Let me just be honest, I hate the first three weeks of August! Not because it's hot, that just increases my dislike for the first 25 days of the 8th month of the year, but because of all the behind the scenes work and planning it takes to get ready for the busiest and fastest 3 months of my life! FOOTBALL SEASON!!

I love the games, but the prep work is a KILLER! This coming after a June and July that is for the most part uneventful in Aggieland. Granted the baseball team did make it to the college world series for the first time since 1999 and for the last two summers we've had conference rumors to deal with, but usually it's Astros and Rangers and getting excited to see the cleaning crew come around.

The downtime is a good thing from the standpoint of getting a chance to take vacation and knock out some projects around the house, but it goes from dead to warp speed when August hits!

Just so you know John, Cody & I have worked an average 10-15 hours a day during the 5 days we are suppose to work a week in August (Sometimes it's 6 or 7!). Thursday for example it was in at 10AM and out at 1:30AM on Friday! All to make sure our coverage is the best it can be!

But over the last three weeks:

There were high school previews to shoot and write (we knocked out a station record 24 teams over the last 2 1/2 weeks).

The new and improved Friday Football Fever magazine that Cody does an outstanding job overseeing had to be finalized and printed. (It’s available free at area Taco Bell locations and at KBTX World Headquarters located at 4141 East 29th Street in Bryan)

We've been working on our 25th anniversary Aggie Football Fever Show "Great Expectations" that will air next Thursday at 6:30 on KBTX.
Friday Football Fever celebrates its 20th anniversary starting tonight at 11:37 on KBTX (104 games are in the rundown for our season opening show).

And let's not forget Aggie Game Day which will air from 5-6 next Sunday afternoon on the C-W Texas before Texas A&M kicks off the 2011 season against SMU. This on top of producing 18 sportscasts a week and keeping the sportspage on kbtx.com up-to-date!

But the back breaking - prep work is over and to answer Hank Williams' most famous question, YES! I AM READY FOR SOME FOOTBALLl!

We are going to change up our line-up on Fridays at KBTX this season. For the first time in 21 years I won't be in studio, but out in the field.

Traditionally I anchored our football coverage at 5, 6, 10, (which is Big Game Friday Night) and Friday Football Fever at 11:37. That's not to say I didn't get out of the office, but my usual Friday night was to make a run to one game and then come back and anchor our coverage.

This year my oldest son Ryan is playing football at A&M Consolidated. He decided this summer that he didn't want to wake up in December and wish he'd played his senior year. He tells me he's a back-up strong safety for the Tigers. (I'll find out from Coach Raffield before our live shot at 6 tonight what's the deal) But if Ryan is going to be playing football, I needed to figure out how to watch his games and not get fired for asking off on Fridays in fall.

So with Mike Wright's blessing and John Wilson's willingness to switch roles, I'm headed to Tigerland for the opener against Klein Oak and John is going to be in studio this year tossing to live shots and reading over scores and highlights.

I have no worries about John quarterbacking our coverage; I just hope that this "analog guy" can make the transition to "mobile digital television" and that Ryan and his Tiger team-mates have a healthy and successful season!

One last request:
Dear Dr. Loftin,
If at all possible can you not announce that Texas A&M is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC today?
Thanks, my kid's playing football tonight and I'd like to be there!
See ya on the TV tonight!