Did You Know (or Care): The pre- and post-Paterno era

c/o Kristin

Penn State was recently defeated by Houston in the TicketCity Bowl, 30-14. It was the Nittany Lions’ first bowl game without longtime head coach Joe Paterno in a nearly a half-century. Such an unprecedented run got me curious about Penn State’s last postseason appearance without the legendary “Joe Pa” at the helm. What I found damn-near brought a tear to my eye.

The 1962 Gator Bowl (played on December 29 in Jacksonville, Florida) pitted Penn State against the Florida Gators. Led by head coach Charles “Rip” Engle, the Nittany Lions – ranked #9 nationally and winners of nine out of 10 games – were openly disappointed to be playing a second tier bowl game against a team that had struggled to a mediocre 6-4 record.

Feeling slighted by these ruffians from way up north, the Gators responded by placing a Confederate Battle Flag decal on the side of their helmets. The Lions reportedly mocked the sentiment before kickoff, but they were whistlin’ Dixie afterward. The heavy underdog Gators defeated Penn State, 17-7.

Coach Engle steered the Lions for 16 seasons, leading PSU to a respectable 104-48-4 record during his tenure. His retirement in 1965 led to the promotion of a young assistant who ultimately earned two national championships (should’ve been three) and victories in 24 bowl games en route to setting the all-time wins record on the highest level of college football.

Paterno’s departure may have been tenuous at best. But his legend is incontestably permanent.

Sources: The Helmet Project & The Florida Times-Union

Vintage ‘bama fans

Here’s an exhibition of a little too much school spirit, including the requisite Bear Bryant houndstooth tribute – typical among the Tuscaloosa faithful. Love the stripper heels, by the way.

c/o Losers With Socks

Iconic Shot: The King & Ali

I don't believe in self-given monikers. Whereas fans were responsible for christening Elvis as "The King," it was the man formerly known as Cassius Clay who was only too happy to inform the world that he was "The Greatest" of his chosen profession. However debatable Ali's status in boxing lore – welterweight and middleweight powerhouse "Sugar" Ray Robinson (173-19-6, 108 KO) is the pound-for-pound greatest – the historical merit of the picture below presents a rare meeting of pop culture royalty that far exceeds the dislikable figureheads enthroned today.

In addition, Elvis was a legit karate black belt. First exposed to the art while stationed in Europe during his time in the Army, Presley earned his first degree {Shodan} rank in March 1960 from a Chitō-ryu instructor (and a very interesting fellow) named Henry Slomanski. In an actual head-to-head versus Muhammad Ali, "The King" would have held his own quite well.

Original source unknown, c/o Julien's Auctions

Sunday's Quote: A foreigner at Ole Miss

It's been a year, almost to the day, since I've been back to Ole Miss. Last time, I watched helplessly as Cam Newton and the future (bastardized) national champion Auburn Tigers had their way with the Rebels. So considering that my visits to Oxford are fewer and further in between than preferred, it is nice to stumble upon a story on occasion that fully depicts the attributes of a special place that doesn't always get its just due. And perhaps most importantly, this review in particular is by an outsider who hails from the other side of the Atlantic:

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"I had been dimly aware that the American South is famous for its hospitality, but was unprepared for a level of friendliness that would have been faintly nauseating if it weren't so seductive. Wherever I went, people smiled at me with their gleaming, perfect teeth. . . . The vibe on campus was such that one could easily strike up a conversation with a stranger. At home this atmosphere had just about lasted through freshers' week; here, it lasted throughout the year. . . .

"A laid-back attitude and general reluctance to sweat the small stuff became uppermost in my daily mentality, and I can say with complete confidence that this was a boon in my academic, athletic and social college life. This is not to say that my fellow students were slobs or lazy. Manners are important in Mississippi, and at big social occasions (namely football games) I have never seen so many students in one place all trying to look smart. . . .

"I spent my time at Ole Miss in a constant slight state of disbelief that the 'American College Experience' was living up to the myth – and then some. This brings me to probably the question most asked about my spell there, put bluntly: 'Is it really racist down there?' Hollywood's interpretation of the South is not exactly glowing. While also not incorrect, it does not take the form one would expect.

