“Dixieland Delight”
By Clay Travis
HarperCollins. 367 pp. $13.95.

When you pick up Clay Travis’s “Dixieland Delight” your first question is why hasn’t anyone written this story before. Then you read the first few lines and realize that no one else but Travis could take on the task of visiting all 12 SEC football stadiums in one season. The Vanderbilt Law School alum, who a few years ago went on a pudding-only diet in protest of the NFL not televising games in the US Virgin Islands, writes with the same wit, honesty and supreme knowledge of the Southeastern Conference as he does in his irreverent CBS Sportsline column. "Dixieland Delight" is the guide to SEC football that every college football fan, young or old, should read.

My Favorite Chapter… Chapter 2: Tennessee w/Eulogy For Jefferson Pilot Sports
Anyone who’s watched an SEC game on the former JP will find this outro hilarious. You’ve got to give the new Lincoln Financial Sports credit, their new graphics this year are analogous to ESPN – circa 1999.

Something I learned… The story behind the most ridiculous chant in the SEC, Auburn’s “War Eagle.”
“The most popular story as to how the War Eagle tradition Began Dates to 1892, when Auburn played their first-ever football game against hated rival Georgia. Supposedly there was a civil war veteran in the crowd that day who had a pet eagle, which he had found injured on a battlefield. During the game the eagle spread his wings for the first time in weeks, broke free from his master’s hold, and began to soar over the field. As the eagle soared above, the Auburn football players on the ground began to drive toward the Georgia end zone. The Auburn fans began to chant, “War Eagle!” as the eagle continued to soar. After Auburn won the game, the eagle crashed to the field and died, but according to the legend, his spirit lives on every time an Auburn man or woman yells “War Eagle.”
This story just reinforces that the “War Eagle” chant is the most ridiculous one in the SEC.

Most Memorable Line… Wildcats love to score.
“Wetherhold asserts that when you are a Kentucky fan there is no such thing as scoring too fast. (Apparently, Kentucky football fans are not unlike virginal high school boys.)
Picking the funniest line of this book was like choosing your favorite kind of beer. There are so many of them, and you enjoy them all.

On a Personal Note… Mississippi State fans do exist!?!?
“Once we return to the car, I inform my friends that many a Mississippi State fan is waiting to kick my ass upon our arrival. They are angry that I have sullied the academic reputation of their illustrious university (“the Harvard of mideastern Mississippi”) by writing in my CBS Sportsline column that I did not believe anyone actually graduated from Mississippi State.”
When I attended the SEC Basketball Tournament last year, I was surprised as Travis that Mississippi State fans are real, and they follow the Bulldogs football and basketball teams like any other school in the SEC.

Before the author of “Dixieland Delight” left for his season-long book signing tour, he talked briefly with SU.

How Travis’s prior knowledge of being an SEC fan help him write the book…
Well one, it made me understand any experience any other fan is going to have because I know what it’s like to be an SEC football fan. I know the passion; most of other SEC fans I met did too. People ask, do you think other SEC fans, who are buying this book, mind you are UT fan if they’re not a UT fan. I think the answer to that is no because pretty much every SEC fan experiences the game as a hardcore passionate supporter of the team, and I had gone around all 12 football stadiums and not had a routing interest I think it would have seemed artificial, compared to how other people experience the games.

When he first began talking about the trip…
I didn’t really think about it until I started the CBS column and the column was doing well. I was practicing law in a different part of the country and I started thinking a lot of people like my dad had when they were younger got in the process of where they would go to one stadium a year to see what it was like at another SEC football stadium. He’d worked his way through the SEC before there were 12 teams over a nine years process, going to the nine stadiums. I’d always thought that was cool, but I never heard of anybody going to all of them in the same year, and I thought that was just a top of line book idea and I knew it would be a lot of fun, and I was excited about the opportunity to try it.

How his dad’s road trips compared to his…
He was never as much of a tailgater as I. But he would go with a group of guys and they would always have a great time. They didn’t have the benefit that I had of going to law school, meaning that I knew people who were fans of pretty much every school so they could serve as a guide, which is sort of invaluable when you go into a new town. Somebody who can show you the best aspects of the respective schools.

His dad’s stories about his trips…   
He had some good experiences and some bad experiences. The first time he went to Georgia, UT lost 44-0 or something like that, with Herschel Walker just running all over UT. The first game I ever remember watching on television by myself was the UT-Miami Sugar Bowl in 1986. Jan. 1, 1986. He came back and described that as the best night of his life. Which sort of threw my mom for a loop. UT just blew out Miami that year. I come by my fandom pretty naturally. My grandfather playing for UT and my dad being a huge fan. It’s just seemed like a completely normal thing.

How he started writing a column for CBSsportsline.com…
It’s interesting. I started a website about a year before I started the CBS column that we did very well with in terms of an audience. Sort of writing about irreverent things. CBS was starting and looking for someone who had an irreverent take on sports, and they liked my stuff and started in October 2005. So I’ve been almost two years now. I write three days a week. Initially I wrote two days a week. The columns have just sort of grown. Hopefully the column has gotten better.

I’m interested in writing an entertaining column for guys who have had jobs like me in the past. They’d like 10 or 15 minutes of entertainment during the course of their workday. If I can give that to people who are sitting at a desk staring at their computer screen all day, that’s my goal.

What he learned about SEC fans on the trip…
I knew they would be friendly. At least that was my experience, my experience of going to SEC football games. It’s totally different vibe than going to pro games just going to East Coast athletic events. In my experience, Southern people are so welcoming, even if they are routing against you. I thought everyone would be friendly and that was the case. That made the trip a lot easier. In terms of what I learned I say in the book, don’t every let fear of going to a new stadium keep from going to watch a game. I think that’s an illegitimate myth that’s sort of grown up based on what I saw.


How he was able to write honestly about these experiences…
Every time I write a column people will send me an email saying that they want me to die or they hate me. Eventually you get thick enough skin that you’re just trying to tell the story or your opinion. You’re not going to win over everybody by what you say. I said recently when you write a column every, if there’s a noun, it has an interest group at this point. Some people are easily offended and those aren’t my readers and I can’t be easily concerned if they are.

“Dixieland Delight” Tour w/Clay Travis
The first reader to have his or her picture taken with Clay Travis on his book tour and send it to editors@sumag.com will receive a free copy of the book. No purchase necessary.

Oct. 5 – Knoxville, Tenn.
Oct. 12 – Oxford, Miss.
Oct. 19 – Birmingham, Ala.
Oct. 20 – Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Oct. 27 – Orange Park, Fla.
Nov. 10 – Columbia, S.C.
Dec. 7 – Huntsville, Ala.

For information on the exact locations visit harpercollins.com.