Yankee Girl Survives First Year at Southern University

[naraht]

I think prior to 1995 ish that the only culturally *southern* cities with any pro sports teams were Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta (I'm not counting St. Louis, Houston, Tampa or Miami as culturally southern).

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by naraht

I think prior to 1995 ish that the only culturally *southern* cities with any pro sports teams were Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta (I'm not counting St. Louis, Houston, Tampa or Miami as culturally southern).

The Charlotte Hornets (NBA) were established in 1988 and stayed in Charlotte until they relocated to New Orleans in 2002.

[shirley1929]

Originally Posted by naraht

I think prior to 1995 ish that the only culturally *southern* cities with any pro sports teams were Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta (I'm not counting St. Louis, Houston, Tampa or Miami as culturally southern).

What about San Antonio? Or is all of SOUTH Texas not "culturally southern"?

[naraht]

Originally Posted by shirley1929

What about San Antonio? Or is all of SOUTH Texas not "culturally southern"?

Well, I'd say you have degrees of "cultural southernness" in Texas. I mean no one is going to consider Beaumont anything by culturally southern, and no one is going to consider El Paso culturally southern.

To give you an idea, I consider Dallas culturally southern, but not Ft. Worth. I tend to go off the descriptions in "Nine Nations of North America" which has Houston as a border town between "Dixie", "The Breadbasket" and Mex-america. Given the degree to which the borders of Dixie have shrunk in Florida and Virginia in the 30 years since NNoNA has been published and what I have read about Houston poltics, I presumed the border had moved enough in Texas to move Houston slightly outside the definition.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by naraht

Well, I'd say you have degrees of "cultural southernness" in Texas. I mean no one is going to consider Beaumont anything by culturally southern, and no one is going to consider El Paso culturally southern.

To give you an idea, I consider Dallas culturally southern, but not Ft. Worth. I tend to go off the descriptions in "Nine Nations of North America" which has Houston as a border town between "Dixie", "The Breadbasket" and Mex-america. Given the degree to which the borders of Dixie have shrunk in Florida and Virginia in the 30 years since NNoNA has been published and what I have read about Houston poltics, I presumed the border had moved enough in Texas to move Houston slightly outside the definition.

Not familiar with your source, but if it includes St Louis as "culturally southern" (see your earlier post), then I don't know how much stock I'd put in its definitions.

[shirley1929]

Originally Posted by naraht

To give you an idea, I consider Dallas culturally southern, but not Ft. Worth.

This is a mistake (my opinion)...Dallas is as culturally southern as Nebraska. Fort Worth is far more southern-acting than Dallas. Dallas the city =/= Dallas the TV show.

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

I would say that Houston as a whole is not southern, but there are very strong enclaves of southerness.

I would agree and tell you that the older neighborhoods (River Oaks, Heights, Memorial Park, etc...) are what would drive my opinion to believe that Houston is far more southern-acting than noted here. I suppose the same argument could be made for Dallas' older neighborhoods, but I still say it's too much of a midwestern melting pot to be considered "southern". Northern Oklahoma...

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Not familiar with your source, but if it includes St Louis as "culturally southern" (see your earlier post), then I don't know how much stock I'd put in its definitions.

Co-Sign

[naraht]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Not familiar with your source, but if it includes St Louis as "culturally southern" (see your earlier post), then I don't know how much stock I'd put in its definitions.

St. Louis is another border town, and an odd one at that. It is on the border between the Breadbasket (to its north and west) and Dixie (to its south and east), but East St. Louis belongs in the Foundry.

[APhiRattlerGal]

lol this is awesome

[amIblue?]

Interesting article about being "ethnically southern" from Outkick the Coverage. I've copied and quoted the pertinent text, which is in the middle of the post. Link to follow.

