The Legend of The Paul Finebaum Show: Behind the Scenes in "Scrooge City"

Summary

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Pablo Torre Finds Out

Episode: The Legend of The Paul Finebaum Show: Behind the Scenes in "Scrooge City"

Date: December 19, 2024
Host: Pablo Torre
Guests/Features: Paul Finebaum, Gary “Legend” Wilson, classic Finebaum Show callers

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the unique phenomenon of The Paul Finebaum Show, widely considered the most influential and beloved sports radio show across the American South. Pablo Torre investigates what makes the show such a cultural institution, especially in the shifting era of Alabama football after Nick Saban’s departure. Joining Pablo are Paul Finebaum himself and Gary Wilson (aka “Legend”), one of the show’s most renowned and colorful callers. Together, they explore how Finebaum’s platform became America’s rawest, funniest, and sometimes most shocking confessional for Southern college football fans—a space both for collective therapy and wild unfiltered opinions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Duality and Cultural Reach of the Finebaum Show

[00:40 - 02:08]

• Pablo describes the challenge of explaining Paul Finebaum’s show to an uninitiated audience:

  "I was thinking about how to explain you and your show to people... it's hard..." (Pablo Torre, 00:40)

• Finebaum doesn’t target the NPR/podcast crowd; instead, he taps into a distinct swath of American culture—a group that, as he puts it:

  “We have tapped into the culture of America... I frankly think we found this audience before Donald Trump did.” (Paul Finebaum, 02:22)

Notable Quote:

• “You're jealous. That's the bottom line. You're jealous. And Bama's coming back. Bama has not lost. The dynasty is not over...” (Caller, 01:21)

2. Origins & Evolution: From Sportswriter to Radio Star

[04:00 - 06:13]

• Paul recounts his journey, from being a lowly sportswriter to a sports talk radio pioneer:

  “I'll spare you the long explanation. I was a sports writer... and it eventually led into talk radio at a time when talk radio was blossoming.” (Paul Finebaum, 05:19)

• The show inherited an audience primed by Rush Limbaugh and then gave them “red meat” based on college football, not politics.

3. Alabama's Place in College Football's Cultural Mythos

[06:50 - 07:43]

• Paul explains that the show’s success is linked to Alabama’s unique football history, starved for success after Bear Bryant until Nick Saban’s arrival;

  “It was a wasteland until Nick Saban showed up. So you go from 1982 to 2007 where nothing good happened and then Saban shows up and only wins six national championships.” (Paul Finebaum, 07:17)

4. Iconic Calls & Listener Lore

[10:08 - 16:51]

• The saga of “Al from Dadeville” (aka Harvey Updike), who confessed on-air to poisoning Auburn’s iconic Toomer’s Corner oak trees over a football rivalry, blending Shakespearean drama with true crime.
  • “The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn, Alabama ... and I poisoned the two tumor trees.” (Harvey Updike, 12:04)
• Infamous “ER call” from Smokey, who phones the show while actively having a heart attack:
  • “I mean, I'm getting an EKG that said I've had a heart attack. Paul, I love your show...” (Smokey, 14:21)
  • “Well, I'm glad you did. And certainly, Smokey, we wish you well...” (Paul Finebaum, 15:06)

Notable Quote:

• “Hairball, you ain't better than nobody. And don't you be after Paul. And don't you dare come down on the University of Alabama. I will eat your ass for lunch.” (Phyllis from Mulga, 16:36)

5. Character Study: “Legend” (Gary Wilson)

[18:35 - 41:53]

• Legend’s background: blue-collar Alabama, self-proclaimed “President of the Sidewalk Alumni”—fans without college degrees or ties to the university, but with deep, inherited loyalty.
  • “That fan, Sidewalk Alumni fan. He's stupid... The only thing he knows about is flag football. He don't know nothing about road rail football Center.” (Legend, 24:28)
• Legend’s origin story as a Finebaum caller stems from a heated call to Tim Brando in 2008, coining his on-air identity.
• Legend’s criminal past: At 17, in a drug-fueled fight with a cousin, he committed murder and spent 15 years in prison. He’s come to own his past, finding redemption through evangelism and how the Finebaum show lets him both "vent" and help others:

  "When I was 17 years old, I took a young man's life. ... I faced the electric chair for 18 months..." (Legend, 31:26)

Notable Quote:

• “We are the castaways. We are the throwaway fans... We're that fanatical crazy fan. And we are real. We are real.” (Legend, 37:08)

6. Finebaum’s Ethos: Representation for the “Sidewalk Alumni”

[25:04 - 26:11]

• Paul positions himself as the champion of the “barbarian at the gate”—the ordinary, often un-polished, sometimes wild fans.

