Georgetown defeated San Diego 3-1 Saturday at
home to earn its first trip to the Final Four.
Baseball may be dead in Hoover (for the time being), but soccer lives on.
The Final Four compete at Regions Park this weekend for the NCAA Division I men’s soccer championship, with Georgetown against Maryland and Creighton against Indiana.
UAB (10-8-2), the sole team from Alabama, lost in the first round Nov. 15 to UNC-Charlotte (15-4-3). If that sounds familiar, the Blazers lost to Charlotte in the 2011 opening round, too; the 49ers went on to lose to North Carolina in the finals.
No. 2 Maryland (20-1-2) plays No. 3 Georgetown (19-3-2) in the first semi-final match; No. 16 Indiana (14-5-3) faces No. 12 Creighton (17-3-3) right after. Creighton’s trip to the 2011 Final Four in Hoover ended against Charlotte in a double overtime 4-1 shootout.
The first semi-final takes place at 4 p.m. Friday, while the second follows at 6:30. The championship game takes place at 1 p.m. Sunday.
All games air on ESPNU. Tickets are $20, for either both Friday semifinal matches or the Sunday championship, $35 for all three in advance online or $20 per day at the gate and free for age 1 and younger.
For more information, visit the NCAA College Cup Soccer website.
Video: The official BCS rankings putting Alabama
and Notre Dame in the top game.
For those who enjoy the comforts of seeing the same teams again and again, this football post-season is for you …
• No. 2 Alabama capped another stellar season with an 11-1 record, a win over Georgia Saturday night for the SEC Championship and a BCS title fight against undefeated No. 1 Notre Dame next month.
The two storied programs haven’t faced each other in 25 years. Notre Dame leads the series 5-1, going back to New Year’s Eve 1973.
This marks the Tide’s third trip in 4 years, and the fourth consecutive year the state is represented in the national championship. The game takes place Jan. 7 in Miami and airs at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
• It wouldn’t be the BBVA Compass Bowl without Pitt. Literally.
Since the bank took over title sponsorship in late 2010, the 2011 and 2012 games invited Big East-but-soon-to-be-ACC member Pittsburgh to Birmingham’s bowl game.
Pitt (6-6) returns Jan. 5 to face the SEC’s representative, Ole Miss (6-6), making its first appearance in the game.
Kickoff is at noon at Legion Field, airing on ESPN. Tickets are $30 and $50 and can be purchased online or by calling (877) 464-9529.
• Hoover will play for the 6A state high school championship Friday. If that sounds familiar, it might be because this represents the Bucs’ 12th trip in the past 13 years. Dynasty much?
Undefeated Hoover plays Opelika (10-4) at 7 p.m.
Meanwhile, McAdory (14-0) makes its first trip to the big game on Thursday. The Yellow Jackets face Spanish Fort for the 5A title at 7 p.m.
All Super Six games take place Thursday and Friday at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium, airing on My68. Tickets are $10 and available online.
Map: Recycle cooking oil at 27 locations in Jefferson County.
Deep-frying the Thanksgiving turkey has grown in popularity over the years, and so has the oil needed to cook those birds. The average fryer requires 2 to 3 gallons of peanut or vegetable oil.
Rather than toss it — and pollute our water supply — home cooks have another option: recycling.
Jefferson County set up 17 stations (shown in blue) for residents to pick up containers and drop off used cooking oil and grease. Donors are asked to allow oil to cool first and use either the provided containers or non-glass containers.
Hoover collects close to 10,000 gallons annually for recycling into bio-diesel fuel.
For more information on Jefferson County’s program, call (205) 238-3876. For more information on Hoover’s program, contact (205) 444-7655 or fire@ci.hoover.al.us.
To aid your trip to the polls, we have the sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby Counties for the general election. (The 180-page Jefferson County ballot has a version for every district.)
Know the candidates. Study the 11 state amendments. Be an informed voter.
Also, check out the Alabama Voter Guide, with voting procedures and frequently asked questions.
For easier viewing, you can print, download or zoom to full screen with each ballot.
Voters cast ballots today despite some heavy rain from the approaching Hurricane Isaac.
Mayoral race winners from today for cities in Jefferson and Shelby Counties:
•
Adamsville: Pam Cairns-Palmer Calera: Jon Graham Chelsea: Earl Niven Clay: Charles Webster Columbiana: Stanley Handley County Line: Arthur “Buddy” Self Fultondale: Jim Lowery Gardendale: Othell Phillips Graysville: Mary Sue Morgan Harpersville: Theoangelo Perkins Hueytown: Delor Baumann Lipscomb: Lance McDade
Midfield: Gary Richardson Morris: Joe Pylant Mulga: Dennis McCrary North Johns: Kenneth Lindsey Pelham: Gary Waters Pinson: Hoyt Sanders Pleasant Grove: Jerry Brasseale Trussville: Gene Melton Vincent: Ray McAllister Warrior: Johnny Ragland Wilsonville: Lee McCarty Wilton: Joe Fancher
•
Runoffs:
Alabaster: David Frings and Marty Handlon
Brighton: Eddie Cooper and Barbara Watkins
Fairfield: Kenneth Coachman and Fredrick “Rev. F.D.” Scott
Helena: Mark Hall and Charles “Sonny” Penhale
Irondale: Tommy Alexander and James Stewart Jr.
Leeds: David Miller and Eric Patterson (corrected Oct. 9)
It wouldn’t be an election year without a lot of Election Days, and maybe a tropical storm coming in from the Gulf of Mexico.
Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday in 46 towns in Jefferson and Shelby Counties. Voters will select mayors and council members in these municipal races.
The precincts close at 7 p.m. Runoff races, if needed, will be held on Oct. 9.
Cities in Jefferson and Shelby Counties holding elections on Tuesday:
Adamsville
Alabaster
Brighton
Brookside
Calera
Cardiff
Center Point
Chelsea
Clay
Columbiana
County Line
Fairfield
Fultondale
Gardendale
Graysville
Harpersville
Helena
Homewood
Hoover
Hueytown
Indian Springs Village
Irondale
Kimberly
Leeds
Lipscomb
Maytown
Midfield
Montevallo
Morris
Mountain Brook
Mulga
North Johns
Pelham
Pinson
Pleasant Grove
Sylvan Springs
Tarrant
Trafford
Trussville
Vestavia Hills
Vincent
Warrior
West Jefferson
Westover
Wilsonville
Wilton
And for those still interested, the general election takes place Nov. 6.
See sample ballots for the 2012 general election for Jefferson and Shelby Counties.
•
Spring is still a week away, but Alabama voters are headed to the polls extra early this year to pick their party candidates.
To help you see the full candidate list for your district, we’ve included sample ballots for Jefferson and Shelby Counties for the primaries. (The Jefferson County ballots, 11 pages and 36 pages, include versions for every district.)
Also included is the Alabama Voter Guide 2012, which has information on voting procedures and frequently asked questions.
For easier viewing, you can print, download or zoom to full screen with each ballot.
Primary elections take place Tuesday across the state.
