Okay, despite what some snarky Blogger posted the other day, it is official and the career of the greatest running back in the history of the NFL has come to an end.
I'm not going to go into the stats except to remember they invented "yards after contact" for Emmitt Smith. No, just a few thoughts instead.
I remember going to a Cowboys/Packer game at County Stadium. Both teams were turning themselves around, but it was the Cowboys who rose to the top of the NFC first. After half time the Packers ran the kickoff back for a touchdown. The 'Boys were still ahead, of course, but when they got the ball they seemed to stall in their own territory. The Packer fans starting going nuts. Neither my friend or I were worried, and Emmitt ripped off a 40+ yard gain to silence the crowd. And that was typical of how he would take control of the game.
The other thing I will remember is Emmitt Smith's keeping his promise to his mother to finish college. Like many "student atheletes" Emmitt did not finish his education before coming to the NFL, but I'll always respect him for going back during the off seasons and getting his degree. (A contrast to the more flashy Deion Sanders who had a Florida college football rule named after him, "you miss an exam, you don’t play.")
Finally, there is something we should all respect about #22. He looked at Walter Payton and set his goals accordingly. Some people will claim that Emmitt stuck around too long just to get the record, but that was to ignore what his actual productive stats were on a team in decline under some really awful coaching. But we didn't hear him complain about the coaching, or blame his offensive line, for not putting up the same numbers as he did early in his career. Instead we saw a class act play hard every game and act as a leader off the field as well. And that made him a champion.
