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This Topic Stinks
Published: 10/15/2007 1:44 PM
Last Modified: 10/15/2007 1:44 PM

In conjunction with Barry Switzer's 70th birthday, the Tulsa World published an almost complete transcript of an hour-long question-and-answer session with the former Oklahoma and Dallas Cowboys coach.
Almost? A few things had to hit the cutting room floor because they just didn't fit.
This is one of them:
I asked Switzer if he was, in any way, flattered that some folks in Utah named a sewage treatment facility after him.
The background details:
In 1984, BYU and Oklahoma were among teams lobbying for national championship votes. Unbeaten BYU beat a six-win Michigan team in the Holiday Bowl. Once-beaten OU played Washington in the Orange Bowl. NBC, which had broadcast rights to the Orange Bowl, asked Switzer to promote the game as being for the national championship. So, he did.
Folks in Utah were none-too-amused and someone out there decided to name a sewage treatment plant after Switzer.
"That all came out in good fun," the former coach said. "People sent me pictures of that. They would be standing in front of that Barry Switzer Sewage Treatment Plant."
OU lost to Washington in the Orange Bowl. BYU won the national championship. And Switzer got a building christened in his honor long before the Switzer Center on OU's campus.
Switzer said some of his friends have visited the sewage plant.
"You know, I tried to drive by there sometime," he said. "I was out in Provo and (Midvale) is a suburb up there. I asked people where in the hell it was. I think it was a temporary sign and they just took it down. They just stuck it up there because of the timing. I don't think it's the Barry Switzer Sewage Treatment Center today, but I don't know. I wouldn't give a crap. Maybe it's a lasting monument."





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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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