Good Monday morning — some people are happy about the weekend, and some really, really aren’t…
Weather: Rain ahead. Showers will move into the state this afternoon, and will be widespread overnight, with some storms possible by lunchtime tomorrow. Highs today will be in the middle 60s. and lows tonight near 50. Rain clears out tomorrow afternoon.
Chizik fired. It probably would have happened even without Alabama’s 49-0 beatdown of Auburn in Saturday’s Iron Bowl, but in any case Tigers head coach Gene Chizik was dismissed Sunday morning after an abysmal 3-9 season, including eight SEC losses. Chizik’s firing comes only two years after he coached Auburn to a national championship. Athletics Director Jay Jacobs made the announcement in a press conference yesterday afternoon, and named a three-man search committee to find a replacement. The committee includes former Auburn two-sport great Bo Jackson; Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, currently head coach at Samford; and Mac Crawford, former chairman of CVS/Caremark who is considered a turnaround specialist in the business world and also played fullback for Auburn.
The big bet pays off for customers. Gardendale jeweler Jeff Dennis has run some unusual promotions over the years, but one of them finally hit the jackpot. Dennis said that any customer who made a purchase last week would get their money back and their merchandise for free if either Iron Bowl team were held scoreless. Dennis arranged with the internationally-famous insurance brokers at Lloyd’s of London to cover his losses if the unlikely event occurred — which it did. Dennis said Saturday that the insurer was on the hook for about $50,000 for around 300 customers, with one buyer getting about $7,000 back. Dennis says he’ll have a refund party once Lloyd’s sends the check, which will take a couple of weeks.
Sports: Another BCS semifinal in Atlanta. Once again, the SEC Championship Game will be a de facto play-in game for the Bowl Championship Series title game in Miami. No. 2 Alabama will take on third-ranked Georgia this Saturday in the Georgia Dome, with the winner moving on to face top-rated Notre Dame. It will be the first appearance for the Irish, the only independent football team in the BCS, in the championship game since its inception; meanwhile, SEC teams have won the last six crystal footballs in a row, and teams from the state of Alabama the last three.
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