Even Thought of Paralysis Doesn’t Faze Abdul-Jabbar

The local media have had all kinds of problems pinning down Miami Dolphin running back Karim Abdul-Jabbar for comment.

The beat writer for the Miami Herald hasn’t been able to corner him since the second week of the season. An author, commissioned to write books on Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson and athletes of different faiths in football, has tried unsuccessfully for two months to chat with Abdul-Jabbar.

The New York Jets’ Keyshawn Johnson, fellow NFL rookie and former teammate of Abdul-Jabbar at Dorsey High, has done everything short of driving to reporters’ homes to get his say in the newspapers.

But the Dolphins’ reticent rookie, who ironically was nicknamed “Hollywood” when he was 8, purposely steers clear of his own locker room during the lunch hour to avoid reporters. He has become almost as adept at hiding as he has at running the ball for a demanding Jimmy Johnson.

Almost.

“I can be talkative when I want to be,” he said, and this week he was, offering rare insight into how he can remain so level-headed in a game with so many highs and lows.

“About three weeks ago, I ran into linebacker Zach Thomas out here in practice and I had my head down and the force went right to my neck,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “I was paralyzed. Through my whole body there was no movement.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I guess I got to get ready to get a wheelchair.’ Honestly, there was no pressure. This is what the Creator has given me and I’m about to deal with it. As soon as it happened, I thought, ‘I’m paralyzed and I won’t be playing on Sundays anymore, but I’ll deal with it.’ ”

He didn’t fight it, didn’t scream in agony or feel sorry for himself, but just lay there, plotting his life as a quadriplegic until a few moments later, when he began to feel movement in his hand.

“I just feel the Creator’s in control of things, so you never really cry about what he gives you or where he places you,” he says. “The attitude comes after putting in the work, and for example, when I was younger I was doing interviews during the times when I should be preparing myself for the games. I’d have 30 microphones in front of my face and look over and I was the only one there. Everybody else was off doing their business.

“My faith is not hope, it’s pure work. Once I’ve done the work and worked harder than anybody, then I can rest peacefully with whatever the Creator has in mind for me.”

Abdul-Jabbar, a Muslim who changed his name from Sharmon Shah before his 1995 season at UCLA, is still bothered by a sore neck from his collision with Thomas. But his philosophy for success has positioned him to become the first running back in Dolphin history since 1978 to gain more than 1,000 yards. He has gained 434 yards in 127 carries, and leads the team with six touchdowns.

And despite being a rookie and playing for the hyper Johnson, he insists, he does so without ever feeling pressure.

“If I feel I put my all in something, there’s no pressure,” he says. “Once I’ve done my work and I gain one yard or 100 yards, as far as succeeding or failing in other people’s eyes, there’s no pressure.”

Abdul-Jabbar’s laid-back approach to football threw Johnson for a loss in the early going. Johnson put Abdul-Jabbar No. 5 on his depth chart, and the running back’s lingering ankle injuries prompted Johnson to question his toughness.

“I didn’t understand the way you go about rehabbing,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “They didn’t see a sense of urgency about me trying to get healed. I thought they just wanted me to go out and try to play without therapy. But then one day I happened to be in the training room and they gave me the complete treatment, and I found out they wanted to do this five, six times a day, or whatever it took. I had no idea. I was new here.”

After Abdul-Jabbar ran for 115 yards in his first regular-season NFL game, there were no more doubters.

“I made a mistake on him,” Johnson says. “I was skeptical about his injury. I was also frustrated because I knew what kind of talent he had and I wanted to groom him to stay in the picture.”

He’s front and center in that picture now for Johnson, who prospered in Dallas by getting the ball to Emmitt Smith, but Abdul-Jabbar couldn’t care less if anyone knows it.

“This game is all about confidence,” Abdul-Jabbar says. “You can tell who the guys are that are real confident in themselves--like Keyshawn--but it makes the difference. I love his spirit and you need that on a team, and that’s what the great ones are all about.

“My confidence is just a little quieter in the way it’s expressed. . . . But let the people back in Los Angeles know Hollywood is still Hollywood.”

LOVE FEST

They are selling “The Commotion by the Ocean” T-shirts for Sunday’s game between the Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys, but so far the commotion has been much ado about nothing.

The NFL is all about paranoia. Don’t say anything, as if it would make a difference, to fire up the other team.

That’s why when Johnson, then coaching the Cowboys, guaranteed a playoff victory a few years ago it drew such attention--as if a coach shouldn’t think his team is going to win.

Last summer, with the big game months away, Cowboy owner Jerry Jones said of Johnson, “There is nothing you can trade me for having those five years we had together and what we went through together and how it worked out. And there is nothing you can give me to have one more day of it.”

No such pronouncements this week. Everything has been politically correct. But let’s see who does all the talking after the game.

EXTRA POINTS

--The Philadelphia Eagles are the only team this season not to have lost on Sunday. They are 0-2 on Monday night.

--Those disciplined Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In last week’s loss to Arizona, Cardinal quarterback Kent Graham drew them offside five times, three times on third down.

