The Big Dance starts nationwide Thursday, and eight teams are headed to Birmingham to Step. It. Up. The BJCC Arena will play host to first-round East region games of the men’s NCAA basketball tournament on Friday and Sunday. The matchups:

Friday

• Game A: 2. Tennessee (29-4) vs. 15. American (21-11), 11:15 a.m.
• Game B: 7. Butler (29-3) vs. 10. South Alabama (26-6), 1:45 p.m.
• Game C: 3. Louisville (24-8) vs. 14. Boise State (25-8), 6:10 p.m.
• Game D: 6. Oklahoma (22-11) vs. 11. Saint Joseph’s (21-12), 8:40 p.m.

Sunday

• The winners of Game A and B, 1 p.m.
• The winners of Game C and D, 3:30 p.m.

(Specific times to be updated.)

The South Alabama Jaguars are the sole team in the field of 65 from the state, essentially playing a home game in Birmingham, which last held tourney games in 2003. UAB and Alabama’s men’s teams could be headed to the NIT, to be announced at 8 tonight on ESPN2/ESPNU.

Tickets for the Friday/Sunday games are still available, in three-ticket books at $153 each.

Update: Alabama State (but not Alabama) and UAB are headed to the NIT. Plus, zero Alabama women’s teams headed for the tourney.

Update 2: And the last team headed to post-season? Auburn, playing George Washington in the first round of the ladies’ tourney, 1 p.m. Saturday in Stanford, Calif.
• ESPN: 2008 NCAA tournament selections

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Musicians entombed
beneath stage level just to
avoid frightened fans.

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Status update: The
user is writing haiku
and hitting “Post” now.

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An icon moves on
after decades of service.
Cake, nuts, punch are served.

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‘The Biggest Loser: Couples’ recap, episode 10

biggestloser.wadeonbirmingham.com
By Ginny

On “The Biggest Loser,” it’s all about blowing your minds, people. Couples? Finished. Teams? No more.

Without a defensive line (football metaphor), can Enterprise’s Roger Shultz hold his own?

Hold on to your minds, blown or otherwise, after the jump …

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Lyrics blossom like
syllabic shoots. Music stays
stuck in hidden notes.

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The Birmingham school board fired superintendent Stan Mims Tuesday night. His downfall? Taking a think tank report [PDF] that listed problems within the system and deleting pages with critical comments before distributing the altered version [PDF] to the public and media. No severance pay — his contract was for $175,000 a year plus $7,200-a-month expense allowance — though the board could change its mind at the termination hearing.

Mims changed his story a few times on why he altered the report, claiming its findings would demoralize the staff, findings such as “Leadership: lack of strategic vision; poor communication; no sense of urgency or energy” and “Operations: lack of performance standards.” We know we’re demoralized.

Meanwhile, the council approved $3.5 million for 15,000 laptops for the school system, whether it’s ready or not, whether it wants them or not. Those computers are the ones that cost $200 each and need a yet-to-be-implemented wireless network. Wait, what did that report say again?

• The Birmingham News: School board fires Mims

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Ice scraper, glove, old
chestnut, napkins, sticky notes,
dog biscuits and grime.

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Two-dimensional
world goes gray with boulders of
nasty allergens.

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Rushing to meet those
artificial cutoffs while
not achieving much.

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Traffic patterns wind
past pedestrians and rows
of poorly parked cars.

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Looks like the Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil has landed the big ones. Performing at the outdoor music festival this year … Fergie, T-Pain, Gavin DeGraw, Flo Rida and 3 Doors Down. (Kinda weird not seeing Cowboy Mouth on the lineup for the umpteenth time.)

The event, May 2 and 3, has moved uptown next to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex [satellite view]. Tickets, $20 per day, go on sale March 29.
• Press release: 23rd Annual Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil Announces 2008 Lineup and Dates

Video previews, after the jump …

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So far, it’s down to
white dude, black guy and white gal
to run the country.

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It’s my money, and
I want it now! (But shouting
won’t make it happen.)

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Jefferson County has never been in more financial trouble. Thanks to years of bonds and swaps, the interest payments have escalated to $3.2 billion (never mind the principal) on the infamous sewer improvements. Those bonds have been downgraded to junk status. And don’t forget an extra $1.4 billion owed, originally borrowed for school construction. Meanwhile, county commissioners are scratching their heads just figuring out how to pay the tab, even sending representatives to New York to beg for help from creditors. It’s a crazy system, one that has states and cities fighting these seemingly arbitrary bond ratings.

In case you were unfamiliar with the guilty parties, let us reacquaint you with the commissioners who favored these pricey deals: Mary Buckelew, Bettye Fine Collins, Jeff Germany, Larry Langford (under investigation by the SEC), Steve Small, Shelia Smoot and Gary White (convicted for corruption). As the county goes broke, we’ll be over here, digging for change in the couch.
• The Birmingham News: Sewer-bond debt crisis gets uglier

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