Thought I knew just about everything there was to know about Bum Phillips’ sports background until I talked to him recently for a piece for Lamar University’s website counting down to the Cardinals’ Sept. 4 football opener at McNeese State. Bum, as I discovered, was not only a two-year captain and football starter for Lamar Junior College in the 1940s, he was also a captain and starter on the basketball team. He’s proud of the fact he helped the 1947-48 Cardinals win the Texas state Junior College Championship. From his description, it sounds like he was mostly what used to be referred to as a “hatchet man.” “I wasn’t much of a shooter, but I could guard,” he told me with a chuckle. “I could bump people around. I was just real aggressive. I could take pivot men out of their game.” . . . That Lamar Countdown to Kickoff series, by the way, can be read by going to www.lamar.edu and clicking on athletics. It started with the McNeese game 75 days away and takes a daily look at somebody with either direct or indirect ties to Cardinal football reflecting on their memories. Among those who have been featured are former PN-G football coach Matt Burnett, former LU trainer Paul Zeek, former LU football assistant John Payton, current LU baseball coach Jim Gilligan, Kelly football coach Mike Long, former Cardinal basketball star Clarence Kea, recently retired Lamar State College-Port Arthur athletic director Bill Worsham and even a certain sports editor from Port Arthur. The piece on Bum Phillips is tentatively scheduled to run around Aug. 15 to coincide with the release of his autobiography.

One of the lures college basketball coaches sometimes use on recruits from out-of-state is to promise they will schedule a game as near to their home as possible. That’s how defending NCAA champion Villanova wound up opening the 1985-86 season at Lamar, with Rollie Massimino following through on a promise to West Orange-Stark’s Connally Brown. LU’s Steve Roccaforte is using the same tactic. He’s working on a game at the University of Florida for Devon Lamb and Brandon Davis, a game at DePaul for Tremell Adams and Stan Brown and a game at USC or UCLA for Donnally Minor and Orlando Brazier. Roccaforte also said Lamar will be playing at Kentucky in the near future, primarily because his former boss, John Calipari, is offering a $90,000 guarantee . . . Former PN-G and Lamar football standout Steve Collazo is starting to jokingly refer to himself as the coaching version of Brett Favre. Collazo is coming out of retirement yet again to coach the Hamshire-Fannett girls basketball team. It will be Steve’s seventh high school coaching job. Collazo, who won his 300th game last year while coaching the Kelly High School girls’ team, retired after the season to devote more time to his work with Athletes in Action and a business he operates. He says he was talked back by former college teammate Keith Ellliott, who is now the superintendent in Hamshire . . . The Port Arthur News Friday Night Experience will have a first to kick off its 16th year of airing high school football. Port Neches-Groves’ season opener against Gregory-Portland from the Alamodome will be streamed live on the newspaper’s website — www.panews.com. We’re able to do the game live because it’s being played on a Saturday.

There’s no way to prove it, but a lot of folks seem to think the Houston Astros recent offensive resurgence can be tied to hiring Jeff Bagwell as the team’s batting coach a couple of weeks ago. One player, in particular, who seems to have taken off with Bagwell’s help is third baseman Chris Johnson. Johnson really opened some eyes Wednesday night when he belted an 0-2 pitch from Cardinal ace Chris Carpenter over the fence in dead center. As for Bagwell, who certainly doesn’t need the money, it will be interesting to see if wants to coach hitters on a full time basis after this season . . . A couple of interesting notes came out of the Astros-Cardinals series. First, Cardinal killer Bud Norris ran his record to 5-1 in six career starts against them, compared to 5-9 in his other 20 major league starts. Second, when the Astros beat up Cardinal pitching for 22 hits and 18 runs Tuesday night, then did it without the benefit of a single home run. Not since 1952 had an opponent scored 18 runs against the Cardinals without hitting a homer . . . Some pretty wild stuff transpired in the Metroplex after the Nolan Ryan-Chuck Greenberg team prevailed as the winning bidder in the auction to buy the Texas Rangers. Ryan-Greenberg wound up having to pay $30 million more that had been budgeted primarily because of the bidding of a group headed by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Fort Worth-Star Telegram columnist Randy Galloway wondered in a column if Cuban got involved strictly to drive up the price as part of a deal to boost the payoff for bankruptcy lenders. Cuban was so incensed with the implication he called Galloway’s radio show and the two engaged in an on-air shouting match before things calmed down. The Mavs’ owner emphatically insisted his sole purpose was to buy the Rangers. Galloway never really backed off.

It amazes me that first Michael Irvin, then Emmitt Smith chose Jerry Jones as their presenter in NFL Hall of Fame ceremonies. Did either player even consider Jimmy Johnson? Irvin, in particular, should have, because of playing for Jimmy at both the University of Miami and in Dallas. Johnson, meanwhile, put Smith in a position to become the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. What did Jones do for him? Well, after Dallas won the 1992 Super Bowl, he low-balled Smith on a new contract and forced a holdout that lasted until the Cowboys lost the first two games of the 1993 season. Because of those two early losses, Dallas nearly missed the playoffs and a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champs. I’ve always believed, though I never heard him say it, that Jones not getting Smith signed before the 1993 season was a major contributing factor in Johnson’s fallout with him after the second Super Bowl victory . . . Two thumbs up to Houston Texans’ owner Bob McNair for stepping up to make Andre Johnson the NFL’s highest paid receiver. McNair, in a move that surely won’t be popular with other owners, paid big, despite not having a gun to his head. Johnson, who had already renegotiated once and had five years left on his deal, possessed absolutely no leverage, and almost certainly wouldn’t have held out. But McNair, recognizing that his star from the University of Miami is a special and unique player, and that recent contracts for Brandon Marshall and Larry Fitzgerald put Johnson well back in the pack in receiver compensation, took the high road. Here’s two good reasons why. Johnson and Jerry Rice are the only receivers to lead the NFL in yards in back-to-back seasons since the 1970 merger. Johnson and Marvin Harrison are the only receivers with at least 1,500 yards in consecutive seasons.

Former Houston Rocket great Hakeem Olajuwon, whose offer to work with Yao Ming a few years ago was rejected, has taken Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic under his wing. Olajuwon, arguably the most dynamic inside scorer in NBA history, called Howard during the NBA playoffs, told him he thought he could help him and Howard jumped at the opportunity. Howard, sometimes known as Superman, is a monster rebounder and shot blocker, but is weak in post and mid-range moves. Bet on the fact he’ll be better if he pays attention to Olajuwon . . . In case you missed it, Texas has scheduled four games with Notre Dame, starting in 2015, with two in Austin and two in South Bend. It’s nice to see the Longhorns are not going to fill all the holes in their future schedules, created by Nebraska and Colorado leaving the Big 12, with more cupcakes.  Notre Dame, incidentally, owns an 8-2 edge over Texas in 10 previous meetings. Three of those games came in the Cotton Bowl . . . Here’s further proof that the NFL draft is hardly an exact science, especially as it pertains to quarterbacks. Ten QBs were drafted in 2007, yet the highest rated passer to come in to the NFL that season was a free agent named Matt Moore. Moore, who was signed by the Cowboys and picked up by Carolina after he was cut, goes in to the 2010 season as Carolina’s starter. The Panthers were 6-2 with him as their starter last year and his QB rating is 84.5. And, yes, I’m still baffled and ticked off by the fact PN-G’s Dustin Long never got a shot.

Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.