Columns | DFW Football

Three Ways football teams can use Social Media

April 8, 2012 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

Imagine if they were tweeting about your team!

It’s a new age. Social Media has helped level the playing field for the little guy, the small businesses and such. Social media has also helped level the playing field for semi-pro and minor league football teams. These tips are great for all teams that aren’t in the NFL.

1. Be Shareable

It is crucial for a team to be shareable, especially a semi-pro football team. Most of the time, the only public relations you will have will be from fans through their social media channels. Each team should have a website that is easily shared on Facebook and Twitter as well as their own account on one or both of those two social media websites.

Websites are crucial. It is a surprise to me that so many semi-pro football teams do not have a website. In this day in time, with the help of so many companies, there really no excuses not to have a website with relevant and up-to-date content and information.

There are several companies where a team can get a low-cost or even a free website. For examples:

Even better would be to get a freelance website designer to build you a website on WordPress.

Another way to be shareable is to share with your fans something that might be interesting or useful. It might include tips for finding the best restaurants after the game or some kind of fitness tips. Being shareable doesn’t mean just share your own content, but being willing to share others’ content, especially if it might come from fans. Too many organizations fail or are unwilling to share info from other people or organizations.

2. Connect

Using social media to connect is cornerstone of social media. Whether you connect with your fans, other teams, organizations or local businesses, it’s important to use social media as a networking tool.

Social media is all about connecting and teams and players connect also. Professional athletes are using Twitter to connect to fans like never before. Allow players to connect to fans via Twitter and remind them to present a good image for the football team the represent.

Failure to connect defeats the purpose of using social media tools.

3. Convert

Shama Kabani is the social media marketing guru and a recognized leader in the industry. In her book, most recently revised, The Zen of Social Media Marketing, Shama talks about the three steps in using social media marketing: Attract, Convert and Transform.

Much of social media is about attracting fans or followers, but it does no good if you are not able to convert them to paying customers. Semi-pro football teams have to convert them to paying customers, ones that will pay for season tickets and buy merchandise. Once a team has done this, they can use the testimony of these fans to create a transformation that will, in turn, attract more and new fans.

Nevertheless, you, as a team, have expenses to pay, and selling is part of the equation. Building a landing page on your website is a good place to start. Entice fans to purchase tickets showing them how much fun they will have at the games and all of the prizes that are given away.

Also, if you can, try to convert the fans into evangelists for your team. By that, I mean, if fans are advocates for the product you put on the field, they will share info about your team every chance they get. They will share on Foursquare that they are a game, they tweet about your next game and they will show pics on Facebook they took at your games. The best advertising is word of mouth, and with social media can put word of mouth on steroids.

Banners like this can promote your online presence.

Innovative Sports uses of Social Media

GeoSocial Networking tools ie. Foursquare

Encourage fans to check in on Foursquare at your game and then draw a winner from those who do for a prize donated by a sponsor.

Twitter promotions using the #hashtag

Promote a hashtag to be used on twitter for your game. Draw a winner (or two) from those that use the hashtag to tweet at your game. A hashtag will make it easy to follow those tweeting about your game. It is also a way to generate a little Twitter buzz. Teams miss an opportunity with this.

Recently, when I was at the Allen Wranglers game, I monitored tweets about the Allen Wranglers and found several who were tweeting. The Wranglers could have easily rewarded fans for tweeting about the game as they had several giveaways.

Weekly blog posts with a question from a fan

Post a blog post on your website each week that highlights a question from a fan for a member of the organization, a player, a coach, a cheerleader or just the organization as a whole. Reward the fan for supplying the question by giving them a t-shirt. You can easily encourage questions to be sent via email or by Twitter or Facebook. Compile all of the questions and choose one.

Encourage the fan to send in a picture of him or her with wearing the t-shirt. Include it in a gallery on your Facebook page.

