Serious Tailgaters Prepare Days Ahead Of Birmingham Football Rivalry Game
Serious tailgaters fill the lots surrounding Birmingham's Legion Field.
In Birmingham, tens of thousands of football fans will watch Alabama A&M face Alabama State in the Magic City Classic, a big game between two black colleges.
TONYA DAVENPORT: Yeah, we’re doing cabbage. We’re doing baked beans. We’re doing turkey wings. We’re doing barbeque wings. We’re going to fry a little wings.
STEWART: That’s Tonya Davenport. She’s here with her cousin Edmund Nelson, and they began setting up on Monday.
EDMUND NELSON: Grills, smokers, deep freezers – refrigerator’s on the way – couches, the full bar. I got speakers, TVs to hang.
STEWART: Nelson roots for Alabama State, but he’s more of a tailgating fan. He drove 800 miles from Miami to Birmingham two weeks ago to start preparing. He opens the door to a large cargo trailer stacked with supplies.
NELSON: Inside here there’s more TVs. We’re just getting ready for the Classic, something we do every year. It’s a big get together. My mom, she went to Alabama State. And every year, it just get’s bigger and bigger.
STEWART: Hundreds of tents have popped up, and in Nelson’s, there’s artificial turf on the ground, a matching sofa and loveseat and five barbecue grills. No matter where you go, you hear music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STEWART: Freddie Jones parked his RV across from one of his buddies. They set up a little courtyard in the middle, decked out with lights and a sound system. He says the Magic City Classic is popular because it’s different.
FREDDIE JONES: You can go tailgating for the other teams and Tennessee and what have you – Alabama. And you have these restrictions where you can’t play your music. But at the Magic City Classic, you can just about do what you want to do within reason – clean fun.
STEWART: At kickoff, for the 60,000 people inside the stadium, it’s about the bands, dancers, football. But for folks like Jones, the serious stuff happens outside, beyond the gate.
JONES: Everything that comes this way is going to get cooked. Don’t put your hand on the grill. We’re cooking that, too (laughter).
STEWART: Once the game between Alabama State and Alabama A&M is over, it doesn’t mean that the fun ends. Some of the tailgaters stick around through Sunday. For NPR News, I’m Sherrel Wheeler Stewart in Birmingham.
Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones announces run for Alabama governor
Jones announced his campaign Monday afternoon, hours after filing campaign paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office. His gubernatorial bid could set up a rematch with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican who defeated Jones in 2020 and is now running for governor.
Scorching Saturdays: The rising heat threat inside football stadiums
Excessive heat and more frequent medical incidents in Southern college football stadiums could be a warning sign for universities across the country.
Judge orders new Alabama Senate map after ruling found racial gerrymandering
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco, appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued the ruling Monday putting a new court-selected map in place for the 2026 and 2030 elections.
Construction on Meta’s largest data center brings 600% crash spike, chaos to rural Louisiana
An investigation from the Gulf States Newsroom found that trucks contracted to work at the Meta facility are causing delays and dangerous roads in Holly Ridge.
Bessemer City Council approves rezoning for a massive data center, dividing a community
After the Bessemer City Council voted 5-2 to rezone nearly 700 acres of agricultural land for the “hyperscale” server farm, a dissenting council member said city officials who signed non-disclosure agreements weren’t being transparent with citizens.
Alabama Public Television meeting draws protesters in Birmingham over discussion of disaffiliating from PBS
Some members of the Alabama Educational Television Commission, which oversees APT, said disaffiliation is needed because the network has to cut costs after the Trump administration eliminated all funding for public media this summer.