  “I gravitate more toward the sidewalk. ... Those folks have always needed representation... it may make the athletic directors and the chancellors and the bow tied crowd and the ivory towers uncomfortable, but I really don't care.” (Paul Finebaum, 25:04)

7. The Show’s Intensity & Real-world Consequences

[36:11 - 37:39]

• Pablo and Paul discuss how sometimes the show's populist confessional quality genuinely diffuses tension (e.g., a Legend call allegedly stops a listener from committing violence).
  • “Somebody called in off the air and said that they were thinking about killing someone that day... and somehow he thought of what Legend had said.” (Paul Finebaum, 36:31)

8. The Post-Saban Malaise: “Scrooge City”

[39:38 - 42:48]

• Alabama fans face an unfamiliar, gloomy Christmas after a disappointing season, fueling raw emotions:
  • “If you're an Alabama fan, it's Scrooge City.” (Paul Finebaum, 39:38)

Notable Quote:

• “Man, I tell you the truth, man, what I wish would show up under the Christmas tree was a 40 year old Nick Saban ready to go back to work at the University of Alabama, baby!” (Legend, 41:53)

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Most Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On the changing fate of Alabama football fans:

  "This is a weird Christmas. If you're an Alabama fan, it's Scrooge City. There's nothing to be happy about." (Paul Finebaum, 39:38)

• On Sidewalk Alumni:

  "I'm president of the Sidewalk Alumni... I am that fan that the administration don't want to talk about." (Legend, 24:28)

• On show’s inclusivity and therapy function:

  "We are the castaways. We are the throwaway fans... We're that fanatical crazy fan. And we are real." (Legend, 37:08)

• On radio's role in real crises:

  "Somebody called in off the air... he thought of what Legend had said." (Paul Finebaum, 36:31)

• On redemption:

  "When I was 17 years old, I took a young man's life... I spent 15 years in prison... I was determined to make it." (Legend, 31:26, 34:16)

• On the enduring power of the show’s personalities:

  “Can you imagine, 20 years from now some guy sitting where I'm sitting... and going, Legend Jr. is next.” (Paul Finebaum, 41:20)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:40-02:08 – Dual-audience paradox: Finebaum vs. Pablo’s crowd
• 05:19-06:13 – Finebaum’s start in talk radio, following Limbaugh
• 07:17 – Alabama’s football wasteland pre-Saban
• 10:08-16:51 – Legendary callers: Harvey Updike, Smokey, Phyllis from Mulga
• 18:35-41:53 – Deep-dive into Legend: background, incarceration, redemption, role as fan leader
• 25:04-26:11 – Representation for unheard fans
• 36:11-37:39 – Show’s influence on listeners in crisis
• 39:38-41:53 – Post-Saban gloom and holiday wishes

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Takeaways

• The Paul Finebaum Show is not just sports radio; it's a cultural touchstone, a confessional booth, a populist sounding board, and sometimes, a lifeline.
• Its power comes from the authenticity (and often extremity) of its callers—many of whom, like Legend, represent the heart, pain, and joy of unfiltered fandom.
• Finebaum’s proudest legacy may not be his TV stardom, but offering a platform for the “sidewalk alumni” who find nowhere else to be heard.
• The episode presents a layered, sometimes painful portrait of what it means to participate in sports culture—its highs, lows, and potential for both destructiveness and redemption.

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For listeners interested in sports, culture, or simply the power of community and redemption, this episode serves as both a wild ride and a moving testament.

Transcript

[Pablo Torre]

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre. And today we're gonna find out what this sound is.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

Blame Paula Fine Bomb. He's the reason for this monster.

[Pablo Torre]

Right after this ad, you're listening to Giraffe Kings. This is surreal though, the setup we have right now. I. I do feel like a caller on. On your show, which is.

[Paul Finebaum]

Well, you're. You're a. You're a FaceTime caller.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, I'm a first time, long time. That is also true. I was thinking about how to explain you and your show to people in my life who don't already know the legend of your show, so to speak. And I realize that it's hard because I have to explain that I spend time with Paul Feinbaum early in the morning on MSNBC, quite a bit.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

CSVN's Paul Feinbaum, thank you so much. Good luck today.

[Paul Finebaum]

It's going to be rough.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Pablo. So last week.

[Pablo Torre]

And then Paul, you go off and you do a show that I would dare say is not exactly the same audience.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You're jealous. That's the bottom line. You're jealous. And Bama's coming back. Bama has not lost. The dynasty is not over. Do you hear me counter? Bama's dynasty has just begun. Kiss my butt. Ro ties.

[Paul Finebaum]

We don't have a lot of New York Times, reading, npr, listening. Pablo Torrey, podcast aficionados.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

My teacher came up and took everything from me because I was supposed to be doing my math sheet. I told her it's okay though, because the Tide just hired the board and I smell a natty in 24 roll down pie. Paul, see you later, buddy.

[Paul Finebaum]

But we have tapped into something, Pablo. We tapped into the culture of America.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

West Virginia is where Saban is from and they fought with the union. Saban is a Yankee.

[Paul Finebaum]

I frankly think we found this audience before Donald Trump did.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You know, Paul, going from Coach Sabin to Coast of Board, it's like going to bed married to Beyonce and waking up with Whoopi Goldberg laying next to you, brother. Is this acceptable, Alabama fans? Is this Alabama football? Is this. That's what we signed up for.

[Paul Finebaum]

I understand what's going on in this country because we deal with it every day. And these are, these are hard working people who love college football and love to express themselves on it.

