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Friday, August 22, 1997

Deion Sanders approaches season with improved spirit

By Josie Karp

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

IRVING, Texas - A renewed religious zeal makes him different in many ways, Deion Sanders said yesterday. He only hopes one thing remains the same: that when he steps on the field for the Cowboys in the team's regular-season opener Aug. 31 in Pittsburgh, his back injury will not prevent him from playing football the way he always has, better than almost every other cornerback in the NFL.

"I feel like, honestly, that I'm going to be able to play," Sanders said yesterday in his first public appearance in the Fort Worth-Dallas area since the Cowboys were eliminated from last season's playoffs. "I just hope I'm healthy enough to perform at the level that I'm accustomed to performing."

In his brief visit on a scheduled off-day for the Cincinnati Reds - his other employer - Sanders spoke before a Dallas church, visited with coaches and teammates and submitted to a physical exam by the Cowboys' doctors and trainers.

He planned to join his Reds teammates in Atlanta last night, but said he would likely not play baseball again until sometime next week at the earliest. Sanders, who received the second of two epidural steroid injections Monday, will be re-evaluated after the weekend, Cowboys trainer Jim Maurer said.

In what sounded like a melding of medicine and religion, Sanders sounded confident he would be fine.

"It's going to be healed," Sanders said. "It's going to be OK. ... I plan on playing Sunday."

And even though he said he also plans to continue to play both football and baseball, Sanders admitted that his No. 1 priority is to reclaim his health.

"The priority is making sure Deion is healthy," Sanders said, "so he can serve both teams. I'm contractually obligated to both parties."

Based on his appearance yesterday, it seems Sanders also made a contract with religion. His conversion, Sanders said, brought about major life changes.

"I have peace in my life," Sanders said. "I thought all my life I could find peace in money. I could find it in Delilah and Jezebel. I could find peace in football, baseball. Well, I haven't. I've never found peace. Now I have the peace of God, and there ain't no peace like it."

Some of the other changes were more immediately evident.

His voice sounded different.

Sanders spoke with the cadence of a preacher in front of a congregation.

He looked different.

Sanders' sea-green suit and black collarless, button-down shirt served as a background instead of a statement. That was left to a mammoth gold cross that hung on a chain around his neck and fell to the middle of his chest.

He said he is different since recently rediscovering religion and testifying that he is a born-again Christian.

Sanders told of having once been a "fornicator" and detailed how his faith now prevents him from having extramarital affairs. The change, Sanders said, came after a separation from his wife left him alone for the first time in his adult life.

"Fornicating was my drug," Sanders said. "It wasn't like I was chasing every skirt that was around, but I wasn't doing things that were correct in God's eyes. I am a man right now after God's own heart."

He will not, however, be a major force in the clean-up effort under way by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Sanders said he will not try to influence his Cowboys teammates with his newfound faith.

"I can just live my life the way I'm going to live it," Sanders said. "Through that, maybe they will say, 'Hey, this man is happy. This man is joyful. He just got beat for a touchdown and he's over there smiling.' Not that I'll get beat."

Even if it is not to the Cowboys, Sanders does plan to preach. He would like to become an evangelist, he said. He plans to speak at a church in Atlanta this weekend.

"That's my calling," Sanders said. "A platform is what the Lord has blessed me with. I am Deion Sanders. I am Prime Time. The words I speak go a long way. The interviews I have go a long way, places pastors, ministers, bishops can't go."

Sanders, who once recorded a song titled It Must Be The Money and who was fond of saying "if it doesn't make money, it doesn't make sense," even has a new favorite song.

"Silver and Gold," Sanders said, before repeating a line from the Gospel ballad. "I'd rather have Jesus than silver and gold."

(c) 1997, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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