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For more than two months, a nation has waited with bated breath for the return of our "Hog Call" podcast. On this Sunday, January 30, in the Year of Our Lord Two-Thousand and Eleven, it thrills us to no end to announce that the wait is over.

In this episode, our guest is Jim Harris, a longtime chronicler of the Arkansas Razorbacks who is now the editor of ArkansasSports360.com, a favorite site of us Arkansas Expats staffers and a must-read for anyone who follows the Hogs. Together, we discuss Saturday's fantastic win over Vanderbilt, the 2011 basketball and recruiting classes, the need for more fan support at Bud Walton Arena and the looming battle between Tyler Wilson and Brandon Mitchell for the starting quarterback job. For those who hold the Hogs' appearance in the 1997 NIT Final Four near and dear to their hearts, we even discuss that as well.

You can listen to the episode by hitting the play button on the widget below. You can also download the episode by visiting our show's home page. And if want to subscribe to the podcast and automatically receive future episodes, you can do so by clicking on the orange RSS icon in the widget below. To subscribe through iTunes, just click on the purple iTunes icon.

Let's get this party started:

Cliff Lee dominating a playoff opponent: It's becoming as much a part of fall as pumpkin carving and Les Miles making Houston Nutt look well-prepared.

Speaking of carving, yesterday the Benton native and former Razorback carved up the Tampa Bay Rays, yielding only one run in seven innings while striking out 10 and issuing not a single walk. Of his 104 pitches, only 28 were balls.

Unfortunately for Cliff, his outstanding performance was a wee bit overshadowed by the historic effort of one Roy Halladay.

It feels slightly dirty to root for a team from Texas, but in part because of the presence of Mr. Lee, I wouldn't mind seeing the Rangers wreak some havoc in the playoffs.

• Hot Seat Less Hot, For Now. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com says Rashad Madden's commitment guarantees that Pel will be in Fayetteville for at least two more seasons.

John Pelphrey is not on the hot seat because there's no way an athletic director with a brain is firing a coach before this recruiting class enrolls, which means Pelphrey will be the coach at Arkansas for the 2011-12 season regardless of what happens in 2010-11.

• As For This Season. CollegeHoops.Net ranks this year's basketball team as the No. 106 team in the country and projects that they will earn a post-season bid to either the prestigious CBI Tournament or the equally prestigious CIT Tournament. Like the estimable Whit E. Knight, I think this year's squad is going to surprise some people. What exactly that will mean in terms of wins and losses and post-season tournaments, I'm not sure - I just think we're going to see a noticeably improved product on the court this season. And hopefully a much improved one in 2011-12. More thoughts on this later ...

• He Won't Be Pumping Them Up. Several observers have made note of the fact that 2011 recruits like Madden and Hunter Mickelson need to gain some weight and strength. Well, Kelly Lambert won't be helping them do that. That's because the Hogs' strength and conditioning coach is leaving the program to take a similar position with the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.

• Let's Chat. The Arkansas Democrat's Bob Holt and Matt Jones participated in a live chat this afternoon. If you have some time to kill (and if you're reading this post, then you most certainly do) then you should check it out. Interesting stuff on the mood of the football team, the likelihood of a BCS bowl invite and which basketball recruits Pelphrey still has a shot at.

If you're still feeling a little blue after Saturday's game (and who could blame you?) then hopefully this short post will at least temporarily boost your spirits. Consider it a small dose of chicken soup for your wounded soul.

• Simply put, anytime you need a laugh or two, you should check out former Razorback guard Patrick Beverley's Twitter feed. As we detailed the other day, the man appears to be a wee bit excitable. Follow me after the jump to check out a recent example of how he can be mind-blowingly enthusiastic about life's everyday occurrences.

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• A Troubled Two Decades. Jim Harris of AS360 uses the Hogs' highest preseason AP ranking since 1990
to review the program's often rocky performance over the past 20 years. It's a great - albeit sometimes depressing - read. It's crazy to think that Jack Crowe's first team, which would lose seven straight games en route to a 3-8 record, entered that 1990 season ranked No. 14 in the AP poll.

• Multi-Talented. Tight end D.J. Williams and linebacker Matt Marshall are not only superior athletes - they can also crank out a halfway decent version of Bill Wither's classic "Lean on Me." Might D.J. be trying to send a message to Mr. Mallett? Our in-house psychotherapists are pondering that very question.

• Cheesy. Our pal Jerry Hinnen of the War Blog Eagle has focused his razor-sharp wit on this year's Razorbacks-Auburn match-up as part of his "2010 Cheese Puff Preview" series. Sample passage:

What happened the last time these teams met: Chris Todd and the rest of the Auburn offense walked over to coordinator Gus Malzahn.

"We’re ready, coach," Todd said, with several nodding heads behind him. "It’s time to get this game started. We’re psyched. We’re pumped. Those guys aren’t going to know what hit them. We can’t wait to get on that field. LET’S DO THIS!"

"Great, Chris," Malzahn said. "You know it’s the second quarter already, right? We’re down three scores."

• Tough Year. In Nolan Richardson's recently completed first year as the coach of the WNBA's Tulsa Shock, the team finished with a ghastly 6-28 record. But the former Hog coach, who by all accounts inherited a mess of a franchise, says he isn't about to walk away from the job.

And the WNBA's bean counters have good reason to be thankful that Nolan will be rollin' at least for a little while longer. As Brandon Marcello of WholeHogSports and The Slophouse blog points out:

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To celebrate the United States' 234th birthday, we present to you former track star Carl Lewis' stirring version of the national anthem: