Grasshopper
Grasshoppers eat large quantities of foliage both as adults and during their development, and can be serious pests of arid land and prairies. Pasture, grain, forage, vegetable and other crops can be affected. Grasshoppers often bask in the sun, and thrive in warm sunny conditions, so drought stimulates an increase in grasshopper populations. A single season of drought is not normally sufficient to stimulate a major population increase, but several successive dry seasons can do so, especially if the intervening winters are mild so that large numbers of nymphs survive. Although sunny weather stimulates growth, there needs to be an adequate food supply for the increasing grasshopper population. This means that although precipitation is needed to stimulate plant growth, prolonged periods of cloudy weather will slow nymphal development.
Birmingham Grasshoppers
Birmingham Grasshoppers were an American soccer team that played in Birmingham, Alabama from 1992-1996 as a member of the United States Interregional Soccer League. When the USISL split into two leagues in 1995, the Grasshoppers joined the Premier League. Preston Goldfarb (soccer coach at Birmingham-Southern College) was instrumental in originating the team and while at the helm, the Birmingham Grasshoppers won a division title, participated in the USISL "Sizzlin Nine" National Tournament, and hosted two regional playoffs. The Grasshoppers team was designed to give his players an opportunity to compete at a high level during the off-season, but travel schedules and time away from Birmingham-Southern led Goldfarb to discontinue the Grasshoppers after four seasons. The Hoppers were a free scoring team with English striker John Kennedy hitting the back of the net 38 times in 47 games.