"There appeared to be little or no antagonism along racial lines, only a sense of 'mutual segregation'. White guys hung out with white guys and vice versa, with little or no interracial dating. Certain uncomfortable words were thrown around drunkenly in company, which I admit I found surprising. But these encounters were fewer and farther between, however, than I had been led to believe and, all in all, I left with nothing but good things to say.

"I arrived back in an unchanged Edinburgh with a load of work to do, a Southern accent than can best many a New Yorker, a year that I will remember for ever [sic] and dozens of friends I'll stay in touch with. It's good to be home, but I can’t wait to get back."
– from "My year at the University of Mississippi" by Benjamin Cumming, published in The Telegraph; October 20, 2011

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In addition, here's a video tribute (w/ Kings of Leon providing the soundtrack) by a German fellow who also spent a year at Ole Miss. Have a look:

On This Day in History

c/o MacArthur Memorial, via AltDaily

1803 – The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase, acquiring 828,000 square miles originally claimed by France for less than three cents per acre (equivalent to 42 cents per acre today).

Ultimately 15 States would be carved from the area. Also of note, Napoleon Bonaparte said of the exchange, "This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride."

1818 – The Convention of 1818 was signed between the United States and the United Kingdom. Most importantly, Article II of the agreement established the 49th parallel as the border between the U.S. and Canada. It hasn't moved an inch after 193 years, and unlike our neighbors to the south, Canadians have no problem respecting our mutual border whatsoever.

1944 – General Douglas MacArthur (pictured) fulfilled his "I shall return" promise when the Battle of Leyte commenced in the Philippines. The Allies reclaimed the islands from the Japanese by New Year's Eve, and World War II would be decided nine months later. The good guys won.

1946 – Lewis Grizzard, a distinguished writer and humorist known for his commentary and Southern demeanor, was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. He was inflicted with a congenital heart defect from birth and died from complications of his fourth heart-valve surgery in 1994. "I Haven't Understood Anything Since 1962 and Other Nekkid Truths" is one of my all-time favorites.

1950 – Tom Petty, one of our finest singer-songwriters, was born in Gainesville, Florida. His music, both solo and collaborative, has sold a combined 60 million units worldwide since he debuted (with the Heartbreakers) in 1976.

1967 – A brief motion picture of an unidentified subject purported to be "Bigfoot" was filmed by two men in the Six Rivers National Forest in the northwestern-most corner of California. Known as the Patterson-Gimlin film, its veracity still remains open to debate.

1973 – Designed by acclaimed Danish architect Jørn Utzon, the Sydney Opera House opened to the public for the first time at Bennelong Point in New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007, the SOH remains one of the most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous performing arts centers in the world.

1977 – Just three days after the release of their fifth album, Street Survivors, a plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, along with three other non-members of the band.

Skynyrd reformed 10 years later for a reunion tour with lead singer Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother as the new frontman, a position Johnny holds to this day. Although lead/rhythm guitarist Gary Rossington is the only founding member who remains with Skynyrd, thousands still show up to see the Kings of Southern Rock every time they play. To date, the band has sold nearly 30 million units in the U.S. alone.

Information initially obtained from Wikipedia; confirmed and revised (when necessary) through various sources.

Real Music: Country boy

Ol' Bocephus got himself in a bit of trouble recently for breaking Godwin's law. Hank, Jr. outta know better than to use a reference that's reserved exclusively for the Left in order to pander, demonize and politicize.

 

Oh well. Here's the man himself to throw a well-intentioned middle finger in the face of anyone who doesn't like what he's all about:

 

TEC's College Football Top 10, Week 4

With one-third of the regular season already complete, the crème de la crème are wasting no time in staking their claim as the ones to beat. While top-ranked Oklahoma labored more than anticipated to get past a burgeoning Missouri squad, both Alabama and Louisiana State demonstrated once again (and with relative ease) why five consecutive BCS national champions have represented the same conference.

LSU is the new #1 in the Associated Press poll. Undoubtedly a legitimate argument on their behalf could be made. Yet jumping both the Sooners and the Crimson Tide seems marginally premature for now. Nevertheless a better appraisal of the Tigers' depth will be established by the time they face #2 Alabama on November 5 – at which point the #1 ranking could very well belong to the Bayou Bengals.

