Urban Posts
SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!
Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend. He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony read more...
Too Much Fun
When Deryle Perryman contacted me last week to say read more...
Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS
Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS. Lately, this hatred has been read more...
Post - NFL Draft Newspaper Wrap Up
We found this article from a week or so back that is about NFL Network being
SPF's NFL Draft First Round Log (Live All Day!!)
read more...
April in Alabama
Nothing could be more beautiful than April in Alabama and, in my case, nothing could be more exciting. I recently returned from the read more...
Snowflakes: Jake Long Goes #1 (and Other 2008 NFL Draft Thoughts)
The NFL Draft is this Saturday, and some of our Southern teams appear to hold the key to the most important non-gameday of the year. read more...
Snowflakes: What Are SEC Football Critics Going To Do Now?
With spring football in full gear, it’s never too early to look ahead to the upcoming season. We at Swampland have focused many read more...
Season Summary: Houston Texans
Quick Summary: The Houston Texans finished last in their division again. The good news is that they also read more...
Alabama: Places to Be and People to See
The Alabama Book Festival held in Montgomery, read more...
Alabama Beat: Words and Music in the Deep South
The three poems currently appearing in the Poetry section of Swampland are by Mississippi born Pulitzer Prize winner
Snowflakes: Southern Sweet 16
Here a quick primer for our teams in this weekend’s NCAA Tournament. East – This is read more...
Season Summary: New Orleans Saints
Quick Summary: The Saints bombed out after their near-Super Bowl run in 2007. People can point to injuries, but
Season Summary: Charlotte Panthers
Quick Summary: The Carolina Panthers entered the 2007 season as a Super Bowl contender. They started out strong, read more...
Season Summary: Cincinnati Bengals
Quick Summary: The Bengals were SPF's most disappointing team from this past season. They have all the read more...
Alabama's Going Green: "Let's Get Dirty"
Huntsville, Alabama, has chosen
Snowflakes: Big 12 Tourney as Expected, but Change on the Horizon
The least surprising of all conference tournaments this March has been the Big 12 Tourney in Kansas City. Both Texas and Kansas have read more...
Alabama's Going Green: A Delicate Balance
Yes, I read the article in the New York read more...
Video Clips: Tornado Hits Downtown Atlanta during SEC Tourney Game
Below is a clip of the game broadcast of Alabama vs. Mississippi State during the moment when a tornado hits the Georgia Dome and read more...
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops Does the Footprint Proud
It’s the most exciting time of the year for many of the smaller schools around our region. Their conferences tournaments have read more...
Snowflakes: Conference USA's Mediocrity is True Source of Calipari's Frustration
Memphis has their sights set on the Big Dance and the Final Four as they cruise through another C-USA Tournament at home. When the read more...
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
* The Big 12 is looking quite solid as the postseason approaches. There is a strong possibility that half of the league gets an read more...
Season Summary: Miami Dolphins
Quick Summary: The Dolphins are one of the NFL's proudest franchises, but the 2007 season became its read more...
Alabama's Going Green
Holden Caulfield wanted to know where all the read more...
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
* West Virginia has won 3 of their last 4 and really seems to be coming together at the right time. One of the main reasons for their read more...
Snowflakes: Big 12 Hoops
* Texas’ stellar play throughout the season has put them into
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* I’ve written all season about the banner year for basketball in the state of Tennessee. The two best teams in the league read more...
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops
* We still have a great two-horse race in the Sun Belt Conference as both South Alabama and Western Kentucky try to prove they are read more...
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
* Well, it finally happened. The 47-game home winning streak and the perfect record on the season ended for Memphis last Saturday read more...
Snowflakes: ACC Hoops
* Miami seems to have played themselves back in to the NCAA Tournament picture. Just two weeks ago, the Hurricanes were 2-6 in ACC read more...
