Posted: Wednesday July 5, 2006 3:12PM; Updated: Wednesday July 5, 2006 3:12PM
Tim Green
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Last week SI associate editor Richard Deitsch interviewed Tim Green for the magazine's Q&A. The 42-year-old former Falcons defensive end and ex-host of A Current Affair is a lawyer and recently published his 13th book, Kingdom Come. Here are additional excerpts from their conversation:
SI: Are you a better writer than you were a football player?
Green: I am probably as good a writer as I was a football player. The good thing about writing is I know I will get better and I will reach a higher height as a writer than I did as a football player.
SI: You've been named NFL commissioner for a week. What are your first moves?
Green: Besides cutting preseason games, I'd cap rookies signing bonuses at $2 million and expand team rosters to 60 since the game keeps getting more specialized. I hated preseason games as a player and I hated them as an announcer. I know the coaches like them, and would like more of them, but they are the only ones who like them. The players hate them and the fans don't like them.
SI: What books with sports themes have captured your imagination?
Green: The ones that have had the most impact on me have been The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay, North Dallas Forty by Peter Gent and The Lonelinessof the Long-Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe.
SI: What do you think of sports books in general?
Green: I don't get real excited about them.
SI: You're currently working on your first sports book for young adults, right?
Green: It's called Football Genius and it will be published in July of 2007. It's the story of a 12-year-old boy who can predict any play in any football game. He's a savant. He can read patterns and personnel groupings and situations. His mother ends up working as an assistant p.r. director for the Atlanta Falcons and he knows he can help this team win. But obviously there are obstacles that are in his way. He befriends an aging linebacker and together they try to bring his gift to life.
SI: You were a broadcaster for many years. What did you learn about the profession?
Green: Subjectivity is the name of the game.
SI: What was tougher to handle: losing to the Redskins in the divisional playoffs in 1991 or having A Current Affair replaced by Geraldo at Large in 2005?
Green: It hurt a lot more to be replaced by Geraldo at Large. [Laughs.]
SI: Will you do any broadcasting this year?
Green: If I do any broadcasting at all, it would be on a fill-in basis. I know I won't do any regular work.