[Pablo Torre]

So if you're already wondering here why the most popular and influential sports radio show in the entirety of the south, beloved by those voices we just played for you, happens to be a program called the Paul Finebaum Show, I get the question. Paul is a bald, 69 year old Jewish guy who is not from Alabama, although he has lived in Alabama now for 45 years. And those same voices you heard have taken to comparing Paul's General look to Mr. Burns from the Simpsons, for instance, among other things. But the Paul Feinbaum show, to be very clear, is a singular cultural institution. And this particular holiday season Tuscaloosa's first without Nick Saban, arguably the greatest college football coach who ever lived. There is no radio show that I would rather hear.

[Paul Finebaum]

There was almost a sitcom done on this program. I was in D.C. about seven or eight years ago. I was on Kornheiser's show. Some guy heard it who used to be the final EP for Cheers. We went to Hollywood with this concept 25, 30 years ago. Me starting as a talk show host from New York in Alabama. My family's all from New York.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Finebaum]

And all four networks passed on it. We fired the guy who came up with the idea what went back to Hollywood the next year. In 2019, ABC bought the sitcom. Jason Biggs, who did the American Pie trilogy, signed on to play me. And it was in the early stages of development. I had already signed a contract to be the executive, one of three executive producers. Covid happened.

[Pablo Torre]

And so all we're left with now is a mental image, I suppose, of a young Paul Feinbaum, a pie. And you're welcome for that. But what I did want to find out today is how Paul got into this mess, so to speak, in the first place.

[Paul Finebaum]

I'll spare you the long explanation of how I got here. I was a sports rider, much like you, except at a much lower level, I might add. And it eventually led into talk radio at a time when talk radio was, was, was blossoming.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Greetings to you conversationalists all across the rooted plain. Rush limb ball raring and ready to go and eager. Bieber couldn't wait to get to the EIB microphone today, ladies and gentlemen. Once I started perusing the news.

[Paul Finebaum]

The first time, the show really started resonating. We followed Rush Limbaugh on a news talk station in Birmingham. So Rush got the audience ready for us, and then we took them and fed them even more red meat. We weren't feeding them red meat about Bill Clinton and Congress or Barack Obama. We were feeding them red meat about Alabama and Auburn football primarily.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Let me tell you something. I do not agree that Alabama should have went all the way to the number one spot. That is the most ridiculous thing that could have happened. Wow, they are all the way to the number one Spot. Who has done that yet? Nobody. Oregon wanted each other to jump. Oregon. There's no way.

[Paul Finebaum]

Have you ever thought that this is just not going to be your year? Everything you wanted to happen hasn't happened.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Oh my gosh. It's always my year when I'll replace.

[Pablo Torre]

Among all of the rabid cultures across the south and the Midwest, why is Alabama the place where this show is like this?

[Paul Finebaum]

I know this is ancient history, but you have to go back 42 years when Bear Bryant died. He was the most famous coach in college football in the modern era. And I say the modern era, but the previous most famous was Knute Rockne at Notre Dame. And then Bryant took it over. He won six national championships. And I got there, I covered his last two years and that was the, that was a badge that I wore that I covered the, the Bear. Because those next 25 years were a disaster. Alabama had coaches by the name of Mike Shua. Not Don Shua, but Mike Shua and Mike Price and Mike Dubos. It was a wasteland until Nick Saban showed up. So you go from 1982 to 2007 where nothing good happened and then Saban shows up and only wins six national championships.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. And now I come to you in the post Nick Saban era at a time when I think I am more interested in you and your audience than I've ever been. It's been a hell of a season for your show in all of these senses.

[Paul Finebaum]

Let me take you back to September 28th.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Milro Keeper first down and more tightroping down the sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable start for Milroe in this offense. 36 yard lightning strike.

[Paul Finebaum]

Alabama beat Georgia. It was a major upset even though the game was in Tuscaloosa. It was just one of the wildest games. Alabama got off to something like a 28 to nothing lead. Georgia came back. Alabama won by one touchdown.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Back launches for the end zone. Jeff Ball kick Septic. And Saan Brown, the freshman makes a game saving play for Alabama.

[Paul Finebaum]

I sat on on the show with you and Joe Scarborough, who's an Alabama graduate and I was joking, but I said it anyway. I said, would it be blasphemous for me to say here on Morning Joe that it looks like Kwin de Boer is doing a better job coaching than Nick Saban did even a year ago? You cannot say. Oh, come on. Okay, come on. I just wanted to try that out. What happened on that Saturday, Pablo?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

This attitude, this program. And the biggest win on the west end. Vanderbilt takes down number one. Alabama.

[Paul Finebaum]

It was the first time in 40 years Alabama lost to Vanderbilt. And I swear I, I don't think I'll be reporting when the world comes to an end. But I was alive that night and it felt like that had happened.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

He can't control this thing. And isn't it amazing when the Urban Meyers and Harsons and the deboers and all these other guys come in from around the country, they just don't get Southeastern football. They don't understand the religion, Paul. They don't understand the dedication. They don't understand the terminology. They don't understand the opponents.

[Pablo Torre]

When I tell you though, that I first became aware of your show in earnest in about 2010, I imagine you can guess why.

[Paul Finebaum]

Oh, yeah.

