Who is ready for some football?
This time of year, fans of high school, college and pro football are champing at the bit for kickoff.
Over the past few months, several departments of the Texarkana Gazette have been collectively working long hours to turn out our annual football kickoff special section. But there are some changes in store.
The first being when the football preview section will be published. That date has usually been the last Friday of August, other than last year when Arkansas schools began their season a week earlier, so it was split into two - one for each state.
This year, the Gazette football preview edition will be released Sunday, Aug. 25. Yes, that's tomorrow for anyone who just checked your calendar on your smartphone.
The special section will be included in your Sunday newspaper, and there will be a few thousand extra copies distributed around town. Here's the thing, when they're gone, they're gone. So get your copy early; if you wait until Friday and try to grab one, you'll likely be too late.
Oh, and if you're looking for the full newspaper-sized print version the Gazette has published in the past, you will need to look again. This year's kickoff special section comes in a 104-page magazine and covers just the 28 high school football teams in the area.
Our coverage of college football, including the Great American Conference teams, and the pros will be published in our daily newspaper throughout the following weeks, as well as online at texarkanagazette.com. If you absolutely can not find a copy, swing by the Gazette office and, perhaps, we might have a few left. The articles will also be published on the Gazette website.
Initial planning was for the Gazette football magazine, named The Audible, to be in the neighborhood of under 60 pages. Then it was discussed to be near 90 or just a couple more to be able to include all the stories. In the end it took 104 pages to complete.
All four local schools, 13 programs in Southwest Arkansas and 11 teams in Northeast Texas are featured in The Audible.
The reason for coming out Sunday is to give you, the reader, more time to look over the material before you head off to the stadium. Granted, we have two area teams playing Tuesday, two others who play Thursday and nearly the rest start Friday, Aug. 30. Some schools have their first game on Friday, Sept. 6.
All in all, The Audible is going to be something special. But remember, get your copy or you're going to miss out.