Filed Under: Arena, Lead Story, Semi Pro, Two Cents Tagged With: football, football teams, semi pro football, Shama Kabani, social media

African-American football pioneers have paved the way for many

February 19, 2012 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

Source: Enokson's photostream

By Todd E. Jones

Todd E. Jones

I believe, personally, that football would not be the same without African-American players. The game has changed tremendously in the past 40 years, and the result is a more entertaining product.

Nowadays, the game caters toward speed and athleticism. Great athletes of various ethnic backgrounds make up the landscape, but black athletes carry the banner.

It’s no doubt that other ethnicities can contribute and be great athletes. One can look to basketball where the seven-foot tall German, Dirk Nowitzki, helped win an NBA title for the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Dirk’s athleticism and skill is almost unmatched, especially for someone his size.

In New York, the Knicks and their fans are experiencing Linsanity as Jeremy Lin has taken the NBA and New York City by storm as the new point guard for the NBA franchise. Lin, of course, is an Asian-American.

We are all better off when we look as athletes as just that, athletes, and not by the color of their skin. Unfortunately, some forty or fifty years ago, that was not the case. Few ethnic minorities were allowed to step on to the field, the baseball diamond or even the basketball floor.

Football, however, has a history of African-American football players that goes back over 100 years. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that the past 50 years hasn’t been an uphill battle.

Professional Football

Charles W. Follis is believed to be the first African-American football player to play professionally. He played in the Ohio League for the Shelby Blues. Follis, known as “ The Black Cyclone,” played halfback between 1902 and 1904 for the Blues.

Several years later, in 1921, Frederick Douglas “Fritz” Pollard would be the first black coach as he played and coached the Akron Pros in the new NFL. Just a few years later, he and nine other black players were removed and by 1933 there were no more black players in the NFL.

A black athlete would not play again, in what is now the most popular professional league in the world, until 1946 when the Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles and signed two black players from UCLA to fulfill a contractual obligation with Los Angeles Coliseum.

College Football

Playing football in the South, especially collegiately, has also been a challenge. Two African-American football players took on the challenge and lived to tell the tale.

Thom Gossom, Jr. was a walk-on African-American for the Auburn Tigers in the early 1970’s. Gossom’s dream was to play for the Tigers from the time he was a boy. He did not realize the impact of his decision until he began his odessey at the school. Gossom chronicles his journey in the book Walk-On: A Memoir by Thom Gossom, Jr. The book is a powerful reminder of perseverance and dreams.

Fans in the DFW Metroplex remember the story of Jerry LeVias who played wide receiver for the SMU Mustangs. LeVias helped to break the color barrier in the old Southwest Conference between 1965-1968. LeVias’ story was told in the HBO documentary Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football. The documentary takes on the hard issue of black college football players in the South.

Trailer

Recent Years

In recent years, we have seen the proliferation of various ethnic backgrounds to be stars in the NFL. There has been everything from Samoan, Haitian (John Pierre-Paul), and Vietnamese (Dat Nguyen) as well as others. African-American football pioneers did so much more than just make a way for other black players, they opened up football to everyone from all races.

And for that, we are better off.

Learn More:

History.com

African-American History Month

LA Sentinel

Pro Football Hall of Fame

African American Registry

Wikipedia

Fox50.com

Pro Football Reference

LA Sentinel

Ivy50.com Black Ivy League History

Biography.com, Ernie Davis

Filed Under: Lead Story, Special Features, Two Cents Tagged With: African-American, African-American History Month, Black History Month, history, Jerry LeVias, Thomas Gossom

Drug Bust sends TCU Horned Frogs reeling

February 16, 2012 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

my two cents

By Todd E. Jones

You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down — Won’t Back Down, Tom Petty

TCU head football coach Gary Patterson has leaned on this song by Tom Petty in the past, and now, in the wake of the TCU football drug scandal, he will need to lean on it again, but for different reasons.

I don’t need to defend Patterson. I have done that in the past. I don’t need to defend the TCU Horned Frog football team. The Horned Frogs have done something few schools in a non-BCS conference have done.

