Pioneer Press Talks to José (Very neat Q&A)

Thanks to Valentina for sending me the link to this article found at TwinCities.com.
It's a very interesting Q&A with José. Some really neat personal bits in here.

By the way, I read on Twitter that José is on the ice at practice today. It's uncertain if he's going to make the road trip with the team though.

And now the article:

Wild goalie Jose Theodore talks: 'You're the youngest, so you go in net'
Pioneer Press
Updated: 01/16/2011 11:09:13 PM CST

If I could change places for a day with anyone, it would probably be my wife, Stephanie. Then I could see what it's like to live with me. I could see if I'm a great guy or really good, or if she's complaining for no reason. I'd like to see that.

How did I know Stephanie was the one? I knew right away. She gave me a chance for a second date, which was good. I felt the connection right away. When you meet someone and you feel after the first or second date like you've known them 10 years, it's almost weird. It was almost scary. It seemed like I knew her since I was a kid.

My dad is English, so I always say to people my last name is English. Americans had a president named Theodore Roosevelt. It's the same pronunciation. Since I got here (to Minnesota), I've been asked about 10 times, "How do you pronounce your last name?"

In Canada, it was easy for people to say my first name. I got a few versions when I started playing hockey and traveling in the States. The way it's spelled is just like HO-say. A lot of times, people thought I was Mexican. I'd say, 'It's French. You pronounce the J, so it's JO-say.' I've heard HO-say, JO-say, Josie.

I'm a firm believer that you've got to deal with the card you've been dealt. I'm happy with where my life is. Did I make mistakes? Maybe. But change anything? Probably not.

I'm grumpy at the rink after a loss. I've learned over the years when you shower and put your suit back on, you've got to turn the page. Usually, you play every other day, and you don't want to bring your bad mood home.


I'm really not patient when there's traffic. So I would say my pet peeve is being stuck in traffic. It drives me crazy when you're in your car and you can't move.

I'd want to go into the future if I had a time machine. I'd like to see what my daughter would do, and what she would be like many years from now. She's 4 years old now.

Favorite cartoon as a kid? I remember watching "The Flintstones." I would come home from school for lunch and that was the show that was on. I think it was on from noon to 12:30. That was the perfect time. I'd eat, watch "The Flintstones" and then go back to school.

Just like Superman, I'd like to fly. If I could have any superhero power, that would be pretty cool.

At a younger age, I would play baseball in the summer. But, by the time I was 11 or 12, I started doing hockey schools in the summer. And I would play summer hockey.

My parents had the biggest influence on my life. When you are at a young age, your parents are the ones who form your personality and teach you how you should approach certain situations. They taught me to be my best, and give the best I could and be a team guy. That's helped me throughout my career.

As soon as I started really playing, that's when I decided I wanted to be a pro hockey player. I've pretty much been saying that since I was 9 years old.

From 4 to 6 years old, I played forward. Then I became a full-time goalie. I have some older brothers, and every time we'd play street hockey or go on the pond, they'd say, "You're the youngest, so you go in net." That's how I became a goalie.

I'm a big believer that to be a goalie, you have to be one of the best skaters. You're skating around with all that equipment, so you have to be pretty strong on skates.

When we play our style and we play the system, we're a really tough team to beat.

I always play the game to be a starter. I'm a team guy. I'm going to support every teammate. We want to win games to make the playoffs. That's the main goal. Every time I put the equipment on, it's to try and show everybody I want to play and I'm consistent.

When I was maybe 12 or 13 years old, there was a new Nintendo game that came out. My parents said I might get it for Christmas. But it was November, and I had the smart idea of trying to get it myself by sneaking it into my jacket. I got caught. So that actually was a good lesson. You really feel like you're letting your parents down. You see you hurt people around you because that's not the way I was brought up. So that was the worst thing I did as a kid.

Professionally, the best day of my life was being drafted by Montreal. You feel like you're so much closer to your dream when you get drafted. I was drafted in the second round. It's a close call between playing my first NHL game and getting drafted, but I would say getting drafted, because it was a dream come true. Personally, the best day was the day my daughter was born.

I want my friends to describe me as honest — honest in my work, honest in life.

Funniest movie I ever saw? "Dumb and Dumber." I have to say I have seen "Slap Shot" many more times than "Dumb and Dumber," and I like that movie, too.

I would say "The Godfather," the first "Godfather," is my favorite movie. "Godfather, Part I." Every time it's on TV, I leave it on and watch it. Everything is just phenomenal in that movie.

Al Pacino is my favorite actor.

My last meal? I'd have to say a nice surf and turf, filet mignon with lobster. Yeah, no doubt about it. And a glass of wine with it. Red wine.

The best book I ever read was the biography of Anthony Kiedis, the singer with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I love music, and his biography was really good.

I like pretty much all kinds of music. Red Hot Chili Peppers is up there. I listen to the old Guns N' Roses. Metallica. In the summer, I can listen to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. It depends on the mood. I like hip-hop, as well.

I play guitar. I have a good time with that. I can jam. I can sing, but I just do it by myself because I know I'm not good at it.

The first thing I bought after I signed my first contract was a Jeep.

"Entourage" is the TV show I try not to miss. I've liked that show since the first season. You watch the first couple of episodes and you don't want to miss the rest of them.

There's been a lot of good advice, but I remember my dad telling me when I was 16 or 17, and starting to have a career, to be nice to people on the way up, because they're the same people you're going to meet on the way down. It's something I always kept in my mind, because when things are going well, you want to make sure you don't change your approach.

Generally, I'm pretty good at knowing what's good advice and what's bad advice.

I want my epitaph to say, "Here lies Jose Theodore, who was a positive guy."