Deon Butler's Rookie Diary

Deon Butler is naturally self-deprecating. He'd rather joke about himself than heap praise. Over the past week, that characteristic has been valuable because his pride has taken a hit. First, his alma mater, Penn State, suffered a 21-10 loss to Iowa last Saturday. As you will read, it means that Seahawks defensive tackle Colin Cole, who played at Iowa, has bragging rights. Even worse, the Seahawks lost their second straight game last Sunday.

This week's installment of Butler's rookie diary is all about humility — and humor.

'What's wrong with this kid?'

"It's weird thinking that we're on a two-game losing streak. We're a lot better than that. I'm constantly getting words of wisdom from guys like Deion Branch, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Nate Burleson about how to handle it. They say it's a long season. Take care of your body. Don't get into a rhythm, a habit, of losing because it's hard to come out of a losing streak in the NFL. Deion Branch is always telling me, 'Stand under me.' So I'm standing under him, listening to his advice. And the main thing we're talking about is not to panic. Keep working. We're going to have our breakthrough and get this back in the right direction.

"It can be a little bit hard playing a smaller role, but I'm adjusting. I joke with T.J. and Nate that I drink more water sitting on the sideline than I do when I'm playing in the game. I know the trainers have got to look at me like, 'What's wrong with this kid?' I'm always like, 'Yo, let me get a shot of water,' and I haven't been in for five plays. I'm so amped up, ready to go in that I get cotton mouth on the sideline. It's weird how that works. I haven't played a whole bunch of plays, but I know I'm a rookie, so I'm just going to keep working hard and try to make my mark on special teams or when I do get in at receiver. Just continue to learn and help the team — that's what I'm all about. I feel like I'm a complete football player, so whatever they ask me to do, I feel like I can go out there and do it."

'I'm living the grown-up life'

"Man, my life is so boring. I just sit at home when I'm done, and I kind of just get on the computer. I do normally people stuff. I pay bills when I'm at home. I wash laundry. I have productive days. They're not fun, college days anymore, but they're productive. In these upcoming weeks, I've got a couple of my friends and family visiting for these two home games coming up against Jacksonville and Arizona. So I'm excited about that. I get to show off my place. I'm still waiting on that couch, though. But that's something to look forward to, some familiar faces from home.

"I'm just trying to get my grown-up life together. In college, I didn't really have any bills. The scholarship paid for everything. So now, I have to check the car note, make sure it's right. Because a lot of times, man, these bills are wrong. And I had to call my financial adviser a couple of times and fix some things. The bills stack up. I'm living the grown-up life. It's definitely different.

"I had to break out of being cheap when I was buying stuff for my apartment. I'd look at furniture and be like, 'Ah, which one is cheaper?' But I got to a point where I was like, 'You've got to spend some money on the place you live, the place you call home. I can't just always go with what's saving the most money.' So that's been different, but I'm breaking out of that."

'How do you go to the movie by yourself?'

"I get bored sometimes during my free time, but it hasn't been too bad. But there have been some times when I'm sitting there, and I've called some people two times in a row and said, 'Well, well, what are you doing?' And they'll say, 'You just called me five minutes ago and asked me that.' And I'll be like, 'Oh, well, I was just wondering.' Every now and then, I'll go to a movie by himself. Like, I want to go see this 'Couples Retreat' movie that's coming up with Vince Vaughn. I'm a big movie guy. I just went and saw 'Sorority Row' two weeks ago. That was pretty good. It was a decent scary movie, like a 'Scream' type of movie. Going to a movie is something I can do by myself to bide time. A lot of my friends laugh at me and wonder, 'How do you go to the movie by yourself?' I tell them, 'There's no problem with it.' And they'll be like, 'Well, everybody's coupled up, and you're all alone.' And I'll be like, 'Man, I just go in there and get my popcorn and nobody's really staring at me.' I'm serious. Nobody at the movies is ever like, 'Why are you by yourself?' You can go to the movies alone. What's wrong with that?"

In the middle of Butler's reflections, Cole stops by his locker to talk about last week's big game. Not the Seahawks' loss. Iowa's upset of then-No. 5 Penn State. It was Iowa's seventh victory in their last eight games against the Nittany Lions.

Butler: "I'd like to throw out a disclaimer. That Iowa game was such a fluke. Oh, my goodness! Make sure you throw that in my blog."

Cole (yelling): "Two scores is a fluke?!?!"

Butler: "Look, man, CC is having a field day, running with it."

Cole: "We own Penn State! Seven out of eight!"

Butler: "Let the people know. I've got to go through this the rest of the year, man. The rest of the year! We skip y'all every couple of years, so that seven wins out of eight is deceiving!"

Cole walks away.

'Are you crying?'

"Penn State is going to bounce back. That messed up a lot of my week last week, though. We scored the first play of the game. I was calling everybody. I was hyped. I had my volume on 100 in my room. I felt like I was in the stadium. I was in there yelling. It was ridiculous. I looked stupid, probably. I had my Penn State white T-shirt on. And then, man, we lost. It was tough. I'm going to be hearing it from CC the rest of the year.

"During the game, my old roommate called me. And I was like, 'Are you crying? Man, we already lost last year, dog. It's over.' He was emotional on the phone about it. I definitely didn't expect that loss to happen. It hurt me. I know those guys. I feel like I'm still their teammate. It definitely hit me a little bit like, 'Man, that sucks.' We have to rebound."

'This is crazy'

"I talk to my mom [Valerie] quite often. She loves my place. Since she came here, she calls and says, 'Oh, you should get this. Oh, you should get that. Did you do this? Did you do that?' So she thinks she runs this now. She definitely calls me since she's seen the place. I talk to my family four or five times a week.

"Mom is kind of adjusting to the realm, the life that I live in the NFL. Like when she came to the game, she was just looking at everybody's cars underneath the stadium. She said, 'This is crazy.' And, like, my car — now she likes it. I bought a BMW X5, and I put some 24-inch rims on it. At first, she was like, 'Oh, you're showing off.' And then she saw everybody else's car, and she was like, 'Oh, you just fit in.' She's just kind of overwhelmed, even with all the benefits you get in the NFL, even the 401(k) plan. She's still adjusting to it, but she's enjoying it just as much. She's quick to tell someone her son plays for the Seahawks and start up a conversation."

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com, Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer