FOXBORO — For Patriots fans, Tedy Bruschi doesn’t need much of an introduction. Now in his 12th season, all in New England, the proud linebacker has been at the heart of many of the team’s successes, but at the same time has gone through great personal pain.

In his dozen years with the Pats, he has become beloved for his all-out playing style, blue-collar background and for the way he returned after suffering a stroke just days after New England’s Super Bowl XXXIX victory.

Last year, at 33 years old, Bruschi led New England with 124 tackles.

The father of three boys — Tedy Jr., 6, Rex, 5, and Dante, 2 – with his wife, Heidi, whom he met at the University of Arizona, Bruschi has served as a co-captain of the Patriots for the last six years.

Here’s this week’s Up Close.

My first car: Was a 1967 Buick Grand Sport, given to me by my brother, Tony. I had been on a scooter in college and my brother wanted a little more metal around me. My first mode of transportation was a Honda 150cc scooter; I bought it with a Pell grant (a federal college grant named for former R.I. Sen. Claiborne Pell) my sophomore year of college.

My perfect off-day: I would say wake up, have breakfast with the family; since it’s Tuesday, drop the kids (Tedy Jr. and Rex) off at school, come home and spend time with my youngest; go out to the garden and, since it’s the fall, plant some bulbs — I like to garden — pick the kids up; get someone to watch the kids and take my wife to a matinee, have dinner with the kids, then maybe play darts in my basement, finish with a book and then sleep.

The last album I bought or downloaded: Was Kenny Chesney, Poets and Pirates (hearing this, Mike Vrabel, standing nearby, chimes in that he borrowed the album and hasn’t returned it yet). I just downloaded Alicia Keys’ “No One,” and I can’t wait for the album to come out. I’m a big Alicia Keys fan.

My hero: My wife. Within 10 years of marriage, I don’t think there’s anything we haven’t gotten over together. When you go through that, it creates a bond that can never be compromised.

If I wasn’t in the NFL: I don’t even know if I’d be a college graduate, because I couldn’t afford to go to college (without the athletic scholarship he received from Arizona). I’d probably be doing manual labor; my brother is a supervisor for a construction company in Las Vegas, and I’d be with him. But I was the lucky one.

One job I’d never want to have: Any job is a good job.

My guilty pleasure: I like to smoke a cigar every now and then.