Father afar

RENTON, Wash. – Edgerrin James is likely to enter the top 10 on the NFL’s career rushing list this weekend.

He said the milestone means a lot to him because he feels like part of a “dying breed.” He believes rushing for 12,000-plus yards is increasingly difficult in a league that is moving away from teams having a lone, feature back.

Yet getting 18 yards Sunday for the Seahawks against Arizona and passing Marcus Allen on the all-time list matters far less to him than what he’s already accomplished this week.

The 31-year-old single father surprised one of his three daughters during school Wednesday morning with a call into her class in Florida. He had arranged it with her teacher, who kept the secret.

“She was kind of caught off guard,” James said, with a grin as wide as any hole he’s run through while gaining 12,226 yards over 11 seasons.

Surprise calls. Letters. Text messages. E-mails. Even cross-country flights anytime he had more than a day free to consider it. James has used them all to keep in touch with Edquisha, Ehyanna, Edgerrin Jr. and Euro, who are being raised by James’ mother on the other side of the country. The children’s mother and James’ longtime girlfriend, Andia Wilson, died in April at age 30 of leukemia.

“I talk to him a lot about certain things he does to stay in touch – via the Internet, text messaging – just to keep them on their toes,” said Seahawks receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who is married and has two daughters. “And certain things he teaches his kids is a thought in itself. It’s good, man.

“He’s a good father, just from talking to him. All he does is talk about his kids.”

James was a free agent from April until late August. He said he didn’t want to sign with a team until after Aug. 20 so he could be home to send his kids off to the first day of school in Florida. Missing training camp after grinding through 10 previous ones was a nice side attraction, too.

Sure enough, days after school started, James signed his one-year deal with Seattle worth $1 million in base salary.

Next week, he goes home. Father and daughter have set a time to have lunch together at the school, during Seattle’s bye week.

“So I’ve got a dinner date,” he said, laughing.

He said he has no hard feelings that the Cardinals released him to avoid paying him the one year and $5 million remaining on his contract last spring – six days after he was in Naples, Fla., burying Wilson.

“I had some personal things I needed to deal with. That was my main focus,” he said, without elaborating on Wilson’s death. “Football was secondary.”

For the past last couple of seasons he has been flying back and forth to Florida to care for his kids while he’s played on the opposite coast.

James said his career is now on a year-to-year basis, but that “realistically, I probably have two, three more years left in me, because it’s so easy now. It’s not like it used to be, big guys out smoking cigarettes at halftime. … It’s not a physical game anymore.

“Kids these days are different. They are of the video-game era. It’s all entertainment.”

Yes, James knows about “kids these days.” Perhaps as well as any player in the league.