Alabama News

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Where to watch NBA Playoff first-round games: Free livestream, TV, schedule

The first round of the NBA Playoffs will begin this weekend. Fans can watch each NBA Playoff game for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV Stream. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cavaliers were two of the best teams in the NBA this season, as both teams lost less than 20 games.

The Thunder earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, while the Cavaliers clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Both teams will play their first game on Sunday, as they battle against the winners from the NBA Play-In Tournament.

NBA Playoffs Western Conference First Round Schedule:

No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers vs. No. 4 Denver Nuggets (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves vs. No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 2 Houston Rockets vs. No. 7 Golden State Warriors (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs. No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference First Round Schedule:

No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 4 Indiana Pacers (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 6 Detroit Pistons vs. No. 3 New York Knicks (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 2 Boston Celtics vs. No. 7 Orlando Magic (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 8 Miami Heat (Watch live with DirecTV Stream and Sling)

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Holy Saturday: Did Jesus ‘Descend into Hell’ after his death?

After Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, did he “Descend into Hell,” as millions of Christians recite during weekly church services in The Apostles’ Creed?

Nearly 2,000 years of Christian tradition and a scriptural reference in 1 Peter 3:19-20 make the case:

“After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits – to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” (New International Version)

The “harrowing of hell” refers to what Christ did when he descended to Hades or hell between his death and his resurrection. The early church believed that after his death Christ descended into hell in order to rescue the souls of the righteous, such as Adam and Eve. Jesus descends and breaks down the doors of hell, unbinds the prisoners and leads the just to heaven.

In ancient paintings from the Eastern Orthodox Church, and in similar icons still used in Greek and Russian Orthodox churches now, the art depicts Christ standing over the broken gates of hell, angels binding Satan and Satan crushed under the gates of hell, while Christ pulls out two figures representing Adam and Eve who have been imprisoned because of sin.

An early version of the Apostles’ Creed, the Interrogatory Creed of Hippolytus from about 215 A.D., refers to Christ’s descent to the dead.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead (or “he descended into hell” or “hades” depending on the translation). On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Here are some more Bible verses that relate:

1 Peter 4:6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.

Acts 2:27-31 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay…. Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.

Ephesians 4:8-10 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Millions of Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus this weekend on Easter Sunday. What happened between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection remains a point of theological contention.

What is Hell?

Human ideas about hell were still in ferment as the Bible was being written. The theological concept of hell has a rich cultural heritage, according to historian Alan Bernstein, author of “The Formation of Hell.”

The ancient Hebrews focused on the afterlife following their Babylonian captivity, when they experienced the torment of ungodly enemies who seemed to have an unjustifiably good life on Earth. During the Babylonian exile, Jews were exposed to Zoroastrianism, which asserts there is an eternal struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end.

The Hebrew concept of “Sheol” — the realm of the dead — may also have been influenced by the Greek mythology of Tartarus, a place of everlasting punishment for the Titans, a race of gods defeated by Zeus, Bernstein writes.

From about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., those influences combined with Hebrew speculation about an eventual comeuppance to the worldly wicked.

In translating the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, the Greeks used the terms Tartarus, Hades and Gehenna. In Greek thought, Hades is not a place of punishment; it’s where the dead are separated from the living.

The term Gehenna referred to a ravine outside Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. It had once been a place of child sacrifice and became a symbol of pain and suffering. As a garbage dump, it was probably often a place of fire as trash was burned, emphasizing the symbolism of the flames of eternal damnation.

The Bible contains a litany of colorful images of hell as both fire and darkness, as in the Gospel of Matthew, which refers to “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and “the outer darkness” where “men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

In Revelation 20:14, it is described as a lake of fire: “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”

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Johnson: How do we teach about OKC bombing terror while Trump terrorizes federal workers?

1/15

This is an opinion column.

I’d long since left my hometown, but it still hit home.

I was in an office high above Midtown Manhattan on this morning 30 years ago when Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck across the street from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City — a rented truck containing a 5,000-pound bomb. He lit several timed fuses and strode to his nearby getaway car.

I grew up in Tulsa, about 90 miles northeast of where — at 9:02 a.m. in Oklahoma, 10:02 a.m. in NYC — the truck exploded. Where 168 people were slaughtered, including 15 children who were inside a daycare center on the first floor.

Where countless more lives were changed forever, still changed after 30 years.

