This post is sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

Astute readers of this blog have probably noticed a certain theme to much of the content posted here over the last week. The "Where I Come From" series has been sponsored by EA Sports and promoted across the entire mighty entity that is the SB Nation blogging network and, despite our usual resistance to any idea that we didn't come up with, it's been a lot of fun to write about the suggested topics (and to read your comments on them).

But, now we come to the slightly weird part, which is mentioning today's release of the NCAA Football 20011 game itself. We don't have much perspective to share because we've never actually played any version of it: as celebrity bloggers we're usually out hitting the clubs with Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian rather than sitting at home playing video games.

However, we have been asked to share the following statement from our sponsor: 

When you go to a particular school or grow up around college football, you are more than just a fan. It’s who you are. We thought we could leverage this pride in your roots and show that "where you come from" is more than just a statement about geography. By positioning NCAA Football 11 as a game that understands this pride and is authentic to these traditions, the takeaway should be that anything that is in college football is in NCAA Football 11.

And this doesn’t just include game play (though that’s a huge part of it). It’s rivals and mascots; it’s legends and stories. It’s those things that are at the very fabric of the game itself. Of course the game is great this year as well. With authentic entrances, mascots and specific offenses for each team, the term “where I come from” takes on a much larger meaning. While playing NCAA Football 11 is ultimately a great sports sim, it should also give you a sense of the pride and emotion one has for being a fan of a team they will never not be a part of.

Feel free to call us sellouts in the comments section. We'll return to subverting the dominant paradigm soon.

This is the sixth and penultimate post in a week-plus-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

After we spent last week wallowing in Razorback football nostalgia (in other words, it was a pretty standard week here at ArkansasExpats), our corporate overlords at SB Nation and EA Sports would like for us to talk a little about our expectations for the future — specifically, for the 2010 Razorback football season.

Our interns have yet to begin their 'round-the-clock, amphetamine-fueled statistical breakdown of the Hogs and their 2010 opponents (and staff soothsayer Rasputin has yet to return from his summer trip to Russia to visit friends and family), so I'll keep this fairly breezy and general. After all, we do have about six weeks to really get in the weeds of pre-season analysis.

In short, though, let me just say that I may be a little more skeptical of the 2010 Razorbacks than many. At least two of the players have voiced goals of playing for the national championship; Hollywood hotshot Matt Besser has at least semi-seriously predicted a 12-0 regular season; and our own KevinHog foresees an 11-2 season, complete with a BCS bowl victory. And no less an authority than Phil Steele is bullish on the Razorbacks. 

I hope they're right. Seeing the Hogs make a serious run at a national championship would be thrilling, obviously. And we all know they have the offense - or at least the passing attack - to do it. But do they have the defense to do it? Do they have the special teams play to do it? I'm skeptical they do. In fact, I have my doubts that the team will be all that much improved from last year.

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This is the fifth in a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

The Razorbacks have certainly produced their share of memorable moments both good and bad over the years, but for the sake of my blood pressure (and yours), I'm only going to focus on the positive ones today.

The list below includes 10 moments that will always stand out in my memory as a Hog fan (some moments are literally moments, others are entire games). I should note that this is a personal list: it's not the best games, or the most important ones...just the ones that particularly stand out to me. Definitely share your own thoughts in the comments section!

So, in reverse chronological order, here we go:

1. Arkansas vs Georgia, 2009 (1st quarter): Introducing Ryan Mallett

The Bobby Petrino era truly began in the first quarter of this game, as Mallett lived up to the hype (and then some) by tossing NFL-style TD passes to Jarius Wright, Joe Adams and Greg Childs in quick succession. Although a now-familiar defensive breakdown cost the Hogs a victory, I'll never forget the feeling of watching bomb after bomb in the early part of the game and thinking, "who are these guys in Arkansas jerseys??"

2. Arkansas vs LSU, 2008 (4th quarter): Casey Dick's Finale

Dick certainly won't go down in history as one of the great Hog QBs, but it was hard not to be moved watching him lead the Razorbacks to a last-second victory over the vastly more talented LSU Tigers in his final game (after being benched in favor of his brother, nonetheless!). A gritty and inspiring performance, and one of my favorite games ever.

