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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 23, 2002
Greg Spires, the fifth-year defensive end acquired as a free agent in the offseason, assumed the starting job when Marcus Jones was put on injured reserve for the year. The former Florida State standout shares his thoughts on Saddam Hussein, Mike Tyson, the crucifixion and the Backstreet Boys.
RM: Do we need to go to war with Iraq?
GS: Yeah, I think so. They support terrorism and we want to kick all of that out the door.
RM: But if we have troops in Afghanistan, troops here, troops there, might we be running a little thin?
GS: True. But we have to take it one war at a time. Finish this one, deal with Afghanistan, and then go bomb Iraq.
RM: So deal with Osama bin Laden first?
GS: You know what, I think he's dead. If he was alive we would have heard from him by now. He hasn't shown up in anything legitimate. But I'm not feeling bin Laden or Saddam Hussein.
RM: Ever wonder how come cannibals never eat each other, they're always eating other people?
GS: I never thought about it. I guess it's survival of the fittest. I guess they don't have a taste for each other's flesh. There must be something in their bodies that poisons them.
RM: So when a male cannibal tells a female cannibal, "You're looking great," is he thinking about going on a date, or dinner?
GS: I guess he can go both ways. That's sick, man.
RM: Thank you. Favorite superhero?
GS: The Incredible Hulk. He was a strong, powerful guy. He had to get mad, but when he did, man. He was a good hero, out there fighting crime. They're making a new movie of him and I can't wait for it to come out.
RM: Did you like the television series with Lou Ferrigno?
GS: It was one of my favorites.
RM: Sorry to hear that. It was pretty weak if you ask me.
GS: Hey, it was the Hulk.
RM: Imagine being the two guys who were crucified on each side of Jesus. They got no love?
GS: They really didn't.
RM: Do you know their names? Virtually everyone else in the Bible has a name?
GS: Can't say I know their names.
RM: But if you had to be crucified ...
GS: Then I would want to be crucified next to Christ. In that way, I would have said, "If you're the son of God, can you help a brother out? Can you do something to get us out of this mess?" But then the human in you thinks, "If he's the son of God, why is he in this mess in the first place?" It's hard to say which way I would have reacted.
RM: What's the message there?
GS: It's hard to get two people to believe the same thing (even if they are being crucified next to each other).
RM: If you weren't playing football, what would you be doing?
GS: I got my degree in criminology, so I would probably be a probation officer. That's something I could do.
RM: Why do people have problems with probation? Once they get jammed up why can't they leave the temptations alone?
GS: Hey, man, people get caught up in what they do. The bottom line is they do what they do. And even (after getting in trouble) it's hard for them to settle down and do the right thing. You try to be there and talk to them and give them support. It would be cool to be a probation officer because then if they got in a bind, they could give me a call and I could help them out.
RM: You think of Boston, you think of ... ?
GS: Clam chowder.
RM: New Orleans?
GS: Seafood.
RM: Tampa?
GS: Beaches.
RM: Not strip clubs?
GS: No, that's Miami. Miami's famous for that.
RM: Joe Redner won't be happy to hear that. We've got some game in Tampa.
GS: Oh, yeah? I didn't know.
RM: Does it surprise you that the Seminoles are tied (with Florida) for having the most players in the NFL?
GS: Why not? Every year we bring in high school All-Americans and produce college All-Americans. Add that to the way they teach us football, it's like a pipeline to the NFL, in general.
RM: But there are no Seminoles on the Redskins (with former UF foe Steve Spurrier in his first year as coach). Does that surprise you?
GS: No. But there's the irony: They wear our colors.
RM: Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync?
GS: They're hot now, both of them, but I don't listen to either of them. ... I like Jay-Z. I'm hard core.
RM: No. 1 show on television?
GS: The Sopranos. I like gangster shows, gangster movies. I like violence. And The Sopranos has a plot to it.
RM: Best gangster movie of all time?
GS: Scarface. It's hard to beat.
RM: So you put your money in the candy machine and the candy bar gets stuck. What's your next move?
GS: I go to the building manager or somebody like that and try to get my money back.
RM: Come on now, most of the time there isn't anyone around to help you.
GS: Well, I might hit it a couple of times. I might try to shake it. But I wouldn't try to damage it or break it. But I do want my candy.
RM: If you could play an instrument, what would you play?
GS: A piano. You can sit in your living room and just do your thing, have a party with people around you.
RM: Last movie you saw?
GS: Undisputed. It's the boxing movie where Vingh Rhames was the heavyweight champion outside the prison and was in there for rape, and Wesley Snipes was the champion inside the prison.
RM: The Vingh Rhames character sounds like somebody we know.
GS: Yeah, Mike Tyson.
RM: Shouldn't he be out of boxing by now?
GS: I think he should go ahead and give it up, but there are still some people who want to see him fight. I would pay pay-per-view to see him; it depends on who he's fighting. There's always that hope that he can come out like the old Mike, just crushing people.
RM: Man, I would take you over Mike Tyson right now.
GS: Don't put your money on me.