TV Talk Actor Dennis Quaid won't knuckle under to our heat

From Breaking Away to Everybody's All-American to Any Given
Sunday, Quaid, 47, doesn't mind letting us see him sweat. His
latest sports film, The Rookie, which chronicles the improbable
journey of pitcher Jim Morris to the major leagues, with the
Devil Rays at age 35, opens on March 29.

SI: Are you happy that Kevin Costner allowed someone else to
make a baseball movie?

Quaid: Absolutely. Maybe now he can do a football movie since
I've already done two of those.

SI: You've done the bulk of your sports movies in your 40s. How
long before you star in The George Foreman Story?

Quaid: I think my sports movies after this will be about the
Senior tour in golf.

SI: Should someone who went out for the drama club in high
school instead of football be allowed to play a pro athlete?

Quaid: I had one problem--I didn't like to get hit.

SI: Jim Morris was clocked in the high 90s on the radar gun.
What do you top out at?

Quaid: I never had the radar gun on me because I don't want to
be disappointed.

SI: If I had $20 to see one rock band, should I choose Keanu
Reeves's Dogstar, Russell Crowe's 30 Odd Foot of Grunts or your
band, the Sharks?

Quaid: That depends on whether you're a weenie or not.

SI: When asked about your passing ability in Any Given Sunday,
San Francisco 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said it was pretty
average and that you needed some coaching. Was he correct?

Quaid: Actually, what he said was I couldn't throw a cat out of
a window.

SI: Shouldn't The Rookie really be titled Remember the Devil
Rays?

Quaid: I don't think so. How about Remember The Alamo? SI: Could
a 47-year-old actor make it to the big leagues? Quaid: No. I
might have been living out a fantasy on The Rookie, but I'm not
delusional.

--R.D.

COLOR PHOTO: DEANA NEWCOMB Quaid as Jim Morris