Get to Know the 50 States (Alabama)

Hey everybody, sorry for not posting this last night but things got really hectic around here. I have been working 11 hours a day this week and then we had to get some camping supplies last night for our camping trip tomorrow.....needless to say, I came home and CRASHED!

So here is Day 3 of our marathon....even though it's technically Day 4. I will not have the 4th installment of the marathon ready in time to post tonight so look for Maine on Wednesday.

In the meantime, let's go forward with......



ALABAMA



Capital: Montgomery

Admitted: December 14, 1819

Order: 22nd State

Nickname: Cotton State

Historical (fun) Facts:

- Alabama (not New Orleans) introduced the Mardi Gras to the western world. The celebration is held on Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins.

- Alabama workers built the first rocket to put humans on the moon.

- The Confederate flag was designed and first flown in Alabama in 1861.

- The town of Enterprise houses the Boll Weevil Monument to acknowledge the role this destructive insect played in encouraging farmers to grow crops other than cotton.



- The word Alabama means tribal town in the Creek Indian language.

- Hitler's typewriter survived from his mountain retreat and is exhibited at the Hall of History in Bessemer.

- On January 11, 1861 Alabama became the fourth state to secede from the Union.


Famous People from Alabama

Hank Aaron- The true home run King!



Charles Barkley- The Round Mound of Rebound!



Courtney Cox- Hehe....her name is Cox (sorry, 3rd grade humor)



Diana DeGarmo- She was on American Idol



Ozzie Smith- The Wizard



AND MANY MANY MORE! Name your favorite in the comment section...bonus points if you add a pic.


The Sports

Now let's hear from some TSN members from Alabama to tell us a little bit about the place they call home. We kick it off with TallTexan.

In the state of Alabama, sports talk begins and ends with college football. Oh, Alabamians watch and care about other sports. I grew up as a Braves and Saints fan, and I've always watched the World Series, NBA playoffs and Super Bowl. But if a typical Alabamian were honest, they would tell you that all of those other sports are just diversions or side discussions until they can talk about their favorite topic - Alabama or Auburn football.

I grew up an Alabama fan and went to Tuscaloosa many times when I was young to see Bear Bryant and his boys whup up on the competition. I had a roommate in college (not an Alabama native and didn't care about CFB) who used to walk around on game day and pray out loud to God that Bama would win simply because he knew I would be in a rotten mood for a few days if they lost! (Fortunately, they lost seldom in those days - oh how the times have changed , for now).

For Alabamians, how their college football teams perform is a matter of state pride. They seldom get to point to their state and say "we're #1" in anything that should be celebrated. But hot dog, they know they have a chance to put those other states (and hopefully other regions if in a big bowl) in their place in football!!

The Iron Bowl is like the Hatfields and McCoys. It's about braggin' rights and families even take sides against each other.

Controversial statement alert: Auburn fans will try to convince you that their program is on par (or superior) with that of their archrival Crimson Tide. They'll point to their current winning streak, spawned from the Tide's NCAA sanctions. But both Auburn and Alabama fans know (even if the tiggers won't admit it) that the Plainsmen will always live in the shadow of the Crimson Tide. Like the OSU Cowboys to the Sooners, A&M to Texas, UCLA to USC, etc. Probably 80% of the state's fans pull for the Crimson Tide, and everyone knows that, whether Saban or someone else does it, the Tide will eventually be restored to top billing in the state and the Tigers will clean up on recruiting scraps.

The Tigers fans will call that typical Alabama arrogance. I call it reality. Auburn has one national title, Bama has 12 (depending on how you count them.) Most players in the state grow up longing to put on a Crimson uniform and dream of making the big play like some of their Tide heroes.

Well, you get the idea. Alabama vs Auburn is a year-round thang!

