"Pot Versus Kettle" Gregg Doyle of CBS Takes on Paul Finebaum

by Darren Carter –

Someone once compared Southern Football to religion. A reply was made that, in fact, Football was much more important than that. While such commentary might border on blasphemy to some, it doesn't strike far from the truth. While Sunday mornings remain the most segregated time in our nation, Southern College Football Saturdays have become a time of fellowship and camaraderie that would make even the Apostles proud—the jihad of rivalries not withstanding.

Coming out of the reconstruction period following the Civil War, the South had little to be proud of. When Alabama burst onto the national scene as a power in 1925, the sport became a point of pride for southerners—something that continues to this day. In fact, 13 of the last 20 years have seen a team east of Texas and south of Kentucky win at least a share of the national Championship. Suffice it to say that while others play football, the South lives it. To continue the comparison to religion, the South is often referred to as the “Bible Belt,” and the Southern Baptist denomination is the largest in the land. If there was a “Football Belt,” it would reside in SEC country. Media markets around the country resemble dying churches and seldom visited Sunday Schools outside of football season, but the Deep South is College Football's mega-church, and like it or not, the evangelist with the largest pulpit and congregation is Paul Finebaum.

Love him or hate him (and it is likely that one applies), Finebaum is the South's most listened to sports-talk radio program, and his syndicated column is read by fans all over the world. Since his arrival on the scene in the waning days of Bryant era, Finebaum has made an indelible mark on the most intense and involved sports market in the nation.

Finebaum is a masterful writer, and if influencing the court of public opinion is any indication, an expert on the human mind vis-á -vis L. Ron Hubbard. Countless thousands pay attention to what Finebaum says. Sports Illustrated named his radio program one of the top 12 sports-talk shows in the country, and Finebaum is a permanent fixture among top 10 listings of the most influential people in the Southeastern Conference. While the intro to his radio show proclaiming that he gets football coaches fired may not be a bragging point, it is not entirely untrue.

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