WAKE UP! ON ETBLITZ.COM | Monday has us talking C.J. Fite, ETB Team Posters, the Cowboys as training camp nears, and the Rangers
EDITOR’S NOTE: Two questions for you today. 1.) Have you been to either of the East Texas locations of Cozy Coffee Station yet? and 2.) If not, what the heck are you doing?! Seriously, they do have great products, including their own soda that you will love! See their entire menu, including their treats and baked items, here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station, and then go by and see them in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza, or in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North.
Get the run-down on C.J. Fite in IN FOCUS
We try not to throw the word “great” around here too often, and when we do, it’s normally about a player or coach. But we have a … great new feature on ETBlitz.com today called “In Focus.” It’ll be a regular feature on the site, examining athletes, games and all kinds of things, and it’s presented each time out by Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center.
The first one, fittingly, is on Tatum’s own C.J. Fite, now a defensive tackle for Arizona State University. Fite is in step with his program in that both are making waves in the college football world: the Sun Devils are the defending Big 12 Conference champions, after making their first-ever appearance in the College Football Playoff, and C.J. has been named to the 2025 Preseason All-Big 12 Conference Football Team.
Give it a read. It’s good even if I DID write it. Here’s the link: IN FOCUS | Tatum’s own C.J. Fite a key figure in Arizona State’s rise to college football’s elite.
A new way to get your business out there
Thanks to you guys, our readers, ETBlitz.com has made some headway since we launched our site on Oct. 20, 2023, and we average somewhere between 550,000 and 600,000 hits a month — some months, we have more than that, like in December, for the finale of the 2024 high school football season; in January, with coverage of the UIL State Spirit (Cheer) competition in Fort Worth; and in May and June, when we followed Overton to the state baseball title game, among other things.
One thing remains the same: we have no paywall. Everything here, all our stories, all our photos, are free for you to see and read.
That’s made possible by our advertising partners, which we appreciate so much: Whataburger, Energy Weldfab, Goudarzi & Young, LLP, Zippy J’s Community Stores & Gateway Travel Centers, Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center, Clower Meats, Cozy Coffee Station, and ETX Electrical.
We have a new way that businesses can be seen on the site, and for just $100. It’s called our ETBlitz Team Posters.
It’s like an old-fashioned sponsorship where your business and six others are on a “poster” on every single story for any of our 15 high schools, and for that $100, you’ll be on the poster the entire school year. It’s not a contribution to the schools in any way; it’s just almost like a business-card feature to have your business seen by as many people as read our site — which is a lot.
Here’s our story from the weekend, to explain the concept, and where the posters for each school can be seen: etblitz.com/11125-2/.
And if you’d like to find out more, simply e-mail ads@etblitz.com.
Training camp looms for Cowboys
The National Football League’s 32 teams, including the Dallas Cowboys, will all open training camp next week. It’ll be the first as head coach for Brian Schottenheimer, as the Cowboys once again hold their camp in Oxnard, California.
It’ll also be the first for first-round pick Tyler Booker and the 2025 rookie class. Booker is an offensive lineman from Alabama, and he’s been asked to convert from left guard to right guard.
The Cowboys will be counting heavily on Booker, as well as another couple of former first-round picks in Tyler Smith and Tyler Guyton, to protect quarterback Dak Prescott and allow him to (hopefully?) have his best season ever. If the Cowboys are ever going to return to the Super Bowl — where they haven’t played since January, 1996 — then the offensive line, Prescott and heck, every Cowboys player is going to have to elevate their game.
Other members of the Cowboys’ 2025 rookie class are edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku,cornerback Shavon Revel Jr., running back Jaydon Blue (he’s from Texas), linebacker Shemar James, offensive tackle Ajani Cornelius, defensive tackle Jay Toia, running back Phil Mafah, and defensive tackle Tommy Akingbesote.
Rangers Report
So the Texas Rangers won their final game before Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game break, beating the Houston Astros, 5-1, in Houston Sunday afternoon. The Rangers actually won two of the three games in the series. Texas is 48-49 on the season, a game under .500, and won’t play again until all of MLB returns to its regular schedule on Friday. That’ll mean a 7:05 p.m. home game at Globe Life against the Detroit Tigers.
Houston still leads the division, though, the American League West, with a 56-40 record. Seattle is in second, five games back at 51-45. Texas is third, and they’re technically 8 1/2 games behind the Astros. The L.A. Angels are a half-game behind the Rangers, and the Athletics are dead last and 16 games back, not likely to catch anybody at this point.