In lieu of their one-point loss to fellow contenders Oklahoma State, formerly sixth-ranked Texas A&M drops to #10, while Florida State falls out the rankings altogether thanks to a five-point defeat at nationally ranked Clemson. Resulting from Saturday's games, Oklahoma State jumps Wisconsin and Louisiana State jumps Boise State.

Virginia Tech received top 10 consideration, but playing arguably the least challenging schedule among the upper tier FBS schools makes it difficult to overlook undefeated South Carolina – not to mention resurgent Oregon. Next Saturday, expect the Gamecocks to be tested against Auburn and Alabama to be pushed by perennial contender, Florida. Outside of the nation's top conference, expect a cage match to develop at Camp Randall between #7 Wisconsin and #8 Nebraska. The coming weeks are what college football is all about.

1. Oklahoma (def. Missouri, 38-28), 3-0, 640 pts.
2. Alabama (def. Arkansas, 38-14), 4-0, 635 pts.
3. Louisiana State (def. West Virginia, 47-21), 4-0, 630 pts.
4. Boise State (def. Tulsa, 41-21), 3-0, 560 pts.
5. Stanford (Bye), 3-0, 510 pts.
6. Oklahoma State (def. Texas A&M, 30-29), 4-0, 480 pts.
7. Wisconsin (def. South Dakota, 59-10), 4-0, 445 pts.
8. Nebraska (def. Wyoming, 38-14), 4-0, 420 pts.
9. South Carolina (def. Vanderbilt, 21-3), 4-0, 365 pts.
10. Texas A&M (lost to Oklahoma State, 30-29), 2-1, 315 pts.

c/o SixPackSpeak

Ole Miss Rebels, as an identity, is gone. They're the Mississippi Bears now. Not the Black Bears – as officially recognized by the university – or the Brown Bears, the Sun Bears, the Panda Bears, the Polar Bears, the Bear Bryants, the Teddy Bears or the Theodore Roosevelts. And no, the new mascot was not chosen in lieu of William Faulkner's "short novel," The Bear.

Colonel Rebel is gone (but not forgotten) because of oversensitive garbage commingled with an apparent refusal to understand a remote campus which, for decades, featured substandard facilities by the lofty standards of the Southeastern Conference will always trump the depiction of any mascot.

Southern Defenders Series: Samuel Garland, Jr.

© Virginia Military Institute

Born in Lynchburg, Virginia on December 16, 1830, the grandnephew of President James Madison graduated near the top of his class from the Virginia Military Institute and completed law school at the University of Virginia by age 20.  He later founded the Lynchburg Home Guard, which, in the spring of 1861, merged with the 11th Virginia Infantry when the War Between the States commenced.

Garland was commissioned as the regiment's Colonel and participated in clashes throughout northern Virginia, including both battles at Bull Run.  Having already distinguished himself by the time he earned promotion to Brigadier General, it was perhaps the untimely deaths of his wife and infant son, just three months apart, by which it was said his reputation for courage under fire resulted from an inability to deal with his grief.

Garland was mortally wounded at the Battle of South Mountain in Washington County, Maryland.  Although Union soldiers dumped the lifeless bodies of 60 Confederate soldiers down a famer's well after the battle, General Garland's body was retrieved by federal troops, whereby Major General George B. McClellan, USA, ordered an honor guard to accompany the young Southern General's body until his remains could be honorably transported home.

A mere 31-years-old at the time of his death, Samuel Garland, Jr. was buried at the Presbyterian Cemetery in his hometown on September 19, 1862 next to his wife and infant son.  Memorialized in his official report, Lt. General Daniel Harvey Hill, CSA, stated "This brilliant service. . . cost us the life of that pure, gallant, and accomplished Christian soldier, General Garland, who had no superiors and few equals in the service."

Sources: 1, 2, 3

On This Day in History

 c/o Den of Décor

1189 – European Crusaders launched the Siege of Acre against Saladin's Ayyubid dynasty in present day northern Israel, by which the Christians achieved a conclusive triumph amid the Third Crusade nearly two years later.