TCU has been mentioned as a potential BCS Buster for almost 10 years. Yes, that’s right, 10 years. The Horned Frogs nearly busted through in 2003 before a late season loss to Southern Miss.

TCU logo

In that span of that time, there has been little said about TCU that was negative, and for good reason. Patterson and his staff have mostly recruited, and won, with good kids.

They have won time and time again against teams such as Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Boise State, Oregon State, Baylor, USC and several other profiles who have had recent success. They went to the Rose Bowl two years ago and went toe-to-toe with the best BCS program to not make the national title game that year, Wisconsin, and won the game with its vaunted Horned Frog defense.

In years past, Patterson had to rely on a bevy of non five-star recruits because TCU
simply wasn’t getting those players.

Paterson and his staff were able to win with good kids like Andy Dalton, Curtis Clay, Tommy Blake, Jerry Hughes, Ryan Christian, Jason Phillips, Rafael Priest, Marcus Cannon, Marshall Newhouse and many more players who exemplified who the Horned Frogs were.

These players excelled on the field, in the classroom and in life. Several of those players are in the NFL and excelling.

According to reports, four TCU Horned Frog football players were arrested out of eighteen people including linebacker Tanner Brock. Four out of a roster of around 100 would hardly be a widespread problem, but one nonetheless.

Andy Dalton helped give TCU a good image

Four players, and the concern of a recruit, prompted Patterson to order a drug test. I’ll spare the details of the results as well as the rest of the news on the drug scandal. It is all over the internet.

Having been around the program, I don’t think this is what Gary Patterson wants. I believe he will be diligent in cleaning up this mess.

Patterson is obsessed with his kids winning the “right way” as I have heard him say so many times.

In recent years, the Horned Frogs have started getting their share of four and five-star recruits beating out schools such as Oklahoma and Texas. On wonders if the players have become a little entitled, a little spoiled. Something tells me that will change this Spring.

However, with this mess, one has to wonder, at what price does TCU place on winning as they move in to the Big 12 Conference. Something tells me that there will be some soul searching this Spring and that many players are going to have reaffirm their commitment to the Patterson way.

Filed Under: Lead Story, TCU, Two Cents Tagged With: Tcu drug bust, TCU Horned Frogs football

Five things you can do to improve your minor league sports website right now!

May 18, 2011 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

what do you search for?

If you are like me, you are always looking for ways to improve your website.

What is it you don’t like about your website? What is it you do like about your website?

Determine you audience

Determine your audience. I see this with minor league teams across the country, and some businesses too. The website is designed for the team and maybe the family members. It is a running bulletin board for team info. That’s fine, but you are completely leaving out your best target – customers and sponsors!

Focus on the Fans!

Your customers, if you are a minor league sports team, are fans and potential fans. Design your website for them!

Write all your content for fans and potential fans. Give visitors a reason to come to your games!

Have pretty permalinks (URL’s)

Pretty permalinks are links to news posts as well as any page on your website. How often do you see a website that has a bunch of code when you click on a story or page. You don’t like that? Google doesn’t either.

Make sure all links are infused with actual words, especially keywords in the article or page. I have also seen some website companies build a website with frames so that when you click on a page or story, you don’t see a change in the URL address. It’s not Google friendly.

There are a number of website design applications such as WordPress that will allow you to have actual words in your internal website links.

Get your website indexed in Google, Bing and Yahoo

All three of the major search engines have places to register your website. No, really, they do. You don’t have to wait until they “find” your website, you can roll out the red carpet!

Even more, it is free to register. Don’t pay someone to “submit” your website to hundreds of search engines. The largest majority (94%) of internet users use one of these three search engines, and most of the others use them too. The only exception to this would be a well established directory.

Is this where you start?

Lose the stat counter

Speaking of search engines, Google has the best reporting for website stats. Stat counters simply count how many times a file has been accessed on a webpage on your website. A single page can have dozens of files on a given server attached that causes a hit. In other words, if a person looks at a webpage on your website, they are responsible for multiple hits.

