Carthel Turns the Big 4-0,Game Week Previews

A very Happy Birthday to Head Coach Colby Carthel, just a handful of days before he starts his 4th season as the head football coach in Commerce. It has been a great run and we look forward to many more. Winning is not just what HC Carthel has brought back to the Blacklands, but good…

Polls and More Polls

Some new preseason polls have come out that affect all Lions athletics. So lets get to it. Lions Soccer-Soccer Picked to repeat as Conference Champions.  With preseason defensive MVP Vicky Back tabbed as a favorite, Neil Piper’s Lions are looking to grab their 2nd Conference Championship in 3 years. HC Piper on the preseason selection.…

Lions Pre-Season Top 10, 5 Thoughts

The American Football Coaches Association released their top 25 pre-season poll and they have the Lions at # 9, the highest ever pre-season ranking since the coaches poll started back in 2000. This is a pretty big deal to come out ranked in the top ten, and one thing you notice is that the Lions…

Conference Crashers Part 3: Western New Mexico University

Quick Facts: Mascot: Mustangs Founded: 1893 Location: Silver City, NM Distance From Commerce: 830 Miles Enrollment: 3,528 Notable Alums: Antia Scott Colmen-Noted American Poet and Essayist Rod Windsor-Wideout for the Cleveland Browns Kenneth Brewer-Award Winning Poet Laurete Henry Morales-New Mexico Politician and State Congressman Overall Opining: First, Western New Mexico is a beautiful campus with…

Home Improvement Part 5: Put Your Name on it.

The Fieldhouse. Memorial Stadium. The Stadium Track. Lions Soccer Field. Yawn. Do you what makes me not yawn? Coach K Court at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Phog Allen Fieldhouse. Darryl K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. Mike Myers Track and Field Complex. The Reese Soccer Complex. Do you what these schools did to their complexes that…

Recapping LSC Media Day, Collins doing well in Canada

  LSC Media Days were held Thursday at the MGM Events center in Odessa, perhaps a way to welcome UT-Permian Basin into the conference. TAMUC was picked to finish first in the LSC, followed by Midwestern. HC Colby Carthel was accompanied by Junior defensive back Steven Baker and Senior tailback Richard Cooper. Cooper was also…

Getting Defensive: A Look at the 2016 Defense

First off, I hate to print retractions, but I did confirmation that Derrick Macon is NOT with the program anymore for reasons undisclosed. That is the final word. I had been told both stories by different sources but D-Mac is no longer with us, so there is that. Anyway, onto the second piece regarding the…

BTB’s News, Notes, and Random Thoughts.

Congrats are in order for the TAMUC Lady Lions Softball Team for winning the Academic Conference Championship as well as the Women’s Golf Team. The mission of the athletic department was to leave Commerce with a Championship ring on one hand and a degree in the other, and that is what is happening. Congrats to…

Season Preview: Offense-5 Questions

Who will be the trigger man?-Gabe Rodriguez and Luis Perez are locked in a tight battle for starting quarterback. This is probably the tightest competition that had been in Commerce for quite a while. One would think that Rodriguez has the upper hand as he backed up Harrison Stewart last season and saw action in…

BTB Goes on the Air

Monday afternoon I had the opportunity and privilege on being on the KETR program “The Backlands Cafe” with John Mark Dempsey. We had been in the works of having a brief interview, but I could not pass up this chance to plug the blog to the region’s source for news and information. I want to…