Black History Month: Look Back, but Move Forward
“Look back but move forward” was the credo of civil rights activist
Snowflakes: #1 vs #2
Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop To Drink
Today the New York Times ran an article entitled
Snowflakes: ACC Hoops
* What a great win for Wake Forest Sunday night. The Demon Deacons topped #2 Duke 86-73 to provide the fans in Winston-Salem and read more...
Let The Sunshine In
I was listening to NPR on Saturday morning when I heard the bluesy sound of an acoustic guitar and a voice that reminded me of read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* After attending the Vanderbilt-Kentucky game Tuesday night in Nashville, all I can say is ‘Wow’. The Commodores are read more...
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops
We often focus on teams that reach the dream of an NCAA tournament or special players who make the NBA, but sometimes it’s just read more...
It's Not Easy Being Indie
I always thought that in my next incarnation I wanted to come back as an independent documentary filmmaker. I held on to that dream read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* The Kentucky Wildcats finally look to be playing the kind of winning ball that Big Blue fans expect. It took a while to adjust to read more...
Season Summary: Atlanta Falcons
Quick Summary: The Falcons endured a year of endless upheaval. Problems brewed last season when the team read more...
Snowflakes: Smaller Conference Hoops
One mid-major club that higher seeded teams will not want to see in the Big Dance is Davidson from the Southern Conference. The read more...
Season Summary: St. Louis Rams
Quick Summary: This was the first year SPF covered the Rams, and it wasn't an auspicious beginning. It read more...
Snowflakes: Big East/C-USA Hoops
* With the league’s RPI being 11th in the nation, it’s a distinct possibility that Conference USA could be a one-bid read more...
Snowflakes: ACC Hoops
* The best rivalry in college hoops takes place Wednesday night when #2 ranked Duke invades Chapel Hill to battle #3 North Carolina. read more...
Petty & Eli: Underdogs Triumphant!
I sat back Sunday ready to enjoy a Super Bowl without a "horse in the race," so to speak. All of our SPF teams had read more...
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08
The Day The Music Died
The day was February 3, 1959. At approximately 12:55 AM, Buddy read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Someone forgot to tell 2-time National Champion Florida that they were supposed to struggle this read more...
Lest We Forget: Four Spirits
January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops
by Patrick Snow The regular season seems to get a little overlooked in many of the smaller or “1-bid” leagues in read more...
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Could this week finally bring the contest where #1 Memphis actually loses a conference game? The read more...
Snowflakes: ACC Hoops
by Patrick Snow * As Duke put the finishing touches on their 93-84 victory at Maryland Sunday night, it became increasingly read more...
The Best of All Possible Worlds or Is There Balm in Gilead?
I live in the boonies, the hinterlands of Northern Alabama. For years, I made do with erratic reception from local television read more...
Six Degrees of Separation
In the south we not only claim kin we also claim friends. I have learned that behind every new acquaintance there lies the read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 4): Down By The River
12. Cincinnati Bengals and 13. St. Louis Rams - Our final Poll spots are held by two teams that have a connection read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 3): Teams at the Crossroads (aka the NFC South)
We've now gone through the first 7 teams in the T.I. Poll. So far, the entire AFC South has been covered as well as the read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 19, Part 2): Teams "On the Verge"
This is SPF's group of teams that are "On The Verge" of reaching elite status. They all have challenges, but they are read more...
SPF's Divisional Playoffs Pre-Pregame Show (or T.I. Poll Week 19)
There are three SPF teams left in the Super Bowl hunt, but the news doesn't stop with them. Of the 4 current coaching read more...
LIghts, Camera, Action! Film Festivals and Film Debuts in the South
Late winter and spring of 2008 will see the blossoming of a host of film festivals in the South. A number of the festivals read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Wild Card Weekend Edition)
We're mixing it up again going into the playoffs. In an up and down year, six of the 13 SPF teams made the playoffs. Two, read more...
SPF's Week Seventeen Pre-Pregame Show
Playoffs and draft slots. It's all on the line in a strange season-ending weekend in the Footprint.