Website metrics are measured in different ways now.

Google Analytics is the best and free analytics software and it is web based meaning you don’t have to download the software. It reports pageviews, visitors, unique visitors/pageviews and about any other imaginable information you need. There is a learning curve, but it is a more accurate assessment of what is going on at your website. Simply drop the code in your footer and that’s it.

Update often

Update often. I see so many websites who are behind. Set a schedule if you have to, but update. Simply writing up news each week is a form of updating. A publishing platform on your website that allows you to publish articles is a great resource as the articles produce “pretty links” (see above) which are noticed by the search engines.

Further, the updating contacts the search engine letting them know there is new content. It gives your visitors a sense that something is happening and it notifies the search engine to come and check things out. It gives you a better search engine ranking too.

Summary

If you are an astute business person, you know that you need more customers, or fans. More customers (who pay) mean more revenue and leave you in the black ink at the end of the season. A business that does not have customers dries up.

We have to decide what our goals are for a website.

Think of a website as a marketing tool. That is what it is. It helps you get more customers. Why would you spend money on a website that does not do this?

Many people get a website and want it to look spectacular but forget to consider how people are going to find their new website. There are hundreds of millions of websites on the web. Why would someone look at your website?

If you are a minor league sports team, consider sponsors. What will they see when they get to your website? How will they find you?

Take action today!

Maybe its time to get a new website. If so, let’s get going!

Filed Under: Lead Story, Website Corner Tagged With: goals, Website Corner, websites

Remembering Ron Springs

May 13, 2011 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

Ron Springs was a fullback in the NFL, mostly for the Dallas Cowboys. What, you say, is a fullback? Not too many teams use a fullback any more, but you still see teams line up with one in the NFL, mostly as a blocking back. Fullbacks back in the 70′s and 80′s were a different type of position.

They were versatile. Very versatile.

Think of today’s hybrid H-back in the often-used spread offenses. A fullback blocked and he caught passes and even ran with the football, and Ron Springs was one of the best.

Springs carried the ball pretty well as a fullback and was dangerous out of the backfield as a receiver.

I remember Springs as a fullback for the Cowboys when I was younger, and I was not a Cowboys fan. He and the Cowboys always seemed to be playing for the Super Bowl. They always won. Yes, they are America’s Team, but they are also one of the most hated teams.

He was a part of one of the best teams of any decade during the 70′s and early 80′s. He shared the backfield with Roger Staubach and Tony Dorsett.

Springs, of course, developed a relationship with everyone he knew, but none, maybe, than the one he developed with teammate Everson Walls. When Springs needed a kidney to continue living, it was Walls who donated his to save his friend. The gesture says as much about Springs as it did Walls.

Springs was the kind of guy you would give a kidney to.

I never had the opportunity to meet Ron, but I met Everson Walls. Walls was very engaging as he signed copies of the book that chronicled his gift to Ron, A Gift for Ron: Friendship and Sacrifice On and Off the Gridiron, co-authored with Kevin B Blackistone.

By all accounts, it seemed as if Ron was the same way, maybe more so.

The event of the kidney donation by Everson gave the two a platform to talk about organ donation. It also gave them the platform to share their faith, and they did.

Ron Springs was what’s good about athletics and football. A guy with a great heart for people who liked to make people laugh. He had friends who would give the gift of themselves, literally, to see him live.

Ron Springs was the kind of guy who gave back.

Everson is too. Together, they founded the Gift for Life Foundation.

In the passing of Ron Springs, we choose to remember his life.

And, we choose to help others choose life.

Filed Under: Cowboys, Lead Story, Two Cents Tagged With: A Gift for Ron, Dallas Cowboys, Everson Walls, kidney donation, Ron Springs

Three Indispensable Goals for your website

May 1, 2011 By Todd E. Jones 1 Comment

Originally published at toddejones.net

Website design and having a website has come a long way from the early years about 15 years ago. Back then, there weren’t as many people with websites as there is today. There are an estimated 206 Million websites according to the Web Server Survey by Netcraft.