The federal workers who died that morning had simply gone to work that day, like every day, to do their jobs. To do their jobs for us. For this nation.

I had not lived in Tulsa since I caught a flight for college almost 20 years before that morning, but my stomach curdled as the news broke on the TV in my office. Curdled at the horror. Curdled at the images of smoke, of debris, of the nine-story building, half standing, half lying in a grave of rubble, steel and glass.

Curdled because Oklahoma was still home.

It was many more years before I went to OKC and visited the site, the memorial that now honors those federal workers and children who perished there at 9:02 a.m. and seeks to comfort those who lived. Those who were touched that day and are still tortured by it.

It’s a solemn space, still fertilized with the blood, the ashes and the cries of those who were there, and the tears of those who loved them.

Many will return to the site today to remember that morning when OKC hit home for all of us. Among them is scheduled to be former President Bill Clinton, who was in his first term on that day three decades ago and hosting a White House news conference on — yes — terrorism. At 10:02 a.m.

In a three-part docuseries, “Oklahoma City Bombing: One Day in America,” Clinton said: “I wanted to scream. Then I said, ‘No, you can’t do that. You don’t get to scream.’”

Many did. Some still are.

A lot has happened in those 30 years, a whole lot. So much that when I mentioned the bombing to a young friend recently, she had not heard of it. Did not know of OKC. Had no knowledge of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in our nation’s history.

It was as much a historical black hole to her as was the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Generations never learned about it in school, were never taught about that egregious act of domestic terrorism. In Oklahoma.

“I barely remember 9/11,” she said.

I shook my head. As I began telling her about the bombing, I wondered: How should we teach that history?

I’m sure the bombing is taught in schools in my home state. I’m sure a child cannot grow up in Oklahoma without learning about what happened on that day. On that day when hell hit home.

We should all know that day, especially now, especially when 30 years after America mourned and raged at the attack on federal workers, our president and his billionaire buddy (or ex-buddy) are casting federal workers aside like worn-out chew toys. Like they’re disposable, unworthy of the right to do the job they committed to do.

For us.

To Donald Trump, Elon Musk and those among you slathering in anticipation of lower taxes, fired federal workers are oh, well — they’re collateral damage. Not men and women and families now scrambling to navigate lives without jobs. Not Americans stripped of their livelihoods because a greedy corporation did not meet its financial targets, but because a greedy and gutless faction of the nation just wants more.

 How do we teach that?

How do we teach the depths of the depravity that was the man now executed for the bombings when the president whimsically pardons with the stroke of a pen those who threatened our democracy, who threatened its foundation and the lives of those elected to uphold it?

Those who are now so emboldened, I pray there is no McVeigh brewing among them.

How do we teach that when we snatch young learners from other nations off our streets in broad daylight, like Rumeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey; or in the dark of night from their apartments, like University of Alabama doctoral student Alireza Doroudi from Iran. When we ship them to dark unknown places without the due process we once held sacred.

How do we teach about the evil that conceived and executed OKC when we’re snagging mothers and fathers from each other’s arms, from their jobs, from their children, and deporting them to nations where they’ve not lived for years without the due process we once held sacred?

How do we teach about OKC? How must we teach about OKC?

Without fear of its horrid truths. Or fear, especially, of those today who demean and diminish the legacy of all who entered the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City — in my home state — on this morning three decades ago to simply do what they committed to do.

For us.

Let’s be better tomorrow than we are today. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, Instagram @roysj and BlueSky.

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Miss Manners: Are we rude for leaving parties without saying goodbye?

DEAR MISS MANNERS: We are older adults who go to bed earlier than many people, and often leave parties without saying goodbye.

We do it because, often, when one guests leaves, others take it as a sign that they should leave as well! We don’t want to be the ones causing an early exodus from a good party, which is often in full swing.

The next morning, we reach out to the hosts to thank them and apologize for slipping out. Are we rude?

GENTLE READER: While your intentions are kind, the result is less so, which you are no doubt aware of, since you always seem to find yourself apologizing the next day.

Miss Manners will further remind you that there is still at least a 12-hour gap where your hosts are wondering, “What happened to the McCutcheons? I hope they are all right.” Or worse, “Did we offend them somehow?”