3. Arkansas vs LSU, 2007 (entire game): Bringing That Wood

Friday night in Death Valley. #1 LSU. McFadden. Jones. Hillis. The Wild Hog offense. Houston Nutt's swan song as Head Hog. Comebacks on both sides. Multiple overtimes. Dick laying out an LSU defender to spring D-Mac for a TD run. The greatest postgame interview ever. This game had it all, people!

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This is the fourth in a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

When it comes to personal preferences, I'm often an "obvious answer" kind of a guy.

Favorite pizza? Pepperoni. Favorite band? The Beatles. Favorite maracas-and-tambourine player? Why, Davy Jones, of course (man, could he shred those suckers!).

So it should come as no surprise that my all-time favorite Razorback gridiron hero is … (drumroll, please) … Darren McFadden. I know, I know - not terribly original. But there it is. (For the sake of surprise, I considered naming Gary "Peanut" Adams as my fav, but my vast staff of personal assistants talked me out of it).

His talent was simply breathtaking, and his list of legendary games is seemingly endless. I won't soon forget the way he sliced through Auburn in 2006 or the Volunteers a few weeks later. And his efforts in 2007 against South Carolina (323 yards rushing) and in the triple-overtime triumph over No. 1 LSU (206 yards rushing and 34 yards passing with one touchdown pass) are among my very fondest Hog memories. This sounds cheesy, but his talent was so rare that even after Hog losses, I could say to myself, "Well, if nothing else, at least I got to watch Darren McFadden play today" and feel a little better about the situation. Just a little, though.

On top of all that, he's got personality, a certain goofiness that is on display in this delightfully insane post-game interview and in this clip of him at home with his pit bulls (federally mandated joke: I sure hope Darren doesn't invite Michael Vick over to his house. Sorry, had to say it.). To be sure, he has some less-than-admirable habits, such as fathering out-of-wedlock kids and getting into the occasional bar fight, but I'll leave the preaching about his off-the-field ways to humankind's only perfect person - Bill Bennett. Besides, I can't be hypocritical - like a lot of bloggers, I've been the subject of my fair share of paternity suits and have gotten into at least a handful of barroom brawls.

But I digress: Who is your favorite Razorback football player? Don't be shy. Say it loud and say it proud.

This is the third in a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

Today's topic is tailgating traditions, but I have to confess that, as someone who didn't actually go to the U of A and has lived outside of the state for most of my adult life, I'm hardly an expert on the subject. So, I'm going to take a few liberties and write about one of my favorite things about being a Razorback fan...something that definitely happens at tailgates, but also takes place inside the games, at airports, at other teams' games, at schools, at offices, at churches, at pretty much any place where at least two Arkansans are gathered.

Yes, I'm going to write about calling the Hogs.

I'll admit some bias here, but I'm convinced that the Hog call is by far the best cheer in all sports. It's loud. It's powerful. It's unique. It's profoundly weird. Think about it: 70,000 people, most of whom are grown adults, all yelling "wooooo pig sooie" in a high voice and waving their arms above their heads. There's no pretension, no too-cool-for-school attitude, no trying to be something we're not.

The Hog call is a celebration of Arkansas, and who we are as Arkansans. It's completely authentic, and so perfectly us. No other team, school or state could pull it off (not that they'd want to try, necessarily).

A well-executed Hog call can be joyous (after, say, a 50-yd Ryan Mallett TD bomb), intimidating (before the opposing team receives the opening kickoff) or in-your-face (like when Razorback fans introduced themselves to the SEC by calling the Hogs during UK's opening game in the 1992 conference bball tournament). It can happen pretty much anywhere, at any time.

Whenever or wherever a Hog call happens, though, there's no mistaking it: it's the sound of Arkansas.

After the jump are some videos of Hog calls from around the world. And in the comments section, tell us your favorite things about the Hog call. Or, even better, what's the best place you've ever called the Hogs?

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This is the second in a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011.

It was a team that began its season with another nationally televised bloodletting at the hands of the USC Trojans and ended it with a heartbreaking three-game losing streak. And it was a squad dominated by an ugly quarterback controversy that would help pave the way for the head coach's departure one year later.

Yes, at first glance, the 2006 Razorbacks might seem like a strange pick for my favorite Arkansas football team. But in my more than 25 years of following Hog football, I've never had more fun. 