Ultimately Richard the Lionheart and his army, which included the Knights Templar, made considerable headway throughout the region, and Saladin himself failed to defeat Richard in any military engagement.

1609 – English maritime explorer Henry Hudson, for lack of a better way of describing it, discovered the Delaware Bay.  Initially selected by the Dutch East India Company to find an easterly passage to Asia, Hudson was unable to complete the predetermined route due to excessive ice blockage.

Hudson redirected while he and his crew were near Norway's North Cape and pointed his ship west to find another passage, this time through North America.  Hudson landed in the Bay some three months later.

1845 – The first issue of Scientific American is published.  After 166 years, the magazine can boast of a circulation that approaches three-quarters of a million.

1862 – Outnumbered by 12,000 troops, Confederate General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia engaged U.S. Army Maj. General John Pope and his Army of Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run/Second Manassas.  The South earned a decisive victory two days later.

1898 – Though Coca-Cola gets all the press for being a uniquely Southern beverage, a pharmacist named Caleb Bradham developed the recipe for what would become known as Pepsi-Cola at a drug store in New Bern, North Carolina.  PepsiCo was incorporated four years later, which, at present, generates net revenues that exceed $40 billion annually.

1957 – Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) began a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957.  He stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, which remains longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.

1965 – The lovely and vivacious Shania Twain was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

1981 – The Centers for Disease Control revealed a high rate of incidence among gay men for both pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma.  The resulting immune disorder was soon identified as AIDS for the first time.

Most information obtained via Wikipedia; revised (when necessary) and confirmed through various sources.

Iconic Shot: Hank & The General

Original source unknown

I become nostalgic for college football around this time every year. Correction: I remain wistful for college football practically year-round, but I digress.

In this shot, University of Tennessee head coach Robert Neyland (right) and consensus All-American running back Hank Lauricella examine their Longhorn opponents during the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1951. Lauricella finished runner-up in the Heisman voting earlier that season. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

With 173 wins, seven conference titles, four national championships, and a career .829 winning percentage, Coach Neyland (also a U.S. Army Brigadier General) remains the most successful coach in Tennessee football history.

And by the way, the Volunteers defeated Texas on this particular day, 20-14.

From My Own Camera: The flood

Last May, a weather front that stretched from Texas to Ohio blitzed the heartland with far more rain than initially expected.  Though Memphis received much of the media attention despite relatively minimal damage, lesser known towns like Dyersburg in northwest Tennessee ended up completely awash.

The Mississippi River crested at 47.97 feet here in Memphis, barely missing the all-time record set back in 1937.  Below are some of the pictures I took once the water receded enough for authorities to reopen Riverside Drive.

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Real Music: Chris Young

I love the South (even if you don't).  So here's a song called "Voices" which depicts the best of our regional attributes that'll bless your little heart.

Did You Know (or Care): S'more about the South

I've never been one to mince words about my region.  I embrace every bit of the South and accept it as being equal, at the very least, to the culture of all others.  Expanding any further on this point would invite a diatribe that most wouldn't bother reading anyway.  With that in mind...

* The Depression-era gangster George Kelly Barnes – aka, "Machine Gun" Kelly – was born here in Memphis to a wealthy family in 1895.  He graduated from Central High School and attended Mississippi State University for a time before dropping out.  Perhaps the most infamous criminal during the time of Prohibition, he spent the final 21 years of his life in prison, including a 17-year stint in Alcatraz.  He died on his 59th birthday.

* Beauregard, Alabama is a town of nearly 15,000 people located near Auburn University.  Named for General Pierre G.T. Beauregard ("The Hero of Fort Sumter" and the fifth-most senior general in the Confederate Army), both Auburn and Beauregard are situated in Lee County, which, of course, is named for General Robert Edward Lee.  And this, at present, is the only positive thing I have to say about Auburn.

* For over 60 years, before the mascot for Elon University became the Phoenix, Elon College in central North Carolina was fronted by the Fighting Christians.  The name change, accoriding to Wikipedia (via an uncredited source), resulted in 1999 because "many did not feel that the nickname was universal enough for a team making the transition to Division I athletics."

