CHAMP BAILEY
•ON RETURNING TO GEORGIA TO CONTINUE PURSUING A PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE DURING THE OFF-SEASON It's definitely more challenging to be in school now. You don't have anybody pushing you. You don't have to do it in order to be eligible. The desire has to come from within. It's made me respect the regular students because they have to lean on that education to get through life. It's not like I'm in a position where I have to go back and do that.
•ON WHETHER HIS PSYCH CLASSES HELP HIM WHEN HE'S PLAYING FOOTBALL It applies more to regular life than football. It teaches you how people react to different things, and I've always been curious about that. When I got into psychology, during my sophomore year, it just clicked.
•ON WHICH FANS ARE MORE PASSIONATE, THE REDSKINS' OR THE BRONCOS' There's a lot of tradition in Washington [where Bailey played from 1999 to 2003]. I'd run into fans there who would talk about having season tickets going back to the 1970s. The fans in Denver love their team, but they just got one of their first Hall of Famers this year [John Elway]. I can name about 10 Hall of Famers from the Redskins right off the top of my head.
•ON REDSKINS OWNER DANIEL SNYDER I think he wants to be on top, but I don't necessarily agree with the way he does things. When an owner approaches the game as if it's fantasy football, it makes it tough to win.
•ON THE NFL'S NEW RULES THAT PREVENT DEFENSIVE BACKS FROM TOUCHING WIDE RECEIVERS AFTER FIVE YARDS I've learned that as long as you're on defense, you'll never get a helping hand from the NFL. That's why cornerbacks need to be the highest-paid players in the league.
•ON WHETHER THE RULES BOTHER HIM WHEN HE'S PLAYING WIDE RECEIVER, AS HE HAS IN SEVERAL GAMES THIS YEAR The rules should be the same for everybody--offensive players shouldn't be able to touch defensive players either. There are only so many cornerbacks out there who can cover receivers with the rules in place. That helps me out as far as the money to be made, because I'm one of those players.
•ON WHY THE NFL HAS SO MANY FLAMBOYANT RECEIVERS It's a way for those guys to market themselves. There are so many big, strong, fast guys at that position who think they can't be stopped. They want glory, so they have to get their faces out there somehow. There are a lot of defensive backs like that, but we can't seem to get the same attention. --As told to Jeffri Chadiha
BAILEY'S WIFE, HANADY, IS ALSO TAKING PSYCH CLASSES AT UGA. DENVER (6-3) PLAYS AT NEW ORLEANS (4-5) ON SUNDAY
"MY PSYCHOLOGY CLASSES APPLY MORE TO REAL LIFE THAN FOOTBALL"
COLOR PHOTO
TSN/ICON SMI (BAILEY)
COLOR PHOTO
THOMAS E. WITTE (ROETHLISBERGER)
"A strong core helps me get more velocity on my ball."--Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers QB,Steel Core,page 43