Manatee football fans, check this out!

Get your game face on by checking out our new weekly video feature, "This Week in Preps." Bradenton Herald sports writers are on Bradenton.com and METV (Manatee Educational Television) with the week's hottest previews for Manatee/Sarasota high school football.

Here's a link to this week's show, running down all the matchups for Friday Night Lights. The Manatee Hurricanes, ranked No. 1 in the nation by MaxPreps and USA Today, go for their second victory of the season at Riverview. And they throw in a little banter on preps cross-country and golf this week.

Herald sports writer Jason Dill hosts the show and welcomes fellow Herald reporter John Lembo and other sports staff members to discuss upcoming football games and highlights from other fall sports. The video series will be posted at Bradenton.com/sports each Thursday to preview weekend events and profile some of the area's top athletes.

Another online extra:
Show your team's colors!

Speaking of tweets...

Odds are that tweeting will eventually morph into some other social media fad. But Twitter has continued to grow since it was introduced in 2006, and those 140-character texts are often the first tease to breaking news.

The Bradenton Herald is using several Twitter feeds, including Sports' new Twitter feed, @bradenton designed to bring followers the latest breaking sports headlines and links to other coverage.

Taking feeds from sports writers and sports fans alike, News Editor Jason Bartolone (jbartolone@bradenton.com) and other editors are posting interesting local sports tidbits –- from prep sports, Marauders, IMG, local golf, and more. Jason's key focus for tweets: live events, especially Friday Night Football.

You also can follow news headlines @bradentonherald and entertainment headlines @accentbradenton .

All tweets and our Facebook at www.facebook.com/BradentonHeraldNews eventually lead you to Bradenton.com. And that, dear readers, takes you full circle, 24-7, from our beloved print edition every day.

-- Joan

Friday Night Football is King in Manatee

The headline on today's story says it all:

Lights. Camera. Action.

It's Friday Night Football. Probably should be in ALL caps. The season hasn't even started, and the pitch is at a record frenzy in Manatee County.

ESPN is in town to broadcast the Manatee Hurricanes' Kickoff Classic tonight against Tampa Plant. John Lembo gives us the inside scoop in his column today.

And Florida State University and -- more to the point -- the Collegiate Licensing Co. have challenged the longstanding logos and nicknames of the Southeast Seminoles. (Oh, right -- now, after a day after the news hit the headlines, they want to negotiate.)

OMG, what a season this promises to be. Good timing by the Bradenton Herald, too, if I must say so: Today's print edition includes our annual football sections, packed full of insights for the 2010 high school, college and pro seasons (see the covers below). Here online, you can find all the local schedules and sign in for all the game highlights tonight.

Countdown to kickoff is on!

-- Joan

(P.S.: My heart hasn't sold out. It's still baseball season. Albert Pujols hit his 400th home run last night, even though the Cards lost in the 13th inning... )