Paul Finebaum has been with ESPN for over a decade, serving as an expert commentator on SEC football. Michael Clubb/AP Atlanta —

Paul Finebaum tucks himself into what he hopes is an obscure corner of the Signia Hotel bar, trying to find a place where he might have a conversation without being recognized.

Which is, of course, impossible.

It is SEC Championship weekend and Atlanta is teeming with red-and-black Dawg fans and houndstoothed Bama faithful in a cacophony of Southern drawls and pigskin allegiance. These are his people, the ones who gave the sportswriter-turned-radio-host-turned-sports-personality his firehose.

Sometimes they love him. Other times they loathe him, but they are always attuned to him.

Earlier in the day, Finebaum walked the concourse that attaches the hot

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