Earl Campbell before the Titans
Ok, Tennessee was bad last year, with only 1 road win to speak of and only 3 home wins. Then to top it off, Steve McNair left for the Baltimore Ravens.
Just as a quiz, name the starting quarterback and running back for this year for the Titans. Try number 7 Billy Volek at QB and number 29 Chris Brown.
At least Chris has had a 1,000 yard season in the pros. Looks kind of bleak, doesn’t it.
Well, your humble narrator has experience with bleak, being a Detroit Lions fan and all. It is times like these that you have to reflect on the history of your team.
You see, before the Titans were the Titans, they were the Oilers. Huh? Are there a lot of oil wells in Tennessee? No, but there is substantial oil in Houston. The Houston Oilers, a proud two time winner in the American Football league, joined the NFL and eventually moved to Tennessee. After a while the name really needed changing.
Try this out for size, in 1978 Houston drafted a heisman trophy winning running back out of the University of Texas at Austin named Earl Campbell. His named was pronounced Oil with that Texas accent. The fans simply loved him, but here is the special part. He won Rookie of the Year and MVP at the same time!
Once, a long time ago, your ever on the go author, was traveling to Houston to see a cousin. We went to a favorite watering hole and the Houston football game happened to be on. The screaming was insane. Oil! Oil! Ok, my Texas accent isn’t too good.
Earl had these massive thighs. 
Never had your traveling blogger seen such huge thighs. He would run into the line and just would not go down. The Oilers were not a great team, but Earl would not let them lose. Defenses were always stacked up against him and yet he led the league in rushing for 3 straight years (only the legendary Jim Brown had managed that before).
Special Note Earl made 5 pro bowls and finished with 9,407 yards. He is considered on of the all time great running backs.
Fan Question Do you have any fond memories of NFL history? Did you ever get to see Earl Campbell in action?
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POSTED IN: NFL Football, Players
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