As a guy who usually gets in some vacation time in late June and/or early July, the return home usually signals it's time to get football back on the brain again.
This year is no different after my wife, Petra, and I took a 4,000-mile jaunt through four states visiting family that included stops at Cadillac Ranch, the Alamo, the UFO museum in Roswell, N.M., Billy the Kid's alleged grave site, Santa Fe and unintentionally the four largest cities in Texas.
It's always around this time when good friends Chad and Chris Hooten and their staff deliver their 400-plus page magazine and labor of love, which still has a price tag of under $20.
Hooten's Arkansas Football is now in its 27th year and it just keeps getting better and better for those who love football and every aspect of it as I do.
While Hawgs Illustrated's June football issue preview is obviously the best insight into the upcoming Razorbacks football season, Hooten's does a tremendous job in covering the entirety of football in the state with all of the football-playing colleges and a comprehensive look at the state's high school programs.
I'm glad to see my beloved Newport Greyhounds are picked to finish first in the 3-3A conference and eighth overall in Class 3A, although I am still not used to Newport's population being less than half what it was back in our high school days in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
While there is a lot to love about the magazine, one of the best things about it is having summaries of all the high school programs and their schedules in one place.
That makes it easy for those of us who want to plan out trips to see future Arkansas defensive ends Blayne Toll (6-6, 242 pounds) of Hazen and Jashaud Stewart (6-2, 223) of Jonesboro, as well as numerous 2021 and 2022 prospects being evaluated by the Razorbacks' coaching staff.
I remember what a thrill it was to have my name in Dave Campbell's Arkansas Football back in the day and I am sure it is still a cool thing for today's youngsters, although there is certainly more publicity these days through various social media forums and websites.
It's also great to check out the old Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference schools, the smaller colleges in Arkansas that give so many of the state's prospects an opportunity to keep their playing careers going.
I often wonder how my life would have changed if I would have taken one of the football offers from Harding, Henderson State or Ouachita Baptist, or the basketball one from Harding out of high school.
But the moment passes quickly because I know saying yes to Eddie Sutton and Jim Counce, and following Charles Balentine to Fayetteville was the right move, even it was as a manager instead of as a point guard as I first thought.
My congratulations to the Hooten brothers on another job well done.
Now back to reading/research.
Sports on 07/04/2019