Ailment Keeps Rams’ Smith Baffled, Sidelined
Doug Smith wasn’t dismayed when nobody selected him in the National Football League draft of 1978.
The NFL often ignores players from Bowling Green, so Smith just signed with the Rams as a free agent.
Nor was Smith dismayed when he had to wait five years for Rich Saul to retire before he could play center.
He passed the time filling in at both guard positions and, for a while, right tackle.
Was he dismayed when he broke his right hand in ‘83? No. He learned to snap with his left and went on to the Pro Bowl the following season. Perseverance is part of Smith’s Christian ethic.
But now, Smith is dismayed. He has been thrown for a loss by an unseen opponent, a foe he can’t confront.
Smith, 29, was driving home from church with his wife, Debbie, and daughter, Jessica, last Sunday, shortly before he was due to fly to San Francisco with the team.
“I just turned my head and I started getting numb, first in my neck and then in my arms,” he said. “I knew then that something was wrong.”
He had first experienced the problem in the first quarter of the game at New Orleans a week earlier.
Ram trainer Jim Anderson said: “He complained of numbness in his hand. He said, ‘I went to jam somebody, and there wasn’t any feeling there.’ ”
Smith continued to play but soon complained of numbness in his side. Then he asked guard Dennis Harrah what the score was.
Said Anderson: “Dennis said, ‘Hey, you might want to check Smitty.’ He was disoriented. We all assumed it was from a blow to the head.”
The preliminary diagnosis was a bruise on the brain.
But Smith hadn’t been knocked out and he said there had been no unusually severe blows to the head: “There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
The Rams kept him out of the rest of the game, and he remained overnight in a New Orleans hospital for tests and observation. He had more tests at home during the week and, when nothing alarming was discovered, was cleared to play.
Then the Sunday episode occurred, and now Smith’s football future is clouded. Coach John Robinson has said he won’t play him again until he’s 100% sure there is no risk involved.
“I’m grateful for the coaches’ attitude,” Smith said. “Some teams would say, ‘Well, we can’t find anything, so it’s up to you.’ ”
That, in an extreme case, might put a player’s life in his own hands, absolving the club of responsibility.
“But (the Rams) just told me, ‘You’re not gonna play,’ ” Smith said. “It’s better that way, as long as there’s that uncertainty.”
Smith has had three EEGs, a couple of CAT-scans, a magnetic residence imaging (MRI) and even an angiogram in which a dye is injected into the bloodstream for an X-ray of the head. A fourth EEG is scheduled Friday.
“They’ve eliminated all the big stuff, tumors and things,” Smith said.
Ram physician Toby Freedman said that life-threatening possibilities have been ruled out.
Smith seemed only slightly relieved.
“I just feel funny, not being part of it this time of year,” he said.
Freedman said: “The best bet appears to be that he had some sort of recurrence of migraine that he had as a child. But that hasn’t been absolutely established.
“There is no evidence of an anatomical disorder. There is some sort of an irregular pattern on the EEG, but that is not inconsistent with migraine.”
Freedman said Smith could have “an unusual form of migraine seen in a low percentage of people.”
They hope for a better result in Friday’s test.
“If his EEG is clear and he is asymptomatic, we would probably clear him to play,” Freedman said.
Robinson indicated, however, that Tony Slaton would play center against the St. Louis Cardinals at Anaheim Stadium Sunday.
Smith said: “It might be something that’s been there 20 years. I’m confident that I have the best people working on it.”
Ram Notes Tight end Tony Hunter was given permission to miss practice Wednesday because his wife, Joan, was ill. . . . A total of 14,800 tickets remained Wednesday for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. The sellout deadline for lifting the local TV blackout is 1 p.m. today. . . . Coach John Robinson said he didn’t show the team the film of Monday night’s 27-20 win in San Francisco. “I don’t want ‘em to spend time relishing it,” he said. “We’ve still got other things to do.” . . . Strong safety Nolan Cromwell has a sprained ankle but was listed as probable for Sunday. The Cardinals listed running back Ottis Anderson (calf), offensive tackle Tootie Robbins (hamstring) and defensive end Curtis Greer (knee) as questionable. Anderson has been out of uniform for six games.