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seventeen)
It's the last week of the NFL season. There isn't much left to be decided. Two SPF teams (Washington and Tennessee) can read more...
SPF's Week Sixteen Pre-Pregame Show
SATURDAY NIGHT Dallas (12-2, 6-0 away) Carolina (6-8, 2-5 read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Sixteen)
SPF laid down the gauntlet before last weekend's games. Many teams answered the bell. With two games left in the regular read more...
SPF's Week Fifteen Pre-Pregame Show
It has been a largely disappointing season for SPF, but these final weeks can redeem or further decimate a team's momentum for read more...
In defense of Bobby Petrino (and Arkansas)
Tribal Fever prides itself about being on the pulse of college sports in the Footprint. We aren't here to sugarcoat it in any read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fifteen)
SPF will say it - this has been a very tough year for pro football in the Swampland Footprint. Of our 13 teams, more than half read more...
SPF's Week Fourteen Pre-Pregame Show
SPF has been beating a few drums this year, but one is about letting players play. Coaches coach systems. read more...
John Sayles Interview
Mystery & Manners John Sayles Interview 12/8/07 On Thursday I interviewed
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Fourteen)
SPF has looked at the coach/QB relationship. Now, it's time to look at the owner/coach relationship. When this read more...
SPF's Week Thirteen Pre-Pregame Show
While Tribal Fever nation witnessed their conference championships this weekend, SPF has found a few of their own. There are read more...
TF Conference Championship Preview
Today is the day we find out whether it will be an all-Swampland matchup in the BCS Championship Game. If all goes according to read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Thirteen)
Coaching changes. They happen every year even though it seems as though jobs are more than safe. Changes are usually made read more...
SPF's Week Twelve Pre-Pregame Show
Leadership. Is it there? The leader(s) of each SPF team define that team to their fans. Already, Thanksgiving read more...
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Twelve)
SPF often talks a team's style when it comes to identity. Style, though, is kind of a catch all. Dig a little deeper and read more...
Confessions Redux
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Auburn’s 1957 National Championship. Not only did the Tigers go undefeated that read more...
SPF's Week Eleven Pre-Pregame Show
This week, more than any other this NFL season, the fan will find out who their teams are. Are teams going to the read more...
TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End
The wild year continues. In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eleven)
Week Ten was a very weird football weekend. Many of the SPF teams lost games. Few had important wins. It just seems read more...
SPF's Week Ten Pre-Pregame Show
SPF will stick by this point - no team set the NFL back more than the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. This read more...
TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided
Patrick Snow has it right. This year's
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Ten)
Everyone knows that football is the dominant sport in the Footprint, but it has always been college dominating the pro variety. read more...
SPF's Week Nine Pre-Pregame Show
It's it the "Clash of the Titans!" The Colts-Pats game deserves the hype that it is getting. Both teams read more...
Tiger Rag
In the spring a young man’s fancy may turn to baseball, but in the fall in the South everyone’s fancy turns to read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Eight)
Things continue to settle out in the SPF Footprint. This week's big question is whether the South's best is the NFL's read more...
SPF's Week Eight Pre-Pregame Show
Much like yesterday's college slate, this week's SPF schedule features teams looking towards the season's end and where they want to read more...
TF Saturday Preview: Pole, er.. Bowl Position
If you aren't a Florida or Georgia fan, this weekend might be a good one to spend with the kids. This is a pretty thin weekend read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Seven)
SPF's season previews are looking pretty good so far. The teams we singled out like the Jags, the Texans, and the Dolphins have read more...
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Wednesday night’s opening game of the 2007 World Series at
It is Raining on the River!
I guess I rattled my rain stick enough this weekend to wake up the clouds. We In North Alabama are reveling in what the Navajos call read more...
SPF's Week Seven Pre-Pregame Show
Getting on the same page. Coaches and players that have the same sense of urgency signify teams that are winning. The NFL read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!
