Dan Patrick gets his tips frosted with Brian Giles

Dan Patrick's interview with Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Brian Giles appears in the Aug. 19 edition of ESPN The Magazine.

	Brian Giles plays in relative obscurity for the lowly Pirates.

DP: Hey, Brian, sounds like I'm interrupting an aerobics class. What's that music?
BG: Oh, uh...
DP: Is that Cher?
BG: You caught me. I'm watching VH1, "Divas Live from Vegas" -- Cher looks good.
DP: We're off to a rocky start, man.

DP: Best tan in baseball.
BG: Me or Jason Kendall. He's started on my tanning program. In fact, we just got back from the salon. We got our tips frosted, then we went for a couple of rounds in the tanning bed.
DP: I can just picture it.
BG: Don't knock it. We have a lot of fun. Our big thing is, after they get the foil in our hair for the frost, we sit under the dryers and gab.
DP: Like old ladies?
BG: Sure. Cracks us up.

DP: What do you want to do when you retire?
BG: Either be a chef at Benihana -- cutting stuff up and flipping it around, that would be fun -- or maybe a meteorologist. I like weather. It's intriguing.

DP: Do you collect anything?
BG: When I was little I used to collect potato bugs.
DP: Potato bugs?
BG: You know, those little bugs that curl up in a ball when you pick them up? I'd keep them in a can and see how many I could collect.
DP: Tough times as a kid, huh?
BG: Yeah. I either caught potato bugs or studied. Guess that's how I became valedictorian of my high school -- boredom.

DP: What am I most likely to hear you singing in the shower?
BG: Barney's theme song.
DP: "I love you, you love me" ... that one? You're a dad, so I'll let you off the hook.
BG: I sing it to my teammates. It's a favorite, what can I say?

DP: Last time you cried.
BG: This morning. My daughter head-butted me and it hurt! But that was more of a fake cry to discipline her.
DP: Ah, the old guilt trip. Did it work?
BG: Are you kidding? She laughed.

DP: If you were reincarnated, what would you want to come back as?
BG: I don't know. I guess, a tree. Just as long as no one wanted to chop me down.
DP: Yeah, but dogs would pee on you.
BG: That's all right, I've got protective bark.
DP: You're not a deep man, are you?
BG: No.