Magic City Classic

Mayors edge Vulcans in an instant classic

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Once upon a time, in the rolling green hills of Alabama, there was a quiet valley where two long iron railroads crossed paths. For many years, the valley was mostly silent, filled with nothing but trees, red dirt, and big dreams. However, deep beneath the soil lay a magnificent secret: a trio of sleeping giants named coal, limestone, and iron ore. In 1871, a group of rugged pioneers and crafty builders looked at the dusty crossroads and decided to build a town. They named it Birmingham, after a great industrial city across the sea. At first, it was just a tiny village of tents and wooden shacks, but when the townspeople began digging into the earth, they woke the three buried giants. They quickly realized this valley (Jones Valley) was one of the only places on the entire planet where all three ingredients to make steel could be found side-by-side-by-side. Almost overnight, great brick towers called blast furnaces rose into the sky like dragon castles. Strong, hardworking people from all over the world including Slovakia and from every walk of life marched into the valley to work the mines and steel mills. The furnaces roared to life, melting the rocks and pouring out glowing, liquid iron that hardened into beautiful steel. The sky danced with the orange glow of sparks every single night and a sparkling new city was born. What happened in Birmingham the next 10 years was pure wizardry as the quiet crossroads town exploded with thousands of people who seemed to magically appear to build homes and shops. By 1900, the city expanded so fast it was dubbed “The Industrial Capital of the South”. The city seemed to pop up out of the ground overnight—as if summoned by a magician waving a magic wand—travelers and neighbors began to rub their eyes in disbelief. They looked at the soaring skyline, the bustling streets, and the towering furnaces, and called it "The Magic City". Because of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Birmingham would also become “The Football Capital of the South” which had a positive effect on almost all BDFL members. Today, the Greater Birmingham Metro Area is the home of 12 of the BDFL’s 16 teams. From Iron Hand to the Magic City Mayors to the North Birmingham Vulcans and the other 10 local clubs, the league’s history and the history of Birmingham are woven together like twisted steel never to be untangled. In Week 3 of the BDFL’s 32nd year, The Mayors edged the Vulcans (41-40) in a thriller in front of a packed house at the new Pro Stadium in Norwood. The tickets were split right down the middle as they should be and the game came down to a last second field goal by the Mayors as time expired in what was truly another “Magic City Classic”.

Birmingham Tonight by Telluride (1980)

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