Le Mort Vivant: This is my new favorite summer beer. It’s a Biere de Garde style from Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, Texas. It pours a medium orange color and has an ABV of 6.55 percent. It has a fairly strong malt character, but in every other category is very balanced; the yeasts and hops are even. The malts are in no way overbearing however. It’s very sweet with a variety of notes from different fruits. It’s absolutely delicious.

Oaked Big Hoppy Monster: This is a new version of the original Big Hoppy Monster from Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Georgia. This time around, it’s been aged in oak barrels for a whole new twist. It’s a red ale, pours a dark red-orange color, and has an ABV of 9.10 percent. It’s a heavily malty beer with lots of caramel character. It is fairly hoppy with a good balancing coming from the flavoring of the oak barrel aging. It’s a very powerful and potent beer, refreshing and intense.

Hefeweissbier: This hefeweizen style is another great beer from Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan, the oldest brewery in the world, located in Freising, Germany. It pours a golden yellow color and has an ABV of 5.40 percent. There are some light malt and yeast notes that are uniquely German. There are also some light spices and notes of bananas and citrus as well.

It is a very rare occasion for the city of Huntsville to have the Huntsville Stars, Huntsville Havoc, and Alabama Hammers all in season at the same time. What is even more exciting is that all three teams are playing at the top of their game.

The sports action starts Friday at 4:43 under the lights of Joe Davis Stadium as the Huntsville Stars play a double header against Jacksonville. The Stars are starting out 5-1 on the season, which is their best performance since 2008.

If baseball is not your sport do not worry! At 7:00 on the same night, just across town the other professionals on ice will take to the rink. The Huntsville Havoc will host Pensacola in a three-game series in the Southern Professional Hockey League championship series.

So you do not like baseball or hockey, well there is one more professional sport for you to choose from. After the Havoc take over the VBC on Friday night, the green grass will be rolled over the ice as Saturday will be the Alabama Hammers turn to pack out the arena. The Professional Arena Football team from Huntsville is off to its best start as well. With only seven wins all last season, the Hammers have started out 3-1 and are tied for No. 1 in the league.

Huntsville professional sports are in full swing and every team is playing like champions. If you are looking for something to do this weekend, find ten dollars, pick your sport: baseball, hockey, or football, and go watch a professional team play.

Charger baseball began this season in historic fashion, starting out with a 29-8 record and advancing as high as No. 8 in the national polls. Their explosive start has been fueled by fiery hitting and consistency on the mound. Last weekend, however, they hit a bump in the road and their offense hit a major stall. The Blue and White failed to get anything going at the plate and lost the series 2-0 to Gulf South Conference foe, West Georgia.

In the first game the Chargers were defeated by a score of 3-0. Senior Andrew Busby got the start on the mound and pitched a strong seven innings, giving up only two earned runs. The Chargers loss can be attributed to some uncharacteristic struggles at the plate. They were shut out for only the second time all season and recorded just four hits.

The Chargers were able to find their bats before the second contest, but it was not quite enough. UAH outhit West Georgia 10-5, but were defeated 3-2 to secure the series victory for the home team. The weekend proved to be an unlucky one all-around for the Chargers. They hoped to avoid the sweep and gain some momentum by picking up a victory during the third game of the series, but it was cancelled due to inclement weather.

The Chargers still hold down the No. 9 spot in the national rankings entering this weekend’s matchup. They face GSC rival, West Alabama, at Charger Park on the campus of UAH. The series begins April 20, at 3 p.m. Come out and support your Charger baseball team as they continue their championship run!

The No. 1 overall seed Cardinals were met by No. 4 seed University of Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines were a significantly lower seed than their opponents but entered the game playing as well as any team in the country, and were only slight underdogs to Louisville. This was partly due to the strong play of their sophomore point guard, Trey Burke. Just days before the game Burke was given the Wooden Award, annually handed out to that season’s most outstanding player. On the other side of the ball was Louisville shooting guard, Russ Smith. Smith came into the game as Louisville’s leading scorer of the tournament, and playing his best basketball of the season. Throughout the season many pundits claimed this would be the year where truly anyone could win, and perhaps the year where a mid-major took home the crown. What manifested, however, was a heavyweight brawl between two powerhouse teams.

Michigan began the game with a tremendous surge of momentum. With less than four minutes left in the first half they held a 12-point lead over the Cardinals. In a critical stretch junior forward Luke Hancock drilled three consecutive three-pointers to put the Cardinals up one going into the locker room.  The second half was a back-and-forth affair that validated this championship as one for the ages. Player of the Year Trey Burke did everything he could to will his team to victory, scoring a game high 24 points. However, the shooting of Luke Hancock coupled with the steady play of senior guard Peyton Siva was too much for the Wolverines to overcome. Hancock finished with 22 points and was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

This is Louisville’s third national championship as a program. Their last one came in 1982. This is Pitino’s second national championship, both at different schools. His last championship came in 1996 while he was head coach at Kentucky. This is the second straight year that the national title has found its way back into the Bluegrass state. Last years champion: Kentucky.