[Pablo Torre]

The saga of Al from Dadeville. Paul. I struggle to begin to summarize the Shakespearean and then criminal drama that was that story. How do you tell it for people not familiar with the lore?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

The Brian Kenny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. It's Auburn and it's Alab and it's the Iron Bowl. And here comes Alabama.

[Paul Finebaum]

It was a Friday game right after Thanksgiving. Alabama led 24 to nothing. Here comes Cam Newton, leads them back. And in the face of all of.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

The turmoil, he leads his team from 24 down to a 28, 27 victory in the Iron Bowl.

[Paul Finebaum]

And in the aftermath of it, a couple weeks later, we got a call from Al from Dadeville. Al is in Dadeville, Alabama. Hey, Al.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Hey, Paul. How you doing?

[Paul Finebaum]

Well, thanks.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

When Bear Bryant died, I was living in Texas and I really didn't.

[Paul Finebaum]

Auburn rolls what's called tumor's corners after a win. Toilet paper on the trees. They're iconic oak trees, national landmark, famous. He starts off on this Bear Bryant thing. That the night that Bear Bryant died, Auburn fans rolled tumors corner. I said, no, they didn't. I, I, I've looked into that urban legend. Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. I, I just have the most difficult time ever believing that Auburn students rolled Toomer's corner when the news broke that Coach Bryant died. Does anyone else remember that? I don't.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Do you want me to send you a copy of. I still have newspaper clipping.

[Paul Finebaum]

And he just kept arguing with me. He's a former state trooper in Texas and he finally just blurted out, I'll tell you what I did.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

The weekend after the Iron Bowl, I went to Auburn, Alabama, because I lived 30 miles away and I poisoned the two tumor trees.

[Paul Finebaum]

Okay, well, that's fair.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

I put Spike 80 DL in them.

[Paul Finebaum]

Did they die?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Do what?

[Paul Finebaum]

Did they Die.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

They're not dead yet, but they, they definitely will die.

[Paul Finebaum]

Is that against the law to poison a tree? He said, do you think I care?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Okay. I really don't. Roll down tight.

[Paul Finebaum]

A week later we got a call from somebody asking if we could hand over the tape, which we did. Two weeks later I get a call from a friend of mine, Pat Smith, My, my producer actually got the call from a guy on the Senate Homeland Security Committee in Washington saying that they were investigating this for terrorism to the water system of Lee County. Next day they arrested this guy whose name was not Al, but Harvey Updike.

[Pablo Torre]

And just a day after announcing that the oak trees in Tumors Corner up.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

In Auburn were intentionally poisoned, police there made an arrest in the case. 62 year old Harvey Updike Jr. Was.

[Paul Finebaum]

Taken into custody early this morning. I got to know him afterwards. I said, why did you do it? He said, I had to do it for Nick Saban. I couldn't, I couldn't let Scam Newton beat Nick Saban. And I guess he finally admitted. He said, I guess I just had too much Alabama in me. Anyway, he, he later spent time in the Lee County Penitentiary.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. Sentenced to three years in prison. Pleaded guilty to criminal damage of an agricultural facility. And it would be one thing if it was the story of your show, if that was like the one thing people talked about. I think it was the next year when, when a gentleman named Smokey calls you and he has a predicament.

[Paul Finebaum]

Well, I mean, you've been in radio studios often and you have the name of the person and what they want to talk about. And I kept looking down and said, smokey in the er. And I, it just didn't quite register what that meant. Finally, after about 30 minutes, I, I hit Smokey and I said, smokey, what's going on? And he said, paul, I just want to tell you how much I love you.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

I mean, I'm getting an EKG that said I've had a heart attack. Paul, I love your show. I got to your show, you know what I'm saying? I love all your listeners. I'll end up being your best caller.

[Paul Finebaum]

So Smokey, are you telling me that you're listening to the show while you're having a heart attack?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Yes, I am. That's stupid, I know.

[Paul Finebaum]

I said, so what's wrong? He said, I'm dying. I'm in the er. I said, is it serious? I mean, not a smart question, by the way. He said, he said, yes, I've already.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Had five bypasses, two stance I know I've had a heart attack.

[Paul Finebaum]

Okay. But you wanted to call us while this is going on.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Kind of a death wish.

[Paul Finebaum]

Well, I'm glad you did. And certainly, Smokey, we wish you well. And at that point, I remember Howard Stern having a bit like this once and he asked for confirmation. I said, smokey, is it possible you could put a nurse on? I mean, I just wanted to confirm this guy wasn't just some quack.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Tell her who you are. As Paul. I'm a nurse in the ER at Trinity.

[Paul Finebaum]

Okay. I'm speaking to a nurse right now at Trinity Hospital. Right. She said, oh, yeah, I'm Jeannie Jones. I'm an LPN in the er. I said, is he really having a heart attack? She said, yes. You know, he's had six heart attacks on his chart. And I'm like going, has a Hippocratic oath not made it to the state of Alabama yet?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

They told me, I got to hang up the phone. I love you, Paul.

[Paul Finebaum]

He survived. He did not die. And I wasn't really sure if I was happy or sad about that because it would have been a great final phone call.