Translation: Any delineation of the Christians who founded the school, like most of the institutions of higher learning in our nation, are no longer acceptable because multiculturalism, and their ideological philosophies, now rule the roost.

To hell with their stupid labels.  I'll gladly root for the Christians.

Those were the days

Despite being recognized today as much for dramaturgy as the choreographed (albeit, highly skilled) action for which this distinctive brand of showbiz was originally known, it remains difficult to call professional wrestling "fake" considering the plethora of injuries and premature deaths these combatants of the squared circle have braved for generations.

Yet there was a time, not that long ago, when questioning the validity of the acrimonious rivalries and blood-stained storylines was all but inconceivable.  That's why it was different then, which is what makes this impromptu little discovery from over 20 years ago so riveting:

c/o Professional Wrestling @ Tumblr.com

From My Own Camera: Wandering, pt. 5

Concluding a mini-series of posts (1, 2, 3, 4) from the past several months, here are two more shots from my recurring journeys throughout Shelby County and beyond:

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A scenic shot of Mudville Rd. in Rosemark, Tennessee

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A small body of water (with railroad tracks in the background) in Atoka, Tennessee

Did You Know (or Care): A bit more about the South

c/o Beauvoir

Kevin Levin of Civil War Memory is an example of one who scorns the individual who is perceived to cling to an unsubstantiated illusion that legitimizes certain perspectives which may not fit well within the box of the more easily accepted mainstream.  Indeed he has rejected the following story as a neo-Confederate fantasy solely intended to challenge the public image of Southerners' universal disdain for those of African descent.  So for those who think that we blindly hate everyone, here's an interesting piece I recently caught from History.com --

"Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina fostered a slave child during the war.  On February 16, 1864, the Southern diarist Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote in her journal that, while visiting the Confederate executive mansion in Richmond, she saw a 'little negro Mrs. Davis rescued yesterday from his brutal negro guardian.  The child is an orphan.  He was dressed up in Little Joe's [one of the Davises' sons'] clothes and happy as a lord.'  The mulatto boy's name was Jim Limber, and he and young Billy Davis became friends.

"In her memoirs, Varina Davis said her husband 'went to the Mayor's office and had [Jim's] free papers registered to insure Jim against getting into the power of the oppressor again.'  When federal forces caught the fleeing Davises in May 1865, they gave the boy to an old family friend, Union General Rufus Saxton.  'He quietly went,' Varina Davis wrote, 'but as soon as he found he was going to leave us he fought like a little tiger and was thus engaged the last we saw of him.'"

Original source: The Seven-Day Scholar: The Civil War by Dennis Gaffney and Peter Gaffney

On This Day in History: A fascinating day

One of my least favorite pictures. Ever.

1527 – In an event generally considered to mark the end of the Roman Renaissance, Rome is sacked by Spanish and German troops aligned with the Holy Roman Empire amid the War of the League of Cognac (1526-1530).  Nearly 150 Swiss Guards died fighting the forces of Emperor Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape.  To commemorate the bravery of the Swiss Guards, new recruits are sworn in every year on May 6.

1861 – Arkansas secedes from the Union on the same day Richmond, Virginia is declared the new capital of the Confederate States of America.

1863 – Outnumbered by nearly 73,000 soldiers, General Robert E. Lee and Lt. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson lead the South to victory over the Army of the Potomac in the final day of the Battle of Chancellorsville in northern Virginia.

1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

1937 – The German zeppelin Hindenburg (pictured) catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Manchester Township, New Jersey.  The 12-story blimp was over 800-ft. in length and filled with seven million cubic feet of pure hydrogen.  Thirty-six people were killed in the incident, and why the airship ignited into flames remains a mystery to this day.

1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath.

1941 – Bob Hope performs the first of his nearly 200 USO shows at March Field Army Air Corps base in Riverside, California.

1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run a sub-four-minute mile at Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England.

1984 – Having suffered religious persecution throughout the 19th century, Pope John Paul II canonized 103 Korean Martyrs in Seoul, South Korea.

2000 – I was 15 minutes late picking up a girl named Sarah for our first date.  Of the girls who have been in and out of my life, this little golden-haired cutie is the one who sticks out in memory the most.  In the end, I was only successful in turning her affection for me inside out because of what I could not do.