“That’s called stinking up the house,” Tampa defensive lineman Warren Sapp said. “We knew he was going to do it, saw it on film, worked on it all week.”

No, that’s calling being stupid.

--Stupid II: Wide receiver Anthony Morgan, currently unemployed, rejected an opportunity to earn $275,000, with a chance to cash in on playoff and Super Bowl money for the Green Bay Packers. The Packers cut Morgan on Aug. 27, and his feelings are still hurt.

--Who figured this out? The New York Giants lost last Sunday, while the other four teams in the NFC East all won--the first time since Dec. 4, 1983, that has happened.

--Marcus Allen needs two more rushing touchdowns to become the NFL’s all-time leader. Of his 109 touchdowns rushing, 48 have covered one yard. Only four have been for more than 30 yards.

GOOD LUCK

--CINCINNATI: The Bengals need to sell 40,000 personal seat licenses by April 30 to ensure a new stadium project and they have hired Bruce Coslet to do the job.

Coslet replaces David Shula as head coach, and says, “We’ve got to prove to our fans that we are worthy. We’re in the entertainment business. We owe our audience. That’s one thing I sure learned in New York.”

When asked what would be a reasonable goal, after starting the season 1-6, Coslet said, “2-6.” Now there’s a lofty goal.

Coslet cut his first practice 20 minutes short and kept players at four skill positions--quarterback, running back, wide receiver and defensive back--for conditioning drills. They performed 60 sit-ups, 40 push-ups, 25 up-downs and three gassers.

“We just haven’t been a good fourth-quarter team,” running back Eric Bieniemy said.

--NEW ORLEANS: Rick Venturi, 1-31-1 at Northwestern and 1-10 with Indianapolis, is the Saints’ new coach.

It doesn’t figure to be a permanent move.

“Hey, I’d like to be president of General Motors, I really would,” Venturi said. “But it probably isn’t going to happen.”

The Saints will run more two-back sets under Venturi, and quarterback Jim Everett will be able to call audibles on the field. Sure, that will help.

As for former coach Jim Mora, who resigned, one last parting shot from running back Ray Zellars, who had been suspended earlier for cussing out Mora.

“The changes will allow more room for growth on offense,” Zellars said. “It will give us more weapons to go fight with. There’s some fresh air around here.”

WHAT ABOUT DITKA?

When the Saints went looking for a coach, they said they never considered former Bear Coach Mike Ditka.

Ditka, asked about Mora’s resignation, said on his radio show, “What happened to him happened to me. He snapped. I snapped. He snapped, and when you snap, you snap. I feel bad for Jim because it would be different if he wasn’t a good coach. It just got to him. He had too much pride.”

As for Ditka’s interest in the job?

“I really don’t have any desire,” he said. “I’m quite sure I’m going to be in the restaurant business. I checked my voice mail. There was nothing on it.”

IN QUOTATION MARKS

Something for St. Louis Ram owner Georgia Frontiere to ponder:

After the Rams were beaten all over the field by Jacksonville, only to somehow win the game, St. Louis wide receiver Isaac Bruce said, “A win is a win. It was ugly. Some people who marry ugly women have a beautiful marriage.”

Houston linebacker Micheal Barrow on the success of his coach, Jeff Fisher: “Jeff Fisher’s like Frankenstein. He’s taken parts from Buddy Ryan, Mike Ditka, John Robinson and George Seifert. Now, he’s created a monster.”

The Jaguars, depressed over their loss to the Rams, got a boost this week when wide receiver Andre Rison walked into the locker room and, with reporters present, yelled, “I guarantee you we beat Cincinnati. Write that in your papers.”

The newspapers in Cincinnati obliged.

CLEVELAND’S FUTURE

Like Los Angeles, Cleveland has no professional football team, but unlike L.A., the people seem in a hurry to get it back, and are willing to accept the Indianapolis Colts.

Indianapolis is the lowest-grossing team in revenue in the league, and the team plays in the third-smallest facility in the NFL. The Colts have the worst local TV-radio contract in the league, no club seats and a poor lease with the RCA Dome.

“The bottom line is we can sell out every game and we’d still be last [in revenue],” said Jim Irsay, the team’s president. “That’s the reality. We’re the lowest-grossing team in the league and we pay top dollar. That can’t continue. I simply can’t afford to do it.

“I think [the Colts’ problem] is a little more with the market than with the stadium. If we doubled our skyboxes, I don’t know if we could sell them. I’m looking at [adding] club seats, but I don’t know if that’s viable in this market.”

The Colts’ lease runs through 2014, but Robert Irsay, the team’s owner, is seriously ill, and NFL observers believe his death would force the family to sell the team to settle estate issues. The younger Irsay said he has had his attorneys review the lease to make sure the club can buy it out.

“Clearly, something has to happen,” Irsay said. “We’re $50 million away from the top-grossing team. I know we’ll never be up there. I’m looking to get just close to the middle.”

The only thing that might keep Indianapolis from being Cleveland’s new team? Insiders say Indianapolis remains very interested in the Los Angeles market.