My fellow Memphians...

[KyleVeazey]

Dear fellow Memphians, two things:

1) Isn't it nice to live in the greatest city in America?

2) I'm doing a book signing and discussion Thursday night at 6 at The Booksellers at Laurelwood there off Poplar in East Memphis. I'd love to see you there. It's sort of the last hurrah, event-wise, for "Champions for Change," the book that chronicles the 1963 Mississippi State basketball team's dramatic trip to the NCAA tournament. Since the book came out in October, my guess is if you're really interested in the thing, you've already bought it. So I want to make the event tomorrow night more of a Q&A and discussion, as opposed to simply sitting up there signing books.

Again, I'd love to see y'all.

Have a nice day.

 

[dawgstudent]

Help out Ole Miss alumnus Kyle Veazey anyway you can!!!

 

[onewoof]

#onemanpeprally

 

[PBRME]

You lost me at #1.

 

[vhdawg]

I cannot endorse any city containing an I-240 as the greatest city in America.

But it is a great book, if you must travel to Memphis to obtain it.

 

[CadaverDawg]

Can you guarantee me a run in with a detective from the First 48? Autographs n ****

**

 

[GhostOfJackie]

Name one thing that makes Memphis the greatest city in America? (Except that its only 45 minutes from Oxford)

 

[dogeatdog]

Memphis is number one in a lot of things........

Crime, obesity.......It definitely has it's positives..........Actually I think New Orleans is no. 1 in obesity but Memphis is right up there.

ss

 

[PBRME]

Can you guarantee me a run in with a detective from the First 48? Autographs n ****

**

If you hang out on Park just east of Airways later that night odds are you may meet one of them. You'll probably have a show based on your meeting.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

Nashville and Little Rock are much much much nicer places to live. Birmingham is a little better too. Memphis is an excrement hole that is getting more foul with each decade. I do NOT recommend it to any new grads looking to begin life and start a family.

In addition to all the other issues mentioned, it is not an aesthetically pleasing place either. Just thought that needs mentioning too. Oh and 17 Memphis basketball.

 

[RocketDawg]

Nashville is definitely a nice place, don't know about Little Rock (but it's much smaller than any of the places mentioned so not really a good comparison), but if Memphis is worse than Birmingham it must be a terrible place. Birmingham is awful.

 

[azdawg]

snake oil salesman***

 

[gtowndawg]

I have to ask, what's wrong with Birmingham?

Just curious, I don't know much about it at all. But I've always thought it would be a nice place to live based on location. Close to Memphis, State, Atlanta and the Gulf Coast which are all important to me. It even has a nice lake not too far away.

Is it the local politics? The people?

 

[patdog]

There's a lot wrong with Birmingham the city (politics, crime). But the area to the south (Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Oak Mountain) is a great place to live.

 

[jakldawg]

Oh, goody. This subject again.

Which mid-sized southern city sucks the least.

 

[RocketDawg]

Exactly. Stay out of Jefferson County and it's a pretty nice area. Shelby County seems to be the current "place to be" for middle incomers.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

New Orleans is unique unlike any other city in America. It's a cultural icon. Memphis has Elvis and one party street.

 

[RocketDawg]

Well ... I like Huntsville

So it gets my vote.

 

[hatfieldms]

I'll give you Nashville...

...but I'll take Memphis all day over Little Rock or Birmingham. And to say Memphis is getting worse by the decade is laughable. They have done a lot with the downtown area over the years. As long as you stay out of orange mound, Frazier, and south Memphis you are fine

 

[GhostOfJackie]

Which mid-sized southern city sucks the least.

Yeah, usually this conversation is saved until bowl season and the dawgs are towing the line between Music City, Liberty and Birminham bowls. This year the Memphis bashing starts early.

 

[hatfieldms]

Yeah that is all Memphis is. Elvis and one party street

 

[ChevChilios]

...but I'll take Memphis all day over Little Rock or Birmingham. And to say Memphis is getting worse by the decade is laughable. They have done a lot with the downtown area over the years. As long as you stay out of orange mound, Frazier, and south Memphis you are fine

Sounds like the beginning of a 36 mafia song lol

 

[coach66]

Been spending more time with work in Little Rock and have to agree that it is a

nice town. What Jackson could have been with the right leadership, they were basically the same cities 30 years ago.

 

[ckDOG]

Memphis - not much to look at, but I like it.

I figured a crowd that called Starkville, MS home for at least part of their lives wouldn't be so harsh on aesthetics. As far as cites go, it ain't that bad.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

If you are talking about getting robbed. Yeah maybe so. If you are talking about buying a house and raising a family, you need to update your list to include a lot more areas.

Also, I don't care if Memphis puts in the best damn bars and trolleys in all the land in downtown. There is still not a neighborhood i would buy a house or a city school anywhere i would enroll a kid. Just wait too, when the city schools drain the new County school district of all it's money, people will get the hell out of Gtown and Collierville. House values will drop and schools will be crap. Book it.

Frayser and Whitehaven in the 70s. Raleigh and Parkway Village in the 80s. Cordova 00s. Even some areas of Germantown now. All those cookie cutter, postage stamp lots in Arlington are next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP0qjFT9H3o

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Memphis ain't that bad. Dayum.

 

[Ishmael]

Not a neighborhood you'd buy a house in? Not a city school anywhere you'd enroll a kid? You wouldn't even consider living on Mud Island, South Main, South Bluffs, Central Gardens, Cooper Young, Belle Meade, High Point, or Pigeon Estates (just to name a few)? Or sending a kid to Snowden, Richland, Grahamwood, or Campus School? Sure, just like any city, Memphis has its bad areas and poor schools, but there are plenty of nice neighborhoods and at least a few decent city schools in Memphis.

 

[Felonious Junk]

memphis sucks major balls. compared to nash and little rock its the pit of hell

 

[Franklin&Bash-dawg]

Whoa

did most of you lemmings miss the point of this thread.

Good luck Kyle, great book.

 

[Maroonthirteen]

Do kids that live on Mud Island, South Main, South Bluffs, Central Gardens, etc. go to Snowden or Grahamwood or etc.? NO! I know a few people in those areas, and their kids go to private schools.

Bottom line, people have their own taste and preferences, however, Desoto County, Tipton County and Fayette County continuing to grow is telling. Now, you have that huge school problem/consolidation.

 

[Ishmael]

I don't know a lot of people with kids who live in the downtown areas, but I do know people who live in decent neighborhoods in Memphis (central gardens, cooper young, high point, etc.) who send their kids to public school. Sure, everyone has different tastes and some of the suburbs are growing, but that hardly means there are no good neighborhoods or public schools in Memphis.

Also, to go back to the original post, I'd recommend Kyle Veazey's book. It's quite good, though I won't be able to make it to the thing this evening, which is in a nice neighborhood in Memphis.

 

[idog]

yes! Frasier and Orange Mound lead the way**

good barbeque and a decent place to visit. 60% illiterate. worst drivers in the world. ultra ghetto and far more racial tension than anywhere else i've ever been. terrible schools. many better places to be.

lived their 6 years(in midtown, not a burb). wouldn't go back for nuthin'.

signed// Orange Mound Maffia

 

[sleepy dawg]

did most of you lemmings miss the point of this thread.

Good luck Kyle, great book.

We haven't made it to topic 2 yet. There's still a debate about topic 1.