In the light of the number of websites that are online today, simply having a website presence is not nearly enough.

So, what should a person or a business do about the mass of websites. Many owners have seen little or no benefit from having a website, and it’s no wonder with over 206 Million websites for consumers to choose from. This leaves us to reason that a business who decides to have a website needs to have some sort of strategy.

A strategy, or a plan, is of the utmost importance when deciding to set up shop online. Besides, you are going to pay somebody good money to design and set it up for you. You have to make sure you get the most “bang for your buck.” That, in business terms, is called Return on Investment (ROI).

A website strategy has to be comprehensive, and there are, I think, three indispensable goals for your website strategy.

1. Quality Design

There is a whole school of thought on web standards. Learn more here and here. Standards keep your designer at the forefront of quality design. It is best if they have adopted an active approach to using, or at least learning, web standards. If a designer is trying to design with tables are something from the 1990′s, run and run fast the other way! Standards also help ensure that your designer will design you a website that will be “search engine friendly.”

talkephotography from Flickr

2. Traffic

In the movie, Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character was told, “If you build it, they will come.” While that philosophy was inspirational in the movie, it doesn’t work in the world of websites. With over 206 Million websites on the web (see above), visitors have more options than they can possible choose. Skilled webmasters and designers have to work on the website in an ongoing attempt to bring traffic to their website through the use of skills such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is only part of the solution. Many website owners are turning to social media to help draw visitors to their sites. Further, good old fashion marketing has its place as well.

3. Conversion

Once you have visitors coming to your website, then what? Conversion is the art of converting visitors in to consumers. Every business has to do this. When I worked in a book store, we recommended books and other items to the customer in which we thought would be of interest to them. Without sales, businesses go away, and conversion is the process of “closing the sale.” Much of the conversion process is accomplished different ways, but copy writing is very important. Coppyblogger is one of the best blogs that helps writers with their conversion skills.

In the backdrop of these three goals is communication. Communication is at the heart of a website, and communication is the basis for building a community–a community which can become customers.

In today’s online world, running a website is a full time job, although most small to medium size companies can’t or don’t hire someone to manage and run their website. However, given the right person, the benefits can more than pay for the position. If you are a small business owner and you have a website, you can and should learn what you can to make your website successful.

What will you do to improve your website? Do you have a plan or a strategy?

Photo Source: by bull3t from

Filed Under: Lead Story, Website Corner Tagged With: goals, Website Corner, websites

Using Social Media to Level the Playing Field

April 28, 2011 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

OK, so you have bought an ad in the newspaper (yikes!), you spent thousands of dollars to build a website and you seriously considered that billboard space on the freeway. You have done all of these things to match up with the bigger company down the street, but you haven’t increased any of your traffic at your place of business.

You then decided to quiz old-school businessmen and they tell you that you need to network. “This is 2011,” you say. You wonder if that is still a valuable strategy. They are right! Except in today’s business world, networking can be done, in part, online.

You have heard the hard-to-believe stories about companies using Twitter or Facebok to attract new customers and double their businesses. I have heard those too. Now, you are trying decide if social media is for you.

For one, while social media is a great tool, it by itself is not a “magic cure.” Networking, by its definition, assumes communication and conversation, which means that it is a two-way street. You have to engage “friends” in conversation. These online friends are potential customers, and, to be sure, potential evangelists for your business or brand. Your ability to engage your customers online gives you an advantage over the big businesses who might be using social media as a glorified email marketing strategy.

A couple of years ago, I visited an upscale restaurant in Fort Worth. I never would have afforded it, but we were given a gift card as a treat that made it possible. The food was awesome, and the service was outstanding. The setting was wonderful. What put this experience over the top was that the owner and head chef came out to meet the customers!