As I once wrote, years ago, about our first evening together...

"I knew that look on her old man's face.  Most fathers go through it at least once or twice.  I imagine it's similar to how an accomplished violinist would feel about handing a Stradivarius over to an unruly ape."

I hope Sarah is doing well, wherever she is.

Initially published 5/6/10 and republished with a few minor revisions; most information obtained via Wikipedia and confirmed through various sources.

Real Music: My girl Carrie

Just as Fox News is practically the lone remaining network in which we can hear God and Jesus mentioned in a non-blasphemous context, Country is the only remaining genre' of music in which the same can be said.  To demonstrate what I mean -- and in keeping with the theme of last Sunday's Quote -- here's my future wife Carrie Underwood performing "How Great Thou Art" with Vince Gill during the Academy of Country Music's Girls' Night Out at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas last April 4:

From My Own Camera: Wandering, pt. 4

Continuing a mini-series of posts (1, 2, 3), here are two more shots taken along the edge of Shelby County, Tennessee:

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A century-and-a-half ago today...

On April 12, 1861 at 4:30 a.m., approximately 500 soldiers representing the seven States of the newly formed Confederacy, by command of General Pierre G.T. Beauregard, opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina and continued their bombardment for 34 hours.  Over 600,000 of America’s finest would die in the four-year insurrection that followed.

Worldwide more than 200 civil wars have been fought in just the past two centuries.  Poor people rising up to fight, suffer and die so the more prominent minority could keep their slaves would be the first campaign of its kind in the history of the world – and this is exactly what many have been commanded to believe of their regional kinfolk and defenders for generations.

Of course those who wished to keep their slaves absolutely existed.  The perspective of many among the wealthy and politicos is clear.  But how does one enliven such an appreciable uprising of mostly underprivileged, non-slave-holding Southerners who knowingly faced impossible odds to draw arms against their brethren of the North for the sake of maintaining an institution that was perpetuated by a mere 6% of the populace (according to the 1860 U.S. census)?

Abraham Lincoln, who did not amend his long-held stance on human servitude until it became more politically expedient, called for 75,000 volunteers soon after the Stars and Bars had been raised over Fort Sumter, almost instantly triggering the unforeseen secession of four additional states to join the Confederacy, including Tennessee, which had initially voted by a considerable 4-to-1 margin to remain with the Union.  So why the sudden change of heart?

Make no mistake, both sides are responsible for reinterpreting facts to support their own conclusions.  Yet from the lowest enlisted soldier, to the highest ranking and most renowned generals, an ambition to keep an entire race of people in shackles is noticeably absent in their correspondence.  Dismiss that as spin if you like, as the debate itself all too often centers more on demonization than comprehensive veracity.  As a direct consequence, advocating a broader understanding of a matter such as this is frequently rejected without a second thought.

Fatefully perhaps, some of that blame falls on the unrestrained Southerner who flew the Banner for motives that were never typified by Lee and Jackson.  That said, individuals and groups who fly a flag to exhibit a disdain of anyone do not require a symbolism of any kind to demonstrate their brand of contempt.  Truly such people would hate without it.  In fact, if the Confederate States and all its relics had never existed, they would still hate.

And let us be especially honest about this.  America currently has a bevy of racially-based issues throughout New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Los Angeles, among other metropolitan areas.  Yet it is the former Confederate nation that is hit with the inclusive liability of all racial matters while virtually all others are given a pass.

The duality of being both Southern and American can be a burden, but it's anything but a curse.  So I ask the nay-sayers: Is it easier to reject this sentiment as a neo-Confederate fantasy, or is it simply too inconvenient, or problematic, to consider the possibility that maybe the unpleasantness of the time wasn't entirely about you?

Later in life, General Beauregard – "The Hero of Fort Sumter" and the fifth-most senior general in the Confederate army – declined offers from both Egypt and Romania to take command of their respective armies, saying "I prefer to live here, poor and forgotten, than to be endowed with honor and riches in a foreign country."  If a more definitive statement about love of home and region has ever been made, I have not seen it.  In the end, perhaps those dastardly Southerners were merely culpable of loving the Southland just a little more than you.