When Bubba Smith does his Miller Lite Beer commercials, the public sees a self-parodying giant. Opponents who faced the former Baltimore Colts All-Pro defensive end saw a different person--a football player whose just-published autobiography Kill, Bubba, Kill! is not inappropriately titled. Craig Modderno met with Bubba in Toronto, where he was filming the movie "Police Academy." His report: "Bubba is funny, shy, bright, soft-spoken and calls everyone Babe. His idea of a fun night on the town is taking a writer to a gym, asking the journalist his weight and then bench pressing twice that amount. People mispronounce his first name, but nobody ever makes fun of it."

Q 1

PLAYBOY: In your book, you imply that the 1969 Super Bowl game between the Colts and the New York Jets was fixed. What makes you think so?

Bubba Smith: We went into the game an 18-point favorite. The Jets weren't fit to be on the field with us. We had just set a record as the best defensive team in the N.F.L. I knew something was wrong the morning of the game. We got inside the 20- or 30-yard line three times the first half and came away with no points. A bookie in New York and members of the N.F.L. Players Association told me that the game was set up, because if the old A.F.L. didn't establish credibility with the N.F.L. by a certain year, the merger would never take place. That Super Bowl game, which we lost by nine points, was the critical year. The game just seemed too odd to me. Everything was out of place. I tried to rationalize that our coach, Don Shula, got outcoached, but that wasn't the case. I don't know if any of my teammates were in on the fix. I've never said anything to them about my suspicions, because I didn't want to believe it and I still don't. I love football.

Q 2

PLAYBOY: How difficult would it be to fix a pro football game today?

Bubba Smith: You'd need at least two key members of the offense to be in on it: a flanker to drop a few passes or fumble in a key moment and a quarterback to throw a key interception or to fumble. On the other hand, a defensive back's slipping at a key moment can result in an important touchdown for the offense. A missed downfield tackle can have the same effect. Everybody can fail. That's why fans don't question errors on the playing field.

Q 3

PLAYBOY: Has organized crime infiltrated pro football?

Bubba Smith: [Shakes head, pauses] You know just like I know, and everyone else does, too. Bookies know everyone who is hurt the day before the game, and that's not supposed to get out. How do you think they establish the betting odds? The owners control everything that happens in the N.F.L. If Pete Rozelle gets out of line and causes waves, the owners will fire him. I was told that the then-Baltimore Colts owner, Carroll Rosenbloom, bet $1,000,000 on the Jets in the 1969 Super Bowl. It was ironic that the next year, the Colts joined the American Football Conference, one of only three established N.F.L. franchises to do so. Where was Rozelle during all that? But the N.F.L. has been very good to me. It just happened that I was part of something I didn't think was right. There are no sour grapes on my part about that game, because later, we won the Super Bowl.

Q 4

PLAYBOY: You filed a negligence lawsuit against the N.F.L. for a knee injury you received while running into a down marker during a Colts game against the Steelers. Were you amazed at the negative response you got from your fellow athletes?

Bubba Smith: I saw people I admired lie for the N.F.L. Somebody was bought off. The judge had to keep telling the witnesses to make sure not to perjure themselves. I was a loyal Colt. When you put everything into an organization, as I did with the Colts, and you find out that it doesn't care, man, that shit hurts. The Colts knew I was damaged goods when they traded me to the Raiders. The league knew that also. The Colts had me practice the day I was traded. As soon as I tackled the quarterback, the coach screamed at me not to hurt myself. Later that night, I had to show rookie linemen how to tackle the quarterback for two hours. All this happened before they told me I was traded. And when I went to court, I realized why my salary tripled when I got traded. The N.F.L. claimed I was making my highest salary at the time I was saying I was hurt. [Raiders owner Al] Davis had to know I was damaged goods when he traded for me. Ed Garvey, the former head of the N.F.L. Players Association, wouldn't testify on my behalf, even though he was staying only 20 miles away. The Players Association should be happy that it's finally gotten rid of Garvey. In my opinion, he acted as if the N.F.L. owners owned him.

Q 5

PLAYBOY: How widespread are payments to college athletes by alumni? Do some college jocks make more money than professional athletes?

Bubba Smith: That depends on whom they have negotiating for them. Any university that's winning ball games is giving its athletes something extra to make college life easier. When I was 16, the University of Iowa lent me a car for a week and gave me money so I would put in a good word to my older brother Beaver to attend it. The schools make a lot of money from television on their athletic programs. I remember that after my junior year at Michigan State, three of my teammates had Dodge Darts. My football coach claimed that he didn't know where they had gotten them, but they sure couldn't afford them. College teams today are just like the pros. They go after the best athletes money can buy.