He Is Legend

EPISODE 185: Scrooge City.

On many early Monday mornings during college football season, I find myself on Morning Joe, inside a little televised box, talking with University of Alabama graduate Joe Scarborough and a host in Birmingham named Paul Finebaum.

In case you’ve never heard of it: The Paul Finebaum Show is, by far, the most important sports radio show in the American South.

And if you’ve never heard of it, you might now be wondering how the aforementioned most important sports radio show in the American South is hosted by a frequent MSNBC guest named, yes, Paul Finebaum.

And you wouldn’t be alone.

Paul is a 69-year-old Jewish guy from New York, although he’s lived in Alabama for 45 years now. His callers have taken to comparing his look to Mr. Burns from The Simpsons, among other things.

But to be clear: those callers, comprising a singularly unhinged club known as the “Sidewalk Alumni,” are the real answer to your question.

And this holiday season — Tuscaloosa’s first without Nick Saban, the greatest college football coach who ever lived, which has resulted in the three-loss Tide missing the first-ever 12-team playoff — there’s no radio show I’d rather hear.

Today, we’re talking poisoned trees, on-air heart attacks, and the hidden backstory of one legendary caller... who trusted us to unveil his haunting past.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

Paaaaaaaawwwwwwwwllllllllllllll,

Pablo