Striking a nerve for (Southwest) Texas State

For several years I've been blogging college football over at The Austin Chronicle. (I'm a former Chron film columnist and have been writing for them for almost a decade.) For the most part it's been about the Texas Longhorns, but last year I decided to write weekly about Texas State University's first year in FBS football.

This year I've been lukewarm about continuing, but a Facebook back-and-forth led me to whip out this piece. Then I discovered the sports editor had changed in the interim and the new guy was already out at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. It took  a few emails to even find out who he was, then a couple more to find someone to post it online.

In it I make a couple of points: It's time for Texas State to be taken seriously by the area media (both Austin and San Antonio), the Bobcats are a good team with a solid defense and a freshman quarterback who is capable of doing magic, and--most important--they play on Austin TV today against the Ragin' Cajuns!

Oh, and I urged Longhorn fans to consider watching because, frankly, their team is going nowhere this year. (For the record, I've been a UT football fan since age 8 when my Dad started taking me to games. I'm also a two-degree grad of the school that shall always be known as Southwest Texas State University, and that's my license plate above.)

Then BANG. The post spread like wildfire through Twitter and Facebook, particularly the latter where it has racked up 4.6 4.8 4.9 thousand likes as of this moment (the number keeps climbing). I can only credit that to a potential fan base (the team's, not mine) that is untapped and ripe for the taking. 

It's an interesting reminder of the power of social media. Thanks for reading. Now go watch the game!

Austin Film Society snaps up 'Slackerwood'

This is a fascinating development. I'm a fan of Jette Kernion's blog Slackerwood. Here's the scoop in a press release from the Austin Film Society (which was founder fittingly by Slacker director Richard Linklater):

The Austin Film Society is excited to announce that it will become the publisher of Slackerwood, Critic's Pick for "Best Austin Movie Blog" in The Austin Chronicle's 2011 Best of Austin. Supplanting AFS's longtime journal, Persistence of Vision, Slackerwood will continue to cover the Texas movie scene with Founder and Editor-In-Chief Jette Kernion remaining at the helm.

"Jette has built a great resource for our regional film community, we all read Slackerwood every day," said AFS Executive Director Rebecca Campbell. "This partnership will allow us to promote our community in new, dynamic ways." AFS Director of Marketing Agnes Varnum will serve as Managing Editor and the publication will host an editorial committee comprised of local filmmakers, journalists, and AFS Board Members. In addition, AFS staff and interns will contribute to the website.

"Over the last 5 years, Slackerwood has grown from a personal blog to a dedicated group of volunteer contributors," said Kernion. "Being published by AFS will mean a home for Slackerwood long into the future and exciting new ways for us to reach out into the community we serve."

Slackerwood and AFS will host a party on February 1, 2012 at 6 PM at Red's Porch (3508 S. Lamar Blvd.) to celebrate the transition. All media are invited to attend. Snacks and beer provided by Red's Porch and NXNW.

Slackerwood began 5 years ago as the personal movie blog of Jette Kernion, focusing specifically on the Austin film scene. Today, Slackerwood has an 10-person staff of writers devoted to reporting and reviewing all aspects of the Austin film scene. Slackerwood provides coverage of all the local film festivals, promotes upcoming special screenings and reviews movies made in Austin or by Austin filmmakers, and strives to share the latest news about films in production in Austin and Central Texas. The name "Slackerwood" was chosen to emphasize the independent DIY spirit of Austin and local filmmakers' tendencies to follow their own path.

Can the Texas Longhorns beat the Baylor Fire Bolt?

I've been blogging the University of Texas football seasons for The Austin Chronicle for about four years now. This Saturday is the last game of this season. Here's my latest blog post (which doesn't mention unsubstantiated rumors that Mack Brown will retire as Texas coach after Saturday's game):

Texas fans nibbled on Thanksgiving turkey and expected the worst. The Aggies could taste this win. They wanted to end the rivalry with forever bragging rights as they shuffled off to the SEC and leave the Longhorns with the beer-soaked, early-morning regret that is the Big 12.

My die-hard UT fanatic brother-in-law feared a blowout. “It’ll be close,” I said. He shook his head with a grin that spoke of my naiveté. You know what happened next.

Aggies complained of a bad call, of the injury that kept Cyrus Gray out of the game. But the truth is the Texas defense finally rose to the level necessary to offset the befuddled Burnt Orange offense. Special teams did, too. We’re talking points off of turnovers. Quandre Diggs’ 81-yard punt return. A defense that battered the Aggies and their seasoned quarterback Ryan Tannehill, capped by a Kenny Vaccaro interception that led to a rare touchdown.

The rag doll named Case McCoy did the rest with a gutsy gallop into the Texas A&M defenders, who smacked him this way and that as he struggled for any yards they’d cede. Enough to get Texas in field-goal position. It worked. Justin Tucker made up for a night of horrendous punts by finessing the ball through the uprights from 40 yards out as time ran out.

In College Station you can find billboards still up in summer heralding the last win over the t-sips. In Austin, we marvel at the strange traditions: the overalled cheerleaders with their odd gang signs, the incessant “howdy,” the constant standing and swaying at Kyle Field. That cute little dog they worship. We’ll miss every bit of it.

Read the rest here.