Montana Fouts and Ally Shipman Selected to Preseason Softball All-SEC Team

The two fifth-year seniors earned All-SEC honors last season

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. | The Southeastern Conference released its 2023 Preseason All-SEC Softball Team Thursday, with Montana Fouts and Ally Shipman representing Alabama on the list.

Fouts is a three-time First Team All-SEC honoree and has led the league in strikeouts each of the past two seasons, earning SEC Pitcher of the Year honors in 2021. Shipman was a second-team All-SEC honoree in 2022, leading the Crimson Tide in RBIs in conference play.

The Preseason All-SEC Team is voted on by the league's head coaches and consists of a minimum of 21 players, regardless of position. No ties are broken.

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-- Masakela Rawls can be reached at masakelarawls@aim.com. Follow her on Twitter @kela071668.

(© Copyright 2023 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Auburn Gymnastics Faces Alabama in Tuscaloosa Friday

AUBURN, Ala. | The No. 6 Auburn gymnastics team returns to the road for another Southeastern Conference match-up, traveling to No. 11 Alabama on Friday, February 3.

The Tigers and the Crimson Tide will face off at 6:30 p.m. CT in Coleman Coliseum and the meet will be televised on SEC Network.

"Going to Alabama is never an easy task," head coach Jeff Graba said. "We need to get better at competing on the road in a hostile environment so no better way to do that than this Friday."

The rivalry between the two schools has amplified in recent years.

"This is a special thing we get to be a part of," Graba said. "I think it's become one of the best rivalries in collegiate gymnastics. They're going to have a big crowd and it's going to be a big night for both programs."

The key to Auburn's success on Friday night will be the team's ability to enjoy the moment, soak in the energy and stay in the Auburn bubble.

BLACK HISTORY: Sandra Douglass Morgan (1978- )

Sandra Douglass Morgan is an attorney and executive currently serving as the president of the Las Vegas Raiders football team. Morgan was born on April 10, 1978, in Las Vegas Nevada. Her father, Gilbert, is African American, and her mother, Kilcha, is Korean. She attended Eldorado High School and graduated in 1996. Morgan then enrolled in the University of Nevada, located in Reno, graduating with a BA in communication and political science in 1999. She then attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law, and graduated in 2003.

Throughout college, Morgan worked as a government affairs coordinator for the firm R&R Partners. Once she passed the bar, she worked as an associate attorney for Parker, Nelson, Arin, Chtd. Additionally, she held the position of Deputy city attorney, chief deputy city attorney, and assistant city attorney. From 2005 to 2008, Morgan was the litigation attorney for The Mirage Hotel, and from 2008 to 2016, she was the first African American to hold the position of city attorney for North Las Vegas.

House GOP Passes First Big Whip Test, Ousting Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)

After an early struggle, the new majority found the votes to yank the Minnesota progressive from the Foreign Affairs Committee, a panel she personally holds dear.

After a flip-flop-filled struggle, the House GOP’s whip operation passed its first major test: booting progressive Ilhan Omar from a prized committee spot.

Republican leaders worked for more than a week to secure the votes to pass the resolution, which cited the Minnesota Democrat’s past comments about Israel. A few GOP members had suggested they would oppose Omar’s ouster due to bigger concerns — namely, a desire to not go tit-for-tat with Democrats by using forcible committee removal against the opposing party — but in the end, Republicans were almost wholly united, with Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio) voting present.

George Santos Benefactor Bankrolled Group Opposing LA's Progressive Prosecutor

A big spender on right-wing causes, investor Andrew Intrater gave seed money to a group formed to oust a reform-minded district attorney.

A HIGH-DOLLAR INVESTOR in New York who generously supported George Santos’s congressional campaigns and related committees also bankrolled a group in Los Angeles seeking to oust the city’s progressive prosecutor.

Andrew Intrater, a Republican donor based in New York, has given more than $221,000 to George Santos’s congressional campaigns and related groups. In 2020, Santos claimed that Intrater was a client of his. Intrater also put more than half a million dollars into Santos’s previous employer, a company called Harbor City Capital that the Securities and Exchange Commission accused of operating a Ponzi scheme in 2021.

The mendacious New York House member, though, wasn’t Intrater’s only political interest. His focus apparently also includes local politics in California, where he gave $25,000 in seed money to a political action committee opposing Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón.

Gascón, who was elected in 2020 on a criminal justice reform platform that included opposing the death penalty, fended off a second recall attempt in August and is up for reelection in 2024. A group called Cal Justice Committee, formed last year, is working to draft LA County Deputy District Attorney John McKinney, a potential Gascón opponent. Intrater is the group’s first donor.

From ‘Weeds’ to ‘Homeland,’ Showtime Mattered — Here’s Why Paramount’s Erasure of the Brand Is a Mistake

The outlet that unexpectedly crashed the top Emmy race; the home to complicated LGBTQ and female storytelling for an intriguing, glimmering moment; the place that today, even in its attenuated state, airs “Yellowjackets” and “Ziwe.”

For a long moment leading up until very recently, Showtime has felt like something less than what it once was — perhaps inevitable, given that “what it once was” was a channel that punched so far above the weight that it seemed at times close to an equal of HBO. And the news that it is in some way changing form, taking on the cumbersome name “Paramount+ With Showtime” and seeing its highest-profile forthcoming series, “Three Women,” get offloaded before airing, suggests that even its more mediocre days as a stand-alone television network will soon be in the rear-view mirror.

