A Jefferson County case that has waited four years to come to trial will have to wait four more quarters, a judge has decided.

A circuit court judge in the county's Bessemer division said today he intends to grant a continuance sought by attorneys who don't want to miss the University of Alabama's national championship football game against the University of Texas on Jan. 7.

In his motion seeking the delay, attorney Jon Terry argues that the trial in an accidental death case was scheduled for Jan. 4 "before certain monumental events occurred," that some attorneys have tickets to the game, that jurors are likely to be preoccupied and that opposing attorneys went to Auburn.

"ROLL TIDE!!" the motion concludes.

Circuit Judge Dan King, an Auburn alumnus, said he planned to grant the motion.

"If I didn't, they'd say, 'He just didn't grant it because he's an Auburn fellow,'" he said. "I wouldn't do that to 'em."

Efforts to reach attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case were unsuccessful Wednesday. But in a motion filed this morning they argued that the trial should begin as scheduled.

"Simply stated, some things are more important than football," the motion said.

Judge Scott Vowell, the presiding judge in Jefferson County and also an Auburn alumnus, said he'd never before seen a motion that requested a continuance because of a football game.

"There's been some motions for continuances and I've suspected what the real reason was," he said. "But this is the first one I've seen that was this honest and candid about the reason."

The case, Mark Traywick vs. Energen Corp., is the result of a 2004 accident that took the life of Irene Traywick of West Crest. She died as the result of an explosion after a car hit a gas meter and power box.

The motion to delay the trial gained national attention today, circulating among law offices around the country, according to a report on the Web site Deadspin.com.

King, who had not yet issued a formal order late today, said he would reschedule the trial to begin in a month or two.

News staff writer Stan Diel contributed to this report.