Jesse Howell: The accent is a lot different. We have a kind of drawl. I probably have a little bit of one, but I don't notice it. I used to try to reverse it, but now I accept it. People here talk fast. I actually really like to hear southern accents on TV and in movies because it makes me feel more at home.

 

JH: [laughs] It's a funny thing, but I do. That's why I don't mind having one. I used to think it might make you sound stupid.

 

JH: Oh, yeah. We used to feel the same way about the people in Kentucky.

 

I played basketball, baseball, and football.

 

I've always liked it the best.

 

I think it's more of a team sport. Offense and defense kind of go together. Whereas baseball is an individual match between the pitcher and batter, and football is more like war than anything else. Basketball has more of a flow to it. I think it's more of a fun game to play, when you are in shape [laughs]. It's tiring if you're not.

 

Yeah, my dad was one of those parents that push you into it. He wouldn't get upset if I didn't play, but he wanted to make sure it was available to me. He played basketball in high school, and I think he played a little bit in college. He coached in middle school, so I was in the gym all the time.

 

You know, my favorite athlete is Brett Favre.

 

I think it's the way he seems to enjoy himself. I don't really see that in anyone else. He makes me want to play sports. I can't think of anyone else who really compares to him. I've always liked Jason Kidd and Stockton.

 

At being a great athlete? Are you calling me a great athlete? [laughs]

 

Something along those lines. I think you can learn a lot about a person by how they play a sport, especially basketball. Other sports too, but more so basketball because there's so much person-to-person contact. There's a lot of talking on the court. It's a culture of talking. Things about people in their day-to-day lives never really bother me, but I sometimes dislike a person based on the way they play.

 

You like to have guys who play for the team rather than themselves. You can always tell when a guy is thinking about their stats. You like guys that will hustle for loose balls and do things for the team. Not necessarily score just to get assists or rebounds.

 

I've been thinking about that. The only thing I can come up with is that the referees were on my side, which has never happened to me in my life. I usually have a bad attitude toward them, but I think I'm getting better at that. Usually I think when teams get fouls called on them they change their style of defense. They just never did that.

 

Free-throw shooting, I guess. [laughs] Mostly the fact that I'm older; I've played for a while. I can shoot a little bit, and score a little bit. I try to be a team-player; I think I do a pretty good job at that.

 

I'm going to start a band. I may try to go to film school.

 

I was vaguely interested in high school, but I was playing sports all the time. But I always liked music, I always liked movies. I didn't pick up a guitar until I was eighteen. I think athletics are limited. There's only so much you can do. I guess you could coach, but that's the same thing all the time. I would think about all the things I want to do, and I narrowed it down to music because you could do it by yourself. Then I got into how movies were made a little after that. For a while I wouldn't think about how movies are made because I like to watch movies.

 

What are some of your favorite movies? [pause] Oh, that's not how this works.

 

I like Stanly Kubrick's movies. I'd say my favorite one is "Barry Lyndon." The first one I watched was "A Clockwork Orange," and I thought it was just amazing.

 

I like rock and roll music. I've just recently figured out that it's not so much rock and roll as it is I really like the guitar, the bass, and the drums.

 

Not really. I'll try to watch the Bears a little bit. A couple years ago I would have, but I don't really care anymore.

 

[Long pause] No.