The Alabama swim team won 30 of 31 events to claim a commanding victory on the road over Delta State in the team’s season opener on Friday. The men’s team won 218-44, and the women’s team claimed a 117.5-44.5 victory on the way to a sweep for the Crimson Tide.

In addition to sweeping the relay events, the Crimson Tide saw a pair of individual wins from Leonardo Alcantara (500, 1,000 free), Bernardo Bondra de Almeida (200 free, 100 fly) and Tommy Hagar (100 back, 200 IM) on the men’s side as Mackenzie Brandt (200, 500 free), Kate Christian (200 back, 200 IM) and Victoria Raymond (100, 200 fly) secured two individual wins on the women’s side.

“This meet is always a great opportunity to see our newcomers compete and gauge our areas of improvement with our returners,” head coach Margo Geer said in a press release. “It was also exciting to have Emily Jone sandJada Scott return to competition. We’re excited for the win and now will focus on how to improve from here and prepare for the rest of the season.”

Overall, Alabama had 29 swimmers, 13 males and 16 females, claim a first-place finish in either a relay or individual event.

September 28, 2013: Coming off a lackluster win against Colorado State, and a week of soul searching, Alabama shut out No. 21 Ole Miss 25-0. T.J. Yeldon rushed for 121 yards and Kenyan Drake 99 as the Crimson Tide outgained the Rebels 434-205 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. “It’ll be huge for the confidence of our players,” Nick Saban said.

September 28, 1963: With the defense limiting Tulane to 99 yards, Alabama rolled to a 28-0 win over the Greenies at Ladd Stadium in Mobile. Quarterback Joe Namath, who passed only nine times, scored on a 1-yard run. Benny Nelson went 33 yards for a score. Billy Piper returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown. Hudson Harris also had a 20-yard touchdown run.

September 28, 2019: Alabama enjoyed a record-setting day en route to a 59-31 victory over Ole Miss at Bryant-Denny Stadium. DeVonta Smith set Crimson Tide records with 274 receiving yards and five touchdown catches, while quarterback Tua Tagovailoa did likewise with six touchdown passes and topped A.J. McCarron’s career mark of 80 touchdowns responsible.

“I can’t wait for tomorrow. Why? Because I get better looking every day.” – Joe Namath

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA)— From the time he was 10 years old, Al Eford knew what he wanted to do.

“Music has been a passion of mine all my life,” he explained. “I was basically raised on the radio.”

He’s been a disk jockey for about 40 years. During the pandemic, he decided to take his career to the next level and start his own radio network.

“I enjoy talking to the people. I just said one day, God knows, I’m gonna be on the air. And now I am heard worldwide.”

There is something most of his listeners on the Awesome Al Radio network probably don’t know. While the sounds are important, it’s sight that makes this show unique.

“I was born with glaucoma. The older I got, the more sight I lost. I went totally blind by 12 or 13 years old.”

He never let lack of sight affect his vision.

“I have speech synthesizers on my computer. When I put my headphones on, the synthesizer comes through the headphones to tell me what song I’m going to play.”

Song requests? No problem. He has a special printer that converts an email request into braille.

“Mr. Peoples in Laurel, MS, wants to hear the Supremes with “One Day We’ll Be Together,” he explained. Eford plays a little bit of everything. “Classic R&B, Today’s R&B, Neo Soul, Smooth Jazz, Country.”

It’s how he plays it that makes Awesome Al Radio special. Al hopes to keep growing his listeners and getting more sponsors, but nothing will slow this guy down. He’s doing what he loves every day.

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RADAR CHECK: The rain shield associated with Helene is over the northeast corner of Alabama early this morning; the rest of the state is dry. The circulation of Helene will be absorbed by a deep upper low near Memphis over the next 24 hours, and we expect another band of showers to wrap into the northern third of the state this afternoon and tonight. The best chance of rain will be north of I-20; the rest of the state will be dry.

A tight pressure gradient will make for strong, gusty winds over the northern half of the state this afternoon and tonight; gusts to 30-35 mph are possible. A wind advisory is in effect.

THE ALABAMA WEEKEND: Clouds will linger across the northern half of Alabama Saturday, and we will mention some risk of isolated showers during the afternoon and evening on the south side of the upper low over Tennessee and Kentucky. The rain won’t be heavy or widespread, and south Alabama will be dry. Sunday looks generally dry statewide with only a few isolated showers over the far northern counties. The high will be in the mid 70s Saturday, followed by low 80s Sunday.

At this point most of next week looks warm and dry, with highs in the low to mid 80s.TROPICS: Helene has been downgraded to a tropical storm; it is just northeast of Macon around daybreak with winds of 70 mph. The system will weaken today and will dissipate over Kentucky during the weekend.

Hurricane Isaac is in the middle of the North Atlantic, moving east/northeast away from the U.S. It’s no threat to land.

An area of low pressure could form over the western Caribbean Sea by the middle of next week. Environmental conditions are expected to be conducive for slow development thereafter while the system moves generally northwestward, potentially entering the Gulf of Mexico by the end of next week. Global models suggest this feature could be near the Gulf Coast in about 10 days, but there is no skill in forecasting the placement or intensity of a tropical cyclone 10 days in advance. We will watch it closely, as always.

FOOTBALL WEATHER: For tonight’s high school games, some rain is possible, if not likely, over the northern third of the state (north of I-20), but the central and southern counties will be dry. We should also note that it will be rather windy tonight over north Alabama, with potential for gusts to 30 mph. Temperatures will be in the low 70s.

On Saturday, UAB hosts Navy (11 a.m. kickoff at Protective Stadium). The sky will be mostly cloudy, and there is a small risk of a shower during the game. Temperatures will be in the low to mid 70s.

Auburn hosts Oklahoma Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium (2:30 p.m. kickoff). Expect a partly to mostly cloudy sky with temperatures in the mid to upper 70s.

Alabama will host Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium Saturday (6:30 p.m. kickoff). We will mention a small risk of a shower during the first half of the game; otherwise, the sky will be mostly cloudy with temperatures around 70 degrees.

ON THIS DATE IN 1985: Hurricane Gloria swept over the Outer Banks, then rushed across Long Island, New England and Canada. It was the first significant hurricane to hit New England in 25 years and brought heavy rains and high winds to the Mid-Atlantic states as well.

For more weather news and information from James Spann and his team, visit AlabamaWx.