[Pablo Torre]

But hold on. What I'm finding out immediately is that Smokey still today is all right.

[Paul Finebaum]

He's still around still. And I'm still milking that story on any podcast I can find.

[Pablo Torre]

Look, it's Smokey, it's Al, but really, Harvey, it's Phyllis from Mulga. I mean, Paul, like, these are characters that I like. I know. And of course, Phyllis, God rest her soul, her call in 2017 about Jim Harbaugh is still seared into my brain.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Hairball, you ain't better than nobody. And don't you be after Paul. And don't you dare come down on the University of Alabama. I will eat your ass for lunch. And I can make that a promise.

[Paul Finebaum]

Phyllis could have put out her own Christmas cd. I mean, and I say CD for a reason, because Phyllis is of the era of the eight track tape and the cd. She was amazing.

[Pablo Torre]

There's an aspect of your show, of course, that is both therapy, that is confessional booth, that is frankly, Occupy Wall street when it comes to just the populism taking control of what feels like a very top down bureaucracy otherwise. And in this scenario, like the person, of course, who has most grabbed my attention all season this season is a guy who goes by a single name.

[Paul Finebaum]

Legend. My favorite three words during the football season on a Monday after a loss by Alabama. That's his team. Legend is next.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Foreign.

[Pablo Torre]

So legend. Okay, you may Recall legend from like 15 minutes ago, actually, because Legend happens to be the caller whose analysis of a team coached by Nick Saban's replacement, Kaylin DeBoer. After losing to 55 Oklahoma earlier this season, Bama's third loss of said season was this.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You know, Paul, going from coach saving to coach to bore is like going to bed married to Beyonce and waking up with Whoopi Goldberg laying next to you, brother.

[Pablo Torre]

So the first thing I wanted to find out about Legend was simple. Do you ever call Legend his real name, Paul?

[Paul Finebaum]

No, I believe his real name is.

[Pablo Torre]

Gary and it is Gary Wilson, it turns out, who has otherwise been working all sorts of jobs in Birmingham, Alabama. And so I decided that I should probably call up Gary myself.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

Hey, bro, can you hear me?

[Pablo Torre]

I can hear you. I can see you. I can. Are you always wearing the glasses when you do this, when you make calls, when you, when you talk, or is this just for me?

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

Yeah, I always wear them. Have like a little eye problem I've had since I was a kid. Anytime I'm in a bright room, I kind of have to wear some glasses. Kind of like Jim McMahon got the Jim McMahon syndrome, you know.

[Pablo Torre]

What's your day job?

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

My day job is I work at a steakhouse. A few years ago I was working construction. I had worked construction for 20 years. About two years ago on a construction site, I was working on an exhaust fan when a restraining bar broke and shattered my front grill. Shattered it. I still can't have a conversation with any of my partials in the front. So I'm toothless in Alabama this morning for one reason, brother, on this show because I love Paul Flynbaum. That friggin buzz that I'd come on two flips from Alabama to tell folks how much I love this man. This man has given.

[Pablo Torre]

Paul, when did you realize, how long did it take you to realize that Legend was going to be one of these special callers? Maybe even special in a way that no one could quite replicate?

[Paul Finebaum]

After that aforementioned the Underbelt game, he unloaded on the coaching staff.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Paul, I'm in sports hell, brother. I'm in sports hell. I never thought I would other these words. Bandy is my daddy.

[Paul Finebaum]

The call went viral.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Let me tell you how pissed I am. Paul, can I tell you, brother, I wish you would.

[Paul Finebaum]

Go right ahead.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

My neighbor gave me a picture of Kos Dvor last Thursday, a signed picture, 8 by 12 in a frame. And I put it in the fire pit Saturday night and set a match to it.

[Paul Finebaum]

You burned it?

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You don't lose the Vanderbilt. That's the ugliest little sister on the block. You don't lose the Vanderbilt. The honeymoon's over and we need some damn marriage counseling. Legend has left the damn building.

[Pablo Torre]

When did sports radio become a thing that you knew you would enjoy?

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

2008. I'm riding down the road. I'm listening to rock radio in Birmingham. And, you know, it was just sucking. So I got flipping through the dial and came across somebody talking. It was Tim Brando talking to Fine.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Bob, you made some crazy statements this year concerning Alabama.

[Paul Finebaum]

That sounds like a beat down, Tim.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

And I just wondered if you'd be willing to admit now that you were wrong concerning several statements that you made over the last year.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

But he was talking how Alabama should keep Mark Godfrey. And I said to myself, well, that's the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life. So just off the top of my head, I told the guy that picked up the phone, I said, I'm the legend and I want to talk to that moron Tim Brando about Mark Godfrey. They sent me through that day, and it went viral that day. Me attacking Brando and telling him what an idiot he was for wanting to keep Mark Godfrey.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You know what the funniest moment of this football season was to me, Tim, a Brando is when they came to you at the halftime of the Ole Miss Alabama game and you realized that Alabama was kicking the fire out of your Ole Miss Rebels. It looked like somebody had hit you in the face with a big mouth bath.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

And that's how the legend was born, ladies and gentlemen. Gentlemen, blame Paul Feinbaum. He's the reason for this monster.

