50+yeartidefan
Member
Shows what i said....i haven't even heard of some....most
But wouldnt you say Finebaum is a talking head...or is there another catgory...
| FTBL Of all the national media figures covering college football, who do you consider to be the most reliable, the most informed person?
- Thread starter TerryP
- Start date
But wouldnt you say Finebaum is a talking head...or is there another catgory...
TerryP
Staff
Let's juxtapose that against the thread title; reliable and informative.
I'll give him his due: he's more informed than a lot of national guys when it comes to the SEC.
In my view, putting Paul in the same category as Cube or Pate is like finding Orange Slices™ in the produce section: misplaced
50+yeartidefan
Member
I guess. I see his BS sometimes. I am not a fan. So unless i just need something to read.
I always thought/ found. Its little info with a spoon of BS and shovel full of opinion... but like others. I pay little to none attention ( him n others)
As someone who consumes ZERO Finebaum content, and haven't for years, what is he honest and reliable on? Years ago he was a reaction guy, a host of a side show call ins, and a pretty good interviewer. I don't recall him ever trying to build any type of trust with his audience. And there was never really any chance for him to be reliable considering the playground he resigned himself to. Did his show change in some way?
TerryP
Staff
When he was writing; before he took up residence at WERC. While he has always been opinionated he did have his finger on the pulse of Alabama and Auburn for several years. As one of the better known writers around the southeast he developed his contacts and sources. (He still has some. How often does he rely on their input? There's the question.)
His show did change; or rather, his shtick changed. I'll go even further: it was the fall of 1993 when he "turned heel."
I don't know how often he poked and prodded at Terry Bowden in his first couple of years on the air. It was a lot! Auburn was beating everyone and Paul was beating up on everyone associated with Auburn.
Pat Smith has saved his sports reputation; Johnny Brock established his tabloid approach.
(I had a JCM course the fall of '94 where we spent a few weeks in November talking about his transition. Wait. That might have been MC; same level.
Interesting life he's led.)
When he was writing; before he took up residence at WERC. While he has always been opinionated he did have his finger on the pulse of Alabama and Auburn for several years. As one of the better known writers around the southeast he developed his contacts and sources. (He still has some. How often does he rely on their input? There's the question.)
His show did change; or rather, his shtick changed. I'll go even further: it was the fall of 1993 when he "turned heel."
I don't know how often he poked and prodded at Terry Bowden in his first couple of years on the air. It was a lot! Auburn was beating everyone and Paul was beating up on everyone associated with Auburn.
Pat Smith has saved his sports reputation; Johnny Brock established his tabloid approach.
(I had a JCM course the fall of '94 where we spent a few weeks in November talking about his transition. Wait. That might have been MC; same level.
My only real experiences with him in the last 8-10 years have been seeing him a few times on the SEC Network version of Gameday where he's even more of a caricature than Corso is on the big channel... and a handful of times when I've been in the car... he was (still might be?) a weekly guest on the McElroy and Cubelic show early in the am. Granted, I rarely made it past 3 or 4 minutes before changing the station, but he added absolutely nothing... he just tried way too hard to make jokes about teams or coaches. To me, he is in that rare company with guys like Booger McFarland who somehow always seem to survive the cuts, and manage to slither to higher ground. I'll never understand it.
TerryP
Staff
Coincidentally, that fits. The SECN launched in 2014. Heck man, if I'm not mistaken we're just a few days away from the anniversary of Slive announcing the partnership with ESPN. I think that happened in May of that year.
I was familiar with him from afar. It wasn't until I started UA and had access to the data bases within Reese Phifer that I "got to know him." That just happened to coincide with his move to WERC. I started UA that January, he started his gig in Birmingham about halfway through the football season that fall: October, maybe?
I remember him well from his early B'ham years, B'ham News column, etc. I've said this before, but it was obvious he was a fraud even back then when he was a self-proclaimed sportswriter but the only publishings bearing his name at the time were in the Humor section of the local bookstores. Years later, during an internship my last semester (with a former esteemed member here from Wooly), I was subjected to his radio show for a few hours each week since I was the passenger on most all work related road trips. I've got fond memories of those long afternoons, but not because of the shitty radio selection.
TerryP
Staff
Not unlike Lewis Grizzard though I've never read one of Finebaum's books.
If you've never read it, look up "Greatest headline in the history of sports."
To me, Grizzard was in another realm compared to Finebaum. Like Norm Macdonald to Pete Davidson.
Unless he wrote more that I'm unaware of, Finebaum's books were something like, 101 Jokes about Alabama. Then the same book printed but swapping Alabama for auburn. It was the lowest common denominator type deal, same m.o. that he goes by to this day...
TerryP
Staff
It was a random comparison; Grizzard just popped into my head as another sports guy who wrote humor.
Ya know, Mitch Albom is in the same clique. He did write a couple of non-fiction books on Michigan and a baseball book or two I believe.
50+yeartidefan
Member
colbyjacks
Member
Easy answer, Saban!
Exactly. My definition of him for many years has been: orange agitator in a white washing machine in a crimson laundry room.
Yeah in the end he will align with whatever makes him money. I guess I can't blame him for that.
He should write nis next gook on How to Grift.
TerryP
Staff
Freudian slip; acronym for Network and Information Systems.
Glad he’s not Asian or I’d be cancelled for the other error.
