Fans and friends of Bum Phillips need to circle Wednesday, Sept. 15 on the calendar. Bum and his wife Debbie will be at the Holiday Inn on Jimmy Johnson Blvd. on that date for a 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. signing of the recently published book on his life:  Bum Phillips: Cowboy, Coach, Christian. Price for personally autographed copies of the book will be $25. And, yes, they will be set up to take credit cards. All book proceeds over expenses are being earmarked for charities that Bum is affiliated with. He’ll be coming to Southeast Texas from a book signing at the Houston chapter of the NFL Alumni golf tournament at Redstone on Sept. 14. Phillips, incidentally, turns 87 on Sept. 29 . . . With excitement building for Lamar University’s first football game in 21 years, the Port Arthur Sertoma Club is sponsoring a bus trip to Lake Charles for Saturday’s season opener against McNeese State. Plans are to depart at 2:30 p.m. from Decorating Depot, which is located at 2825 Nall in Port Neches, arrive at Cowboys Stadium around 3:45, tailgate until 6:30, watch the game and return immediately after. Tickets are only $45 for a seat on the bus, a game ticket and food. To join the party, call Kevin Thompson at 962-4408 during the day or 540-0227 day or night. Early indications are that a sizable contingent of Southeast Texans is planning to attend the first game of the Ray Woodard era.

It appears the dark cloud hovering over Nederland quarterbacks followed former Bulldog running back great Micah Mosley to Denton. After losing his job as North Texas’ starting running back two years ago to a season-ending shoulder injury, Mosley could miss his senior season after suffering what is called a “Jones Fracture” in his right foot during pre-scrimmage warm-up drills last Saturday. Slated to be the starting U back in Todd Dodge’s revamped offense, Mosley has been told might by doctors he might be able to return in six weeks. However, the history of that particular injury suggests six weeks is optimistic. Given the option of a medical redshirt, and returning for a fifth year, Mosley said he wanted to try and come back this season. His heart is set on being part of helping Dodge get the seven wins he needs to save his job, plus he’s planning to marry Bulldog coach Larry Neumann’s daughter in March . . . I’m still shaking my head over the Beaumont Independent School District naming its sparkling new football stadium after its somewhat controversial superintendent Carroll “Butch” Thomas. Why wouldn’t you name a new football showpiece after an inspirational athlete from Beaumont who has gone on to distinguish himself and bring pride  and recognition to his hometown? Somebody like ground-breaking football pioneer Jerry LeVias, a guy who overcame mind-boggling abuse to become the first black football player in the Southwest Conference as a star at SMU. LeVias, of course, went on to a solid NFL career and continues to be involved in community work in Houston. Or Bubba Smith, the only player from Southeast Texas even taken with the very first pick of the NFL draft. Smith, of course, went on to considerable recognition as Hightower in the Police Academy movies. Earlier Beaumont Stadiums were named after sports figures Babe Zaharias and Alex Durley. Why such a self-serving reversal in policy?

The passing of 75-year-old Satch Davidson, one of Major League Baseball’s all-time best umpires, really hit home with Lamar baseball coach Jim Gilligan. Gilligan and Davidson had become close friends and golfing buddies. Anytime Lamar played Rice, Davidson, who lived in Houston, would come and sit in the Cardinals’ dugout. “In my mind, having him there made the umpires a little better,” chuckled Gilligan. “Having him in the dugout also cut down my percentage of ejections. He was one of my dearest friends, and I’m going to miss him a lot.” Among Davidson’s claims to fame was being behind the plate for Hank Aaron’s memorable 715th home run, and when Carlton Fisk hit the game-winning homer in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the Boston-Cincinnati World Series in 1975. A less well-known claim to fame was the fact Davidson made 11 holes-in-one as a golfer. Gilligan, by the way, will be one of the speakers at a Sept. 18 memorial service in Houston for Satch . . . Roy Oswalt must have been stunned after watching what had been a downtrodden Astros outfit he fled in a trade last month come to Philadelphia and become the first team to ever sweep a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park. Oswalt didn’t pitch in the series, but played the 15th and 16 innings in left field in Game 2 when Phillies manager Charlie Manuel ran out of position players. The bulldog-like right-hander, who is 3-1 with Philadelphia, caught a fly ball and grounded out to end the game. A nice parting touch on Oswalt’s part was purchasing a full page ad in Friday’s Houston Chronicle, thanking Astros fans and owner Drayton McLane for the support he received during his years in Houston. That’s the same Houston Chronicle, incidentally, which judged the Astros’ unprecedented four-game sweep in Philly merited no better than being on page 5 of its sports section.

Wonder how pleased  the image-conscious NFL is with the Hard Knocks segment on Jets CB Antonio Cromartie and his kids? If you missed it, Cromartie, who has eight kids, and allegedly with six different women, struggled when asked for the names and ages of all his children. Also interesting was how many of them were three years old. I can just see commissioner Roger Goodell squirming every time the segment was replayed on HBO, and discussed on sports talk shows . . . Most sports fans, I presume, saw the football-themed movie Blind Side that very deservedly won Sandra Bullock an Academy Award. Turns out Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, the subject of the movie, was not pleased with the way he was portrayed. According to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, Oher was so miffed at how much of a simpleton he was made out to be, he twice turned down Oprah, rejected an invitation to attend the Academy Awards and also nixed an invite to the ESPYs to see Bullock and the movie recognized . . . Another movie with football ties everybody should make it a point to see is The Tillman Story. Among other things, the eye-opening documentary on former Arizona Cardinals safety Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan exposes repeated lies to his family about how he died, and includes documentation on the military burying Tillman’s uniform, body armor and diary the day after he was killed. Why the diary? Because, according to the documentary, it detailed how he had soured on the military and become skeptical of decisions that were being made. His words getting out wouldn’t have look good while the government was trying to portray him as an American hero lying down his life for a cause.

One of the exhibits at the Texas State Fair that runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 17 in Dallas is a tribute to legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry. “Called Remembering Tom Landry: The Personal Collection,” it’s being put together by his widow Alicia, with the assistance of the Dallas Historical Society.  I have to think the exhibit will be on the must see list of any football fan attending the fair. Getting in to see it on Texas-OU weekend figures to be a real challenge . . . Good news on the Jamaal Charles injury that was reported Saturday morning. Charles fell awkwardly on his elbow, after turning a short pass into a 20-yard gain on the final play of the first half of Kansas City’s game against Philadelphia Friday night, and didn’t return.  Turns out he went down on what is commonly called the “funny bone,” and there was some immediate pain. But it was nothing serious and he could have played in the second half if needed. Jamaal finished with 6 carries for 40 yards and the one reception for 20. He now has 15 preseason carries for 103 yards . . . If you were impressed with the makeup and design of the Port Arthur News’ latest football tab, and I don’t see how anybody could not be impressed, a big chunk of the credit goes to Tom Halliburton. Tom, who also did a big chunk of writing for the tab, was in the office three consecutive nights until nearly 3 a.m. putting  Football 2010 together. Among other things, he managed to work in mug shots of 54 different high school players and action photos of 18 more. Designing a 48-page section like that is tedious, time consuming and tiring. Tom treated it like a labor of love, and made all of us at the PA News look good.

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