[Pablo Torre]

But there is something else that I needed to clarify about Legend Gary, that is critical to understanding the broader Fein bomb community of callers and also how it is mathematically even possible that college football is the second most popular sport in the United States, right behind the NFL and easily the most unhinged, which is that legend never actually attended the University of Alabama.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

Well, I was born in Annapolis, Maryland. My father was from Alabama. And it's pouring down rain outside. I hope it don't start leaking here in the little ledger cave. My father was from Alabama. He was in the military. My mama was from Maryland. We spent the first 10 years of my life right outside of Baltimore, Maryland, and Glen Burnie, Maryland, and Rivera Beach, Maryland. So I grew up in a sports fanatic family in Maryland. But the whole time, my father's influence of Alabama. My first rattler was an Alabama Road Tide rattler. My first words were road tide. Not daddy, but row tide. That was my first words.

[Pablo Torre]

All of which qualifies legend according to his own personal estimation for a very special form of office. A leadership position in a truly startlingly enormous community. And it's the kind of office that by definition, you cannot pay for.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

I'm president of the Sidewalk Alumni, you know, and a lot of good people with diplomas love me. But there's a lot of people Alabama don't like the legend. I am that fan that the administration don't want to talk about. The one that never went to school, that never got a diploma, never been in class, you know, how dare him talk with the old Obama Crucian tower. And they don't like that because they think, you know, that old fan, Sidewalk Alumni fan. He's stupid. The only thing he knows about is flag football. He don't know nothing about road rail football Center.

[Paul Finebaum]

I can make it really simple. Legend is the president of the Sidewalk Alumni. And your colleague Joe Scarborough is the president of the upper crust elite Alabama Alumni. I love Joe, but I gravitate more toward the sidewalk. That's what I do. Some of them have been to Tuscaloosa. Some of them have actually even been to an Alabama game. But that doesn't matter to me because those folks have always needed representation. I think you can look at, you can bring a political scientist in here. And this is really where the country is. And I think we have heard in elections that they're not being paid attention to. And I really believe that we give them a voice. And it may make the athletic directors and the chancellors and the bow tied crowd and the ivory towers uncomfortable, but I really don't care.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

I can say whatever the hell I want to. I worked my ass off today. I might have made $120. Don't you agree? I could say whatever the hell I want to about somebody that makes $10 billion a year. Would you agree with that, brother Legend?

[Paul Finebaum]

If somebody told me we can't allow that, it will. It would be my last day here.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Hell yeah. We can say whatever the hell we want to say. And I got a few things to say.

[Pablo Torre]

It's an unbelievable asset to hear from a guy like Legend what he did after Tennessee, after Alabama loses to Tennessee.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

You know, they say that a team takes on the personality of their coach. Well, our team is undisciplined and soft. And no doubt you, Coach DeBoer are undisciplined and soft. Strike frigate, dude, man. Strike frigate, too. We about to go to The Birmingham Bowl. I ain't left the building. I've kicked the damn door down. Cause I'm pissed off at this crap. This ain't Alabama football. And any Alabama fan that accepts it ain't a real damn fan.

[Paul Finebaum]

Tony Kornheiser said this to me once, and I'll clean it up for this family podcast. He said, how come you talk to those effing people? And of course, he did it with the Long island accent. And you can't explain it. I mean, Tony, you don't have to talk to them. You pontificate. You used to have a show in Washington where you got James Carville and all these muckety mucks around the table, and then you sit around with Wilbon and opine for 30 minutes and don't laugh. I saw you co hosting that show yesterday. Guilty.

[Pablo Torre]

The Ivory Tower still has a nice padded cushion in my seat.

[Paul Finebaum]

Yeah, I love it. And I feel like whenever they take me away, I hear the barbarians at the gate right this moment. That will be my legacy. It won't be yelling at Stephen A. Smith or Greenberg or anyone else. It will be that.

[Pablo Torre]

No, you will be forever. The guy who brought me the caller who said that losing to Oklahoma was like going to bed with Beyonce and waking up next to Whoopi Goldberg.

[Paul Finebaum]

I. I thought that was the line of the year. And I was not surprised at all that the next morning on espn, they edited that out, knowing that. That Whoopi was probably watching. And I think she's employed by the.

[Pablo Torre]

By the larger. The larger. The larger family of networks.

[Paul Finebaum]

I think.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

I think.

[Paul Finebaum]

I think the View should have had. Well, should have both of us on after this is published. And let us let. Let the group hear that call.

[Pablo Torre]

I concur in terms of just the callers and their own views of themselves. You know, I was talking to Legend, and Legend wanted to be very clear about this. He said, I am not Harvey Updike. Harvey Updike is a criminal. That's not me.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

It's not a performance. I'm a fanatic in the sports world, I'm not a criminal. I'm a fanatic. There's a difference. A criminal poisons trees, hurts other people. A fanatic might cuss his coach out, might cuss the quarterback out, might cuss the general manager out, the owner. That's what a fanatic is. But he's doing all that and the fact that he loves his team.

[Pablo Torre]

And, of course, in my mind, I immediately went to, of course, Legend's own past.