A year later, he had a book signing at the bookstore where I worked. I recognized him and escorted him to where he would be signing his books. He probably didn’t remember me, but I remembered him! I am not usually an upscale restaurant kind of guy–I prefer a place like Cracker Barrel–but if I ever have the money, I would definitely consider going back, just because the owner came out to meet me.

Why Social Media?

Word-of-mouth has stood the test of time, and social media is a new vehicle to accomplish that. Think about it, when you are looking for a new barber or dentist, how do you find one. You simply ask trusted friends. That is what social media is about.

According to social media guru, Shama Kabani, it is better to manage a couple of social media profiles well rather than to have several that are not managed well. And more, she says in her book The Zen of Social Media Marketing which was released in book form in April 2010, we need to have a hub, and online presence, in which to direct the customer too.

Ideally, that hub would be a website or blog. I believe, it is better to have a website which has the feel of a blog. There are a couple reasons for this.

Engagement

First, a blog is conversational, therefore, it reinforces the idea of conversation and of engaging the customer or your online friends. Merely having a static, brochure-like website is stale and non engaging. You can separate from your bigger company competition if you have the feeling of friendly and conversational when customers come to your website.

Search Engine Friendly

Second, a website which is built to have the feel of a blog, and possibly built on a blog platform such as WordPress, is active and the search engines love active. Each time you update your blog or site, the site will ping the search engines to let them know that it has new content. Over time, the search engines recognize that your site is active. Active sites receive higher rankings in the search engines. Also, when you update your site with articles or news, this creates some backlinks to your site. As Darren writes in the article I linked to, backlinks are not the most powerful thing you can do, but they do help. And by the way, always cross link your profiles with your website or blog.

It takes a while to put a social media strategy in to place. You have to be intentional. I recommend you working on it as if you were at a networking event or conference. Ask questions, answer questions, engage people and seek out experts in your field. Build up a base of friends or followers. The rewards are great. Not only will you tap into another market–a loyal market, but, eventually, your website rankings in the search engines will begin to rise, and the only thing you will have spent was time.

Photo Credit: toprankonlinemarketing

For more info, check out the video below!

Filed Under: Lead Story, Website Corner Tagged With: social media

Top Ten things to do when the Labor Dispute brings down the NFL

April 10, 2011 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

Watch the Dallas Desire (or another Lingerie Football League team)

There is a chance that the Desire won’t play next season, however, you still have the entire league! Question is, will the Desire quarterback Linda Brenner be stolen away from the good folks in DFW? We hope not!

By John P. from OneMansblog.com

Watch NASCAR

NASCAR is at its best during the Fall as 12 drivers are fighting to get a spot in the Race for the Chase. These guys lay it all out on the line every week to make one of those spots and have a shot at winning the Sprint Cup Championship. Now, they may not have to compete with the NFL.

Analyze film from your favorite college football team’s game on the day before

Some of us are just a little bit obsessed with college football. No doubt! It might be the best sport on TV. Without the NFL to watch, well, you can spend Sundays analyzing film so that you send a game plan to your favorite team’s head coach.

Go to Church

Seriously. Now, you don’t have the NFL to give you an excuse to stay home.

Spend time with your family

Your kids, your wife, your parents, siblings, whoever it is, you get a chance to spend Sunday afternoons with them. Fire up the grill and make it a great Sunday.

Play flag football with some friends

Flag football isn’t as hard on your body, and, if you can still run like I CAN’T, then you will have a blast. Show off for you lady too!

Create a Madden EA Football tournament

If the NFL doesn’t play, bring the action to you. Create your very own Madden EA Football tournament. Besides, without the NFL, there is no Fantasy Football either.

Take a nap

Yawn. Do I need to explain. We usually take a nap while “watching” the NFL, now, just take a nap. No NFL needed.

Watch the UFL

The UFL stands to gain the most from this labor dispute. More fans will be watching them, and, what do you bet, they play some games on Sunday this Fall?

Watch the Rangers in the World Series

This topic came from Tarrant County Hazard owner Sonny Easley. Now, I’m not much for baseball, but if you are, the Rangers have become a force in baseball. Another trip to the World Series would make DFW fans forget about football!

