Second Thoughts

'Tyler Rose' alive, kicking, slams football

Earl Campbell (seated) joins Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross and former NFL player Aaron Ross during the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award ceremony in Tyler, Texas, last month.
Earl Campbell (seated) joins Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross and former NFL player Aaron Ross during the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award ceremony in Tyler, Texas, last month.

Former running back Earl Campbell has had both knees replaced, four back surgeries and battled substance abuse since his playing career ended three decades ago.

Among the most punishing runners in NFL history, Campbell, 61, wants people who consider him a living legend to know his is, indeed, still living.

"I haven't gone nowhere yet," said Campbell, who starred for the Houston Oilers and was inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

He is proud of his recovery -- sober for almost nine years, he reported -- and for helping Houston secure the right to host Super Bowl LI on Sunday. But he expressed little enthusiasm for watching the New England Patriots play the Atlanta Falcons.

In fact, Campbell compared current play in the NFL to professional wrestling.

"And we all know now that we're grown men that wrestling's fake," Campbell told Josh Peter of USA Today. "Well, football is not played like it was when I played.

"It was real football when [former Oakland Raiders safety] Jack Tatum and I hit each other on the 2-yard line and I backed into the end zone. And after the game, I said, 'Hey, that's the best I had,' and he said, 'That's the best I had too, Campbell.' I mean, that was real football. But now...."

Shaking his head at the excuses he hears from contemporary NFL players, Campbell said, "I can't play because I've got a hangnail on my toe. I can't play because I didn't get a pedicure this week. I don't play because my head hurt.

"That wouldn't have got the job done back in my day."

What's in a name?

Kobe Buffalomeat walked out of a Lawrence (Kan.) High School classroom Wednesday, and some friends asked, "Do you know you're famous?"

Twitter had a field day Wednesday morning after Illinois State announced the signing of the 6-7, 285-pound offensive tackle.

"Illinois State signs the best recruit name in college football history," ESPN's Darren Rovell tweeted to his 1.68 million followers.

"Kobe Buffalomeat is my new favorite college football player," ESPN Radio host Mike Golic Jr. tweeted.

"I want nothing more in life than Kobe Buffalomeat to make the NFL," tweeted Mike Welch, a host on KCSP-AM, 610, in Kansas City, Mo.

Lawrence Coach Dirk Wedd called it a "fairy tale," -- not the celebrity part, but the fact Buffalomeat had earned a scholarship to a school such as Illinois State.

"He couldn't walk and chew bubble gum last summer," Wedd told Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune. "Then he figured it out. By the end of the season, he was first-team all-conference."

Ray Buffalomeat said his son, named after former Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, is roughly one-quarter Cheyenne/Arapaho, one-quarter Cherokee, one-quarter Choctaw and one-quarter Caucasian.

"Having the name Buffalomeat probably hasn't always been easy," said his aunt, Penny Postoak Ferguson. "But it makes me proud for our heritage. I saw a lot of positive comments on ESPNU."

Illinois State, meanwhile, is happy to have him.

"We didn't do this as a publicity stunt," Coach Brock Spack said. "We did it because of his character. He's a good student. He's long and a very good athlete. He has big upside."

Sports quiz

How many total yards did Earl Campbell rush for in his collegiate and professional football careers?

Answer

13,850 (4,443 at the University of Texas, 9,407 in the NFL)

Sports on 02/03/2017

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