It’s a shame! Obviously, the current state of affairs, in which endless well-funded outlets provide consumers infinite choice, was not meant to last forever. It was to have winners and losers, and, even as details remain to be sorted out, Showtime’s fate seems clear enough. But inasmuch as the characters and personalities of industry brands matter at all, it’s in the way they enable art to get made. And Showtime stood for a streak in American television that would be sad to see just die.

Consider what is likely their greatest triumph, “Homeland.” The series, which kicked open the Emmy best drama category for Showtime, has a complicated legacy; it also undeniably aired in the right place. In the 2000s, under Robert Greenblatt, the cabler became known for shows that centered on the interior lives of women in extraordinary circumstances. The protagonist could be a suburban drug dealer (“Weeds”) or a terminally ill schoolteacher (“The Big C”) or a pill-addicted health professional (“Nurse Jackie”) or a mother with multiple personalities (“United States of Tara”). In all cases, though, her journey was explored in a way that kept her from being the butt of the joke — indeed, explored with such complexity that Showtime became a magnet for major stars. Claire Danes’ work on “Homeland,” going to extreme places to track Carrie Mathison’s cycles of breakdown and breakthrough, slotted nicely into that tradition. It was a great show that felt, essentially, like a Showtime show.

Doja Cat’s ‘Balls to the Wall’ New Era: The Grammy Winner on Rapping More, Her Viral Fashion Looks and Being a ‘Messy Bitch’

Most cats only get nine lives, but Doja Cat already seems to have enjoyed about 90.

Looking back on the ways she’s grabbed the attention of pop culture as a hitmaker and sly fashionista since she broke through as a star with the No. 1 hit “Say So” just three years ago, it can almost feel as if she’s had as many looks and sounds in that short period as Madonna or Lady Gaga have in their entire careers. That’s illusory, of course, for someone with a mere three albums. But 27-year-old Doja Cat has been impactful enough as a musician as well as a style icon to rack up 16 Grammy nominations — five of which she’s carrying heading into the 2023 ceremony, including a record of the year nod for “Woman” and rap-category attention for her “Elvis” soundtrack song, “Vegas.”

When Variety and TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Entertainment News first catches up with Doja Cat, it’s over Zoom. Today, her buzz cut is two-toned: half natural color, half blond. “I’m gonna play with it more,” she says, brandishing a glass of red wine, her American Bully, Malibu, standing with his front paws in her lap. “I think I want to do something like two different colors entirely on each side.”

Her fans seem to get the look now, but she watched as a massive online debate ensued when she first cut off all her hair in the fall. Some onlookers even wondered if the shaved head meant she was having a Britney-Spears-circa-2007 bad moment. Those comments disturbed her — on Spears’ behalf, not her own. “It’s so incredibly disrespectful for people to be minimizing what Britney went through and make a joke out of something that was very serious and a big deal in her life. Every time I see a comment like that, I can’t compute what’s happening, other than it’s just an awful thing,” Doja says.

Former Alabama Softball Standout Jackie Traina Selected to Southeastern Conference 2023 Class of Women’s Legends

The class will be honored at the 2023 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. | Four-time All-American pitcher Jackie Traina has been selected as the University of Alabama's representative for the Southeastern Conference 2023 Class of Women's Legends, announced Wednesday by the league.

The women's legends program began in 2001, showcasing former student-athletes and coaches from all 14 SEC member institutions. Traina is the second Alabama softball honoree, joining Kelly Kretschman from the class of 2012.

This year's class will be honored at the 2023 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, March 1-5 in Greenville, S.C. Each member will be recognized at halftime of their team's first game of the tournament along with a group introduction at halftime of the second semifinal game.

Traina was a four-time All-American for the Crimson Tide from 2011-14, breaking out in 2012 as she guided Alabama to its first national championship. She started every game for the Crimson Tide during its run in Oklahoma City, earning Women's College World Series Most Outstanding Player honors. She became the third player in program history and eighth in SEC history to surpass 100 career wins.

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-- Masakela Rawls can be reached at masakelarawls@aim.com. Follow her on Twitter @kela071668.

(© Copyright 2023 JWT Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

Broome's Big Night Leads Auburn Past Georgia 94-73

AUBURN, Ala. | Johni Broome produced a double-double during a nearly flawless first half for No. 25 Auburn to help the Tigers even the season series with Georgia, beating the Bulldogs 94-73 Wednesday at Neville Arena.

"That was a really good team effort tonight," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of the Tigers' season-high point total. "A lot of guys contributed. Great balance tonight." 

Broome scored 19 points and equaled his career high with 18 rebounds. Allen Flanigan led Auburn with 22 points, making 8 of 10 shots. Wendell Green Jr. added 18 points and six assists, and K.D. Johnson reached double figures for the first time in SEC play this season with 13 points.

"Wendell's a fierce competitor," Pearl said. "All he cares about is winning."

The Tigers committed a season-low five turnovers while distributing 22 assists.

Green hit a pair of 3-pointers within 30 seconds to cap a 17-0 Auburn run that turned a two-point lead into a 19-point advantage with 6:13 remaining in the first half.  

"We were efficient offensively and we were getting stops," Pearl said. "Our guys were locked into the scouting report and what we did bothered them. Our defense was better in front of our bench again, which is a problem. We've got to do a better job in the second half."

Broome's tip-in with 2:54 left in the half gave him double figures in points and rebounds. He finished the half with 13 points and 12 boards. 

BLACK HISTORY: Black Collegiate Education In The United States (1828-2019)

Over a century before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened colleges and universities to all students, public and private colleges were established in the United States to meet the educational needs of African Americans. 

These institutions, now called Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), provided African Americans with access to education and scholarship that had been denied them during slavery and continued to be denied after the Civil War through racial segregation laws in all of the ex-Confederate states and border states such as Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri.