Frank Kleha: What's something different about you that nobody knows?
Peter Konz: This (offseason) was my first time experiencing yoga. I did it for flexibility because after the season your body feels compressed from hitting so I wanted to release the joints. I have flexibility that I've never had before. It really worked and I would suggest it to any football player.
FK: Why did you decide to do that?
PK: Necessity is the mother of invention, right? We have a little gym in my apartment building where I go (early in the offseason) to workout. But I wanted to do something different but didn't have the means to do so because we can't workout at the facility (until a certain time by CBA rules). I was at a store one day and picked up a yoga DVD and thought it would be something that my wife (Erin) and I could do to bring us closer together. I was looking for a workout where I didn't have to use weights and it was also something that would better us.
FK: Did you join a class?
PK: No, we just did it in my living room. We just took out the coffee table every time we did it and moved the couch to the wall. There are different videos; there's one for relaxation, one for flexibility, and for aerobics to get your heart rate up. We did them all.
FK: What's the one thing people would find interesting that you have in your suitcase when we travel?
PK: I always bring a book. Right now I'm reading Atlas Shrugged. I always have a book with me. I like to read classics so I've gone through Catcher in the Rye and Fahrenheit 451. I will always have some classical piece of literature with me, something to expand my mind.
FK: How you always been an avid reader?
PK: No. When I was in high school I was kind of opposed to it. Just because I thought it was boring and TV could give me everything that I needed. Starting to read more stemmed from my desire to be a Renaissance man. I want to be a person of all traits and to be able to talk in any conversation. I guess my curiosity of classical literature is why and ideas that only books can provide. TV won't give you what these niche books can. So my desire to be a little bit different and be well read is something that made me start this.
FK: Do you have a favorite book?
PK: The Great Gatsby. I read it with my wife before the recent movie (came out). I read it when I was younger, but I didn't really understand what it was all about. Going back and re-reading it, it's almost poetic. The writing is amazing.
FK: What's one thing you struggle with that most people are good at?
PK: Multitasking. My wife is a better multitasker than I am. I can only do one thing at a time. In a world where you have to do a lot of things at once, I can definitely do better at that.
FK: What are some of your biggest future aspirations?
PK: I would say visiting Italy because something that people don't know about me either is that I was born Peter Joseph Ferriani (translation in Italian means 'Iron Man'). My family is from northern Italy, Bologna, on my grandfather's side. (My mother re-married when I was one-year old.) My wife's grandmother was Sicilian. So there is a family connection with wanting to go to Italy. If I can learn the language, we would try to stay away from the tourists places and try to find the heart of Italy. The other would be to have a top 40 hit on the music charts.
FK: So do you dabble in music?
PK: Since high school my friend, A.J. (Armstrong) and I have had a band called, Dutch, named after his dog. We don't do public shows or anything but we just sit down and play guitar and write lyrics. That would be one thing that I would love, to have a hit on the charts.
FK: What role do you play in the band?
PK: I'm mostly the lyrical writer but I do play a little guitar. But not enough to be able to make a living off of it (laughing). I actually have a couple of songs on my I pad that we've done.
FK: What type of music do you play?
PK: We are big into classic rock, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Def Leppard and Journey.
FK: Anything else that people would be surprised to know about you?
PK: I change my own oil in my car. My brother was always the handy man growing up so I would push all that stuff towards him to focus on football. But now that I'm a husband, and the man of the house, part of me wants to be old-fashioned, part of me wants to be from the classic 1950's — the man's man. I want to fix my own cars. I built my own dining room table, too. With a guy from church, I found the plans and we built an 8-foot-long, 30-inch-high complete cherry wood table.
FK: You mentioned about your affinity for the 1950s. If you could go back in time and live in any era, when would it be?
PK: That's a tough one. I would have to say the late 1970s or the early 1980s because that's my music and my style back when there was a little more freedom. I would go back to the days of mustache's, and aviators (glasses). I would be in a muscle car in my 1971 Chevelle or in a Trans Am and I would be rockin' the Led Zeppelin T-shirt. That's the era I would be in. I like the 50s, but I think it's over done some times.
FK: Speaking of cars, what's your dream car?
PK: We drove off in our wedding in a '71 Chevelle. But that's always a battle in my mind what car I would pick.
FK: So can you give me your top 3 then?
PK: A 1970 Impala, a Jeep Wrangler, the one where you can take the doors off, and any Firebird with a T-top. My first car was a Pontiac Trans Am, so I would take any Firebird or Trans Am.
FK: Any celebrity crush?
PK: Kate Middleton. I just think she's so graceful. She handles herself so well being in that position especially in the public eye. I don't think I could it that well. That's my worldly crush.
FK: Has football always been your main passion?
PK: It's always been a crazy passion of mine. Ever since I was little I haven't had another aspiration since I was probably 7 (years-old). I can't really tell you why it's just always been a love and a passion. Part of me thinks it was just destined to happen. My mom said when she was making dinner one night when I was three-years old I just came up and tackled her in the kitchen. So as long as I can remember, I've always loved football.
FK: What's the greatest invention ever?
PK: The printing press. That was the start of mass communication. Before that, it was scribes and everything was all hand-written. That really revolutionized information. And that led us to books, movies and eventually, in essence, the Internet.