Outside of sports, Alabamians love fried chicken, turnip greens, fried green tomatoes (pr "tomaters"), drinking iced tea on the back porch in the evening while listening to the crickets chirping, asking "how ya'll doin?", waving at each other as they pass by in their old pickup trucks, fishing and hunting (the only thing that even comes close to rivaling football), having "dinner on the grounds" after church on Sunday afternoon, visiting with family .... and when there's nothing else to do, you can ALWAYS talk about college football!

Thanks TT for that great look into the football-rich land of 'Bama. We keep things going with 2012wph.

Alabama is a good and bad place to live as a sports fan. You have the most passion for college football anywhere, that's for sure. A neighbor moves in from another state, and after introductions, the first question asked is Auburn or Alabama? The college football tradition is unmatched, the state literally revolving around it in the fall, and even some in the spring and summer. A Saturday wedding in Alabama in the fall is definitely not a good decision. It's common to see men gathered around a TV at these weddings pretty much at all times, no matter who is playing.

Also, even though I'm not into it, Alabama is a NASCAR haven. Talledega Motor Speedway is not far away from Birmingham, and most trucks you see will have some sort of NASCAR, or Junior, sticker on the back windshield. Flags hanging from the front porch are nothing new.

College basketball is also a good thing...but only because of college football. Without CF, basketball is nothing. The only reason anyone younger than 18 is an AU or Bama b-ball fan is because of their deep passion for CF. While the Alabama teams aren't tops in the nation, a good college basketball game is only 45 minutes away.

So that was the good stuff. And don't get me wrong, it's very good stuff. But the bad stuff would turnoff a lot of people, especially people more pro-sports oriented.

No NBA team. No NFL team. No MLB team. No NOTHING team. Pro sports haven't touched Alabama for WAY too long. The last thing we had? A pro hockey team, and who wants or cares about hockey in the South? If we did get an NFL team, I know for the first three years most games would be sellouts. People might say that there's too much CF for an NFL team, but they don't realize that people would go to their AU/Bama game Saturday and then head over to the NFL game Sunday.

So it does make it hard to get into pro sports, when the closest teams are Atlanta teams. Hard to be a Falcons fan these days, and same with the Hawks. NFL and NBA allegiances are very scattered down here. About the only constant is the Braves fan base here is pretty good, but that still isn't enough. It would be so good for Alabama to field a pro sports team.

Of course, Birmingham isn't the greatest city, but a new dome is in the works, sooo....

Overall, if you were born in the South, Alabama is probably a great state for a sports fan. But if you are really into pro sports and not so much college, there are plenty of other places you could be in.

Thanks again 2012 for that story and congrats on your recent ascension from 2 to 4 stars. We wrap things up with a look at the state in general....here are some great tidbits from rp_chan.

Alabama's constitution is the longest in the world coming in at 357.157 words (and growing) It is more that 12 times longer than the average state constitution and 40 times longer than the US constitution. India has the longest nation constitution at 117,369 words.

Talladega Superspeedway holds the fastest qualifying mark in NASCAR history with Bill Elliott’s 212.809 mph in 1987.

The Blue Creek Coal Mine No. 5, at 2,200 feet deep, also is the deepest vertical shaft mine in North America.

At 60 feet high and 148 feet long, Natural Bridge of Alabama in Winston County is the longest natural bridge east of the Rockies.

The National Peanut Festival is held each fall in Dothan, located in SE Alabama, to celebrate the harvest. Roughly half the peanuts grown in the United States are grown within 100 miles of Dothan.

The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the largest golf project in the country, is located with the boarders of alabama, the trail features 378 holes.

In 1836, Alabama became the first state to declare Christmas a legal holiday.

mobile bay is the fourth largest estuary in the united states.

alabama river is the longest river contained inside a single state.

alabama has the second largest inland waterway system in the US.

David Farragut issued the command, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead," on Aug. 5, 1864, during the Battle of Mobile Bay while leading ships through a dangerous torpedo-mined area. In 1866, he became the first person in the Navy to be awarded the rank of admiral.

alabama ranks second behind detroit for automobile production. in 2009 alabama will become the first in production in north america.

