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…

Congratulations to former ET Lion QB Clint Dolezel who led his team to the Arena Bowl Championship last night, defeating the Arizona Rattlers 56-42. This just puts another cherry on top of Dolezel’s illustrious Arena Career. It is past time to nominate him to the Hall of Fame. Congrats to # 13 of old ET!…

  Congrats to former Lion QB Clint Dolezel who was named the Arena Football League’s Coach of the Year. The future AFL Hall of Famer notched his second straight coach of the year award. In 4 seasons as Head Coach, Dolezel owns a 49-21 record in addition to his record setting career as a Quarterback…

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.…

I usually do not write about things that are not sports related, those are for rare occasions and the is somewhat off base, but after the events of the past week in regards to a group that I was involved with while I was an undergraduate student, and with things that have happened the past…

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…

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…

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…

Quick Facts: Mascot: Falcons Founded: 1973 Distance from Commerce: 418 Miles Enrollment: 5,660 Notable Alums: George West, Texas Congressman Overall Opining: UTPB was founded during the height of the Permian Basin Oil Boom in West Texas. The school is just over 40 years old, but has become a big part of the town of Odessa,…

The 1980 East Texas State Lions are one of the best teams in school history. Led by future Pro Wade Wilson and standouts like Blake Cooper, Cary Noiel, the team was literally two fumbled possessions from being 1980 National Champions. For years in the record books the team was named as finishing first in the…

For those wondering about the future of the Fieldhouse, I found out what the master plan does call for. The special events center will be built within the next 4 1/2 years. The school has been waiting for state funds and appropriations, but the building of the new events center is what kicks it all…

Quick Facts: Mascots: Aggies Founded: 1909 Location: Goodwell, OK Distance from Commerce: 490 Miles Enrollment: 1,720 Notable Alums: Jim Holder, College Football Hall of Fame Member Frank Beede-Former NFL Football Player Overall Opining: OPSU is a good addition to the conference for two big reasons. Reason one, joining the LSC for many schools has ended…

  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…

First and foremost, I would like to thank the great people on staff at KETR radio in Commerce for having me on to discuss the blog. I was thinking this morning as I got up to listen to it live, I have to say how blessed I am and how that almost 5 years ago…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Quick Hits: Texas A&M-Commerce University Fieldhouse (Formerly East Texas State Fieldhouse) Capacity 5,000 Tenants: Texas A&M-Commerce Lion Basketball, Texas A&M-Commerce Lady Lion Basketball, Texas A&M-Commerce Volleyball, TAMUC Recreation and Intramual Sports Championship Games, UIL Class AAAA Region II Boys and Girls Championships.   Pluses: A cool looking building.-Many people talk about how we have an…

The idea of a person being an “All-American” has been romanticized in books, movies, TV shows, and in many places in the culture, but if one was to look at the life and Football career of former ETSU Lion Fred Woods, someone could make a pretty intriguing story and use Woods’ journey as a template…