Miss Manners suggests a compromise. At the beginning of the party, tell your hosts that you hope they will forgive you in advance, but you will need to slip out early. That way, there can be no doubt that you have not suddenly taken ill — or that one of their other guests insulted you.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at missmanners.com, by email to [email protected], or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

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Asking Eric: Readers share ways to talk about a child after loss

Dear Readers: On March 16, I shared a letter from “Mother of Three,” who lost her daughter five years ago and felt unsure about how to respond when people ask, “how many children do you have?” A number of readers wrote in with thoughtful and empathetic suggestions. I’d like to share four with you today.

Dear Eric: I lost my beautiful, intelligent oldest son to alcoholism three years ago. If the situation is casual, I respond that we raised three boys and now have four grandchildren, including girls, a new experience for us! For many situations, that is enough information.

When conversations go deeper, I calmly say that we lost a son to alcoholism, an important fact that needs to be said. It can be an awkward moment, but I say that we have many blessings and enjoy life with all of our family and friends.

– Mother of Three

Dear Mother: I like that you frame your answer in a way that feels most comfortable for you; that’s key. Also, by sharing more information when you choose to, you never know who you might help. Thank you for writing and I’m sorry for the loss of your son.

Dear Eric: I understand “Mother of Three.” I lost two adult children, my son Alan to ALS, and my younger daughter, Leslie, to advanced breast cancer, five and three years ago. I, too, felt awkward when asked how many children I have. It’s easier if I say one, but then I feel I’m negating my children who died. What I say now is, “I have one surviving child, a daughter who lives in Seattle.” Sometimes I say more, sometimes not.

– Another Mom of Three

Dear Mom: I’m sorry for the loss of Alan and Leslie. What I see in your answer is an awareness that sometimes we’re in a place to share more extensively and sometimes we’re not, and both are just right. Thank you for sharing.

Dear Eric: I, too, lost a child five years ago. He was 17 and suffered an unintentional overdose. Early on as I dealt with similar feelings, I decided I would never deny my son’s existence in any situation. So, when the inevitable questions come up with new people about how many children I have and what they are doing with their lives, etc., I say I have two children and one of them has passed away. Then I follow up with, “It’s OK I love to talk about him!” And I do!

His loss is as much a part of knowing me as anything you can see on the surface. I hope this helps.

– Another Angel Mom

Dear Angel Mom: What a beautiful and wise point – every part of your son’s journey will always be a part of your life. I’m glad that talking about him brings you joy and I’m sorry for the loss you endured.

Dear Eric: I have a friend who lost her son to suicide and in researching how to help I came across this idea. My friend responds by saying “I have a son who died two years ago and a daughter who is [daughter’s age] and lives in Boulder.” That way people can respond to the degree they are able. People who are not close usually ask about the daughter and do not respond about the son, and those who are closer, have a similar experience, or feel comfortable discussing it and ask about the son.

– Reader

Dear Reader: This is another graceful way of navigating this conversation with truthfulness and an awareness that some different people bring in different emotions and experiences to a conversation.

Read more Asking Eric and other advice columns.

Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at [email protected] or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.

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Birmingham Stallions come up from ‘deep dive’ to face Houston Roughnecks

Although Birmingham has won two of the first three games on its 2025 United Football League schedule, Stallions coach Skip Holtz didn’t think his team was “running on all cylinders.”

With eight days between April 11’s 10-9 victory over the Arlington Renegades and Saturday night’s game against the Houston Roughnecks, the Stallions took “a hard look, a deep dive into ourselves” on Monday, Holtz said.

“We came in and spent that day on film,” Holtz said. “We kind of did a self-scout where we watched our own third downs, we watched our own red zone, we watched our own first-down production, we watched our own blunder tape of sacks and turnovers and lost-yardage plays and things like that just trying to see what we could do to take advantage of one extra day this week. …

“Just trying to be constructive, looking at ourselves and trying to take a 30,000-foot view of the Birmingham Stallions and what we are becoming three weeks into the season. You don’t always like what you see in the mirror and sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘You know what? We’ve got to get better.’ And I think this team has responded exactly like I wanted them to, and I’m excited to watch them line up and play this weekend.”

So is Birmingham quarterback Matt Corral.

“That was a good day for us,” Corral said, “for me and the receivers to get on the same page, for me and Skip to get on the same page situationally and what he wants in this situation, what we’re looking for on these routes during this coverage, and I think we spent all morning doing that Monday, and I think it really helped us getting on the field the next day because it showed, so I’m really excited to put the pads on and go execute.”

