In Southeastern Conference football history, the true legends go by just one name. Bear. Herschel. Bo. And now there’s another, although you have to stretch it out: Pawwwwwwwwl.
Paul Finebaum – a thin, bookish former sportswriter – has somehow become one of the avatars for Southern football, through his longtime radio show and now through his TV work on ESPN. A legion of regulars call into the radio show to argue about SEC football – mostly Auburn and Alabama football – and some of them have become celebrities themselves.
Finebaum inspires both love and hate – sometimes in equal degree – by finding the raw nerves of college sports and repeatedly, gleefully, poking them. With the college football season starting in just a few days, we thought it would be a good time to check in with football’s most unlikely star.
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Show notes:
- The archive of Finebaum's radio show
- A great profile of Finebaum from the New Yorker
- The beginning of his show on the day caller Tammy Bullard was killed
- My story for Sports Illustrated on the death of Toomer's Oaks
- The extremely rare Finebaum Flex
Other music in this episode:
- David Last, "Sporty Ankles (Ditch Remix)"
- Fields of Ohio, "South Campus Blocks"
New episodes of SouthBound come out every other Wednesday. Subscribe:
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SouthBound is a production of WFAE. Our host is Tommy Tomlinson. Our producer is Nick de la Canal. Our audience engagement manager is Joni Deutsch, and our main theme comes from Josh Turner.