It's Pub Day. Thank you.
Plus: An exclusive excerpt from IRON IN THE BLOOD!
Today is an author’s most anticipated and most anxious day: PUB DAY. The day the book you’ve held close to your heart for years claws its way out into the world, ready to take on the slings and arrows of readers and reviewers, casual skimmers and deep-dive scourers. Git ‘em, lil’ fella!
IRON IN THE BLOOD drops today, arriving in your mailboxes and Kindles and Audible accounts. (Assuming you’ve pre-ordered, of course. More on that in a moment.) When you’re an author, you never quite know how this is going to go, but you hope that people enjoy the book at least as much as you enjoyed making it.
I wrote up a big promo here last week, so I’ll keep this tight. First, and most importantly, thank you. Look, I love and appreciate all my readers, but you here, you Flashlight & A Biscuit readers … you have my deepest affection. I appreciate you taking the time to read a strange little newsletter that veers between literary and stupid on a regular, sometimes paragraph-by-paragraph basis. (Related: It’s about time to start rating State Fair of Texas foods again.) You are the very best, and I appreciate the time you give me so very much.
So, real quick, one more plea/request/directive:
-If you haven’t ordered the book yet, please do so! It helps so, so much to have people actually, you know, buy your book. I’m happy to sign bookplates for you to put in your copy, free, just reply or message me.
-If you have pre-ordered, please rate and review the book on all the major book sites (Amazon, Goodreads, Storygraph, Apple/Audible/Spotify for the audiobook). We’re trying to hammer it into the algorithm’s thick AI processor that people want to read this book, and ratings and reviews help surface it for others to see. Only takes a few seconds to review, and I’ll buy you a beer if you do. Promise.
-Finally, let me know what you think! Tell me your favorite (and least favorite) parts, let me know if you caught the Easter eggs I’ve dropped in there, send me your own Iron Bowl memories. Most important: hit me with photos of the book wherever you’re reading it! I love seeing that kind of stuff.
I really think you’ll enjoy IRON IN THE BLOOD, even if you’ve never come within 500 miles of the state of Alabama. Just to whet your appetite, here’s the introduction. Enjoy, and again … thank you.
The Most Important Turf in Alabama
There’s a small square of turf in the north corner of Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium that’s some of the most hallowed ground in recent college football history. That stretch of grass has raised hopes and shattered dreams, inspired celebrations and broken hearts. Europe has cathedrals; America has college football stadiums. And that little swatch of green in a tiny town in eastern Alabama is one of the most sanctified spots of them all.
In November 2013, Auburn’s Chris Davis stood about 109 yards away from that particular stretch of grass, in the opposite end zone, his feet right on the E in TIGERS. The sun had gone down an hour before, and with it Auburn’s apparent hopes for a national championship. There was one second remaining on the clock, one second standing between Auburn and oblivion.
Alabama—dreaded, feared, loathed Alabama—was lining up for a long field goal to break a 28–28 tie. Kicking is always dicey business in college football. Kicking has probably caused more heart attacks in the South than smoking and fried foods combined. Kicking is salvation or damnation, no middle ground.
With that 0:01 showing on Jordan-Hare’s dated scoreboard, foot met leather. The ball flew into the Alabama night, and it was clear from the moment of impact that this kick wouldn’t fly far enough. This was the Alabama–Auburn rivalry in microcosm: Alabama unable to escape the gravitational pull of Auburn; Auburn hanging on by its fingernails until a miracle occurred. As the ball traced an arc that would fall short of the crossbar, Auburn fans sighed with relief and Alabama fans grumbled; the game would go to overtime and they’d settle it there.
Only . . . the ball was still in the air. And Davis was still back there, waiting for it to fall. He caught the short field goal attempt, his heels nearly out of bounds . . . and he ran from that end zone straight into college football history and Auburn legend. Kick Six, they called it then, and they will forever.
Ten years later almost to the day, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe looked out on that same corner of the end zone. Milroe, a cannon-armed quarterback from Katy, Texas, faced even more dire circumstances than Auburn had. Alabama, a national championship dark horse, was losing 24–20 with just over 40 seconds remaining in the game. Down to his last snap, 31 yards from the end zone, Milroe had only one option: heave it north and pray.
He threw it deep—nearly half the length of the football field—and there, waiting in the end zone, almost exactly where Davis had crossed the goal line, stood Alabama receiver Isaiah Bond. The play was known internally as Gravedigger—because it would bury the opponent—and on this night, it worked to perfection for Alabama. Bond caught the ball, struck a James Bond–style pose—Bond, get it?—and Alabama won a most improbable Iron Bowl.