Holtz said “two glaring things” showed up in the 30,000-foot view.

“We got to be a little bit more patient and efficient in our passing game,” Holtz said, “and we definitely have to sustain a little bit more of a running game than we have to this point.”

With 248 rushing yards, the Stallions are next-to-last in the league, leaving Holtz seeking more consistent production out of the ground game.

“It’s blocked up, we miss a cut,” Holtz said. “Four guys do a great job blocking it, we hit the hole and one guy falls off his block. It’s like we’re one guy away here. We’re getting close in some areas, but then there’s some – we have to develop a run game. I think that is one of things. We cannot rely just on the dropback pass.”

Corral stepped into the Birmingham lineup when Alex McGough got hurt on the first snap of the Stallions’ second game – a 21-12 victory over the Michigan Panthers on April 4.

Corral has completed 37-of-70 passes for 453 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions.

“We’ve got to become more efficient,” Holtz said about the passing attack. “A big part of that is kind of taking what a defense gives us and not trying to get greedy and not trying to throw the ball way down the field, but taking the underneath completions and not trying to force it in there. And sometimes a quarterback like Matt, who has a very strong arm and there’s not many windows that he can’t get it into, I’m trying to get him ‘You know what? It’s not worth it. Take the underneath. Take the sure completion.’

“You never go broke making a profit. If we can get 3 or 4 yards a play, you can win a lot of football games just going 3 or 4 yards and driving the length of the field.”

The DC Defenders sacked McGough eight times in beating the Stallions 18-11 in the season-opener on March 30. But Corral hasn’t been sacked during his two games under center even though Birmingham has had to play musical chairs on the offensive line because of injuries. Keaton Sutherland already has lined up at left tackle, left guard and center. When the Arlington game ended, the Stallions had five offensive linemen still able to play.

Holtz hopes some consistency in the offensive line will help Birmingham progress, starting against the Roughnecks at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday at TDECU Stadium in Houston. FOX will televise the game.

The Roughnecks broke an eight-game losing streak by beating the Memphis Showboats 18-17 one week ago.

“It’s been interesting watching their film just because I think they are evolving into what they’re going to be,” Holtz said of Houston. “I think they are running their quarterback (Nolan Henderson) quite a bit more. He’s been very, very productive for them and probably feeling more and more comfortable in their offense. Defensively, they are really starting to become much more of a pressure-oriented defense. So I think it’s going to pose some challenges for us, but I think one that we are really excited about.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

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Supreme Court blocks new deportations under 18th century law, for now

The Supreme Court on Saturday blocked, for now, the deportations of any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law.

In a brief order, the court directed the Trump administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center “until further order of this court.”

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The high court acted in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union contending that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Supreme Court had said earlier in April that deportations could proceed only if those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.

“We are deeply relieved that the Court has temporarily blocked the removals. These individuals were in imminent danger of spending the rest of their lives in a brutal Salvadoran prison without ever having had any due process,” ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in an email.

On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation, even as one judge said the case raised legitimate concerns. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported.

The administration is expected to return to the Supreme Court quickly in an effort to persuade the justices to lift their temporary order.

The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.

In an emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Donald Trump’s use of the act.

The act has only been invoked three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese-American civilians in internment camps. The Trump administration contended it gave them power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.

Following the unanimous high court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the AEA until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court.

But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is located 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, this week declined to bar the administration from removing the two men identified in the ACLU lawsuit because Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed sworn declarations that they would not be immediately deported. He also balked at issuing a broader order prohibiting removal of all Venezuelans in the area under the act because he said removals hadn’t started yet.

But the ACLU’s Friday filing included sworn declarations from three separate immigration lawyers who said their clients in Bluebonnet were given paperwork indicating they were members of Tren de Aragua and could be deported by Saturday. In one case, immigration lawyer Karene Brown said her client, identified by initials, was told to sign papers in English even though the client only spoke Spanish.

“ICE informed F.G.M. that these papers were coming from the President, and that he will be deported even if he did not sign it,” Brown wrote.

Gelernt said in a Friday evening hearing before District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that the administration initially moved Venezuelans to its south Texas immigration facility for deportation. But since a judge banned deportations in that area, it has funneled them to the Bluebonnet facility, where no such order exists. He said witnesses reported the men were being loaded on buses Friday evening to be taken to the airport.

