WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ | Award date change; are the Rangers turning it around?; and it’s a Classic ’80s Saturday!
EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s a Saturday edition of Wake Up!, and we’re a bit late, but we do have some things to cover. Thanks to Cozy Coffee Station (Home | Cozy Coffee Station), which you can find at 755 Highway 271 in Gilmer and at 110 Midtown Plaza in Kilgore, for being our ad partner for Wake Up! every single day. It’s only supposed to reach the 80s today here in East Texas, but that’s hot enough for me – I’ll be by CCS at some point today for a milkshake. Now, I’ve gotta decide between Key Lime Pie, Artic Raspberry or Strawberry Snow. Do you guys know what’s IN a Strawberry Snow milkshake from CCS? It’s a strawberry and white chocolate shake, with whipped topping. It’s what I call somewhere to the right of “fantastic” on the “Man, Is This Good” meter.
A date change on our awards
About two, two and a half weeks ago, the announcement was made that ETBlitz will name a Goudarzi & Young, LLP / ETBlitz.com Team of the Year, and also Whataburger / ETBlitz.com Players of the Year, meaning a male athlete and a female athlete, all from the schools in our coverage area.
We had said June 1 would be the date for the team of the year announcement, and that June 8 would be the date players of the year would be announced.
Given the circumstances – that’d be Overton High School baseball playing for a state championship this coming Thursday – we’re going to need to move that back a bit.
Now, June 8 will be the announcement of the Goudarzi & Young / ETB Team of the Year, and June 15 will be when the Whataburger / ETB Players of the Year are announced.
The criteria for these awards: really simple. A panel of five will vote, both on the team award and on the nominees for players of the year. We absolutely will allow coaches to lobby, if they want to contact us, but these awards are not voted on by coaches, players, or anyone else outside ETBlitz.com.
We use a panel system because awards like these – which can be put on resumes and remembered forever – should not be unilaterally decided by one person. Obviously, in hand with that, the panel is an odd number to avoid a potential tie.
Teams and athletes from all our area high schools will be considered, meaning (in alphabetical order) Arp, Gilmer, Gladewater, Henderson, Kilgore, Leverett’s Chapel, Overton, Sabine, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk and White Oak.
The voting has not been conducted yet, but we are very much looking forward to these awards, and as soon as the Overton-Collinsville state championship game is complete, the choices will be made and announced.
Ranger reboot?
Don’t look now, but the Texas Rangers won on Friday.
Things haven’t been going too well for Texas (28-30 overall) in recent weeks, including a pair of disastrous trips to New York against the Yankees and even at the Chicago White Sox.
But Texas is 19-12 at home on the season, and looked better than decent in an 11-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals Friday.
Jack Leiter pitched 5 2/3 innings and got the win, allowing no earned runs, three hits, two walks and struck out six. Caleb Boushley came on for the save, throwing the final three innings. He allowed just the one earned run on two hits, didn’t walk anyone and struck out four.
Wyatt Langford and Marcus Semien each homered; Langford had 2 RBI and Semien, 3. Josh Jung went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI, and Sam Haggerty also had three hits and 3 RBI, and he scored three times.
Texas scored four runs in the second inning, then four more in the sixth to blow the game open.
The Rangers held St. Louis in check – the Cardinals did have five hits, but no player had more than one, and Lars Nootbaar, the left fielder, had a double. Matthew Liberatore took the loss for STL: eight innings pitched, four earned runs allowed on seven hits, a walk and he struck out five.
Don’t look now, but after losing six straight games between May 18 and May 24 (to the Houston Astros, the Yankees and the White Sox), Texas has quietly won two of its last three: the Rangers beat Toronto on Tuesday, lost to the Blue Jays on Wednesday, and then got the win over the Cardinals on Friday.
They’re back in action today at 3:05 at home against those Cardinals, and on Sunday at 12:05, again facing St. Louis.
They take Monday off, and they’ll be back on the road for a three-game series at Tampa Bay that begins Tuesday, then head to Washington for a three-gamer against the Nationals that starts next Friday, June 6.
Gladewater Round-Up this week
This has been mentioned several times here on the site, but if you love rodeo, and you live in East Texas, then surely you need to take advantage of the Gladewater Round-Up this coming week.
The Round-Up is, appropriately enough, held at the Gladewater Rodeo Grounds. It starts at 8:15 p.m. each night, with gates opening at 6 p.m. This is the 88th annual Round-Up, by the way.
The PRCA’s Extreme Bulls will be the first night.
General admission for adults is $18 a ticket; for kids 12 and under, it’s $10 each, and for kids two and under, it’s free.
Reserved tickets are $25 each for all ages. And box seats: $175 per box, per night – that includes six seats per box.
To buy tickets in advance, go here: GLADEWATER ROUND-UP RODEO – INFORMATION – Dirt Road Tickets.
On Thursday, night two of the event, military and first-responders can show an ID for half-off admission.
Mutton bustin’ for the kids, trying to hold on to sheep for dear life, starts every night at 7:45, about 30 minutes before the Round-Up.
Kids ages four through seven who weigh 50 pounds or less can enter, with a $25 registration fee, right here: Gladewater Round-Up Mutton Bustin’ Waiver.pdf.
How about a little INXS?
It’s an ’80s Saturday, and this was what I had in my head, as I continue to tell you guys that the 1980s had the best movies, the best TV, and obviously, the best music. Some of you I don’t have to persuade on that. Here’s “Need You Tonight,” by INXS. Plus, this is just visually a cool freakin’ video.