NBC Sports Network will have a documentary on Earl Campbell on Tuesday at 10pm. The hour-long show will tell Campbell's story from childhood through his playing days in college at UT and the NFL with the Oilers as well as his post-career life and his health issues. For the young 'ems on this board, this show should be required viewing to see the life of the greatest running back in the history of the NFL. There is a basketball game on before the airing, so if the game goes long then the start of the documentary will be delayed. If you miss the show it will re-air Wednesday night at midnight. Other dates and times of the documentary showing on NBCSN: Fri 12/7 -- midnight (Friday night) Sat 12/8 -- 2:30pm Tue 12/11 -- 6:00pm Wed 12/12 -- 8:00pm and 11:00pm Press release: http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/...s/2012/11/29/stillstandingth1354202367393.xml
He was just one of a kind and I have just about seen them all. Jim Brown was overpowering, Gale Sayers was amazing, and so on, but Earl was the scariest of all time. Nobody wanted to tackle him. He was like an offensive tackle with runner's speed. Pure greatness.
The two plays, beginning at the 2:45 mark, show you just how strong this man was. The second play, he is being by Jack Tatum, one the fiercest and biggest hitters of his time. For the young posters, Jack Tatum is like Brian Cushing playing safety. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ui844C3TQVI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Great mix. He carried the ball like his lunch. Wonder he wasn't stripped more, but I don't recall many fumbles.
From Peter King: . I think I strongly, strongly recommend the Earl Campbell documentary (Still Standing: The Earl Campbell Story'), produced by Ross Greenburg Productions and NFL Films, airing Tuesday night on the NBC Sports Network at 11 Eastern Time. (Truth in advocacy: NBC employs me, and I used to work for HBO Sports.) I've seen the show, and a couple of things about it. One: Everything Greenburg touched as the former HBO Sports czar was quality storytelling, and it goes without saying that NFL Films is superb at stories too. This is on the level of that great storytelling, particularly about Campbell having risky spinal surgery and his sons, Tyler and Christian, stridently urging him to go to rehab to beat his addictions. Two: If you're 35 or younger, you didn't see Earl Campbell play, at least in his prime. And you missed one of the greatest big backs in NFL history. What made Campbell special, and what this documentary shows, is the combination of power and speed that only Jim Brown can match in NFL history. (Sacrilege here, but Jerome Bettis is very close, and give credit to Bettis, because he was 20 pounds heavier than Brown and Campbell and could still run past some safeties.) I'll never forget sitting in Athens, Ohio, in my senior year in college, watching the Houston-Miami Monday-nighter in Campbell's rookie year, 1978, and seeing him run over and around the Dolphins for four touchdowns, including the winner, an 81-yarder, late in the fourth quarter. You need to experience Campbell's greatness, if you haven't already, and this show's a good introduction to the great career, and the great post-career pain, of Campbell.
