GULF SHORES, Ala., — Doug Amos and Josh Moon are two guys who love sports.  As a matter of fact, they talk sports every day on their sports talk show The MAX Roundtable, that originates on Sports Radio 740 out of Montgomery.

In addition, the two guys love the Gulf Coast. So rather than taking the word of the national media, which has been giving conflicting stories about the condition of the coast since the oil spill crisis began, Amos and Moon decided they would take their “show on the road,” and head to the coast for a first hand view.

“My wife, daughter and I went to the beach about a month ago, and we talked to some businesses owners who told us about the impact the spill had on them and how tough the summer had been,” said Amos. “So I decided, hey, Josh and I have a forum we can use. So we went to our sponsor, Max Credit Union in Montgomery, and told them we wanted to go down to the beach to broadcast.”

So Amos and Moon found a condo, made a phone call to LuLu’s Homeport Marina and headed south in order to let their Montgomery listeners hear from the folks who live here.

“We just felt, since we are all Alabamians, that is was important for us to tell the real story and let everybody know that our beaches are as beautiful as ever and that they need to come on down.”

Moon said the experience has been positive.

“We got down here on Sunday and we’ve visited some nice places and from what I can tell, it looks like the same Gulf it has always been,” Moon said.  “There’s some boom floating around here and there but the beaches look fine. We are enjoying ourselves.”

When it came to deciding where to do their broadcast, both Amos and Moon said it had to be LuLu’s, and general manager Johnny Fisher seemed happy to be hosting the guys from the Capital City.

“We wanted to get them down here.  It was a great opportunity.  We wish more people had the same thoughts as they do,” Fisher said.

Fisher said that, while LuLu’s has been down during the summer months, he said the staff and management have battled the situation with optimism.

“We are hanging in there and things are getting better. We are trying to motivate the guests as well as our staff. When the going gets tough, you’ve got to get tough too, and that is what we are doing.”

With school back in session in less than a week, many would consider the season over, but Amos said there is still a lot of time for vacationing and lots of warm weather ahead and he is hopeful that folks will continue to take advantage of Alabama’s Gulf Coast. Since their audience is made up of sports fans, Amos and Moon are taking advantage of the opportunity to encourage their listeners to enjoy the best of both worlds.

“People love football in this state,” said Amos. “If you are not going to an Alabama or Auburn game we are encouraging people to come to the beach, watch the game on TV, come to LuLu’s or one of the other fine restaurants, stay in a condo and spend some money locally. We are all in this together.”

After hearing that the Gulf Shores High School team had dedicated their season to the community, both Amos and Moon agreed that there are some things more important that the final score of a game.

“I know Coach Freeman. He is a great football coach, and Josh and I agree that there are things that go way beyond winning and losing. It is more important that people are together as a community and as a state. I believe, as Mayor Kennon does, that when this is all over, everybody is going to be better coming out of this.”

As for their pre-season predictions, Moon has Auburn losing four games (Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss and Alabama) and Alabama losing one.

Amos likes Auburn going 10-2 with Alabama losing, not to Penn State or Florida, but to Arkansas or South Carolina.