you're leaving everything you know behind, and you're basically going to a foreign country where you don't know the people, you don't know anybody who is there and you don't know the language, and you're basically just leaving your life for something that is an unknown.
Question: How difficult was that for you?
Answer: It was hard because you can't see the end result, you just have to have faith that it exists. To put that much faith into it was an experience of a lifetime. I would definitely do it again if I ever had the opportunity.
Question: Have you been back?
Answer: I have not been able to make it back, but I want to make it back really badly. It's just a hard trip because it's really far away. I have kids now, so that makes it more complicated.
Question: I'm guessing you don't want to travel there with two little ones.
Answer: Not that far. (Laughs) Maybe in a few years we can pull that off, right now I think it could make me go crazy.
Question: You have a 2-year-old and a newborn?
Answer: Right, I have a 2-year-old and my son is 6 months old.
Question: How's your Spanish?
Answer: It's great.
Question: Are you fluent?
Answer: I am fluent. After two years, I am fluent.
Question: How long did it take you to get to that point?
Answer: About eight months. Living in the country when you're just surrounded by Spanish, that culture basically becomes a part of you. Otherwise, you won't survive. You won't eat, you won't know where to go to the bathroom if you don't learn the language. You won't have any friends unless you communicate with people.
Question: Had you taken classes in Spanish before you went there?
Answer: No, but a lot of the literature I read during my day was done in Spanish. My wife served in the same area I did, and so we both could speak Spanish pretty well.
Question: Is that how you met your wife?
Answer: Yeah, I met her over there. A lot of great things happened to me when I was there.
Question: What was your favorite NFL team growing up?
Answer: The Chicago Bears.
Question: Growing up in Wyoming, you weren't a Broncos fan?
Answer: No, I hated the Broncos. Because of John Elway. He lost so many Super Bowls that I gave up on him. I lost my faith in him.
Question: Who was your favorite player?
Answer: Mike Singletary.
Question: Who is the best player you've played against?
Answer: In college, it was a guy named Tony Hollings from Georgia Tech. He was a running back. He's bouncing around the NFL now. Right now, the guy who has just given me unbelievable shocks is Carson Palmer. The knee injury has something to do with it. I know what that's like, and to be that poised and picking teams apart is really good.
Question: Who is the best linebacker in the NFL?
Answer: Ray Lewis.
Question: What is the best movie you've seen recently?
Answer: "The Da Vinci Code." I liked that one. I read the book and I knew everything that was going to happen, but I really enjoyed it.
Question: Were you skeptical going in that it wasn't going to be as good as the book?
Answer: Yeah, and it wasn't, but it was still a good movie.
Question: Who is your favorite actor?
Answer: I love Russell Crowe. I named my kid (Julius Maximus) after his character in "Gladiator." My true favorite actor of all-time is Denzel Washington.
Question: What's your favorite TV show?
Answer: "Desperate Housewives."
Question: What's your favorite reality TV show?
Answer: It's "House Hunters," which is on HGTV. Basically what happens is you get a couple and they are looking to buy a new house, and it follows them through the process of buying a new house. I love the end part when they finally move into the house and they start fixing it up.
Question: What's your favorite singer or band?
Answer: U2. U2 and Coldplay are right up there for me.