With Hendrix not agreeing to the ACLU’s request for an emergency order, the group turned to Boasberg, who initially halted deportations in March. The Supreme Court ruled the orders against deportation could only come from judges in jurisdictions where immigrants were held, which Boasberg said made him powerless Friday.

“I’m sympathetic to everything you’re saying,” Boasberg told Gelernt. “I just don’t think I have the power to do anything about it.”

Boasberg this week found there’s probable cause that the Trump administration committed criminal contempt by disobeying his initial deportation ban. He was concerned that the paper that ICE was giving those held did not make clear they had a right to challenge their removal in court, which he believed the Supreme Court mandated.

Drew Ensign, an attorney for the Justice Department, disagreed, saying that people slated for deportation would have a “minimum” of 24 hours to challenge their removal in court. He said no flights were scheduled for Friday night and he was unaware of any Saturday, but the Department of Homeland Security said it reserved the right to remove people then.

ICE said it would not comment on the litigation.

Also Friday, a Massachusetts judge made permanent his temporary ban on the administration deporting immigrants who have exhausted their appeals to countries other than their home countries unless they are informed of their destination and given a chance to object if they’d face torture or death there.

Some Venezuelans subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.

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Alabama’s NFL Draft: Quarterback earns 2 Super Bowl rings from No. 246 start

A two-time state champion at Banks High School in Birmingham, quarterback Jeff Rutledge played on three SEC championship teams and the 1978 Associated Press national-championship team at Alabama. Even though he was a wishbone QB for the Crimson Tide, Rutledge had a 14-year NFL career, and he played for two Super Bowl-winning teams and was with another that lost in the NFL championship game.

With 117, Rutledge has played in the most NFL regular-season games among the Alabama alumni who entered the league as the No. 217 through No. 257 picks in the draft – the selections that will make up the seventh round of the 90th NFL Draft on April 26. The bulk of those games came as a holder on extra-point and field-goal attempts. Rutledge started 10 games during his 14 seasons in the NFL.

Rutledge also appeared in 15 postseason games, including the New York Giants’ 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI on Jan. 25, 1987, and the Washington Redskins’ 37-24 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI on Jan. 26, 1992.

In the Giants’ victory, Rutledge came out with the punt team on a third-quarter fourth-and-1, shifted under center and converted a quarterback sneak. New York capitalized on the new set of downs to drive for a touchdown to take a 16-10 lead.

Rutledge threw for 300 yards in three of his 10 NFL starts and in another game coming off the bench.

Rutledge was a ninth-round pick at No. 246 in 1979.

When the NFL teams make their seventh-round selections on April 26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the round will start with the 217th choice and end with the 257th pick, which will be the final one in the 90th NFL Draft.

Thirty-seven players have been drafted from Alabama with those selections.

Thirty-four Alabama players have been seventh-round picks. Those seventh-round picks ranged from the 53rd to 257th selections. Over the decades, the picks comprising the seventh round have changed as the number of teams in the NFL has increased and the league has added compensatory choices as part of its free-agency plan.

The Alabama players who have been picked with the 217th through 257th selections of an NFL Draft include:

No. 218 pick: Robert Stewart, defensive tackle, New Orleans Saints, 1992.

Stewart did not play in the NFL. But he spent 11 seasons in the Arena Football League. He was a first-team All-Arena selection in 1994 for the Charlotte Rage, 1999 for the New Jersey Red Dogs and 2001 for the New York Dragons. The Ashford native was the league’s Lineman of the Year in 1999.

No. 219 pick: Ray Abruzzese, back, Baltimore Colts, 1962.

Abruzzese signed with the Buffalo Bills, who had selected him at No. 180 in the 1962 AFL Draft. He played five seasons in the AFL – three with Buffalo and two with the New York Jets – and intercepted nine passes in 61 games as a safety. Abruzzese also intercepted a pass by Babe Parilli in the Bills’ 26-8 loss to the New England Patriots in an AFL playoff game on Dec. 28, 1963.

No. 220 pick: Lemanski Hall, linebacker, Houston Oilers, 1994.

Despite his draft position, Hall played in 101 NFL regular-season games across eight seasons. The former Valley High School standout made 13 of his 20 career starts in 2001 as the Minnesota Vikings’ strongside linebacker, but injuries curtailed his career after that.

No. 221 pick: Ted Cook, end, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1944.

