Read the newsletter below. Sign up to get it in your inbox each day here.

Up in class, down in class

The biannual reclassification of high school fall sports came was announced Monday by the Alabama High School Athletic Association, reports AL.com’s Ben Thomas.

They do this every two years to update with enrollment changes. If a school gains a lot of students relative to other schools, it might move up into a higher classification. And if a school’s enrollment falls, it could fall in classification. Private schools that are members of the AHSAA are classified as if their enrollment were 1.35 times its actual enrollment, then might be moved up or down a class based on a competitive-balance factor tied to its recent postseason performances.

In football, that competitive-balance factor will put Coosa Christian into Class 2A, Madison Academy, Mobile Christian and St. James into Class 4A, and and Montgomery Catholic into Class 5A.

New Class 7A schools next year will be Carver Senior High in Montgomery, Robertsdale and Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa. Falling to 6A are Spain Park, Percy Julian and Chelsea.

Incidentally, Hoover continues to have the state’s largest student body with an average daily enrollment of 2,222. That’s a little more than twice the enrollment of the smallest 7A school, Florence.

Can they get some respect?

There’s been some talk about “eye tests” in sports lately. The question can be whether those judging teams are using their eyes or their gut. Take Auburn’s men’s basketball poll situation.

The Tigers have been consistently ranked in the top 10 of computer polls yet again this week failed to crack the Associated Press Top 25, reports AL.com’s Matt Cohen.

Auburn has made easy work of three straight teams that made the NCAA Tournament last spring. Indiana by 28, UNC Asheville by 25 and USC by 16.

Holding the Tigers back? A Dec. 3 upset loss to Appalachian State.

And he had to give them the bird

Some headlines you can’t just wander past without stopping and gawking for a minute.

AL.com’s Warren Kulo reports that a man from Elba, Ala., allegedly was high on mushrooms when taken into custody outside a home near Marianna, Fla., refusing to leave, sitting in his vehicle with a blank look on his face and a parrot on his shoulder.

You don’t read that every day.

And we can’t assume the man was another despondent Jimmy Buffett fan. Either way, let’s hope he gets the help he needs. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said he became uncooperative and resisted arrest.

The man was checked out at a hospital then taken the jail. The parrot was being held by Washington County Animal Control.

Defense spending in Alabama

Here are some direct investments coming to our state from the National Defense Authorization Act that passed Congress last week:

• Over $117 million will be directed to the Redstone Arsenal
• Over $68 million will be directed to the Alabama Army National Guard
• Over $65 million will be directed to Maxwell Air Force Base
• Over $41 million will be directed to Fort Novosel
• Over $16 million will be directed to the Anniston Army Depot
• Over $7 million will be directed to the Alabama Air National Guard
• $68 million for a Ground Test Facility at Redstone
• $65 million for Military Family Housing at Maxwell
• $57 million for a new Army Reserve Center in Birmingham
• $41.2 million for new Barracks at Ft. Novosel

Picture that

“Bad Man,” a movie starring Seann William Scott (above, right — the guy who played Stifler on “American Pie”), has been filming in the Birmingham area. Scott is pictured posing with Helena Mayor Brian Puckett on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Brian Puckett)

More Alabama news

The podcast