DETROIT – The family never calls him Matt. That’s for coaches and teammates and the media and fans. But not the Hasselbeck family. They call him Matthew.
“That’s usually how we know we’re misquoted on something,” Tim Hasselbeck said. “If any of us is quoted as calling him Matt we know there have been some liberties taken.”
For a full week, Matt Hasselbeck is in the limelight as the quarterback of the Seahawks as they prepare for Super Bowl XL against the Steelers. But for a look behind the scenes, The Post reached out to Tim Hasselbeck, who at 27 is three years younger than Matt, to provide an inside look at big brother. The father, Don, is a former NFL tight end and Tim’s wife, Elizabeth, is an actress who has a regular gig on “The View.” It’s a high-profile existence, but there are some tales that only a kid brother can tell.
That glib, slightly irreverent persona that Matt displays at virtually every press conference? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The instigator in Matt runs deep. He won’t take no for an answer and will not stop until you come over to his way of thinking. This can be irritating, for sure.
“We fought as much as you can probably fight with each other and still get along,” said Tim, who also is an NFL quarterback, most recently with the Giants this past season. “He’s always a little bit of a practical joker – schemer isn’t the right word – but he’s always trying to make a game out of something. He can make anything into a competition. He always wants to win.
“You’re in the garage, next thing you know he’s got a football in his hand and it’s like ‘OK, first person to throw this football through the basketball hoop from standing on this rock, sideways, throwing it backwards over your head.’ Whatever. All this crazy stuff like that.”
The worst fight they’ve ever had?
“Well, we were playing a game in the front yard, two-hand touch with my little brother and another buddy, and it kind of escalated into ‘Hey, you’re out of bounds’ and ‘No you weren’t.’ Two competitive people who don’t want to back down and the next thing you know we’re in a fight. He actually punched me, hit me square in the chest and ended up breaking his wrist.
“My parents always said the boys got along and always like playing with each other, but everything usually ended with a huge fight and someone coming up from downstairs crying.”
The two were close growing up, so close that many of Matt’s friends turned up as ushers in Tim’s wedding. Even at a very young age, Matt could be persuasive.
“I was 4 years old,” Tim recalled. “He could convince anyone to do anything, he convinced me to put this Big Wheel up this long driveway and ride it back down the driveway, and I ended up going down into the street and getting hit by a car. I went flying out into the street, I have a big scar on the back of my head where hair doesn’t grow, and I honestly don’t need that help.”
Nothing came easy for either player. Matt has found a home in Seattle while Tim – a free agent to-be after one season with the Giants – has bounced around, clinging to roster spots. Jealousy? Find it, if you can.
A few years back, Tim had just been released by the Eagles and looking for work. He visited Matt for his birthday in Seattle. The Seahawks were working out some young receivers and Matt asked Tim if he wanted to throw to them. “He thought it would be a good opportunity, give me a chance to throw in front of the Seattle scouts, maybe they’d like me and put me on their list,” Tim said. The Seahawks didn’t need an extra arm at the workout, though, but Matt’s insistence paid off.
“Well, a couple of weeks later I get picked up by the Redskins,” Tim said. “One of their scouts came up to me and said ‘I saw you worked out in Seattle, I actually talked to a guy who said you had a good workout.’ In a lot of ways he’s looked out for me a lot.”
Tim’s male pattern baldness isn’t as advanced as Matt’s, who looks like a modern-day Y.A. Tittle and is the most follicle challenged Super Bowl quarterback ever. Back at Boston College, Matt suffered with Alopecia, a skin disease that caused him to lose clumps of hair. Tim believes appearance is part of the reason respect has come grudgingly.
“I hear people saying he’s not the prototypical quarterback,” Tim said. “You know what? When he has a helmet on he’s 6-4, 225. Last I heard that’s what the prototypical quarterback was. If he had a full head of hair, he’d be a stud, right?”
Tim comes to town today and, despite Matt’s busy schedule, he promised to find time to spend together.
“I got to be honest with you, if it was me I wouldn’t really be worried about when I was having dinner with my brother,” Tim said. “But that’s the kind of big brother he is.”
paul.schwartz@nypost.com
SUPER FACTS
The Steelers arethe seventh wild-card team to reach the Super Bowl. Only the Raiders (1981), Broncos (1997) and Ravens (2001) won.
SUNDAY’S LINE
Steelers -4 (0/U 47)
