WAKE UP! SATURDAY EDITION | The entire state playing the quiet game; who’s coming to ETB this fall?!; It’s Classic ’80s Saturday
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cozy Coffee Station is your stop if you’re anywhere in the vicinity of Kilgore or Gilmer – that almost sounded like I was in an old Western, didn’t it? Find ‘em in Gilmer at 755 Highway 271 North, or in Kilgore at 110 Midtown Plaza. They’re getting started a little earlier in Kilgore on Saturdays these days, a new 7 a.m. opening time. On Facebook, they’ve got two pages, of course: Cozy Coffee Station-Kilgore, and Cozy Coffee Station-Gilmer. And same thing with their Instagram: @cozycoffeestation_kilgore, and @cozycoffeestation_gilmer. Online, it’s easy, just click here: Home | Cozy Coffee Station. If you really, seriously want something great, Oscar, Ashley and their staff can make it happen immediately. But you can’t do it by looking at pictures. Gotta get by there. The pictures are nice pictures, though…
It’s very quiet…for now
Things are SO QUIET right now, really, not only on ETBlitz.com, but just all over the East Texas region, and it’s supposed to be that way. It’s summertime! It’s the calm before the storm that’ll be the 2025-26 school year. Before long, bands and drill teams and cheerleaders will all report. Volleyball will be practicing. Play days will begin.
August 4 will be here and high school football practice will start.
We’ll turn around twice and it’ll be here.
For now, though, rest up. Get ready. We’re doing our best to do that, too.
On our upcoming agenda
In the immediate, which means today, we’ve got Camp Central updated: that’s our youth sports camp report. If you have children that are interested in sports camps remaining in the ETBlitz coverage area the rest of the summer, we’ve tried to do a round-up of them right here: CAMP CENTRAL, presented by ENERGY WELDFAB | Upcoming youth sports camps, updated June 21. This was updated this morning, so it’s the latest we have.
Also today, we’ll have a story on Kilgore College’s 2025 football schedule. It’s complete, and we don’t know if it was released or it escaped, but it’s public, and we’ll have that later on.
On Sunday, we’ll have our full-blown preview of the Texas State 7-on-7 Tournament. Kilgore is the only team from the ETB area headed to College Station, but a few teams in East Texas are also going, and we’ll have more on 7-on-7, just what is it, for those who are unfamiliar with the concept, and so on. By the time you read this, you’ll know more about 7-on-7 than Dave Campbell’s Texas Football writer Matt Stepp.
Well, not really.
Not even close.
But you’ll have a working knowledge of it. And if you go, you can see Matt Stepp, and a lot of people, because it’s a good time. Good fun.
Also coming up this week: we’ll have the announcement of the Blue Bell / Texas Sports Writers Association All-State Teams, which could include players from all the programs in our coverage area: Arp, Gilmer, Gladewater, Henderson, Kilgore, Overton, Sabine, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk, and White Oak, over classifications 4A, 3A, and 2A.
And this is a little ways off, but I’ll repeat myself, as it’s getting buried in the bottom of Wake Up!, but it’s coming, and it’ll be big: ETBlitz.com is going to announce that we’re adding two schools to our coverage area. Well, I guess we’ve already announced it, and I just announced it again.
Let me be specific: ETBlitz is going to announce which two schools and their athletic departments and extracurricular activities will be added to our coverage area. And I’m not saying there will be seismic activity when we do it, but it’ll definitely be felt from the northern end of ETB all the way to the southern end.
The announcement will be in July, and I’m working on a date. We’re excited, and I know when it happens, you guys are going to be excited, too.
College World Series
There’s not a ton happening right now in sports. I believe we’ve covered that.
But LSU and Coastal Carolina are playing for college baseball’s national championship. That’s pretty exciting, especially if you’re a fan of those schools. I can’t imagine we have a Coastal Carolina fan base around here, but I KNOW we have LSU folks. Geaux, Tigers, am I right?
The CWS is played every year at the same place, at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, and it’s a best-of-three-game affair. Game one is tonight, and it’s on ESPN at 6 p.m. our time.
Classic ‘80s Saturday
I can’t leave without my music. You guys know we do ‘80s music every Saturday right here.
How ‘bout a little “Mr. Cool,” John Cougar Mellencamp for all the referee-haters out there? They used to play this song when there was a disputed call at the ballpark and someone got thrown out. It’s called “The Authority Song.” Pretty cool.