It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before. This rules seems to also read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Six)
Here we are again for SPF's weekly Team Identity Poll. Things have shaken up a bit. We are much closer to how we saw read more...
On the Road Again
Sorry I have been incommunicado lately. I am still struggling with allergies that seem to get worse rather than better. Ah, fall in read more...
SPF's Week Six Pre-Pregame Show
It's week 6 for the SPF teams. Four teams are basically done, but the rest have critical games that will go a long way to read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance
Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Five)
The rich seem to be getting richer (and the poor, poorer) in the SPF Footprint. There is happiness at the top, confusion in the read more...
Philip Morris: Corporate Charities, the Arts, and Virginia's future?
In today's NY Times,
SPF's Week Five Pre-Pregame Show
It's week five in the NFL season. Overall, the SPF Footprint is shaping up to be a year of the haves and have-nots. The read more...
Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)
Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon. Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each read more...
SPF T.I. Poll (Week Four)
Just like in the college ranks, it was a bit of a crazy week in the SPF Footprint. Right now, there are more bad teams than read more...
Arrivederci Roma, Ciao Athens (Alabama)
I have just returned from ten days in Italy (Venice, Florence/Tuscany, and Rome) and am way behind on my blog, so please bear read more...
Upset Saturday, or not?
Patrick Snow mentioned in his last column read more...
SPF's Week Four Pre-Pregame Show
Welcome SPF fans! Here's today's slate. (SPF teams in BOLD) Early read more...
Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!
It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest. Today marks the start of Tribal read more...
SPF T. I. Poll (Week Three)
Back to our weekly gauge of how each SPF team is resonating with its fans. First, let's take a look back at last week's Team read more...
SPF 's Week Three Pre-Pregame Show
Here we are again. Let Week Three begin! SPF Teams in BOLD Early read more...
SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: the Cowboy/Redskin paradigm
We've just posted a new analysis of the Wayne issue in read more...
Swampland Sports Thursday Links
Just a few quick hits here on Thursday.... Snowman's Latest Column Patrick Snow's
CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007
New Releases Doyle Bramhall
SPF T. I. Poll (Week Two)
Time for our Week Two "Team Identity" Poll. Things keep getting interesting, and that's how we like read more...
SPF's Week Two Monday: Playmakers making plays
THE "BEATING THE DEAD HORSE" THEME Our theme for this week is similar to last read more...
More Alabama Authors: Eric Smith
Eric Smith is assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama-Huntsville where his speciality is Post Colonial read more...
SPF 's Week Two Pre-Pregame Show
Each week, it will be SPF's pleasure to bring you the best pregame show on the Net. We provide our audience with clips from read more...
SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: LeBatard vs. Galloway
Another great southern tradition is writing. We have a whole section called Discourse that is dedicated to this read more...
SPF's T. I. Poll (Week One)
Team Identity. This is our constant gauge for the success or failure of NFL teams in the South. College football reigns read more...
"When I die, the brush dies": Remembering Jimmie Lee Sudduth
SPF's Week One Monday: Channeling SEC over Big Ten
12 of our 13 SPF teams have played. Only the Bengals remain with a tough Monday Night battle against the read more...
SPF Week One Game Log
Thursday's game didn't do nearly what yesterday's college slate did to pump us up here at SPF. Our own James Calemine is
Sunday's slate & Long term troubles for the Jags in Jax
Phew! The 2007 previews are finally read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 9/2/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. Our biggest story of the week was the read more...
Spotlighting Alabama Authors
During the next few weeks I will be featuring the poetry of several Alabama writers whose poems were published in the recent read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 8/26/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. What an interesting day for the Atlanta read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 8/19/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. Although college athletics has become read more...
Welcome Back!
Greetings to all you football fans around the Swampland footprint! Southern Pro Football is back to cover another NFL read more...
Hot and Wet or Hot and Dry?