Last Saturday, the chargers faced Shorter in a key Gulf South Conference double header, dominating in both games, with an 8-2 win in the first game and a 6-2 win in the second. Shorter managed to score first with a double to plate a Shorter runner. The chargers responded immediately in the first, as Kathryn Whitlock hit a single to drive in Mary Kelley.

The game remained tied until Shorter scored in the third. The game stayed at 2-1 Shorter until the fifth. With Brianna Sullivan at second after a steal, Kelly laid down the perfect bunt to move Sullivan to third. Sullivan scored when Courtney McNett singled from a hard hit to third, tying the game.

Shorter did not respond, instead quickly ended their sixth inning at bat, giving the chargers the opportunity to secure a firm lead. Mallory McNeal plated Nicole Bobrowski and Abby MacKay off a double. McNett drove in another pair with a double, followed by Whitlock’s third hit of the game to drive in pinch runner Morgan Hopkins, to tally the final score 8-2.

The chargers kept the same pace in the second game with three runs in the first, and three in the second. This early six run lead began as Sullivan was driven in by a Whitlock base hit. Whitlock crossed the plate accompanied by McNett when Bobrowski singled to right field. UAHuntsville was quickly back to tally three more runs when Kelly doubled to score Meagan Billingsley. Whitlock singled again to put runners on second and third across the plate. The chargers would only allow two runs through the remainder of the game.

The incredible batting continued into Sunday as the chargers faced UWG. West Georgia grabbed the first lead of the game, but the chargers responded with a McNett homerun over left, plating Sullivan and Kelley. The lead would stretch to 5-1 when McNett singled to drive in Billingsley and McNeal. UWG hit a pair of runs in the fourth to bring the lead back to 5-3, but the chargers immediately regained the four-run lead. McNett plated Kelly after her fourth triple of the season. Bobrowski hit a fly to plate Hopkins producing a 7-3 lead. The team put up four more in the sixth to end the contest early with a final score of 11-3.

In the second game, UWG would score first, being their only run of the game as the chargers took a 10-1 win. MacKay hit a grand slam to give a 4-1 lead in the first. Kelly tripled in the second scoring Billingsley and Sullivan, while being driven in herself by Whitlock. Mackay came back to bat to drive one to left to score two runners to tally a 9-1 lead. Number 10 was earned in the third when Meagan Walker hit an RBI to score Lindsey Davis.

The chargers continue play this weekend traveling to play West Florida at 1 on Saturday and Valdosta State at noon on Sunday.

Jaime Smith and Zane Campbell hope to parlay their success on the hardwood of Spragins Hall into basketball opportunities elsewhere. Smith’s two older brothers, Joe and Jason—both UAH alums—play professional basketball in foreign leagues, and Jaime is hoping to become the third. Campbell, an All-American and All-Region player, is set for a busy offseason of workouts and try-outs in search of a professional roster spot.

Baldwin and Wester—borrowing from the NCAA’s saying—hope to go professional in something other than sports. Baldwin has been accepted into the medical school at the University of South Alabama and the University of Alabama in Birmingham with a decision forthcoming. Wester hopes to join “Dr. Baldwin” and is awaiting his test scores and letters of acceptance.

The season has about a week left, and the teams are practically cemented in except the last spot in the Western conference. The playoff race in the West has somewhat two stories, who will win the west and who will get the last playoff spot, between the Jazz, the Lakers and the Mavericks. The East has an undoubted leader with the Heat, but the other teams can still shift depending on finishing records.

The performance of the week has to be Carmelo Anthony. Anthony has had an amazing run over the last couple games helping his team get to their 12-game-winning streak. Melo’s performance is causing the Knicks to rally and have some much needed momentum heading toward the playoffs, and more than likely to play against the hard-fought Celtics in the seventh spot in the East.

The player to watch in the last week of the regular season is Dwight Howard. Howard, being the key addition to the Lakers in the off-season, seemingly un-interested at times and in most eyes not performing to his potential after being the best big-man season after season with his previous team the Magic. The Lakers need Howard to step up, if he does not play motivated then the Lakers will not make the playoff, if so they will not go far.

Every team had good storylines for the beginning of the season, but the Angels’ new outfielder, Hamilton, had to endure an early trip to Arlington to see his old teammates from the Texas Rangers.

The schedule had the Angels opening the year in Cincinnati against the Reds, the team that traded him to the Rangers. There he received a warm welcome, being his first time back in the Queen City, and even some articles about how the Reds should have never traded him. Things shifted gears a bit when he arrived at the next stop on the season-starting road trip.

