No big surprises in the finales in the European Champions League group stage. Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, and Roma punched their tickets for the final 16, and there’s arguably not a single surprise team left in the field. The tourney resumes in February with knockout rounds. Full results below.

So, here's the Final 16:
Top seeds: Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Valencia, Lyon, Manchester United, Arsenal, AC Milan
Second seeds: Lille, Inter Milan, Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Roma, Real Madrid, Celtic Glasgow, FC Porto

Top-ranked North Carolina won the NCAA women’s championship on Sunday, beating Notre Dame, 2-1. It’s the Tar Heels’ 18th title in the 25-year history of the sport. And here’s the scary part: This is the youngest UNC team ever.

Unseeded UC-Santa Barbara won the men’s title, upsetting UCLA in the final, 2-1. It was only the Gauchos' second NCAA championship in any sport.

With all the hubbub here at Chronic HQ, we almost forgot the news. The Spring Condominiums open their sure-to-be-luxe marketing center today at 5:30pm. Be a part of the first condo wave downtown, while they're still expensive!

Press release after the jump, along with some more contemplative words on the condominium Waste Land.

In what will hopefully be the day's last smattering of Wal-Martritude, we see that Responsible Growth for Northcross has a newly redesigned Web site, complete with a blog, a Cafe Press store, and downloads for signs, bumper-stickers and "the Top 10 Reasons Why Wal-Mart Is Wrong for Northcross."

You know, people always say Wal-Mart leeches money out of local communities, but judging by the little cottage industry they've created, they're already giving back!

p.s.: "The City Hall demonstration will be December 14. Tentatively at noon. Check back regularly for updates." Yowsa!

In Austin, sometimes it's déjà vu all over again...

Take our wild and wooly Wal-Mart quiz!!! Roll-back your thinking caps and fill in the blanks in this statement from the mayor! For extra points, name when it was made!

"I am not opposed to Wal-Mart doing business in Austin. Under the right circumstances, they are a welcome addition to our local economy. But with regard to Wal-Mart’s proposed store development at choose from (a,b,c,d) inside, my message to Wal-Mart is clear and simple: “The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter development ... is in the wrong place, and now it is entirely up to Wal-Mart to make the right choice and locate the project elsewhere.”

"I want to emphasize that although the City of Austin has no legal recourse to prevent the proposed development of a Wal-Mart Supercenter at ???, I, as Mayor, will continue to vigorously represent to the corporate leadership of Wal-Mart the opinion that I share with many in Austin: ??? is not ... suited for large-scale retail."

Our own Texas Longhorns (who are the defending national champs in case you may have forgotten) will face the Iowa Hawkeyes in this year's Alamo Bowl being held in nearby San Antonio at the Alamodome on Saturday, December 30 at 3:30pm. Sixty thousand tickets have already been sold with the remaining tickets available from Eddie Vedder's favorite ticket vendor, Ticketmaster. They can also be purchased over the telephone at 210/224-9600 or at the Alamodome box office from 10am to 5pm. Ticket prices range from $30 to $50.

It would really be a shame to not show up for your own party. Thankfully, the Texas Longhorns avoided that possible embarrassment by whipping Prairie View A&M and Stephen F. Austin in last weekend's NCAA volleyball playoffs – both in 3-0 decisions – to advance to this weekend's Sweet 16 regionals, which were scheduled to be held in Gregory Gym whether the Longhorns won or not. The No. 7 Horns will get a stiffer challenge in this round: On Friday at 5pm, No. 2 Stanford faces California, and Texas must dispatch No. 10 Wisconsin at 7pm. The winners of those matches will then meet at 5:30pm Saturday to determine who advances to the Final Four in Omaha, Neb. Get your tickets at TexasBoxOffice.com.

SurveyUSA has numbers up in the Bonilla/Rodriguez brawl in congressional district 23. Title says it all: "Republican Bonilla Hangs On in TX 23rd, But Hispanic Vote May Decide Outcome."

Bonilla (R) 53
Rodriguez (D) 46

Margin of Sampling Error: ± 4.6%

Judging by the comments and chatter generated by the previous post about Toby Futrell's admitted conflict of interest re: Wal-Mart, I think it's important to come out and state a few things: The post was not intended, as one e-mailer put it, to be any sort of “gotcha” moment tying Futrell to the development. If anything, it was meant as a humorous, you've-got-to-be-kidding-me instance representative of the city's (by now trademarked) ham-handed manner in handling Northcross. Futrell's COI wasn't exactly a secret – the documents are available on the city's Web site here – but its timing – immediately submitted before the Northcross site plan – does raise interesting questions. As neighbors seek to rein in the expansion, we'll see more questions of council and staff, especially of the “what did you know, and when did you know it” variety. And if in fact Futrell's husband does HVAC work for Wal-Mart, and because of this she has an admitted conflict of interest, then we've done our job.