The winter blast that is beginning to pummel North Texas — and the rest of the region — reminds me of a story I like telling about the late O.A. “Bum” Phillips, the legendary football coach of the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.
My old haunts in the Panhandle already are shivering.
I cannot prove Bum said this. Even if he didn’t, it sounds like something Bum would have said.
He took the Oilers to Buffalo to play the Bills in a late-season game. The weather was hideous. Wind, rain, snow, ice, bone-chilling temps. The Oilers won the game.
Afterward, Bum delivered — I believe — a classic answer to the question from the reporter: “How did you like coaching in the cold weather.”
Bum said: “Cold? This ain’t cold! I used to coach in Amarillo, Texas.”