The Republican U.S. Senate candidates in Texas have struggled to differentiate themselves in the race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison. They all cast themselves as socially and fiscally conservative, advocates of lower taxes and smaller government. But in one regard, Craig James can clearly distinguish himself from the rest of the field. He’s the only candidate in the race who’s been leveled by The Refrigerator in a Super Bowl. Match that, Dewhurst!
It happened in Super Bowl XX in 1985. As we reported Sunday in a profile of James, the former SMU running back was playing for the New England Patriots. against the Chicago Bears. It was not a good day for the Pats or for James. Chicago crushed New England 46-10 and James got only one yard on five carries. Worse, he was smothered by one of the game’s most celebrated figures in the 1980s — lineman William “The Refrigerator” Perry, a 380-pound rookie lineman who caught the public imagination.
“I get tackled by the Fridge, and he’s this big guy on top of me, just mows me down,” said James. “I’m looking up at him, and he’s looking down at me. And he says, ‘Hey, hey, what’s up, Craig?’ And he’s got this big gap in his teeth and his breath was horrible. And I remember thinking, ‘Oh my God, get off me.’ That’s my Super Bowl memory.”
While he has touted his business experience, it’s football that he’s best known for — both as a player and as a commentator on ESPN. One of his early colleagues at ESPN was Keith Olbermann, who told me he recalls James was “a pleasant” guy and “always got along fine with him.” That was 20 years ago. Ideologically, they are very different people – Olbermann a political liberal, a brilliant and acerbic critic of conservatives and James a Christian conservative advocate of small government and deregulation. Olbermann, who has had a high profile career in broadcasting, says he was surprised when he heard that James was running a school to train sports broadcasters “and charging a fortune to people when he was only marginally more experienced at it than was he.” One thing they share all these years later — neither is working in broadcasting at the moment. Olbermann left his last employer, Current TV, in a dispute and James left ESPN to run for Senate.