Cook never played for Brooklyn, but he did play four NFL seasons — one for the Detroit Lions and three for the Green Bay Packers — after missing three seasons for World War II. Cook had caught 61 passes for 891 yards and five touchdowns in his NFL career when the Packers traded him to the Washington Redskins for defensive end John Martinkovic, a sixth-round selection in the 1951 NFL Draft. Cook never played for Washington, but Martinkovic was a three-time Pro Bowler for Green Bay.

No. 222 pick: Derrick Pope, linebacker, Miami Dolphins, 2004; Thomas Fletcher, long snapper, Carolina Panthers, 2021.

Pope played four seasons with Miami. His 55 games included 14 starts, with nine coming in his final season. He had two interceptions in his NFL career – one in his next-to-last game and one in his final game. His interceptions came against Tom Brady and Carson Palmer. Pope scored a touchdown in his first NFL season when he returned a fumble recovery by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Tim Rattay 1 yard with 3:10 to play in the Dolphins’ 24-17 victory on Nov. 28, 2004.

Fletcher spent his rookie season on Carolina’s injured reserve, then spent a season as the long snapper for the XFL’s Seattle Sea Dragons.

No. 224 pick: DeMarcco Hellams, safety, Atlanta Falcons, 2023.

After starting four games as a rookie, Hellams spent his entire second season on injured reserve.

No. 225 pick: Bryne Diehl, punter, New York Giants, 1995.

Four Alabama punters have been drafted. Diehl is the only one who did not appear in an NFL regular-season game. The other drafted punters were Greg Gantt in 1974, Chris Mohr in 1989 and JK Scott in 2018.

No. 226 pick: Steve Bowman, halfback, New York Giants, 1966.

Bowman played in four games for New York in 1966 before a preseason injury in 1967 ended his career.

No. 228 pick: Austin Shepherd, tackle, Minnesota Vikings, 2015.

Shepherd played in 14 games as a reserve for Minnesota in 2015.

No. 229 pick: Wayne Davis, linebacker, St. Louis Cardinals, 1987.

The former Gordo High School standout straddled the Cardinals’ move from St. Louis to Phoenix. Davis played in 12 games for St. Louis in 1987 and 16 games for Phoenix in 1988. Davis also played for the Orlando Thunder in the World League of American Football in 1991.

No. 230 pick: Cecil Dowdy, linebacker, Cleveland Browns, 1967.

While Dowdy never played in an NFL regular-season game, he was with the Orange County Ramblers of the Continental Football League in 1968.

No. 231 pick: Wes Neighbors, center, Houston Oilers, 1987.

Neighbors’ father, Billy Neighbors, was the 43rd selection in the 1962 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, but he spent his eight pro seasons in the AFL and was an all-star in 1963 and 1964. Wes Neighbors did not play in an NFL regular-season game.

No. 235 picks: Ahmaad Galloway, running back, Denver Broncos, 2003; Cornelius Wortham, linebacker, Seattle Seahawks, 2005.

Galloway played for the Scottish Claymores in 2004 and the Frankfurt Galaxy in 2005 in NFL Europe. He ran for 657 yards and two touchdowns on 207 carries across the two seasons.

Wortham played in eight games for Seattle in 2005.

No. 236 picks: Dave Brown, wingback, New York Giants, 1943; Ralph Staten, defensive back, Baltimore Ravens, 1997; Bo Scarbrough, running back, Dallas Cowboys, 2018.

As a rookie fullback, Brown ran for 131 yards on 32 carries, caught five passes for 29 yards, averaged 15.1 yards on seven punt returns and intercepted six passes. Brown missed the next two seasons while in the military. The former Ensley standout returned to New York in 1946 for two more seasons as a wingback.

Staten intercepted five passes in two seasons with Baltimore, including two in a 31-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 7, 1997. Staten also played three seasons in the Canadian Football League.

Scarbrough ran for 377 yards and one touchdown on 89 carries in six games for the Detroit Lions in his first NFL action in 2019. In 2020, he played in only one game, running for 31 yards on six carries for the Seattle Seahawks before an injury knocked him out. Scarbrough didn’t make it to the field during a regular-season game in 2021, then helped the Birmingham Stallions win the USFL championship in 2022. He got hurt in the Stallions’ first game of 2023 and, after a comeback attempt in 2024, retired.

No. 239 pick: Norm Mosley, tailback, Philadelphia Eagles, 1945.