When you’re making a list of college football’s greatest plays, Kick Six ranks right there at the top. And although no one knew it at the time, Gravedigger would turn college football upside down, locking marquee programs out of the College Football Playoff and leading—directly or indirectly—to hundreds of major and minor coaching changes, and the total upheaval of several blue-chip programs.
Two plays. Endless ripples throughout college football. All from one corner of one end zone.
This is a book about two programs that took very different paths to arrive at the same destination, programs that are both nurturing mother and stern father to their fans—fans who, especially in the case of Alabama, may not have come anywhere near attending either school. It’s a century-plus-long tale of loyalty and love, faith and perseverance.
“It’s in the DNA,” ESPN journalist Ryan McGee says. “With these Alabama and Auburn people, the granddad went there. The grandma went there. Their great-uncle played football there. Their cousin was on the softball team. The difference is that it is a literal strand of your DNA. It’s not just, your family has had Red Sox tickets since 1945.”
“If you’re an Auburn fan, you probably have some sort of tie to Auburn. You either went to school here, or you have family that went to school here, or you live close by,” says Auburn Observer writer Justin Ferguson. “Whereas if you’re an Alabama fan and you don’t have a tie to the school, you’re probably also a Dallas Cowboys fan and a New England Patriots fan.”
“There’s no denying who the two teams’ arch-rival is,” says ESPN national columnist Dan Wetzel. “Alabama’s arch-rival is Auburn, Auburn’s arch-rival is Alabama. Oklahoma will say, ‘Well, we care more about Texas than Oklahoma State,’ Michigan will say, ‘We care more about Ohio State than Michigan State.’ An out-of-state rival can be intense, but you’re not on top of each other all day long.”
This is a tale of two warring families—patricians and underdogs, an elite institution and an everyman one. This is a tale of two schools that embody the best—and, at times, the worst—of a beautiful state ravaged by its own basest instincts.
This is a story about national championships won and lost, icons who rose and fell, legends born and dynasties crumbled. It’s a story of one-name giants who walked the earth: Bear. Shug. Bo. Nick. It’s a forever war with battles as memorable as family members’ names: The Kick. Punt Bama Punt. The Run in the Mud. The Camback. But more than that, it’s a story of how these two universities shaped the history of their state, how they pushed Alabama ahead—and, at some points, held it back—in a century-plus of societal upheaval. Sports reflects society, and the ways in which these two programs reflect the Yellowhammer State are to their credit . . . mostly.
“In the state of Alabama, people are told over and over again how terrible they are at so many different things,” says John Talty, author of multiple books on Alabama and college football. “You’re toward the bottom three in obesity, bottom three in poverty, bottom three in education. The thing that they can really beat their chest about is football. You can’t talk trash to the state of Alabama or the people within it about football. I do think it gives the people in this state a tremendous source of pride and joy, knowing that football is Alabama’s number one product to the world. That really permeates so much of the culture and how people act day-to-day.”
Fundamentally, this is a story for the people who invest this game and these institutions with holy reverence, the fans who head to T-Town or The Plains every fall Saturday, rolling down Interstate 85 or Highway 280 or Interstate 20 or Highway 82 or any of a hundred back roads that lead down from the mountains, through the Alabama pines, up from the Gulf. People live and die with the Tide and the Tigers, and that is in no way a literary conceit. They love these programs with their whole blessed hearts. Much like religion, in Alabama you get baptized into the crimson or orange fold at birth, and also much like religion, if you decide to break away from the family orthodoxy, you risk the wrath of generations of loved ones.
This is the story of the players on the field and the coaches on the sidelines, yes, but it’s also a story for the people in the stands, the fans who wait all their lives for a moment like Kick Six or Gravedigger, and then rise as one to cheer both their team and their own good luck to be there to witness that moment. And if you’re not one of those people, allow us to introduce you to this whole glorious, mad crimson-and-white, blue-and-burnt-orange circus.
There are more important things than football in Alabama, but we’ll be damned if we can think of them right now. Here’s why.
Ready to buy? Sure you are! Head on over here and get your copy!
This is issue #169 of Flashlight & A Biscuit. Check out all the past issues right here. Feel free to email me with your thoughts, tips and advice. If you’re new around here, jump right to our most-read stories, or check out some of our recent hits:
Home Turn, our new show for NASCAR Studios, is right here for you to watch:
Crime and college football, a glorious pairing
Drinking beers at a serial killer’s last resort
My uncle knocked out Joe DiMaggio
Talking with Michael Farris Smith about Mississippi, the darkness and his new novel
Our first documentary, on the famous Rama Jama’s diner in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
What does “Flashlight & A Biscuit” mean, anyway?
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Congratulations on pub day! I loved the book, and learned a lot from it!