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Fans who subscribe to ESPN Classic are in for a treat tonight at 7 when the cable network is scheduled to show an NFL Films Lost Treasures documentary on the endearingly home-spun, uncommonly kind Bum Phillips.
The man who coached six NFL seasons at Houston and five more in New Orleans may have been as country as sorghum and bib overalls, but no one will ever fault Phillips for his knowledge of the game or the ease with which he delivered some of the funniest lines any reporter ever heard.
Once explaining the folly of trying to kiss up to superiors and get other people to like you, Phillips said, "It don't matter. The number of people who are going to come to your funeral all depends on if it's rainin'."
And when Ron Meyer dropped by the Oilers training facility in Houston to pay his respects to Phillips and tell him he had just taken the head coaching job at Southern Methodist, a program in deep trouble with the NCAA, Phillips said, "Son, you just put your plow in some hard ground."
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The man who coached six NFL seasons at Houston and five more in New Orleans may have been as country as sorghum and bib overalls, but no one will ever fault Phillips for his knowledge of the game or the ease with which he delivered some of the funniest lines any reporter ever heard.
Once explaining the folly of trying to kiss up to superiors and get other people to like you, Phillips said, "It don't matter. The number of people who are going to come to your funeral all depends on if it's rainin'."
And when Ron Meyer dropped by the Oilers training facility in Houston to pay his respects to Phillips and tell him he had just taken the head coaching job at Southern Methodist, a program in deep trouble with the NCAA, Phillips said, "Son, you just put your plow in some hard ground."
more
