Magic City vs. Bluff City

I’ve had a fondness for Memphis for as long as I can remember.

I first visited as a kid when my brother was stationed in nearby Millington at what’s now known as Naval Support Activity Mid-South.

As I got a bit older, I was lured by music (Beale Street is magnificent) and revelry (did I mention that Beale Street is magnificent?)

I love the people … I love the vibe.

Yet, as a Birmingham native, resident and sports fan, I often find myself rooting against the city when one of its teams takes on one of mine. And there’s just something about a professional football game between Memphis and Birmingham that always fires me up.

Saturday night was no different.

The modern USFL Stallions opened up a can on the new-look, new-era Showboats, looking very much like a team serious about defending their league championship with a 42-2 thrashing at Protective Stadium.

It was a great team effort, with quarterback Alex McGough turning in an MVP-level performance that resulted in more than 300 passing yards and four touchdowns. And the defense was absolutely smothering.

Beyond that, though, it was just cool to look at a scoreboard that had both Birmingham and Memphis on it.

“I think it’s great,” Birmingham coach Skip Holtz said. “I think the whole South Division is great with New Orleans, who we’re sharing the hub with, and Houston, and now it’s exciting to play Memphis. (In rivalry games) one day you’re the windshield and one day you’re the bug, and tonight was our night. It’s certainly going to be fun to continue to build these rivalries.”

For Memphis coach Todd Haley, it was an inauspicious start to the new Birmingham/Memphis football duel.

“That result is not acceptable in any way, shape or form,” Haley said. “When you get an ass-kicking like that, you’ve got to go take a long shower and get rid of it and move forward. They’re not canceling the season and we’ve got to figure out a way to get in position to win a game. And Birmingham comes (to Memphis) at the end of the year.”

The first time I saw teams repping the Magic City and Bluff City came on July 24, 1974, and since then I’ve been in the house for five other gridiron clashes across five different leagues.

No, it’s not some longstanding rivalry, especially since most of their matchups came in short-lived circuits.

All told, they’ve only met on the gridiron a grand total of 14 times (I include a controlled scrimmage that I’ll get into shortly), with Birmingham holding an 9-5 record following this modern era USFL showdown between the Stallions and Showboats.

But the ones I saw live have stuck with me.

The 1974 World Football League game at Legion Field is still my favorite football game of all-time, bar none. If you’ll allow me a moment of shameless self-promotion, I went into great detail about the Birmingham Americans’ 58-33 victory over the Memphis Southmen in my book The Home Team: My Bromance With Off-Brand Football. (I’m not asking you to buy it … you can find it at a library. But if you insist on buying it, I won’t stand in your way).

The second meeting I witnessed was a controlled between the Birmingham Vulcans and Southmen in 1975. But it wasn’t just any closed scrimmage; it marked the WFL debut of Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield and Jim Kiick, who Memphis had been signed away from the Miami Dolphins. (John Bassett’s huge deal was actually made when the franchise was supposed to play in Toronto as the Northmen, but the players – and their money – made the trip to Tennessee).

More than 35,000 of us showed up to watch Birmingham record a come-from-behind 23-18 victory in a July 3 game that had no kickoffs, contested field goals or punt returns.

The WFL went cleats up before completing its second season (although the Vulcans swept the Southmen in their two regular season games), but the old rivals were rivals once again in the original United States Football League.

While the Stallions were a flagship USFL franchise the Showboats were added in 1984, and the teams met twice that season and two more times in 1985.

Their first encounter was a 54-6 thrashing by Birmingham in front of 41,500 hometown fans on March 17, 1984.

It was a breakout performance for new Birmingham quarterback Cliff Stoudt, who connected on 21 of 29 passes for 273 yards and two TDs.

I rather enjoyed myself that evening.

Following the USFL’s three-and-out, it was 10 years before the cities’ next pro football meeting, that coming during the CFL season of 1995.

Sadly, they didn’t play at Legion Field and I had to listen to the Birmingham Barracudas’ 28-19 loss to the Memphis Mad Dogs on September 24 while working the Sunday desk at my newspaper job.

Then came the original XFL in 2001, and the season opener between the Birmingham Thunderbolts and Memphis Maniax on February 4.

A crowd of 35,321 observed Memphis escape with a 22-20 victory, but what made it memorable for me is that it marked the first time I actually got to cover a Birmingham pro football team while working for a daily newspaper.

And then 18 years went by before I saw Birmingham and Memphis square off on the gridiron again. That came in the 2019 debut of the Alliance of American Football when the Birmingham Iron blanked the Memphis Express, 26-0.

That day – February 10 – ended my long absence away from Legion Field’s press box and it was the first time I’d ever covered a Birmingham pro football team as a member of out-of-state media (I was living in South Carolina).

And so here we are again, April 22, 2023, and I get to make a note of another milestone; it’s the first time I’ve seen a Birmingham pro football team play a Memphis pro football team anywhere other than Legion Field.

But hey … I’ve already professed my love for the Home of the Blues, and these teams close out the regular season on June 17 at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

Might be worth a road trip … with a stopover on Beale Street.