Alabama
Goodman: Watching Alabama basketball with Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara
This is an opinion column.
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A unique opportunity presented itself on Friday here in Lexington, Ky.
I had the chance to watch Alabama play Robert Morris in the NCAA Tournament while interviewing Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara. Throughout the interview, Baker-Mazara fed me updates on the action and even threw in some commentary, too.
Alabama was playing in Cleveland, and Auburn was at Rupp Arena, but anything is possible in this age of technology. Baker-Mazara had the Alabama game streaming on his smartphone during Auburn’s open locker room media session.
It made for some amusing content.
One after another, reporters kept asking Baker-Mazara if he was going to keep his emotions in check against Creighton. That’s a pretty tired angle at this point, though. We all know CBM plays best when he’s a little too excited.
“I try to be myself, but at the same time keep it cool, so I don’t hurt our team,” Baker-Mazara said. “I just try to learn that, and the guys are helping me with that — so just trying to keep my emotions in touch.”
If I were Johni Broome or assistant coach Steven Pearl, then I’d start every game from here on out by slapping Baker-Mazara in the face before tipoff.
Assistant coach Steven Pearl was critical of Baker-Mazara and Broome after Thursday’s 20-point victory against 16-seed Alabama State. So was someone else.
But it’s a new day. The sun shines upon Auburn once again. The Tigers have been the best team in the country all season and they take on No.9-seed Creighton at 6:10 p.m. CT on Saturday. I like the Tigers’ chances.
Bored with everyone’s questions, I kept asking Baker-Mazara for the score to the game streaming on the device in his lap.
Priorities, people.
“Ooh, 63-64, and Mark [Sears] just got blocked,” Baker-Mazara said. “Get that out of here, Mark! Just kidding.”
But not really.
Baker-Mazara was rooting for Alabama to lose. It didn’t happen, thankfully. The Tide pulled away from Robert Morris in the second half and won 90-81.
As a professional journalist, I’m not supposed to be rooting for any particular team in the Big Dance. Well, let’s be completely transparent about something. I am openly rooting for No.2-seed Alabama and No.1-seed Auburn to meet in the national championship.
Baker-Mazara was ejected in Auburn’s most recent game against Alabama. Hopefully he gets another shot at the Tide (but not literally, though, because that elbow on Chris Youngblood was pretty dirty).
Auburn practiced on Friday at Rupp Arena. The Tigers’ pre-practice locker room was open to reporters for 30 minutes. Miles Kelly’s locker was next to Baker-Mazara. They sat side-by-side. Kelly had on fuzzy slippers that looked like the paws of a black panther. “Black Panther” is his favorite movie and his sister gave him the slippers for Christmas. Baker-Mazara had on a stylish Auburn letterman’s jacket on top of an Auburn hooded sweatshirt with Aubie the mascot spinning a basketball on his claw.
It was a good look.
Not a good look … Auburn’s tourney opener against Alabama State. The Tigers were sloppy and coach Bruce Pearl was angry after the game. So was team leader Dylan Cardwell, who challenged his teammates with a passionate speech.
“I felt like we all had to hear that,” Baker-Mazara said. “We got a little lackadaisical yesterday and I feel like we had to hear that to get a little fire in us.”
Yeah, but what about that score to the Bama game?
“Still a one point game,” said Baker-Mazara, with a touch of hope in his voice.
Moments later, the Tide began to turn.
“Ahh,” CBM said, “Alabama just scored. It’s a three-point game, 65-68, with 5:56 left.”
He wanted Alabama to lose, naturally, because Baker-Mazara, as much as he tried, couldn’t hide his dislike for his school’s instate rival.
Baker-Mazara was asked if he prayed for Alabama’s downfall?
After first denying it, CBM admitted he wouldn’t mind if Alabama lost early in the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t pray on anyone’s downfall,” he said, “but — man, you’re putting me [on the spot] on this one — but I want to see the SEC do good, but it is Bama, so, yeah, I do want them to lose.”
Baker-Mazara laughed and feigned embarrassment. He qualified the statement. His friend, Aden Holloway, plays for Alabama, and Baker-Mazara said, “I want Biz to do good.”
The NCAA Tournament is the greatest sports event every year, and it only seems to get better and better. It’s the one thing the leaders of collegiate athletics couldn’t get wrong even if they tried. Players like Baker-Mazara will always keep us guessing.
Baker-Mazara was kicked out of the first round last season, ejected for a cheap shot against Yale. CBM wants his chance at redemption and I hope he gets it. He’s too good of a player to go home early, and Auburn has the potential to be an all-time team.
What’s CBM’s favorite thing about March Madness?
“How unpredictable it is,” Baker-Mazara said. “You really don’t know who’s going to win. You go based off records and who’s playing the best, and all that, but you really don’t know because anyone can come beat you any day, for real, as long as you bring it.
“You might be good, but you don’t know who on the other team might be hot that day. The basketball gods might be on their side and they come to win.”
The basketball gods are real, and CBM is in luck. They’re not in the business of awarding karma, just tough defense and soft touches at the rim.
BE HEARD
Got a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what’s on your mind. Let your voice be heard. Ask him anything.
Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”
The iconic wooden roller coaster at Alabama Adventure & Splash Adventure is officially back in action, along with some seasonal deals. This Father’s Day, dads can get into the park for free to ride the restored coaster, Rampage.
It’s not the only attraction returning; this Halloween, Alabama Adventure is bringing back not one but two haunted houses for the first time since the late 2000s.
If you can’t wait until then, the Bessemer park will be open late on Saturdays and end with a pop of color. Adventure Summer Nights will have the park open until 9:30 p.m. once a week with a fireworks show to round off the night.
And as an apology to their loyal visitors, people who bought a daily ticket before June 10 are welcome to come back and try their new and improved attractions for free. If you’re a season pass holder, don’t feel left out—pass holder discounts are doubled for the month of July.
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – You don’t find too many camps where you learn how to slap someone. But this summer, you will in Montgomery. It’s one of many kids camps put on by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
“We have our Camp Shakespeare Junior which is our half day for the littles, kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cameron Williams, the ASF director of education. “We have Big Kid Shakespeare camp and everyone is learning all about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.”
They learn about on stage combat, different acting techniques, and also how to be creative and think on their feet.
“I think theater skills are life skills. So, what makes this camp special is we’re doing more than just boosting literacy and doing theater things. We’re doing life skills, learning what it means to be team players, about discipline, and working with people who may have different personalities than you.”
Different kids have different talents. And even if your child isn’t up for a lead role in the next play, this place can leave a lasting impact.
“If you’re looking for a place where your kid can come out of their shell, to learn how to speak in front of a group, and develop some confidence, this is the place to be.”
It’s a place that’s a real treasure in Montgomery, and its mining some young gems, who one day, could be on the big stage themselves. There are still more ASF camps going on this summer for pre-teens and even adults.
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