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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Fester is slacking again this week. I think it’s some kind of holiday down in the swamps of Baton Rouge. They will make up any excuse to eat alligator or nutria. Anyway, the next time you hear an Alabama fan say, “I can’t believe Dennis Franchione left Alabama for a dump like Texas A&M,” here’s a bit of info to pass along.

Fester got this from a Dec. 6 column by Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

“Alabamans insist that the Tide has a top-five football program. And sure, they do — in the Southeastern Conference. Since Bryant’s last season in 1982, Alabama has won 152 games, lost 78 and tied one. In the same span, Florida is 177-51-4. Tennessee is 174-50-6. Bitter rival Auburn is 156-66-3. The Crimson Tide isn’t even No. 1 in its own state.” Another telling fact: Texas A&M has almost twice as many alums on NFL rosters this year as Alabama.

But these pearls of wisdom will probably be wasted on you average Alabama swine.

Mississippi native Donna Ladd and partner Todd Stauffer founded the Jackson Free Press in 2002 in the capital city. The heavily awarded local newspaper did many investigations heralded across the state and nation and served as a paper of record due to its diversity, inclusion, in-depth reporting and deep connection to readers and dedication to narrative change in and about Mississippi. In 2022, the nonprofit Mississippi Free Press, founded by Ladd and JFP Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin in 2020, purchased the journalism assets and archives of the Jackson Free Press. A Google grant through AAN Publishers enabled Newspack's integration of the JFP archives into the Mississippi Free Press website to become part of a more searchable archive of recent Mississippi history and essential journalism.