If Nick Saban has the most influential voice in the Southeastern Conference then Paul Finebaum isn’t far behind.
But instead of having competing voices, the legendary radio host and seven-time national champion have almost been the perfect marriage when it came to the growth in popularity of the university, conference and fandom. Finebaum’s apex in the radio business came to a head when Saban first took over the Crimson Tide back in 2007 when the popularity of his show skyrocketed.
Finebaum opened up about Saban’s impact on his career during an appearance on “The Press Box” podcast with the Ringer’s Bryan Curtis where he went as far as to say that Saban was somebody who saved his career.
“Saban, really in many ways, saved my career,” Finebaum said. “I never covered a consistent winner at Alabama, and suddenly, that’s all they did. So yeah, did I embrace Nick Saban? Sure. But why wouldn’t you? Are you going to try to battle this guy that keeps winning? Are you going to say after his first one, ‘He’s never going to win again?'”
Throughout the podcast, Finebaum also touched on the lessons he learned with one of them being the impact of Alabama fans calling into his show even through hardship.
“With Alabama fans, when they weren’t doing well, it was about the way they used to be and how they were going to be,” Finebaum said. “You couldn’t keep them down. And that really helped me.”
“The Paul Finebaum Show” has been event listening for SEC sports fans for over a decade which has provided fans with brutally honest takes and some of the most memorable moments in the league’s fandom which was discussed in full on the podcast.
The full show can be listened to here.
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