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Watch out for I.C.E.

Mike February 22nd, 2009

Watch out for I.C.E.

No, not the frozen stuff, Iron Cage Extreme – the new Mixed Martial Arts promotion based in Birmingham. ICE hosted their first event Friday night at the Bessemer Civic Center (BCC), a steel cage exhibition of some of the areas more promising amateurs, plus two pro bouts. I was two wrapped up in the action to take notes, so no ESPN-style play-by-play here; but I can tell you they put on a great night of fighting, with only one matchup making it into the second round. The others fell to chokes, arm bars and knockouts, thrilling the crowd of several hundred fight fans.

It doesn’t take much to match-up twenty four fighters and assemble a ring; but it takes a LOT more to put together an exciting, well-controlled and family friendly event – and that is where ICE delivered. They chose a perfect venue in the BCC – providing clear views of the ring to all; and an in-your-face experience you don’t always get with the bigger companies. A professional DJ and entertaining MC kept everyone’s toes tapping between bouts and the ICE Ring Girls were happy to pose for pictures with all the kids… and a few of the older guys. Ice cold coke, hotdogs and wings were available for those of us on the floor, while the VIP’s enjoyed steak and chicken. I snatched up a few limited edition ICE tees and an American Fighter shirt from another vender. And with the economy in the pits, ICE treated the fans nice, with $25 general Admission seats and $35 ringsides, plus massive discounts for the kids.

Watch out for ICE, these guys have class and I suspect we’ll be seeing more great events from them soon.

The Disney World of Alabama

Lori August 9th, 2008

Alabama Adventure

The Disney World of Alabama
Lori – TheBama.com Writer

On what had to be one of the hottest summer days, my Miamian uncle, young cousins and I decided to check out Alabama Adventure in Bessemer. I hadn’t been in at least 10 years when it was still Visionland, but I quickly remembered the lay of the land, since it hasn’t changed much. It impressed my eight-year-old cousin, who had never been to a water park before but kept forgetting we weren’t at Disney World.

Naturally, we started at Splash Beach Water Park to cool off. The Warrior River called to us first, where the idea is to slowly float down the “river” in an inter tube, but instead we had to swim, because there were approximately five tubes available without paying $7 to rent one. A park regular said there are usually plenty, but not even the lifeguards knew where all the others had disappeared to.

More disappointing was that two of the most exciting and scary looking water rides – Acapulco Drop and Splashdown – were closed. The wave pool was as hot as bathwater, overall uneventful and actually quite uncomfortable since we were all required to wear very tight life vests.

After we exhausted our three options at Splash Beach, we walked to Magic City U.S.A., the amusement park portion of Alabama Adventure, and rode a few rides pretty quickly, since not many others dared to venture that far from the water on such a scorching day.

As soon as we dried out, we were almost instantaneously wet again from sweat and went back to Splash Beach to find the delightful surprise that a few tubes were available for Warrior River, and thus our Alabama Adventure ended quite enjoyably.

Days early in the week are definitely the best time to go to avoid crowds, but beginning the second week of August, both sides of the park are open only on weekends.