The state of Alabama made the national news on two consecutive days this week: first regarding the referendum that could read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 8/12/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. Well the inevitable happened last week when read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/22/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. What a messy story. The news of Michael read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/15/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. The college sports “arms race" read more...
Look Homeward, Angel: In Memoriam Doug Marlette
On Tuesday, July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/8/07
1. Ed Hinton read more...
07-07-07
Isn't seven the most powerfully magical number? -- Tom Marvolo Riddle to Horace Slughorn Harry read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/1/07
1. The NBA Draft was this week’s big sports story. The Draft is all about hope for the future. Despite recent expansion in the read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 6/24/07
Swampland’s Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 6/24/07 Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the read more...
Ninety is the New Forty-five
I hope each of you read the newspaper article by James Lewis of Newhouse News Service published on May 26th. Lewis wrote about four read more...
Uneasy Rider
Last weekend I traveled to Austin, Texas, for the 90th birthday celebration of Dr. Elva Mclin, my mentor, friend, and longtime read more...
A boom for Jacksonville's economy?
A new day may be dawning in Jacksonville. Long a read more...
Nashville - the NHL's Waterloo?
News arrived last week that owner Craig Leopold is selling the Nashville Predators to Canadian businessman (and Blackberry tycoon) read more...
New Carter Family Documentary Released
3/25/07 A new hour long documentary on the Carter Family--Will The Circle Be Unbroken--highlights the career of the legendary read more...
...5th Annual Music Maker Relief Foundation Fishing Tournament Approaching...
1/14/07 Music Maker Relief Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting musicians rooted in southern read more...
Townes Van Zandt & Eddie Hinton on Film
12/11/06 The work of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt is now available on DVD. Be Here To Love Me can be found at
Leon Russell Rolls On, Lucinda's Latest, and Robinson & Dickinson Collaborate
12/10/06 Leon Russell plays in Athens, Georgia, on December 14 amid a run through the south. The Oklahoma legend's touring read more...
Urban Reviews
The Bourbon Dynasty
The Bourbon Dynasty The Bourbon Dynasty Night World Records It's good to have Charles Walston back making read more...
Third And A Mile
Third And A Mile by William C. Rhoden ESPN Books
Being Dead Is No Excuse
Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting The Perfect Funeral Hyperion Press, 2005
Just A Little Lovin'
After an early career spent bucking against the Nashville system, Alabamian Shelby Lynne has emerged as one of our Footprint's read more...
Darius Goes West
“Something’s gonna happen like…Just spark the whole world,” exclaims Darius, the star of the read more...
Cappy's Oyster Bar (Volume One)
Cappy’s Oyster Bar 2500 Cobb Parkway Kennesaw, Georgia 30152 770-590-9881 By James read more...
Song of America
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD read more...
Hurricane Season
KELBRN
Runnin' With The Big Dogs
Part of [beating Texas] is that old Okie inferiority complex. There’s no better cure for that than whipping Texas’s read more...
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry edited by Sue Brannan Walker and J. read more...
Dub's Burgers
Dub's Burgers 204 South Jefferson Street Athens, AL 35611 256-232-6135
Driving With The Devil
Whitt's Barbecue
Whitt's #1 1397 East Elm Street Athens, Alabama 35611 256-232-7928 My sister had a read more...
Urban ArticlesDriving With The Devil
An excerpt from DRIVING WITH THE DEVIL: Southern Moonshiners, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR By Neal Thompson Crown read more...
Hurricane Season
An excerpt from HURRICANE SEASON: A COACH, HIS TEAM, AND THEIR TRIUMPH IN THE TIME OF KATRINA By Neal Thompson Free Press, a division of Simon & read more...
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known nationally for our college football crowds and pageantry, but the spring read more...
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most every proposal for a college playoff is a horrible idea for college football at large and especially read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
SPF's 2008 NFL Draft Awards
Although the NFL Draft still have rounds 3-7 to go, we at SPF think it is time to hand out some awards. Except in very rare cases, team's drafts are defined by their day one picks, and we learned a lot about how the SPF slate of teams are approaching the coming season - for better or worse. Let the cermony begin! THE "DAMN THE TORPEDOES read more...
