Birmingham Radio: Paul Finebaum To Pen Book

Paul Finebaum

Sports-talk radio personality Paul Finebaum has agreed to a major book deal with publisher HarperCollins to co-write a memoir about his popular call-in show, "The Paul Finebaum Radio Network," and its impact on SEC football, according to al.com.

"No one speaks to SEC Nation -- and Alabama fans in particular -- with more passion, knowledge and humor than Paul Finebaum," HarperCollins Senior Vice President and Executive Editor David Hirshey said in an email. "We expect this book to occupy the same spot  on the best-seller list that Alabama occupies in the BCS rankings -- number one."

Finebaum will receive an advance of more than $500,000, which is considered a major deal in the publishing world, according to a source.

The book is scheduled for an August 2014 release.

The deal with HarperCollins came about as a result of a lengthy feature story about the Finebaum show that appeared in The New Yorker magazine in December, Finebaum said. Soon after, he said, New York literary agent David Vigliano called him and said the story would make a great book.

"He described it as, 'Sports is all about arguments and why my team is better than yours,'" Finebaum said. "He just felt this was the perfect book to present nationally about why the South and the SEC is better and he felt that I was the perfect storyteller, having this role as the host of an extremely popular program that deals primarily with the SEC."

ESPN.com columnist Gene Wojciechowski, who has co-authored autobiographies with Pittsburgh Steelers great Jerome Bettis and NBA legends Reggie Miller and Bill Walton, will co-write the book with Finebaum.

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