Forney ISD leads the way in adopting cutting edge technology, yet again! Now you can list to Forney High School football games live on the Internet. The games are broadcast live, the broadcasts are archived on the Internet and you can even listen to the broadcast in the stadium if you bring a radio. This is a great way to connect Jackrabbit football fans who otherwise wouldn’t be able to catch the game with their favorite team - you can keep up with Jackrabbit Football from anywhere in the world!

Here’s the archive of the Forney High School football game broadcasts, to listen to them, click “Broadcaster Archive” in the column on the left of the page. Nate, the play-by-play announcer, let me know that there were some technical difficulties during the beginning of the game, so he suggests moving the timer forward to about 26 minutes into the broadcast. I believe this is also the page to visit during a football game to listen live.

You can read a biography of the announcers on Sportsgram’s site - Nate White is providing the play-by-play and Tony Gonzalez is the color analyst. Both are active in the Forney discussion forums, and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both in person, as well. They seem to be great guys with a real passion for sports and our community, so I’m sure they’ll make a great broadcasting duo.

Even if you aren’t a high school football fan, this is exciting news. So many people have moved to Forney because of its community, because of the small town feel, but many people have become concerned that all this new growth signals the end of Forney’s home town, close-knit community. Indeed, many saw the addition of another high school as a harbinger of the end of small town Forney and the transformation of Forney into yet another cookie-cutter Dallas suburb. I’ve always felt, however, that there’s a way to manage development, a way to direct growth to build a larger community around Forney’s local, home town spirit. Because we’re getting bigger does not mean we have to turn away from the values, the experience that Forney has represented for so long. Indeed, I’d argue that Forney’s growth provides more resources and more talented individuals who love our community - resources and talent that will allow Forney to stay a “small town” all while growing larger. Projects like this one that fuse technology with a favorite, long time local pastime are part of what makes living in Forney right now so exciting, and make me believe that Forney has a very bright future as a close-knit hometown community, no matter how large we might grow.

As usual, I’ve created a new thread in the Forney discussion forums for this post - visit here to discuss the broadcast of Jackrabbit Football on the Internet!

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