Saturday, December 8, 2001
[ NFL ISLANDERS ]
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Rookie Mario Fatafehi has been riding with the up-and-down Arizona Cardinals this season. Fatafehi looks for chance
to do his sack danceThe Farrington alumnus is enjoying his
rookie season with Arizona; he doesn't
find the NFL overwhelmingBy Nick Abramo
nabramo@starbulletin.comThe defensive lineman who starred at Farrington High School and Kansas State worked his way into the starting lineup two weeks ago.
But bam, down he went with a hand injury against the San Diego Chargers while playing a new position.
"I'm a defensive tackle," Fatafehi said. "But our two ends went down, so the coach said, 'Mario, you're my emergency end.' I never played there in my life, but I liked it. There's more space. Now I know I can play both, and the more you know, the longer you stay."
He was unable to play in the overtime upset of the Oakland Raiders last weekend, a victory that pushed the Cardinals to 5-6.
Fatafehi doesn't know when he'll be back or if he'll be starting, but he is determined to show his full potential.
"I haven't had a sack yet, but it's coming. I can feel it," he said.
As a matter of fact, he already has his sack dance planned; he'll do the same Polynesian war dance he received a standing ovation for from his teammates at rookie "initiation" day.
"You put in your time as a rookie," the 6-foot-2, 296-pound fifth-round draft pick said. "I'm chauffeuring guys around at night, bringing them breakfast, carrying all of their meeting books."
But playing in the NFL dulls the pain of those mundane tasks assigned by the veterans.
Still, Fatafehi isn't overwhelmed with the fact that he's made it to the top level of his sport.
"Football is football," Fatafehi said. "Sometimes, people blow it up and say, 'Man, it's the NFL,' but once I put that helmet on and got that first hit, I realized that I've been doing this for a long time and I don't have to get so excited."
The Cardinals already have two more wins than all of last season, but that's still four wins shy of another Hawaii boy Fatafehi is acquainted with -- Olin Kreutz of the 9-2 Chicago Bears.
"When we played them (a 20-13 Chicago win in Week 5), Olin gave me the shaka from the other sideline," he said.
Fatafehi's all-time biggest highlight came in 1998 when Kansas State beat Nebraska.
Position: Defensive tackle Mario Fatafehi
Height: 6 feet, 2 inches
Weight: 295 pounds
College: Kansas State
High school: Farrington
Year: Rookie
Born: Jan. 27, 1979
Highlights:>> In two years at Kansas State, registered 128 total tackles (71 solos) with 12 sacks for negative-90 yards and 26 stops for losses of 117 yards.
>> As a senior in 2000: All-America first-team selection by Football News, second-team honors from The Sporting News
>> As a junior in 1999: Named Big 12 Conference defensive newcomer of the year
>> First-team all-state as a senior at Farrington High School; named the school's male athlete of the year in his senior season; two-year starter on defensive line.
Source: Arizona Cardinals
"If you've ever won a championship before, you know that feeling ... that five minutes of 'You're the man.' " Fatafehi said. "There were people storming the field, tearing down goal posts and people running over and head-butting me on the helmet. They picked me up and carried my 300-pound butt off the field."
For Fatafehi, the NFL is different from college in many ways.
"The food is better, the places to sleep are nicer, we get our own room, too much space," he said.
"Now, I'm learning formations and backfield sets. In college, we didn't learn anything like this; we knew the A gap and the B gap. Here, you've got to learn the offenses we're going up against. We've got to know what they're going to run before they run it. And I don't know 'em all yet, but I'm going to learn as soon as I can."
Fatafehi is eager to take tips from knowledgeable veterans, and he's found it to be beneficial to find out which players are steering him in the right direction and "open his ears up" to them.
"Football is a way a life, not just a game," he said. "I'm learning every day as a student, every day I pick up something I didn't know before."
The Cardinals can position themselves for a run at the playoffs with a win at home against the Washington Redskins tomorrow.
With Jake Plummer's comeback ability and Bill Gramatica's penchant for kicking game-winning field goals, the playoffs may not be so far-fetched.
Add in a few Mario Fatafehi sacks and subsequent war dances for good measure, and all of a sudden, those goal posts in Tempe, Ariz., aren't so safe anymore.
Just in case, it might be wise for the desert fans to start preparing for the day when they have to head-butt Fatafehi on the helmet and carry him off the field.
