Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day…

Weather: Sneaky rain. We weren’t originally expecting any rain for the first part of the week, but there’s a 20 percent chance of scattered showers today with a high around 80. Rain chances go away tonight with a low near 60. We may see an isolated thunderstorm on Tuesday, but not likely.

Who will blink? We may or may not have a shutdown of most government services on Tuesday, depending on whether the Republican majority in the House of Representatives can reach some sort of agreement with Senate Democrats and the Obama administration. The latest bill out of the House would fund the government through December, but also delay the implementation of Obamacare for one year. It’s looking unlikely that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will even allow that bill to be considered. Meanwhile, the so-called health care exchanges are scheduled to go online tomorrow, though most states (including Alabama( have opted out of running their own sites and have handed the job off to the federal government.

Fire in the sky. NASA officials are saying that a large fireball that appeared in skies over Central Alabama apparently entered the Earth’s atmosphere somewhere over the Gadsden vicinity, and fizzled out near Atlanta. Reports by the American Meteor Society showed sightings of the fireball as far north as Kentucky and Maryland. The piece of space debris was apparently burned up before it reached the ground.

Sports: Bonus baseball. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Texas Rangers will have to play a one-game tiebreaker to see which team goes on to the single-game American League Wild Card playoff game. The Rays-Rangers game will be at The Ballpark at Arlington, and will be shown on TBS at 7 p.m. The winner faces Cleveland, which clinched the other wild card spot with its 10^th straight win Sunday; that game will be played Wednesday night. The Indians’ win eliminated the very real chance of a three-way tie for the two wild card berths. Meanwhile, the National League Wild Card Game features Cincinnati at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night… Football: Exit Lane. After an embarrassing 62-41 loss at Arizona State, Southern Cal head coach Lane Kiffin was fired in the early morning hours of Sunday by athletic director Pat Haden. Kiffin took over the Trojans after a star-crossed tenure at Tennessee. Ed Orgeron, Kiffin’s assistant and the former top man at Ole Miss, takes over on an interim basis.