Ways you can tell you're in the South

- On Saturday night, the top story on the local news is tomorrow's Titans-Jets game. The second story is the Vanderbilt-Tennessee game.

- On Sunday night, the top story is a recap of the Titans-Jets game, with interviews asking people how they plan to continue living after the Titans loss.

- Sitting next to us at Cracker Barrel at lunch yesterday are two standard-middle-management-looking guys in button-down shirts. They are discussing bowhunting and what firearms they have recently acquired.

- Not familiar with Cracker Barrel? It's a chain restaurant that aims to replicate the classic Southern "meat and three"-style eating establishment. For about $7, you get an entree (like pork BBQ, chicken, ham) and a couple of side dishes (like green beans, pinto beans, hashbrown casserole, fried okra, and the like) and some cornbread or biscuits. It's delicious, maybe because every dish involves pork fat in some way. Cracker Barrels are ubiquitous in the South, and come equipped with a gift shop and semi-intelligible waitresses.

- AM radio has several different stations featuring religiously-themed programming. Every day of the week. You can pass 5 or 8 churches in a 5-minute drive.

- Almost everyone is super-friendly, except for me. Kidding. I'm trying.