In 1902 Dr. Luther Leonidas Hill performed the first open heart surgery in the Western Hemisphere by suturing a stab wound in a young boy's heart. The surgery occurred in Montgomery.

Alabama has the oldest state funded archives in the nation.

The first wave pool in America was built in 1970 at Point Mallard Park in Decatur.

Alabama is the only state with all major natural resources needed to make iron and steel. It is also the largest supplier of cast-iron and steel pipe products.

The world’s smallest city block is in Dothan.

Around 1920, fire ants entered the United States at Mobile.

Phenix City was known as the most corrupt city in the nation until 1954 when the National Guard was called in to crush a crime syndicate and clean up the town.

Marion Military Institute in Marion is the nation’s oldest military junior college, founded in 1842.

Mobile -

First Mardi Gras in the New world.
Alabama oldest city founded in 1702.
First submarine to sink an enemy ship, H.L. Hunley was built in mobile.
America’s Junior Miss, the nation’s oldest and largest girls’ scholarship program, is headquartered in Mobile.

Montgomery -

Birthplace of civil rights movement.
Montgomery was the first capital and the birthplace of the Confederate States of America.
First electric trolley system in the world in Montgomery.
First Civilian Flight school in the world is established by the wright brothers.
The Alabama Shakespeare Festival the 7th largest shakespeare festival in the world is in montgomery.

Birmingham -

nick named the magic city, because of its rapid growth due to the iron and steel industries. Founded in 1871, it is now the states largest city.
the Iron Bowl, played in Birmingham, got its name from the iron industry.

Huntsville -

known as rocket city, the first american rocket to launch a satellite into space was designed and built here.

Muscle shoals -

Has been known as "Hit Recording Capital of the World" for its music scene and for many hit recordings in numerous genres of music created there.
also known as "the birthplace of the Blues"



Joe Lewis
Evander Holyfield
Willie Mays
Hank Aaron
Charles Barkley
Bobby Bowden
Bear Bryant
Bo Jackson
Shug Jordan
Carl Lewis
Terrell Owens
Chuck Person
Wesley Person
Pat Sullivan
Satchel Paige
Jesse Owens

Rosa Parks

Condoleessa Rice

Hellen Keller

Heather Whitestone - the first Miss America with a disability. 1995
Deidre Downs - miss america 2005

Nat King Cole
Ruben Studdard
Taylor Hicks
Jimmy Buffet
W C Handy
Emmylou Harris
Wilson Picket
Tommy Shaw
Lionel Ritchie
Percy Sledge
Tonni Tennille
Hank Williams

Nell Carter
Courteny Cox
Louise Fletcher - Nurse Ratched in Cocos Nest
Dean Jones - of Herbie the love bug and Disney film fame
George Lindsey - Goober
Jim Nabors - Gomer
Nobertz Leo Butz - tony award winning actor from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Micheal Emmerson - emmy award winning actor from Lost


Truman Capote
Zelda Fitzgerald
Mark Childress - crazy in alabama
Fanny Flagg - fried green tomatoes
Winston Groom - forest gump
Harper Lee - to kill a mockingbird
Danile Wallace - big fish

Robert Ven de Graff - invented the machine that makes your hair stand on end.

Sequoyah - developer of the cherokee alphabet

i really wish we had more sexy people worth mentioning...

I tried to find some....I'm with you. Oh well, it still seems like a great place to check out some great sports....especially college football.

Thank you to all of my contributors. Your work makes this series go. See you Wednesday with Number 23.....Maine. No Karma of the Week this week as I will be out in the wilderness of Mount Hood.

Take care and good karma to all.

OT

Previous States

1. Delaware

2. Pennsylvania

3. New Jersey

4. Georgia

5. Connecticut

6. Massachusetts

7. Maryland

8. South Carolina

9. New Hampshire

10. Virginia

11. New York

12. North Carolina

13. Rhode Island

14. Vermont

15. Kentucky

16. Tennessee

17. Ohio

18. Louisiana

19. Indiana

20. Mississippi

21. Illinois

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