David R. writes:
"Slive and Skipper mentioned the 'SEC' chant at football games (specifically the BCS Championship Game in January) and how it highlighted the pride we take in our conference during the SEC Network press conference. While true, as an Arkansas fan, I have to ask how long is it acceptable for the non-Alabamas, Floridas, LSUs, and/or Georgias to do this chant when we play out of conference or bowl games? I love being in the SEC, but at some point the rest of us are sort of living on the accomplishments of other schools. The proper analogy is that Alabama, LSU, and Florida are the awesome life-of-the-party members of the good frat who get all the ladies while Vandy, Kentucky, and Mississippi State are the weird guys with no friends who got a bid because their dads were members. Oh, and Auburn is the guy who helps everyone cheat on their exams. Hey-oh!"
Yeah, this is a good and valid question that I get versions of all the time.
The sad truth is that all SEC programs aren't created equal. So there's definitely some reflected glory involved in the chant. But the bigger issue is that the SEC chant isn't really about sports at its core, it's cultural.
Let me explain.
First, let's begin with the simplest explanation I can give for why the SEC chant exists -- it's because the South is an ethnicity for many Southerners. In particular, no white person in the South thinks of themselves as part of a specific ethnic group. People aren't Irish or German or British or Italian or Polish or Russian or any other European background, we're just Southern, that's our ethnicity. (Many black people also feel this way as well, it's why I've argued for Pan-Southernism in the past. Pan-Southernism refers to the fact that many Southerners instinctively root for the Southern person or team if they have no other rooting interest).
I noticed this for the first time when I went away to college in Washington, D.C. and immediately felt a kinship with any person who was from the South. I was from Nashville, it's not like Nashville and Birmingham or Atlanta or New Orleans or Charlotte are next door geographical neighbors, but when I'd meet someone from these cities, I immediately felt like I knew them, like we had something in common. They felt the same way. Honestly, every person who lives outside the South right now and is reading this knows exactly what I mean. You crave meeting other Southerners. That's because we we were all ethnically Southern.
Then I married my wife, who is from Detroit, where most white people still identify themselves based on their European background. My wife is half German and half Italian. When we started dating and I visited her family up there they asked me where my family was from. I'd never been asked this before -- we'd been Southern as long as I could remember, that was our ethnicity.
So people from the South feel as if we share a kinship with other Southerners in a way that other regions of the country don't.
Being Southern is our ethnicity.
Second, the South was a perpetual underdog for much of our history. We lost a war, we had lots of poor people, the rest of the country looked down on us, as a group we were the castoffs who weren't given respect. This extended to sports too where we always felt our teams were looked over.
Then, what happened?
Air conditioning.
Air conditioning is the SEC's oil.
It changed everything.
Suddenly everyone wanted to move here, our cities boomed, our land values exploded, our populations soared.
We weren't the underdogs anymore, but we still felt like the underdogs.
At its root the SEC chant comes from two causes: 1. the fact that all Southerners feel we share something in common and 2. the underdog mentality.
You root for the Southern team, the one you feel a kinship for because Southern is your ethnicity.
When you think of the SEC chant as more rooted in the culture of the South than the sports of the South, winning is only a part of it.

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/al...rk-edition.php

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Second, the South was a perpetual underdog for much of our history. We lost a war, we had lots of poor people, the rest of the country looked down on us, as a group we were the castoffs who weren't given respect. This extended to sports too where we always felt our teams were looked over.

That's. It. Exactly.
And it's still true. Go over on another popular forum and do a search for any Southern state's name or even "Southern" and you'll find all kinds of disparaging remarks and our states held up for ridicule.

Another reason it's so hilarious to read those Q/A forums where potential new members ask, "I'm from the north and going to a big SEC school. Will I get a bid?"

[OneHeartOneWay]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

Interesting article about being "ethnically southern" from Outkick the Coverage. I've copied and quoted the pertinent text, which is in the middle of the post. Link to follow.

http://www.outkickthecoverage.com/al...rk-edition.php

Random: I'm obsessed with Clay Travis and Outkick the Coverage. Have been following him from job to job for several years. If you like southernness (and can laugh at yourself if you are southern), particularly SEC football, you HAVE to read his book Dixieland Delight. And, you have to check his website fairly regularly, but definitely on Friday's when his "mailbag" comes out (where amiblue? pulled this).

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by OneHeartOneWay

Random: I'm obsessed with Clay Travis and Outkick the Coverage. Have been following him from job to job for several years. If you like southernness (and can laugh at yourself if you are southern), particularly SEC football, you HAVE to read his book Dixieland Delight. And, you have to check his website fairly regularly, but definitely on Friday's when his "mailbag" comes out (where amiblue? pulled this).

He's a fun writer. Obnoxious at times, but I enjoy his perspective. Dixieland Delight is certainly a good read.

[GTAlphaPhi]

Does anyone else use the variation on "all y'all", "all a ya'll"? That is, "all of y'all".
I say both, but I've never actually seen it written out, so I guess it could be "all a y'all", "all'a y'all", or many other spellings.

[SWTXBelle]

I would say that Houston as a whole is not southern, but there are very strong enclaves of southerness.

[ArtsyChick]

I took a trip to San Antonio for a cousin's wedding... I definitely can't pull off the "y'all", I have no drawl! Nice trip for some warm weather, I love the Midwestern winter, but it snowed last week! It's supposed to be spring!

Oh, and the San Antonio river walk is gorgeous!!