Mosley’s career at Alabama had a three-year gap because of military service in World War II. He returned to play two seasons for the Crimson Tide after being drafted by Philadelphia. His NFL action came with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He ran for 39 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries, returned seven punts and one kickoff and threw two incomplete passes in 11 games in 1948. From 1951 through 1961, Mosley worked as the football coach at Talladega High School and compiled a 60-44-5 record.

No. 240 pick: Ed White, end, Redskins, 1950.

White never played in the NFL, but he did play in the Major Leagues. The left fielder for the first Crimson Tide team to reach the College World Series in 1950, White played in three games for the Chicago White Sox in 1955, when he went 2-for-4 with a walk. During his eight seasons in the minor leagues, White won the Southern Association MVP Award for 1955, when he .342 with 107 RBIs for the Memphis Chicks.

No. 243 pick: David Ray, kicker, Cleveland Browns, 1966.

Ray was the first Alabama player drafted purely as a kicker. It took him three years to get in a game, and his first regular assignment as an NFL kicker came in 1970 with the Rams. Ray kicked for Los Angeles for five seasons, and he led the NFL in field goals with 30 and points with 130 in 1973.

No. 244 pick: Joe Curtis, end, Chicago Cardinals, 1953.

No. 246 picks: Jeff Rutledge, quarterback, Los Angeles Rams, 1979; Warren Lyles, defensive tackle, San Diego Chargers, 1982; Kenneth Darby, running back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2007; Joshua Frazier, defensive tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers, 2018.

With 117, Rutledge has played in the most NFL regular-season games among the Alabama alumni who entered the league as the No. 217 through No. 257 picks in the draft. The bulk of those games came as a holder on extra-point and field-goal attempts. Rutledge started 10 games during his 14 seasons in the NFL. He completed 274-of-526 passes for 3,628 yards with 16 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. Rutledge also appeared in 15 postseason games, including victories in Super Bowl XXI with the New York Giants and Super Bowl XXVI with the Washington Redskins. He completed his only postseason pass for a 23-yard gain in the Giants’ 49-3 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 4, 1987. In Washington’s 41-38 overtime victory against the Detroit Lions on Nov. 4, Rutledge threw for 363 yards after entering the game with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter. This is the third-most passing yards for a player who did not start the game since the AFL-NFL merger.

Lyles is in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame for his play as Alabama’s middle guard in a 30-2 victory over Baylor on Jan. 1, 1981.

Darby played in only one game as a rookie for Tampa Bay. But in the next three seasons, he played in 40 games for the St. Louis Rams, ran for 399 yards and two touchdowns on 93 carries, caught 47 passes for 340 yards and one touchdown and returned 11 kickoffs for a 20.6-yard average.

Released by the Steelers at the end of his first training camp, Frazier was on the Detroit Lions’ practice squad in 2018, ended up on injured reserve after joining the Alliance of American Football’s Birmingham Iron in 2019, got drafted by but didn’t play for the XFL’s Orlando Guardians in 2022, was briefly with the Massachusetts Pirates of the Indoor Football League in 2023 and has joined the Rapid City Marshals for the Arena Football League’s 2024 revival.

No. 247 picks: Bob Conway, back, Green Bay Packers, 1953; Steve Whitman, fullback, San Diego Chargers, 1980; Brandon Deaderick, defensive end, New England Patriots, 2010; Brad Smelley, tight end, Cleveland Browns, 2012.

Deaderick played in 60 games with 17 starts in five seasons – three with New England and one apiece with the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints. He had 5.5 sacks in regular-season games and another in the Patriots’ 21-17 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI.

Smelley played in two games for Cleveland in 2012 and two for the Houston Texans in 2013. His only NFL reception gained 3 yards in the Browns’ 34-12 loss to the Denver Broncos on Dec. 23, 2012.

No. 250 pick: D. Joe Gambrell, center, Los Angeles Rams, 1946.

Gambrell didn’t play for Los Angeles, but he did catch for the Oneonta Red Sox of the Class C Canadian-American League in 1947.

No. 253 picks: James Mallard, wide receiver, St. Louis Cardinals, 1981; Chris Goode, defensive back, Indianapolis Colts, 1987; Xzavier Dickson, linebacker, New England Patriots, 2015.

Mallard was a track star who played one season of football at Alabama. A two-time winner of the SEC outdoor 200-meter dash championship, a heart procedure caused Mallard to sit out the 1981 season, and he never caught on with St. Louis.

