Are you going to watch The Hatfields and McCoy's on the History Channel?

While I have an obvious bias, the first night indicates they went to great pains to be as historically accurate as they could and still make it watchable drama.

 

I liked it. Bill Paxton is a bad fit, but I will watch it again tonight.

 

Team hatfield.

 

"We are not infidels like the Hatfields." I've been smiling at that line all night.

 

Anyone know what time they'll show a replay of this tonight? I can't bring myself to skip the USA-Brazil game, but I do want to see this.

 

Dumb question of the day, obviously, but are you a hatfield of this descent? I never knew

 

Yes.

 

Bruce Pearl and Mike Griffith both just tweeted "Team McCoy."

 

Very cool. I can only imagine the stories you have about that

 

lol

 

I knew next to nothing of the actual history. Been reading up some while watching. Very interesting.

 

They'd fit right in with them. Losers like to hang with other losers.

 

I'm a bit surprised at how little dramatic license they've taken in this series. Of course, it's a pretty damn compelling story without any embellishment.

 

Frank Phillips is an incredibly intriguing historical figure. Very few true mercenaries in American history, outside of the Revolutionary Era.

 

I think Costner as done a superb job as Devil Anse. The way he uses the pipe as a prop when speaking is pretty cool. (I'm saying this only artistically speaking; I know next to nothing about the real Devil Anse or his mannerisms).

 

Rumor has it tony jones said "hatfields play checkers, mccoys play chess."

 

Tell Tony Jones that Memphis Mitchell and Stone Memorial say hello.

 

Hat, you ever read the book Fued: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia?

I have been a part of a program called Teaching American History. Been a great program. We read the book and discussed it in depth. The author paints the fued as being a part of clash between mountain culture and the emerging national industrial culture that had allied itself with the McCoys.

I was just wondering if any of that held any water in the stories passed down to you.

 

Also Hat, how is the feud today?

 

I think it was almost purely fueled by personal grievances, real and imagined. The fact the New York Times and the eastern elite bought the McCoy's claims of martyrdom, while annoying, had little to do with anything other than the Supreme Court allowing those captured by Phillips' raids into West Virginia to be tried in Kentucky. The damage had been done by the time the world outside the Tug Fork River Valley began to take notice.