When Prentiss Hill launched the Magic City Diamond Classic, there were few restaurants and hotels near Regions Field.   “None of this was around here,” said Hill, promoter of that initial contest between the baseball teams of Alabama A&M and Alabama State universities. “Now, this is an entertainment district. You’ve got your hotels. You’ve got your restaurants. All of the amenities that you […]

Ardíta Krasniqi had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction at the One Yard at a Time Gala on Friday night at The Club in Birmingham. The Albanian-born project manager at Morris-Shea Bridge Company was adjusting her dress during the live auction at the end of the event. That was no big deal, except her gesture was interpreted as […]

Trent Dilfer, the 14-year NFL veteran quarterback and Super Bowl XXXV champion, was announced Wednesday as the seventh head coach in the history of UAB football. “I like big climbs,” the 50-year-old said Wednesday at the UAB Alumni House. “I wish I was a better athlete these days. I’d be a mountain climber, because I like looking up […]

When former heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder eventually looks back on Phase 2 of his fighting career, he expects he will have followed the mantra of Frank Sinatra. I did it my way. “Even in my first reign, a lot of it was my way,” the Tuscaloosa native said. “But this right here is totally 100% Deontay […]

With so many people in the room, you might have thought Grant Writing 101 was some crip course, an easy A offered at the University of Alabama. But folks who filled the hall for this training session of the Alabama League of Municipalities (ALM) annual convention at Hotel Capstone know or learned that grant writing isn’t easy. They also know […]

Spring Hill College baseball coach Frank Sims grew up in Charleston, Illinois, which would often prompt the same question: Is he a fan of the Chicago Cubs or the Chicago White Sox? But Sims’ reply was a bit of a curveball. “I kind of grew up (watching) the Cubs during the day because they played mostly day games,” the […]

Eli Gold has called the action of many gridiron battles involving the Alabama Crimson Tide, but he never served on the battlefield as a member of the military. The voice of Alabama football said this past Friday night that he has the highest respect for the men and women who fight for their country. “You can never […]

A leopard can’t change its spots and a tiger can’t change its stripes, but Protective Stadium can now seamlessly change its lines to conform to soccer and other sports. Fans will see the transformed field at 2:30 p.m. Sunday as the Birmingham Legion hosts Atlanta United of Major League Soccer in an exhibition “friendly.” Tickets start at $7. The chameleon nature of the […]

Birmingham tipped off a new sports experience Sunday night and fans made it clear they are hungry for more. An announced crowd of 4,872 turned out at the revamped Legacy Arena to see the first home game of the Birmingham Squadron, the G League affiliate of the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. That crowd made itself apparent from the beginning, waving the […]

There was no ribbon-cutting during the reopening of Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. And why would there be? You don’t generally cut a ribbon at a housewarming. That as much as anything is what was celebrated Thursday morning as dignitaries who joined to bring the rebirth of the decades-old facility came to celebrate the early Christmas […]

Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder said he’s not the same man who was beaten by Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury in February 2020. The Tuscaloosa native said he is new and improved as he looks toward his third meeting with Fury in a live pay-per-view event Oct. 9 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight […]

Alvin Briggs was 6 years old when he told his mother he wanted to play peewee football. She responded by telling him he had to purchase his own equipment. “I had to figure out how to buy shoulder pads, all the equipment,” he said. “I started picking up pecans and doing different things for my […]

Barbershop banter about the greatest baseball players ever has more ammunition after Baseball-Reference.com, a Sports Reference website, dramatically expanded its coverage of the Negro Leagues and historical Black major league players. Following the website’s launch on June 15, Major Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 – including the Birmingham Black Barons – are listed with the National League and American League as major leagues. […]

Birmingham’s Lakeshore Foundation announced last week that it has been selected as an expansion team in the new USA Wheelchair Football League (USAWFL). The Birmingham Hammers will play wheelchair football, a full-contact sport played by both men and women with a permanent disability. While wheelchair football has been played for more than 20 years across the […]

Nick Saban relishes a return to normal. The coach of the Crimson Tide football team is glad players are coming back to camp, back on campus doing normal workouts. Thursday, Saban was off campus but back on familiar grounds as he welcomed participants in the 15th Nick’s Kids Golf Tournament. The annual fundraiser returned to normal operations after […]

The spring 2021 football season was a series of working and waiting for the Alabama A&M Bulldogs. Time and again, the squad got ready for a scheduled game only to have that game postponed or canceled because of COVID-19. But with the season ending May 1 with a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship and then Monday’s […]

Jeff Wynn said he was in heaven Sunday as he was finally able to take in the spectacle of IndyCar racing at Barber Motorsports Park. The Eutaw resident said it has been five to 10 years since he’s attended an IndyCar event, but never at the Birmingham track just outside Leeds. “Every single time, something happens that week,” […]

Bass Pro Shops is celebrating its 50th year, and amateur anglers and the waters where they practice their craft will net the rewards. Founder Johnny Morris today announced what he called the grandest fishing tournament in history – the Johnny Morris Bass Pro Shops U.S. Open National Bass Fishing Amateur Team Championships. The tourney will have more than […]

It was seasonally appropriate that Darryl Fuhrman and his son Miller motored from Homewood to Huntsville in a red 2016 Dodge Charger. Like Santa and an elf riding in his sleigh, the two were delivering holiday cheer in the latest project of Lettermen of the USA. Of course, the Fuhrmans weren’t the only ones. And their […]

A global pandemic didn’t stop the Homewood Police Department from fulfilling its annual trip to the Exceptional Foundation to join mentally challenged people in some basketball. The event wasn’t the actual game they’ve played the past several years, but no one on the court Nov. 24 complained. “We love to do it every year,” Homewood […]

Troy football coach Chip Lindsey knows that Middle Tennessee offensive coordinator Tony Franklin will make his Trojans defend the whole field when they open the season at 3 p.m. Saturday at Floyd Stadium in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. But Lindsey says that nothing is making his squad “defend the whole field” like the novel coronavirus. “It’s definitely made you rethink […]

Shawn Fitzwater was confident his latest mural wouldn’t hang around very long. “If I got in trouble over it,” the owner of Fitz Hand Painted Signs said, “I could easily cover it up.” But a funny thing happened on the painter’s trip to buy whitewash. The feel-good message of his mural – We Are All In This […]

Mary Drennen said she didn’t really understand the far-reaching effects of the COVID-19 pandemic until she and others handed out free meals March 30 on Birmingham’s Southside. “It’ll tear your heartstrings up,” the Nourish Foods co-owner said. “It’s a greater purpose that we didn’t even realize that we could serve until this disease came about, or virus, […]

Joe Delagrave grew up in Wisconsin but was raised on a staple of a Southern breakfast – grits. “My mom used to make those growing up, so I have no problems with grits,” said Delagrave, the captain of the U.S. Paralympic wheelchair rugby team. “She had a Southern heart. She always made some good home […]