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[danceswithwords]

I wish I had the energy to write up B5 right now, because oh Londo! But I spent a bunch of time in traffic today because of (a) rain and (b) the horrific new Bay Bridge span redesign, which requires you to slow down to 35 MPH or become a smear on the concrete sidewalls, and therefore is a total traffic bottleneck. I guess the horrific traffic on

Comments

[pellucid]

Yay for the dog

[danceswithwords]

The other place where I think the logic of the article breaks down is the idea that college football is so celebrated because Southern NFL teams aren't that great. Arguably, it's the other way around: the NFL has never been able to make real strides in a region that was already so devoted to college football.I also wonder if mobility/geographic colocation doesn't have something to do with it. I'm coming at the whole thing from a very Alabama perspective, but Alabama and Auburn are the two major state schools; a significant proportion of the people who go to high school in the state and continue on to college will go to one of them; and a significant proportion of the people who graduate go on to work in Alabama or a nearby Southern state. This has become a multigenerational pattern in a lot of families. On the other hand, there just aren't that many urban centers large enough to support a pro football franchise within a few hours' drive from a lot of people in the region. So pro football ends up being both physically and

[pellucid]

I completely agree. This is certainly the case in Kentucky, as well. Where I grew up, it's all University of Kentucky, all the time, and the vast majority of my high school classmates who went to college went there, and their parents and siblings and cousins had all gone there, and I'm sure their children will, as well. And Kentucky basketball is such a dynasty, mixed in with this multi-generation connection to the university, and I think this is very similar to the way football functions in Alabama

[danceswithwords]

Kentucky also has the odd situation of being regionally different from several of its closest pro teams:

That's an interesting distinction, and I think it's important. Alabama is surrounded by areas that are pretty culturally similar, (Mississippi, southern Tennessee, northern Florida, western Georgia), but Atlanta is not. The Falcons aren't even a blip on the radar; when pressed, people in Alabama will grudgingly admit to rooting for the Braves in baseball; but on the other hand there's a lot of emotion around Georgia Tech and Tennessee and Ole Miss and other teams based in smaller, more culturally similar towns.

So which side did you choose: Alabama or Auburn? ;)

I was an Auburn girl. Mostly to get people to shut up, but also out of a visceral annoyance at the University of Alabama system that I probably picked up from my father, who worked for UAB.