For starters, there was that glorious 10-game winning streak. Sure, the Hogs caught a couple of lucky breaks - i.e., Vanderbilt and Alabama - but after the lost years of 2004 and 2005, I was just happy to see the Razorbacks win in any shape, form or fashion. Included in that streak are two of my all-time favorite victories: the 27-10 dismantling of then-No.2 Auburn in Auburn and the 31-14 thumping of then-No. 13 Tennessee in Fayetteville (that was the day that ESPN's College GameDay was broadcast from the U of A campus).

And fueling it all was the dynamic duo of running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones. Arkansas has had its fair share of exciting players over the years, but in my humble opinion, never have the Hogs been armed with such a compelling one-two punch. (Watching those two shred defenses who knew they were the Hogs' only real offensive weapons was enough to prevent the following season - so disappointing in so many ways - from being a total bummer.)

One week after pounding the Vols, the Hogs, by then ranked No. 5 in the country, defeated Mississippi State to clinch the SEC West championship and stretch the winning streak to 10 games. Incredibly, Arkansas at that point was on the fringes of the national championship picture, a place no one could have imagined they would be when they opened the year by getting pounded 50-14 by USC.

Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there, as the Razorbacks would close the year with blood-pressure-spiking and soul-crushing losses to LSU, Florida and Wisconsin to finish with a 10-4 record. 

For some, the bad of that season may outweigh the good. That, I completely understand. But, in my years of fandom,  the Arkansas teams that have been nationally relevant have been few and far between. And rare is the time when a program features two running backs as insanely good as McFadden and Jones.

Heartbreak may have been the 2006 squad's destination, but their journey was unforgettably exciting.

Enough from me. What is your favorite Razorback football team of all time?

This is the first of a week-long series of posts sponsored by EA Sports NCAA Football 2011. The topic is "how I became a Razorback fan."

Growing up as a sports-loving kid in Arkansas, I'm not sure if I ever had much chance of ever being anything but a Razorback fan. As we all know, the Hogs are basically the only game in town and provide a common thread that unites young and old, black and white, city and country, Democrat and Republican, etc in our small state. It's a cool thing.

In my case, I suppose I would have had some minor excuse had my allegiances drifted elsewhere, as both my parents are from out of state (my dad's family from North Carolina by way of Michigan, my mom's from - gasp! - Texas), but I can't really remember a time in my life when I didn't pull for the Hogs. There's the old story about the first Razorback game I ever saw in person - versus Texas Tech in War Memorial Stadium - when I quickly grew bored and spent the bulk of the time reading a Hardy Boys book, but even then I was hooked.

From that point on I've been a Hog fan, with all the requisite highs and lows that it entails. I was in War Memorial for the crushing 16-14 loss to Texas in 1987 and for the 14-13 Arkansas win over the Longhorns in their last SWC meeting in 1991 (we rushed the field after that one). I listened to the 1982 "pass interference, my ass" game against SMU on the radio but am still positive that it was a terrible call. Each big win was shared with practically everyone in the state, and every crushing loss somehow made me love the Razorbacks even more.

When I went to college (at a small school in Memphis that didn't have much of an athletic program to threaten my Hog fandom) I was suddenly exposed to people who not only rooted for other schools but actually had very specific anti-Arkansas hatred, and my loyalty to my home team grew even stronger. I also met my ArkansasExpats.com co-editor Stephen, and we developed something of a reputation as two of the more enthusiastic (or more annoying, depending on your perspective) Razorback fans on campus.

From there, we both went our separate ways - Stephen to Atlanta, me to San Francisco - but we still exchanged frequent emails about the various ups and downs of the Razorbacks. Finally, in the wake of the Houston Nutt/Dana Altman insanity of early 2007 Stephen proposed turning our online correspondence into a blog. Over the last three years of working on ArkansasExpats.com (and RazorbackExpats.com before that), it's been hugely enjoyable to follow my favorite team so closely and (virtually) meet so many fellow fans in the process.

So, more than 30 years after it all started the Hogs are still a huge part of my life (and I'm proud to be probably the only person in Berkeley wearing an Arkansas Razorbacks t-shirt on any given day). What about you? How did you become a Razorback fan? Let us know how it all happened in the comments section.