As he was introduced at The Ballpark at Arlington, 40,000 plus fans proceeded to boo very loudly. Some fans turned their back on him and some held up newspapers as if they didn’t care to notice him, a harsh reception that was not lost on the superstar.

“That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard this crowd,” Hamilton told reporters after the game. “It’s good to see that they had such a big turnout.”

Hamilton is reviled in Texas largely because of the comments he made about how the town doesn’t support the Rangers as much as it supports football. In the case of the fans, however, justice was served when he made the final out of the series grounding out to seal the Rangers’ win in Sunday night’s series finale.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got a memorable Opening Day performance from their young ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw. He threw a complete game shutout against the division rival San Francisco Giants and also hit a solo home run. He was the first pitcher to hit a home run on Opening Day since Don Drysdale did it over 40 years ago. Drysdale was also a Dodger.

The Washington Nationals, after sweeping their first three games against the Marlins, ran into a wall when they travelled to Cincinnati. In the series opening game of a three game set that many experts believe was a preview of the NL Championship series this October, the Reds beat Washington 15-0 behind a stellar hitting performance of sophomore third baseman Todd Frazier. The Nationals would drop two of three to the Redlegs.

Also worthy of note, the Rangers had a near perfect game in the series preceding the Angels’ visit. Ace pitcher Yu Darvish missed a perfect game by one out against the Astros. Marwin Gonzales hit a scorching ground ball that zipped right between Darvish’s legs and into center field for the first hit of the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was the 11^th time in MLB history that the 27^th hitter spoiled the perfect game bid.

Something to watch for this coming week: the Cincinnati Reds will visit their bitter rivals the St. Louis Cardinals to start the week. Both teams are the odds on favorites to win the Central Division this year. Also, later in the week, the Atlanta Braves will battle the Washington Nationals in this season’s first meeting of the heavyweights from the National League’s East Division.

The two teams will meet in Atlanta on Monday to decide who will take home the nets. Louisville is headed in as the top seed, blowing out its first four opponents in the tournament and mounting a miraculous comeback late in the second half to beat Wichita State and advance to the championship. Michigan, who is heading in as a fourth seed has dealt out its share of blowouts in the tournament. The Wolverines also barely squeaked through the Sweet Sixteen as they staged a 10-point rally with less than three minutes remaining. It took a Trey Burke three in the final seconds to send the game into overtime before the Michigan could advance.

Both teams have the skill needed to win but will also be playing with the passion to drive them to victory. Louisville will be playing for No. 5, Kevin Ware, who suffered one of the most gruesome injuries in basketball in the Elite Eight. His team is playing for him and made shirts saying “Win it for Kevin.” Louisville beat Wichita State for him, to play the championship in Atlanta, Ware’s hometown.

Michigan players are playing for reputation. At a school where football is the main focus, Wolverine basketball gets overlooked. Michigan guard explains it is because “football has a lot more championships than we do.”

Rick Pitino and John Beilein will shake hands on Monday for a great basketball matchup. Pitino at Louisville is looking to be the first coach to win at two separate schools, while Beilein at Michigan is looking to win his first title.

The Chargers had five cozy home games last week, all of which were wins except for the Wednesday night game against Montevallo. The men dispatched visiting Miles College and then swept the weekend series against new GSC member Union including a 13-3 run-rule in eight innings on Sunday. In those four wins Charger pitchers allowed a total of 20 hits.

UAH got some spirited performances from their starting pitchers this week. Freshman left-hander Brent Elder got his first career start against Miles on Tuesday. Elder threw an impressive 5.2 innings as he held Miles hitters to two runs on two hits and walked only two batters. It was just his fourth appearance on the season, but he improved his record to a perfect 2-0.

Andrew Busby followed up his complete game shutout against West Florida two weeks ago with another solid start, this time facing Union. In seven innings he gave up one run on six hits and two walks while striking out four. Busby improved his ERA to a stingy 1.72.

Dana Wright pitched a seven inning complete game in game two of the Union series and notched his third win of the season. He allowed two runs on three hits and a walk while fanning 10 Bulldog hitters.

Alex Aultman finished the week with a strong outing in the Chargers 13-3 sending off of Union. Aultman threw seven innings giving up those three runs along with six hits, but he sent five Union hitters back to the bench via the strikeout. Both Aultman and Busby are tied for the team lead in wins with five and both share an identical 5-1 record.

As per the norm, the Charger bats gave the pitching a lot of support. In the five games of the week UAH piled up 34 runs on 55 hits. No one hitter stood out through all of the contests, but Chandler Brock did turn in a ridiculous game against Miles. He had five hits in five at-bats including a double, two runs scored and three stolen bases.

This week the Chargers are on the road for a doubleheader at Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday and a three-game conference set at West Georgia this weekend. The Chargers could also do some moving in the polls after their impressive performances last week.