New York City Southern Style: Alabama Studio Weekend in the Shoals
by Penne J. Laubenthal Imagine starting off your Saturday morning with the perfect Bloody Mary, garnished in typical southern fashion with pickled okra, and served to you by one of the country’s foremost clothing designers, Billy Reid, in his boutique housed in the historic and elegantly appointed Pickett Place read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS Sound Warehouse Fayetteville read more...
Natasha Trethewey—Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
by Penne J. Laubenthal Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey is a poet who gives voice to the voiceless, names to the nameless, and who creates monuments in words for those whom history has forgotten. Relying on photographs, personal memory, read more...
Poems by Natasha Trethewey
Miscegenation In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi; they went to Ohio to marry, returned to Mississippi. They crossed the river into Cincinnati, a city whose name begins with a sound like sin, the sound of wrong, mis in Mississippi. A year later they moved to Canada, followed a route the read more...
Billy Bob Thornton in Florence, Alabama
by Penne J. Laubenthal Severe weather warnings had been issued for North Alabama when I made my way to Florence for the Friday afternoon session of the 11th Annual George Lindsey Film Festival featuring Billy Bob Thornton. But apparently neither sleet nor snow read more...
Sena Jeter Naslund and Growing Up in the Segregated South
Four Spirits, a novel by Birmingham native Sena Jeter Naslund based on the aftermath of the1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church that killed four little girls, made its world premiere as a theatrical production at the University of Alabama--Huntsville this past weekend. The stage play read more...
Deryle Perryman and Dangerous Highway, a Film About Eddie Hinton
by Penne J. Laubenthal Dangerous Highway is an amazing documentary about the life and music of the incredibly talented and tragically fated Eddie Hinton, called the "greatest unknown musician you have ever heard." The film was made by read more...
The Sounds of David Barbe
THE SOUNDS OF DAVID BARBE
Darius Goes West: Twelve Guys and a Dream
Once in a great while, just when you think there is no reason to get up in the morning and that there is no hope for humanity, and that people will just go on killing one another forever, and that tomorrow will be probably be even worse than today, then something happens to turn your world around. For me, that something was seeing a feature length documentary read more...
Logan Smalley: Creator and Director of Darius Goes West
In 2005 Logan Smalley, a special education major at the University of Georgia-Athens, undertook a venture that would change his life, not to mention the lives of those who view his amazing film. Smalley rented a handicapped accessible RV, recruited ten
Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival (OFF) will open Wednesday evening, February 6, in Oxford, read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate league strength across college football, but it is basically all we have. Here’s my opinion read more...
Huge Hires for the SEC Old Guard
By Patrick Snow It has already been quite the postseason in the SEC coaching ranks, and it’s only going to get more interesting. With the recent additions of Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino along with Houston Nutt and Les Miles staying in the conference, wins are going to be harder and harder to come by in the nation’s toughest gridiron league. Each read more...
Billy C Farlow is Having Too Much Fun
by Penne J. Laubenthal Billy C Farlow, blues musician, song writer, and harmonica player who skyrocketed to fame in the early ‘70s with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, is a force to be reckoned with on the music circuit. Billy C has been out there for over forty years making his music, writing read more...
Anarchy in the ATL
By Patrick Snow The current Atlanta Falcons mess brings up so many thoughts and issues. I thought I would try to answer some of the questions that are plaguing this moribund franchise. How did everything go so wrong? The forecast for the Falcons never looked brighter than just five years ago. They had a charismatic new owner in Arthur Blank, an read more...
Goodbye, Babylon: A Patchwork Quilt of American Music
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic certain fan bases are with their expectations. I thought I would examine each job, and how it matches up read more...
