Football is a physical, violent sport, and people often have the mental image of drill sergeant types as coaches: the disciplinarians who yell and scream in order to get players to listen to them. I played high school basketball, and I absolutely hated coaches who treated players like dogs. Bum Phillips had a military background, but he was the opposite of that because his players were like family to him. The documentary Luv Ya Bum!, directed by Sam Wainwright Douglas, David Hartstein, and Andrew Alden Miller, focuses on Phillips’ magical seasons in the mid to late 1970s, when he transformed the Oilers football team from losers to winners overnight, and the whole city of Houston got swept up in “Love you Blue” mania.
The film is narrated by Dennis Quaid and features interviews from many football greats, such as stalwart defensive end J.J. Watt, who tells us that the “Love you Blue” craze was like the football version of Beatlemania, where the Houston Oilers’ massive crowd at the Astrodome would be waving blue pom poms and signs with the aforementioned slogan in unison. Before they got to that point, the team was like football’s version of the Washington Generals, losing for four years straight and having two years in a row of only winning one game for the entire season.
Bum Phillips was an eccentric, cowboy-hat and boots-wearing guy, but he had coached with other greats of the game, such as Bear Bryant. He had an innovative style and terminology for defense that is still used today, but more importantly, he created a family atmosphere for the players. On Saturdays at practice, the players were allowed to bring their children, wives, and dogs, which no other team at the time was doing. He wouldn’t yell at the players because he knew how much he despised it when his actual drill instructors in the army did it.
“…[Bum Phillips] transformed the Oilers football team…”
Former Steelers Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw said that he had always wished that he had played for Phillips because of the gentle respect and kindness that he gave his players. I can tell you personally that if I had ever played for a coach like that, I would run through a brick wall for him, and that’s what Bum’s players played like. Many of them, such as former Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini, said it was like playing for a nice dad.
Luv Ya Bum! also showcases how the city of Houston was a national cultural center for cowboy fashion, with films such as Urban Cowboy making its mark during the time. It’s fun getting to see a slice of life of a time before I was born, both in football and in life. I never knew the details about this team, even though they were second best to the Steelers during their championship run.
Luv Ya Bum! also briefly goes on to tell the story of Bum’s son Wade Phillips, who went on to be a great coach in his dad’s footsteps, even continuing it further and winning a Super Bowl. The documentary ends with the Bum quote that could really be a metaphor for life, “Winning is only half of it…having fun is the other half.” This is an archival footage documentary that is essential viewing for anyone who is curious about the Phillips’s legacy, the Houston Oilers, and Houston culture in general of the 1970s.
"…essential viewing for anyone who is curious about the Phillips's legacy, the Houston Oilers, and Houston culture in general of the 1970s."
