KTAR has been a supporter of Sun Devil athletics for a very long time, and they agreed today to broadcast football and men’s basketball over the airwaves for the next five years.

"Arizona State University and KTAR have enjoyed a wonderful partnership spanning over three decades," Sutherland said. "Both Coach Erickson and Coach Sendek have their respective programs headed in a positive direction."

So congratulations, ASU faithful based in Phoenix. While AM radio certainly has lost its sex appeal, listening to KTAR is still way better than actually going to a football game against Portland State in late August.

Breathe a little.  It looks like the Sun Devils football schedule will not be top 10 in the SOS rankings every year.  With the decision of the Longhorns, Aggies, Sooners, and Cowboys to remain in the Big-12 minus 2, the Devils will continue to have a shot at a Pac-10 title, a longshot for the time being.  

Pac-10 commish Larry Scott will continue to look for other expansion opportunities (cough...cough...UTAH...cough...New Mexico...cough).  Utah seems a likely candidate, although with the addition of Boise St. to the Mountain West, they may find it best suited to stay put.  Chime in with who else you think might join the Pac-11!

Hey everyone, I'm proud to announce that SB Nation Arizona, our new regional hub, officially launched tonight. I'm one of the editors of the site, so please check it out and let me know what you think.

This will help accentuate our Sun Devil coverage, and hopefully bring in more readers/community members at the same time. Thanks for your support!

Everyone,

SBNation is hosting a get together on Wednesday, June 2nd. I'd really enjoy to meet all of you, so feel free to come down for a drink and rumination on the unfortunate state of Arizona sports. 

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Alright,  I will admit it. For a while in 2009, I lost my way. After graduating in May, the real world took me by surprise, and I had to fight for everything. No longer were the days of collegiate safety and splendor, relying on college loans and parental support.

After finding a job in late July, things appeared to be turning around. Unfortunately, Arizona State football did not, and I quickly lost all interest in covering the team. What used to be a joy had become a chore.

After spending all day working, there just wasn't enough enthusiasm in my heart to write articles. Adam, the co-manager of House Of Sparky, is currently in law school and cannot reasonably find time to write for the site anymore.

This all came to a head in late November, when Matt and I headed to Pasadena to cover the ASU/UCLA football game. Despite the fact that Matt spent the whole day taking pictures, I didn't even take the time to post any of them.

First of all, I'd like to apologize for that. It was selfish and lazy. Frankly, the readers deserve better than the product I have been putting out.

Some great things happened for me and House Of Sparky in 2009: I covered the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles, and was allocated press passes to the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in Glendale. I also have continued to work with the ASU media department and am proud to be involved.

In the end, the goal here is to celebrate Arizona State athletics, giving these student-athletes the praise they deserve for the incredible amount of time and effort they expend each day. Going to class and going to practice is a never-ending cycle that these young men and women do without fail, without complaint.

House Of Sparky's coverage in 2010 will make it the best ASU blog on the internet. We have the opportunity to celebrate our school's deep and vast talents, to show the world that we are better than the naysayers, more vocal than the pessimists. We have a mission, perhaps a calling, to be Sun Devils.

In the end, we all bleed maroon. Ours just happens to be tinged with gold.

More pics after the jump...

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It looks like Lisa Love has earned herself a 4-year extension as the AD of Arizona State University.  In a move that is bound to be criticized by many, I think Crow made a good decision offering Lisa the extension.  

As the AD of ASU, Love has transformed the basketball program with the hire of Herb Sendek.  While her hire of Dennis Erickson is in question right now, overall ASU athletics have been improved overall.  

With Pat Murphy's resignation and the football teams dismal performance this year, Lisa is going to be heavily scrutinized in how she handles both situations.

 It appears that any word on assistant coach firings (ahem...Rich Olsen) has not been leaked, or is not happening. She needs to force Erickson to make changes in order to keep his job, a lot like the school down south did to Stoops.

Lisa's baseball hire must also be a crowd pleaser. It will be tough to follow up Pat Murphy's coaching reign over ASU baseball, but it should be easy to attract a top coach to replace him. Let's hope she continues to make quality hires like Sendek.

James Harden is 12 games into his rookie NBA season with the Oklahoma City Thunder.  In his first 11 games, Harden contributed decent numbers coming off of the bench.  Harden is averaging 18 minutes per game and 7.3 ppg.  Currently leading the team in 3-pt%, Harden has been a boost off the bench for the young and energetic Thunder.  In last nights game, Harden came off the pine to go 6-7 from behind the arc, scoring 24 points in 31 minutes against the Magic in a losing effort.  It seems OKC needs to give more minutes to Harden, who as we all know, can rack up assists, steals, and points as quickly as Pendergraph picked up fouls in his junior year.

Speaking of Jeff Pendergraph, he is still recovering from hip surgery stemming back to September.  He is expected to miss a considerable amount of his rookie season in the NBA, but if anyone can bounce back from adversity, its Pendergraph.  He will most definitely be the hardest working player on the court once healthy, and may contribute key minutes for the 9-4 Blazers, while Greg Oden takes a break.

Everyone, I am very excited to announce that the new SBNation.com has launched this evening. Essentially, this great company has a vision to be the world's biggest and best sports blog site.

With that goal in mind, there has been a complete redesign of our main portal, which is now a one-stop hub for any and all sports information you could possibly want. It's what our individuals blogs are for local teams, but on a national scale to increase debate and fan participation.

Please go ahead and check it out. You may be pleasantly surprised by its look and ease of use. Welcome to the new SBNation!