For at least a few hours, it felt like the disco era.

Granted, the Bud and I didn’t “exist” back then, but humor me.

With a weathered Eddie Sutton collecting cheers and a psychopath patrolling the sidelines in a blazer stolen from Frank Broyles’ drive-in closet, it didn’t matter that the screams from the sideline weren’t coming from underneath an Afro.

All that mattered was a delirious post-game crowd and a parade of burnt orange trudging into the tunnel with their eyes dipped down at the skinny boards that comprise what should be Nolan Richardson Court.

I could break down the game in too many words if I really wanted to. I could talk about downright Heathian scoring drought in the first half that could have been a death blow. I could talk about the lopsided rebounding numbers that I don’t think will be a habit or a problem come conference play.

I could stop being a pessimistic Pedro and talk about how impressed I am with Mr. Fortson and Mr. Washington for not being embarrassed by their first half performances and letting the rest of the team find a home in their knapsack for the game’s final few minutes.

But honestly, I don’t care. This is no time for X’s and O’s. I’d rather talk big picture.

After more than a decade of dormancy, the question racing through my head as I stepped back outside into a frigid Fayetteville night was simple: Have the Hogs finally arrived?

Not so much as a result of the past nine days. Two wins don’t make a program. (Apologies to the Mean Green.) Rather, as a whole.

Because this team reminds me of one that I was around to see.

They finished 22-9. They went 10-6 in conference play. Their core was made up of primarily freshmen.

And as sophomores, they won the national championship.

Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. That’s not a prediction.

This team is not as talented as that team, has a vastly different identity, and the landscape of college basketball is nothing like it was 15 years ago. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned with these two monumental wins, it’s that this team can hang with anyone not wearing Carolina Blue, and has a good shot at beating anyone inside the confines of The Basketball Palace of Mid-America.

They’ve got more zeal and want-to than any team we’ve seen play in perhaps forever, and a coach that just might be able to get them back to where we all want them to be.

Next year, they’ll trade Marcus Monk for a more-developed frontcourt in Andre Clark, Brandon Moore, and Jason Henry.

The rest of the Baby ‘Backs speak for themselves.

So please, excuse my blasphemy, but Michael Sanchez, will you be the Lee Wilson / Darnell Robinson to our double-double machine Corliss?

I’m excited for this team.

If last night’s noise level serves as any indicator, so were the 19,011 other devotees in the building.

The Hogs haven’t arrived yet.

But the fans have.

And they’re waiting.

Allow me to begin with a disclaimer.

First, I am a heterosexual male.

Second, I’m very loose with superlatives.

That said, I would court, marry, and bear the children of Courtney Fortson if he would allow it.

However, at the risk of raining on everyone’s parade, I couldn’t help but dwell on two unfortunate truths in the surreal hours that followed the Hogs’ biggest win since Nolan’s departure. (Read on …)

To those who suggest that Bobby Petrino is Lucy with the football and Razorback fans are a bunch of Charlie Browns, The Hog Blogger, one of our occasional contributors and the proprietor of the much-missed blog of the same name, would like to say that he, for one, knows what we’re getting into.

I don’t trust Bobby Petrino.

Put out your torches and set down the pitchforks — let me explain. Why is it that I find it so hard to trust our brand-new, bona fide Razorback messiah?

Funny story, actually. If you’ve got the time, I’d love to tell it.

Without the blog to tend to, I have a lot more time to just hang out in the basement of my mom’s trailer with my sister, so on this particular Tuesday afternoon a few months back, that’s precisely what I was doing.

Anyways, this guy gets up on the TV and is all like, “Blah blah blah, Bobby Petrino is a liar, a traitor, Arkansas fans don’t know what they’re getting themselves into!” I figured something was amiss, and this slick-lookin’ character must have been mistaken, so I start up the lawnmower and head over to the library so I can see what the Internets had to say.

(Read on …)

We’re very excited to announce a new addition to our team of expert correspondents: the Hog Blogger. After more than a year of writing pretty much our favorite Razorback blog out there, the sorely missed thehogblogger.com, he abruptly dropped out of the public eye. Rumors abounded that he had moved to Oxford to become Houston Nutt’s personal biographer, but we were able to lure him back into the fold with a generous benefits package, including stock options and a full health plan. At any rate, the Razorback blogosphere has sorely missed his sharp wit, so without further ado, here’s his eyewitness report on Saturday’s Red-White game:

The guys at the Expats are terrible, lazy Razorback fans, so for your Spring Game coverage, they’ve foolishly outsourced, employing me — the now-defunct Hog Blogger — to give my take on what I witnessed at Razorback Stadium Saturday night.

I had been unable to see much of the Hogs’ new offense before Saturday, but after the first two series, I realized something.

I’m pretty sure I could have thrown for 300 yards in that game.

That’s not a knock on Casey Dick. I mean no disrespect to the mustachioed Willy Robinson’s defense, either.

That statement is a testament to the offensive genius that is Bobby Petrino. All the highlights, all the hype — believe what you’ve seen and heard. It’s going to happen in Fayetteville for as long as he’s here. Sure, this team will lose it’s fair share of games this year, maybe next year, and who knows after that.

For all of his past failures, I noticed something different about Dick on Saturday. He was having fun, perhaps for the first time since high school. He was making playing quarterback look easy. Tight window over the middle? Dick hit it. Quick nine-yard out? Dick hit it. Streaking receiver over the top? Dick hit him. Running back in the flat? Dick hit him too, in stride, no less.

The thing is, playing quarterback for Bobby Petrino maybe is just that easy. Something tells me Stefan LeFors might agree. (You may have to look that one up.)

Could the Hogs turn into a signature Big East, “Score 40, give up 50” team? It’s possible. Maybe it’s just me, but I’d rather watch the Hogs lose like that than do it by scoring three points at home against Auburn (twice in four years, I might add.)

I don’t know if these Hogs will be terrible, mediocre, or dominant this year. It’s too early to think about guessing. There’s one thing I’m sure of, though. Whatever they do, it’s going to be fun to watch.

Of course winning is “important,” but honestly, that’s all I really want when I watch the Hogs.