WAKE UP! | Tough Wednesday for the U.S.; WR-Gladewater, Overton-Bowie tonight; tomorrow’s football slate
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Tough day for everyone on Wednesday
News flash: I’m human.
I was working on four different things on Wednesday — the Whataburger / ETB Players of the Week (which is for last week that we normally run Monday), the Kilgore Mercantile & Music High Note of the Week, stats for football and stats for volleyball — when my daughter, Ashtyn, texted in a group text that commentator Charlie Kirk had been shot at an event in Utah.
I kept working, but turned on a TV to watch the coverage.
And then I made a very stupid mistake.
I picked up my phone to look at social media.
Then, I made an even more stupid mistake.
I began to read the comments on the news stories about the Kirk shooting.
After being stunned by the fact that we have people who actually live in America who are, you know, rooting for other Americans to be shot and killed, I collected myself and tried to work.
It was futile.
I’ll be honest: I’m familiar with Kirk, and have heard his work maybe a handful of times. But I tuned out of watching the nightly news years ago, back in November, 2020, and while I am normally in tune with the daily news cycle, I didn’t realize that I now live in an America where many people condone political violence.
I couldn’t believe what I was reading yesterday on Facebook, and I eventually put the phone down.
I don’t know how many of you are writers, or have to be by nature, creative in your job. But when you’re sad, depressed or angry, it’s very hard to work. In fact, it’s TREMENDOUSLY hard to work. And I couldn’t do it.
So my apologies that we didn’t get those stories up. I’m behind, but my intent is to get things posted today, even if it goes into the night.
Football!
Speaking of tonight, and Friday, here’s what’s on tap in the way of high school football.
West Rusk (1-1) plays at Gladewater (2-0) tonight, a 7 o’clock start at Jack V. Murphy Stadium for a game between a pair of ETBlitz-area schools. See the game streamed live by going to YouTube, and then searching for the NETSN Live app. Jarrin Peoples and the crew will hook you up with the Raiders at the Bears.
Also tonight, Overton (1-1), another one of the programs in our coverage area, will host Simms Bowie (0-2) at 7 p.m. And that’s also on NETSN Live. So if you can’t get out to either stadium, grab your laptop, get in front of a TV, and have Overton-Bowie on one, and West Rusk-Gladewater on the other.
On Friday, Beckville (0-2) hosts Harmony (1-1); Sabine (0-2) hosts New Diana (0-2); Tatum (1-1) hosts state-ranked Newton (1-1); Arp (2-0) visits Mineola (1-1); Troup (2-0) is at Harleton (1-1); White Oak (2-0) is at Quitman (1-1); Leverett’s Chapel (1-1), playing six-man football, is at Longview Christian Heritage (0-2); Pine Tree (2-0) hosts Dallas Carter (0-2); Henderson (1-1) hosts Jacksonville (0-2); Carthage (1-0) returns after an open date and hosts Liberty-Eylau (0-2); and a pair of ETBlitz-area 4A powers, Gilmer (1-1) and Kilgore (1-1) meet at Kilgore’s R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium. The last two meetings between these teams have been fantastic, coming down to the final play of the game. I imagine there will be a packed house there Friday night.
We’ll have stories on West Rusk-Gladewater and Overton-Bowie tonight, our picks list later today, and coverage of ALL of these games this weekend here on ETBlitz.com.