[Paul Finebaum]

Well, I knew there Was a story behind Legend. Legend was part of a group called Sons of Sabin. Sounds like one of those groups in New York that go around and keep the law.

[Pablo Torre]

That's right.

[Paul Finebaum]

So we had lunch and I said, legend, what's the deal? I know you've alluded to your past. And he looked at me, he said, there's nothing to run away from. He said, I've been to prison. I said, okay. Couldn't really counter that by saying, well, so have I. I said, what were you in for? He said, murder.

[Pablo Torre]

On paper. It is grisly. Right? I mean, what we're talking about with Legend is a story of him when he's 17 years old. It's Winston county, it's northwest Alabama. The argument with his cousin over a girl.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

I believe he also mentioned we were distant cousins. You know, we grew up in a little town where there wasn't but 30 people in the whole town. You know, we grew up around each other all of our lives. And then when we got up to about 17, you know, I was already deep into drugs, you know, and so when we got to that age, we got into a fight over a young lady. And it escalated from the fight over the young lady and to the incident that happened, you know, but we.

[Pablo Torre]

And he goes to his father's gun cabinet. His dad's out, his dad apparently working in the coal mine. It's a.22 rifle. And he takes his cousin out to the woods and he shoots Randy Barton, also 17, twice in the back of the head.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

When I was 17 years old, I took a young man's life. Another 17 year old young man. It was an act of a coward. Anybody that takes a gun and takes a life is committing an act of cowardice. You know, God gave you a brain and we ought to be able to use it. I killed a man, destroyed his life. I threw my life away as a young man. I destroyed many families associated. It was a horrible, horrible thing. I'm very ashamed of it. I faced the electric chair for 18 months. And at the time in the state of Alabama, Charles Graddick was running for governor. He was the attorney general of the state of Alabama and he wanted to lock everybody up and throw away the key.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

I'm Charlie Graddick. For vicious killings like this, it's been proven that capital punishment can be an effective deterrent.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

That was his big commercial. So they were going to intently, they was going to make an example of me. They was intended to give me the electric chair for 18 months, from 17 till I was 18 I faced the possibility of going to what they call the big yellow mama in Alabama. And it looked for a while like that is what would happen. And then we went to court, and my lawyer worked out a deal for a life sentence with the possibility of parole. And we went that route, realizing how young I was, that, you know, there was. It wasn't guaranteed, but there was a possibility that I would get another chance in society, you know, and I'm so thankful for it.

[Paul Finebaum]

That day at lunch when he was telling me the story, I said, so what. What exactly do you do, Legend? He said, I'm an electrician. He said, and by the way, if you or your wife ever need any. And I started thinking, maybe I got to get to know this guy a little bit better. But today I would give him the keys to my house.

[Pablo Torre]

You believe that this guy who had served his time, who has come out and gotten to know you over the airwaves and apparently in person, that he is, in fact, rehabilitated? That is not a question to you 100%.

[Paul Finebaum]

Not only that, Pablo, I mean, he's a genuinely good person.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

He.

[Paul Finebaum]

He helps a lot of people. And I think a lot of people hear him on the show. You know, plenty of people have had problems, as you well know, and they go, I can. I'll try to say this with a straight face. I can be legend. I mean, he is. He's a personification of what our show is all about. A guy that probably should be dead, but now he's a. He's a famous, fine bomb caller.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

You know, I spent 15 years in prison, 15 hard years in prison. It was a rough life. And when I came out, I was determined to make it. When I came out.

[Pablo Torre]

Paul, you say you don't know the story of actually how Legend got the name Legend.

[Paul Finebaum]

I don't.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

The first few years I was out of prison, I traveled the country as an evangelist, preaching the gospel and sharing the goodness of what the Lord had done in my life. And when I would go to different churches across the country because I had been in prison, one of the things they would do is have me go into the prisons and preach in the area. So I was in Defuniak Springs, Florida, preaching at a big church, and they had me go down to the prison one Sunday night and preach at a minimum security prison. And I preached there that night. And over a hundred men came to know the Lord. And as I was leaving the prison, an inmate was running behind me saying, that guy is a legend. That guy is a legend. He's a legend and preacher that had brought me in with him. He picked it up and he started calling me Legend that day. And before I knew it, everybody around me was calling me legend.

[Pablo Torre]

And that's. That's how it happened.

[Paul Finebaum]

That's legendary.

[Pablo Torre]

He had mentioned. I don't know if you remember this, but there was a moment, I guess about a year and a half ago. I believe it was a school shooting of some kind. The first emergency calls coming Tuesday morning, and they were horrific. An active shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. And he said that this was the thing that made him want to go and actually take his act, so to speak out on the road to these. To these prisons.

[Paul Finebaum]

Oh, he gave an impassioned speech that day on. On our program, Pablo.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

They think, hey, life is crazy. I might be in sports, but in real life it's serious. Real life is different than sports. And in real life. Put the guns down. Put them down.

[Paul Finebaum]

Somebody called in off the air and said that they were thinking about killing someone that day. It was a guy, I think it was in Philadelphia, that he'd had some run in with a guy down the street and he had already. He'd gone back to get his gun. And somehow he thought of what Legend had said.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

I grew up in a house, you know, watching my grandfather throw the remote at the television, cuss the tv. You know, I grew up in that kind of house, you know what I'm saying? But thanks to Paul and that therapy that I get each day, I managed to move on.

