KILGOROUND

KICKOFF TIME IS finally here, and fans of Kilgore High School and Kilgore College won't have to go far to see their teams on opening weekend.

The Bulldogs open the 2008 football season Friday night here at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium, and KC opens here the very next night. KHS will face Carthage Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the first time the Bulldogs will face Carthage since 2003. The Rangers will open Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Fort Scott (Kan.), in the third season of the home-and-home series between the Texasbased Southwest Junior College Football Conference and Kansas' Jayhawk Conference.

West Rusk is the first school in the News Herald's coverage area to play — the Raiders will open as part of Pine Tree High School's kickoff classic on Thursday night at

7:30 at Pine Tree Stadium in Longview against Harleton.

Sabine opens the Jerry Baker coaching era on Friday night at Redwater, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff, and Ty Robinson coaches his first game with the Overton Mustangs on Friday night at home at Coach Chester Roy Stadium against Ore City.

The Leverett's Chapel Lions begin another season in sixman football at home against Dallas Academy, another 7:30 p.m. kickoff.

Read about all these teams, plus all things '08 football that we could pack in, in the Kilgore News Herald's annual football preview. It'll be an 18-page, two-section special section inserted in Thursday's paper, and I promise you, it's a keepsake for the covers alone.

+++

CONGRATULATIONS to Tammy Greene, who won the women's club championship at Meadowbrook Country Club last weekend, and to all the junior club championship age division-winners. Read about it in our sports page today on page 8.

+++

SPEAKING OF GOLF, there are still opportunities to play in the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce's annual tournament, to be played Tuesday, Sept. 16.

All proceeds go to the chamber, to help pay for various chamber activities throughout the year. This is one of the chamber's biggest annual fund-raisers.

The tournament is a sixperson scramble format, and individuals will be based on handicap, with a minimum 60 handicap per team. It will be a shotgun start that morning at 8:30 a.m. and an afternoon shotgun start at 1:30. Soft spikes are required to play, and there is an entry fee of $75 per person, which includes green fee and cart, lunch, two mulligans per person, prizes and giveaways, games and contests.

Tee times are reserved on a paid first-come, first-served basis, and tournament officials will make an effort to place teams at preferred tee times, based on availability.

For more information, call (903) 984-5022, or (903) 988-3413. Entry forms may be picked up at the chamber at 813 N. Kilgore Street.

Sponsorships are still available, as well.

• Platinum sponsorships cost $600, and include entry fees for a full team of six, a company sign or banner on the course, and company name on the scoreboard.

• Gold sponsorships are $300 each, and include two player spots, signage and company name on scoreboard.

• Silver sponsorships are $200 and include fee for one player, signage on course and company name on the scoreboard.

• Hole sponsorships cost $100 each, and allows the sponsor to place a sign at the hole and a name on the scoreboard.

+++

DON'T FORGET THAT the Kilgore Boys Baseball Association will hold its annual meeting Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the KBBA/ Harris Street park. The public is invited to attend.

+++

HERE'S ONE MORE THING, and I get this question a lot.

Registration for the 2008 Kilgore little league football season will be held today and on Thursday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon in front of the gym entrance at Maude Laird Middle School. Registration cost is $65 for football and $35 for cheerleaders (cash or money orders only). Boys and girls entering third through sixth grades are eligible.

Also, the league is looking for coaches and players interested in starting flag football for kindergarten through second grades (boys and girls co-ed).

For more information, please contact Kerry Boyd at (903) 720-5800 or at (903) 736-7669, or contact Lisa Haley at (903) 399-3671.

+++

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY to Gwen Palmer, Philip Blake Mobley, Kim Smith, Michelle Hamilton, Laura Harris, Bruce Carl Adams, Robert Justin Farmer, Shane Longmire, Eddie Shawn, Mike McMillan, Antonio Deshon Henderson, Ashley Hope Anthony, Treston Andrew Hill, Marie Richardson, Jason Parker, Rusty Petty, Jessica Keith, Diana Ponder, Alvina Johnson, Sherry Williams, Johnny Bradley, Philip Morgan, Byron Geter, Jeff Sullivan Jr., Alexus Copeland, Gary Ketchum, Anne Hale, Stayton Caroway, Joe Hardt, Coach Eddie Shawn, Connie Currier

Celebrating with you: singer Valerie Simpson of Ashford and Simpson (62), guitarist Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio (47), jazz musician/ band leader Branford Marsalis (48), and actor Macaulay Culkin, who was "Home Alone" for Christmas in the 1990 hit, is now 28.

+++

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TODAY to Mr. and Mrs. James Butts III