Vince Young vs. Earl Campbell

                                                                            

Derrick Dolls - insert your own joke here

Just last night we here in Houston had our very first Monday Night Football game since, uh, a long time.  Good news, the Texans won!  And it got me to thinkin’ … about that other Monday Night Football game, the one in Houston, you know, the only one I ever went to.   Uh, if you watched the game last night you wondered (like me) why anyone in their right mind would schedule Houston to play Jacksonville. 

Well it was probably to celebrate the 30th anniversary: Nov. 20, 1978.  The Houston Oilers vs. the Miami Dolphins in the Astrodome.  The place was packed to capacity, and everybody had these fruity Columbia blue pompoms – on the Dome floor, the crowd sounded like sticking your head inside a jet engine.  Future Hall of Famer Bob Griese quarterbacked the Dolphins, but everyone came to see Houston’s rookie running back Earl Campbell.

“Big Bad Earl” ripped the Dolphins secondary apart with four touchdowns, including an electrifying 81-yard scamper in the fourth quarter to put it away for the Oilers.  He finished the night with 199 yards rushing and the Dome just about split apart at the seams with crazed, delirious fans waving their pompoms and singing along to that goddamned “Houston Oilers No. 1” song.  Good times.

So.  That’s not what I’m here to talk about, though.  I want to compare Earl Campbell with Vince Young, the other big Texas hero from the University of Texas.  You know Vince, he beat up on USC a few years ago in the Rose Bowl with one of the best performances ever by a college football player.  With the Tennessee Titans, well …

Anyway, Earl Campbell has some sausages you can grill, and so does Vince Young.  Both of ’em are made up of beef, pork and chicken product (best not to know exactly what part of what animal), both come in handsome packages with their respective proprietary photos, both are moderately priced (about $2.50 or so for a package of six links). 

And the grill test – we like Earl’s better.  They are much more meaty, have a more “smoky” and subtle flavor where Vince’s links have a kind of annoying spice that tickles the tongue but does not satisfy.  Earl Campbell links are sturdy, dependable food that belong in the Hall of Fame but Vince Young links leave a lot to be desired – like a hot dog. 

MP3: “Big Bad Earl” by Tom Cantrell with Dink & the Oo-ettes

MP3: “Houston Oilers No. 1” (excerpt)