After playing in eight games as a rookie, Goode played six more seasons as a cornerback for Indianapolis, starting 66 games. He intercepted seven passes. In a 27-7 loss to the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 28, 1990, Goode ran 54 yards with a fumble recovery for his only NFL touchdown. Goode has the most starts among Alabama alumni drafted from No. 217 through No. 257.

Dickson played for the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football in 2019.

No. 255 pick: Ramzee Robinson, defensive back, Detroit Lions, 2007.

Robinson was Mr. Irrelevant for the 2007 NFL Draft – the final player picked. That didn’t prevent the former S.R. Butler High School standout from playing in 26 NFL games over three seasons.

No. 257 pick: Elliott Speed, center, Washington Redskins, 1951; Jaylen Key, safety, New York Jets, 2024.

Speed had a 20-17-3 record in four seasons as the head coach at Parrish High School in Selma.

When Washington picked Speed the 1951 draft still had 105 picks to go. When the Jets picked Key in 2024, the draft ended. The most recent Mr. Irrelevant spent time on the practice squads of the Jets and Cincinnati Bengals as a rookie without playing in a regular-season game.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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General

Miss Manners: My breast implants are none of your business

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I had a breast augmentation surgery 20 years ago, for reasons that I still think were good ones. I am not interested in having to justify my choice to anyone, and in any case, it’s not something I could undo even if I wanted to. I’m now single and dating. It has happened more than once that a man sees me undressed for the first time, detects that I have breast implants, then stops everything to stare at my chest and ask, “Why did you have that done?” It implies that he disapproves of my choice.

I consider this rude, judgmental and insensitive. I never comment on other people’s bodies or their choices of what to do with them. I certainly would never feel entitled to ask someone about something like that, unless I was explicitly invited to do so.

What is a good way to respond when asked this intrusive and judgmental question, especially in the context of sexual intimacy? The times this has happened, I was so taken aback and dismayed that I couldn’t think of what to say in the moment.

I have ended up saying something like, “It’s a long story and I don’t really want to talk about it right now” — but I would like to also convey that I find the question offensive, body-shaming and hurtful.

GENTLE READER: Those are surely all qualities that you do not want in a potential suitor, much less an imminent lover.

Miss Manners thinks you would well be rid of someone so quick to criticize you and question your choices — irreversible or otherwise. And making negative comments in the throes of passion is not the way to sustain the situation — which also makes it not particularly bright.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at missmanners.com, by email to [email protected], or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.

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General

Dense fog advisory affecting Coffee and Geneva counties until Saturday morning, visibility down to 1/4 mile

The National Weather Service issued a dense fog advisory at 4:40 a.m. on Saturday valid between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. for Coffee and Geneva counties.

The weather service says to expect, “Visibility one quarter mile in dense fog.”

“Low visibility could make driving conditions hazardous,” comments the weather service. “If driving, slow down, use your headlights, and leave plenty of distance ahead of you.”

Fog safety: Tips from the weather service for safe travels

When a dense fog advisory is issued for your area, it means that widespread dense fog has developed and visibility can plummet to a quarter-mile or less. These conditions pose challenges for travel, so exercise extra caution on the road or consider postponing your trip if possible.

If driving in fog becomes unavoidable, remember these safety tips:

Reduce speed:

Slow down and allocate extra travel time to reach your destination safely.

Visibility priority:

Ensure your vehicle is visible to others by using low-beam headlights, which also activate your taillights. If you have fog lights, use them.

Avoid high-beams:

Refrain from using high-beam headlights, as they create glare that impairs your visibility on the road.

Keep a safe distance:

Leave a safe distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to account for sudden stops or changes in the traffic pattern.

Stay in your lane:

Use the road’s lane markings as a guide to remaining in the correct lane.

Zero visibility protocol:

In cases of near-zero visibility due to dense fog, activate your hazard lights and seek a safe spot, like a nearby business parking lot, to pull over and stop.

No parking options:

If no designated parking area is available, pull your vehicle as far off the road as possible. Once stationary, deactivate all lights except the hazard flashers, engage the emergency brake, and release the brake pedal to ensure your tail lights are not illuminated, reducing the risk of other drivers colliding with your stationary vehicle.

By adhering to these precautions from the weather service, you can navigate foggy conditions more safely, reducing the likelihood of accidents and ensuring your personal safety.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.

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