WAKE UP! HAPPY NEW YEAR! | It’s gonna be a great one, and we’re even making it an ’80s New Year’s Day for the occasion
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cozy Coffee Station is your East Texas stop for the VERY best in coffee, tea, even sodas and all kinds of snacks. There’s more items on their menu than Kilgore has Bulldogs. Just check ’em out right here at Home | Cozy Coffee Station (that’s cozycoffeestation.com, for those of you who don’t do links, for whatever reason). You can also follow them — and that’s pretty fun — on their socials. On Facebook, it’s Cozy Coffee Station-Kilgore and Cozy Coffee Station-Gilmer, and on Instagram, it’s @cozycoffeestation_kilgore and @cozycoffeestation_Gilmer. Or you can top all of that and go see Oscar and Ashley and their staffs at their two locations: in Gilmer, they’re at 755 Highway 271 North, and in Kilgore, they’re at 110 Midtown Plaza, located in Credit Union Of Texas at both sites. You WILL NOT be sorry. Their products are fantastic, and if you go, you’ll be a returning customer. WE. GUARANTEE. IT.
East Texans on the big stage
The University of Michigan football program has had its share of bumps in the road this season, with Sharrone Moore apparently losing his freaking mind, threatening harm to himself with a butter knife in someone else’s home, and all of the other things we’ve read.
But the UM administration is trying to steady the ship, hiring former Utah head football coach Kyle Whittingham to do so. Whittingham was 177-88 at the helm of the Utes for 21 seasons, and had an 11-6 record against in-state rival BYU.
So, will former Kilgore High School defensive back Jayden Sanders stay put, and shine for the Wolverines, or will he enter the transfer portal if he doesn’t like Whittingham’s message?
We can’t be sure yet. But one thing’s for sure. This photo of Sanders playing against Texas, helping to tackle quarterback Arch Manning, is a great one.
Here’s another something of interest. Over the last couple of weeks, Arizona State defensive end C.J. Fite, the former Tatum High School standout, graduated from ASU, but he also made a special announcement: that he’s returning to Sun Devils football for the 2026 season, for his final season of eligibility.
That is FANTASTIC news for an Arizona State program on the rise, that their biggest defensive star is back after a bit of a roller coaster ride of a season. The Sun Devils reached the College Football Playoff as the Big 12 Conference’s champion a year ago, but this year, injuries and players moving on to the NFL caught up with them. They lost to Duke in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, 42-39, on Wednesday.
At ETBlitz.com, we’re proud of both of these guys, Sanders and Fite, and look forward to maybe sitting down with them in the offseason, and letting them tell all of you more about the season that was just completed, and their mindset as we hit the new year.
What’s coming up
We’re putting the finishing touches on both our ETBlitz.com Volleyball All-Star Team and our ETBlitz.com Football All-Star team, and they’ll be hitting the site soon, as we get ready to double down on coverage of basketball and soccer.
As for your viewing on New Year’s Day, there are three bowl games today that double as College Football Playoff games: Texas Tech meeting Oregon in the Orange Bowl, today at 11 a.m. on ABC / ESPN; Alabama taking on Indiana in the Rose Bowl, kicking off at 3 p.m., also on ABC / ESPN; and the Sugar Bowl, with Ole Miss — minus most-recent head coach Lane Kiffin, who left for LSU — taking on Georgia.
And here’s how the pairings work. In case you missed it, Miami knocked off defending national champion Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl Wednesday night. Miami advances and will face the winner of Ole Miss / Georgia. That means the winner of Tech / Oregon will face either Alabama or Indiana in the other semifinal.
Photos of the year
This actually hit ETBlitz.com on Wednesday, the final day of the year, but don’t miss our photos of the year commemorating 2025. You’re likely to see someone you know, and you’re sure to enjoy ’em. Here’s a link: 2025 IN PICTURES | The best scenes of the year, captured by the ETB photo staff.
’80s Thursday
Hey, it’s the first day of the year. And most of us are off. Let’s start the year off right with a trip back to the early 1980s — the Go-Go’s, and “Vacation”! Y’all enjoy!