Reading about all of the other football on Dfwfootball.net

Will there be other football this Fall? You bet! And we will have it. Sign up for our email newsletter today to be reminded of all the news we cover!

Filed Under: Lead Story, Two Cents Tagged With: DFW, football, Labor Dispute, NFL, top ten

Newton Continues to Pave the Way

August 3, 2010 By Todd E. Jones 1 Comment

Newton with Kevin Kiley in February of 2009 at TMS

For many years, he was one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL. Nate Newton was a staple at Offensive Guard for the Cowboys during the 90′s and through three titles. Newton was charged with helping protect Quarterback Troy Aikman and pave the way for Running Back Emmit Smith.

Smith is the NFL’s All-time leading rusher and a Hall of Fame running back, and many of the years in which he was accumulating those yards, “Big” Nate Newton was leading the way. Newton is back in the spotlight for leading the way, but now, he is doing it off the field.

Newton was known as “Big” for a reason. Weighing as much as 400 pounds, few people were bigger than Nate. Newton describes how he got to that point in an interview with WFAA channel 8′s Janet St. James.

“That [french fries] and a quart of Schlitz Malt Liquor bull,” Newton recalled with a laugh, “I’d sit at the table, and as soon as whoever I was dating at the time would bring the first batch, that first batch would be ketchup and I’d have my quart of bull, and I’m just [chewing sound].”

Arthritis from his playing days and his eating habits led him to his biggest weight. He was in danger of not seeing his youngest grow up, so he decided to do something about it. Enter,Dr. David Kim from Colleyville, TX. Dr. Kim is a specialist in weight loss surgery.

Fans can keep up with his progress on Facebook and at Dr. Kim’s website. The pictures are astounding! Newton hardly looks the same.

Newton is surely one of the most beloved personalities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His success will be critical in leading others to pursue a more healthy life and fight obesity. He is currently paving the way for others to find the courage to fight the good fight regarding health, and I applaud his effort.

Naturally, Newton’s progress has been picked up by various news outlets, and it will surely be picked up by more. In addition to the WFAA story mentioned above (shown in May), Newton has been congratulated by his current employer, ESPN. The Star-Telegram’s Ray Buck also picked up the story this past weekend as Nate is in San Antonio covering Cowboys Training Camp.

As someone who has battled weight my life as well, I applaud Nate’s leadership and willingness to share with the public his success. I really enjoyed meeting Nate in early 2009, and I wish him the best in his journey.

For more on Nate’s journey, check out the video below.

Filed Under: Cowboys, Feature, Two Cents Tagged With: Colleyville, Dr. David Kim, Nate Newton, TX, weight loss

Previews at Dfwfootball

July 27, 2010 By Todd E. Jones Leave a Comment

By now, you know that we have started doing previews for the 2010 Fall football season. Chase Rader has begun our preview of the University of North Texas. We still have to cover TCU and SMU as well as that professional football team in Arlington.

Hopefully our previews will serve to help you in your preparation for the upcoming season. Some of you will play fantasy football, a college football pickem, or simply play the odds of NCAA football betting. Whatever your need, we hope to be your source for DFW football in 2010.

By the way, I want to say thank you to Chase Rader. Chase will be covering UNT for us this Fall. I will include more info about Chase in the coming weeks, but we are glad to have him on board. Anyone else who might be interested in writing for Dfwfootball can contact me. We have need for someone to cover TCU, SMU and the Cowboys. All that is required is one article per week. The pay is not good, but you have a lot of fun and get a chance to test your writing skills.

Finally, I want to make another push for the CFTT Pickem contest. You will be able to sign up in August, but I am trying to remind my readers as often as I can. This will be our third pickem, and we will have prizes for some of the top finishers in the contest. Now, I am just wondering how many of you are good at picking a college football game!

Filed Under: Lead Story, Two Cents Tagged With: betting, CFTT, Fantasy Football, pickem, previews