Serious Tailgaters Prepare Days Ahead Of Birmingham Football Rivalry Game

 ========= Old Image Removed =========1Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2016/10/FullSizeRender-e1635524765114.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:640;s:6:"height";i:360;s:4:"file";s:41:"2016/10/FullSizeRender-e1635524765114.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:39:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-600x360.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:360;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-553x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-600x492.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:492;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"FullSizeRender-e1635524765114-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:174227;s:14:"optimized_size";i:137034;s:7:"percent";d:21.350000000000001;}s:5:"sizes";a:9:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:54:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/10/FullSizeRender.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:170096;s:14:"optimized_size";i:133003;s:7:"percent";d:21.809999999999999;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:6:"medium";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:60:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/10/FullSizeRender-80x80.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:4131;s:14:"optimized_size";i:4031;s:7:"percent";d:2.4199999999999999;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:77:"WELL DONE. This image is already compressed, no further compression required.";}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Sherrel Wheeler Stewart
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => WBHM 90.3
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_wp_attachment_backup_sizes] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:9:{s:9:"full-orig";a:3:{s:5:"width";i:640;s:6:"height";i:492;s:4:"file";s:18:"FullSizeRender.jpg";}s:14:"thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:11:"medium-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-336x258.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:258;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"wbhm-icon-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:24:"FullSizeRender-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"wbhm-featured-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-600x492.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:492;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:23:"wbhm-featured-home-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-405x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:405;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:27:"wbhm-featured-carousel-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-345x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:345;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:19:"post-thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:26:"FullSizeRender-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}
        )

    [_wp_attachment_image_alt] => Array
        (
            [0] => Legion Field
        )

)
1616959924 
1477772369
Legion Field

Serious tailgaters fill the lots surrounding Birmingham's Legion Field.

Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, WBHM 90.3

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.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:A giant tailgate party has been underway for days in Birmingham, Ala., as tens of thousands of football fans gear up to watch today’s Magic City Classic. Alabama A&M will play Alabama State University in one of the most popular games between two black colleges. Sherrel Wheeler Stewart of member station WBHM reports.SHERREL WHEELER STEWART, BYLINE: It’s like a sea of RVs mixed with pop-up tents and showrooms of barbecue grills and deep fryers. The 75th clash between Alabama State and Alabama A&M is today, but the tailgating kicked off days ago.

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.

 

 

IVF could help her start the family she wants. Will Alabama’s personhood law derail it?

Despite a law meant to protect IVF in Alabama, patients and advocates worry the protections won’t hold — and warn of future attacks on reproductive rights.

Struggling Birmingham-Southern College says it will close at end of May

The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials announced in a news release. The announcement came after legislation, aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college, had recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse.

What happens when a rural hospital shuts its doors? Look to Pickens County

Residents in the west Alabama county warn that the lack of emergency care can have deadly consequences. It's a fate that could befall a growing number of rural communities.

Q&A: A bad deal made Jackson’s water problems worse. It wasn’t the only Mississippi city harmed

Reporter Sarah Fowler talks about her investigation that found at least eight Mississippi cities were harmed by deals over faulty smart water meters.

What issues are driving you to the polls this year?

What issues are top of mind as you head to the polls this year? What do you want the candidates to be talking about?

Anti-DEI bill becomes law as lawmakers return for the second half of the session

Alabama lawmakers returned from spring break this week to take on several priorities for the Republican majority. Chief among them was a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools, universities and government offices.

More Front Page Coverage