My Conference Can Beat Your Conference: Why the SEC Still Rules College Football - Paperback

by Paul Finebaum (Author), Gene Wojciechowski (Author)

An all-access pass into the powerhouse teams and passionate fanbases of the legendary Southeastern Conference, from one of the most influential men in college football: ESPN's Paul Finebaum.

Proud owner of 14 prestigious college football programs, producing seven consecutive national championships, twelve NFL first round draft choices, and a budget that crushes the GDP of Samoa, the Southeastern Conference collects the most coveted ratings, rankings, and revenue of any conference in college football. With its pantheon of illustrious alumni like Bear Bryant, Herschel Walker, Peyton Manning, and Nick Saban, the SEC is the altar at which millions of Americans worship every Saturday, from Texas to Kentucky to Florida.

If the SEC is a religion, its deity is radio talk-show host Paul Finebaum. In My Conference Can Beat Your Conference, Finebaum, chronicles the rise of the SEC and his own unlikely path to college football fame. Finebaum offers his blunt wisdom on everything from Joe Paterno and the Penn State scandal to the relevancy of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron's girlfriend, and chronicles the best of his beloved callers, and the worst of his haters.

Why does the SEC dominate, and how did a self-described 'paper clip' of a man become its most powerful voice?

• SEC Dominance: Explore the stats, the swagger, and the seven-year national championship streak that made every other conference jealous.
• Legendary Coaches: Get Finebaum's unvarnished take on icons from Bear Bryant, the man he couldn't understand, to Nick Saban, the architect of a modern dynasty.
• The Paul Finebaum Show: Meet the passionate, loyal, and sometimes unhinged callers who phone in every day to make the show--and the SEC--what it is.
• The Iron Bowl: Go deep inside the Alabama-Auburn rivalry, a conflict so intense it drove one fan to poison a sacred landmark.
• An Unlikely Story: Follow Finebaum's journey from a kid who knew nothing about football to becoming the undisputed "Mouth of the South."

Front Jacket

South of the Mason-Dixon Line, everyone knows Paul Finebaum. And after a profile in The New Yorker, a spot at ESPN's College GameDay desk, and a contract to be the face of ESPN's SEC Network, the rest of the country has finally been introduced to "the Mouth of the South" the Memphis-born radio-talk-show host with a habit of saying whatever he thinks--and letting his callers say whatever they think too.

In My Conference Can Beat Your Conference, Finebaum chronicles the rise of the SEC and his own improbable path toward becoming "the Oprah of college football," as he was dubbed by the Wall Street Journal in 2013. And it doesn't matter whether fans love or hate him--they tune in regardless. With My Conference Can Beat Your Conference, fans and enemies of Paul Finebaum will be given an all-access pass to the teams and fan bases of the country's most celebrated conference.