[Pablo Torre]

It does feel like Paul is giving out a kind of medication.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

We are the castaways. We are the throwaway fans. We are the fans that nobody says, I'm not kids or one of them fine bomb callers, you know what I'm saying? I'm fine, Bob.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

Callers are crazy.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

We're that fan. We're that fanatical crazy fan. And we are real. We are real.

[Pablo Torre]

Legend now. Okay, his mission now, right? He has a couple of missions. Crusades for the good in life. He also wants to fire Kaylan DeBoer.

[Paul Finebaum]

Yeah, well, I mean, let's. Let's forget saving mankind. Let's get to the important things right now. Caleb, Deborah, I'll have to keep reminding the audience is. Is the man who replaced Nick Saban.

[Pablo Torre]

Paul, I don't know if you could even begin to disagree with my assessment here. That stuff is what makes the job itself at times so hard, isn't it? The idea that this is a hot seat and the fire underneath you can Tune in and listen to it every time you put on the fine bomb show.

[Paul Finebaum]

To me, it's the part of the job that probably is the most interesting and challenging. And by the way, I mean, we just went through 17 years with Nick Saban, and a week ago, I don't know if you saw, he was on the McAfee show and he was defending DeBoer, and he talked about how he never paid attention to the media, and he proceeded to identify me. We got criticized every time we lost a game. I don't know how many times I heard Paul Feinbaum say, this is the beginning of the end. I mean, but it never was. But you said it. I always like it when a guy mentions your name in terms of. I never listened to him. But the point was, of course he listened. But we never really had. We, we may have had six Mondays in 17 years where there was real. I mean, we would criticize Saban for losing the national championship. That's how difficult it was to find something to say about it. DeBoer took care of it by the first weekend in October.

[Pablo Torre]

But the influence is obvious to everybody, I think, who spends a couple minutes listening to the people that, that listen to you. And when I listen to Legend talk about what this particular holiday season is going to be like, Paul, I mean, let's just say it bluntly. This is a weird Christmas.

[Paul Finebaum]

Yeah. Yeah. If you're an Alabama fan, it's Scrooge City. I mean, there's nothing, there's nothing to be happy about. Alabama is going to the ReliaQuest Bowl.

[Pablo Torre]

Yes. Against a 7 and 5 Michigan team.

[Paul Finebaum]

If you go back to 2009, I mean, Alabama has practically either played for the national championship or been in the playoffs all but two or three years. And this year, it feels very empty.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. Legend, for the record here, offered me his ticket to the ReliaQuest Bowl.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

You can have my tickets, brother. Listen, if it ain't for Champ. No, no offense. You know, a lot of Alabama fans say, oh, good Lord, Legend, we pull for Alabama in every game. Let me ask you something. If the Yankees out of the playoffs, do they care about an exhibition game with the Toronto Blue Jays? I don't care nothing about it.

[Paul Finebaum]

Something tells me that you will not be there on New Year's Eve.

[Pablo Torre]

I, I, I hesitate to leave the ivory tower for the Reliaquest Bowl.

[Paul Finebaum]

Don't do it. You don't, you don't want, you don't want to be seen there.

[Pablo Torre]

No.

[Caller/Listener (Various, including Harvey Updike and others)]

No.

[Pablo Torre]

God, no. And so the question becomes, ahead of Christmas now, What do you want for Christmas, Paul? Fine, bomb. What do you hope for your audience?

[Paul Finebaum]

I tell you what, I, I, I, I just thought of this and I don't know, I think Legend is currently unattached. I can't do any better than Legend in my career, which is starting to creep toward. It's late autumn, okay, it's winter time.

[Pablo Torre]

The leaves are rustling. Paul, the leaves are still running.

[Paul Finebaum]

I just had this, I've never thought. I have this idea that Legend gets married again. I don't care if he gets married or not. Has a child and produces the next generation's legend. Can you imagine, 20 years from now some guy sitting where I'm sitting 25 years from now, 30 years from now and going, Legend Jr. Is next.

[Pablo Torre]

Paul, it's such a beautiful sentiment. And it may not surprise you to learn that when I asked Legend this same question, he said this.

[Legend (Gary Wilson)]

Man, I tell you the truth, man, what I wish would show up under the Christmas tree was a 40 year old nick Saban ready to go back to work at the University of Alabama, baby. That's what I wish would show up under my Christmas tree. Yes, a 40 year old nick Saban ready to go kick some butt and lead this university and this program back to where it belongs. The mountaintop. The mountaintop. We're in the gutter this morning. Deborah, no playoffs for us. Playoffs? Come on, man. Are you kidding me? Give me a 40 year old nick Saban ready to go back to work. That would be the greatest Christmas ever.

[Pablo Torre]

So, Paul Feinbaum, thank you for introducing me to your community and happy holidays.

[Paul Finebaum]

Thank you. It's been a great pleasure, Pablo.

[Pablo Torre]

This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out a Meadowlark Media Production and I'll talk to you next time. Sam.