A Celebration of The Life & Work of Paul Hemphill
A Celebration of The Life & Work of Paul Hemphill By James Calemine "I was ridin' number nine Headin' south from Caroline I heard that lonesome whistle blow."
First Goal: Win Your Conference
By Patrick Snow 2007 - What a crazy and dramatic season of college football. It seems like the Number 1 or 2 position in the national polls is the most dangerous place to be this year. As hard as it may be for many teams to adjust to all the parity, I believe it’s been more difficult for the fan bases to change their perspective on this “new read more...
Confessions of an Auburn Fan or It's Not Easy Being Orange (and Blue)
by Penne Jones Laubenthal The state of Alabama is a red state. It has been slowly turning red politically since 1960. In the past twenty-seven years, Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the federal level, especially in Presidential read more...
Interview with Charles Ghigna
by Penne J. Laubenthal Charles Ghigna (aka Father Goose) is the author of more than 5,000 poems and 30 award-winning books of poetry. His books have been featured on ABC-TV’s "Good Morning America" and NPR, selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Parents' Choice Book Award. He is a poet, read more...
NFL Label Book: Overrated
By Patrick Snow Just like many a bad segment of talk radio, another ‘label’ book was recently released into America to get football fans arguing with each other. We have Philly-based ESPN field reporter Sal Paolantonio to thank for this latest regurgitation of what former NFL player is either overrated or underrated. I hesitate to jump into the intended read more...
The Great Southern Sportswriters Series
Writing and storytelling have always been deeply ingrained in Southern culture. The people that combined that art with the Swampland Footprint's passion for sports make the whole experience more special and unique. Swampland Sports is proud to offer this series of profiles of the best sportswriters our Footprint has to offer. You've already probably read them read more...
Berry Tramel, The Oklahoman
Columnist Berry Tramel is a lifelong Oklahoman who grew up in Norman and read more...
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from ‘BCS’. Enough already. If all that you’re worried about is how January turns out, you’re read more...
Joe Biddle, (Nashville) Tennessean
Joe Biddle has been covering sports in Nashville since read more...
Ron Higgins, (Memphis) Commerical Appeal
Ron Higgins grew up around sports during his youth in Louisiana. He has spent read more...
Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel
Floridian Mike Bianchi has seen the exponential growth in his state during his time as a read more...
SEC: Top Level for Coaches?
By Patrick Snow Many of us who grew up in the South have always believed that the SEC was King when it came to sports and our allegiances. We watched and cheered for professional teams, but our passion was always at the collegiate level. For many years, coaches have moved from the Amateurs to the ‘Pros’ mainly for monetary reasons, but you read more...
The State of Baseball in the South
By Patrick Snow (editor's note: Swampland Sports considers the following teams to be part of the Footprint: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals) I do want to sound too negative about a game that I absolutely read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the Footprint has become downright confusing. It used to be that there were three main conferences, the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante up, your team will be left behind. We’re witnessing a changing of the guard when it comes to read more...
SPF 2007 Team Previews
As promised, we have our 2007 Team Previews! Since fans can go to numerous places to read about rosters, statistics, etc, we at Southern Pro Football want to focus our 2007 previews on the teams and their connection to their area of the South. We will examine four categories: Background: Covering the past and recent history of the read more...
Sunshine State Swoon
Sunshine State Swoon By Patrick Snow Has professional football hit its lowest point in the state of Florida? I’m not trying to overreact to three Week 1 losses, but one has to wonder what direction the franchises in the Sunshine State are going. None of the three squads ran for over 90 yards as a team in Week 1, and it’s hard to see much read more...
My South
By Doris Gabel Welch My South is Hot Humid Sultry Just like its women. My South is
Phillip Quinn Morris
Phillip Quinn Morris, author of Mussels and
W.C. Handy Music Festival, Florence, Alabama, July 22-29
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was living in Memphis in 1916. It had been a long road from Florence, Alabama, to Memphis, Tennessee, read more...