After just returning from the Athletic Directors meetings in Dallas, it’s off to California we go, where at last count more than 31,000 Sun Devils alumni call home. That is tops among the other 49 states, as more than 180,000 Sun Devil alums call our state home. So Arizona is Sun Devil Country!

SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY THIS WEEK…
I was really excited on Thursday night to see a great group of Sun Devils at Original Joe’s in San Francisco, a place that opened in 1937.  Click here to read about it. President and CEO John Duggan is a University of San Francisco graduate, but that doesn’t stop him from being a very active member of the Sun Devil Club. He hosted a big group and Coach Herb Sendek and I had a chance to address the group and talk about the exciting upcoming season. We have another alumni/ Sun Devil Club event scheduled for Friday night at Lake Merced Country Club in Daly City. It will be interesting to see the recently completed $321,000,000 renovation to California Memorial Stadium. The 1 p.m. game will be broadcast on FX, our first game ever on FX. Everyone who has cable or satellite can see the game. And if you want to tailgate with Sun Devils, here is where to go.

DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that our defense ranks 10^th nationally yards allowed at 274 per game? If you don’t believe me click here. ASU currently leads the Pac-12 in fewest penalties yards per game at 35.0. Last year we were last of 120 teams in the nation with 79.77. So we are making up almost a half football field by playing very smart…

GET YOUR TICKETS!
Individual game tickets for the last three home games (Oregon, UCLA and Washington State) went on sale Thursday! Oregon’s pre-sales are big so hurry and get your tickets for the Blackout!

ABOUT TO MAKE YOU HUNGRY…
How many of you Sun Devils like chocolate? I know the answer. How many of you know we have a Sun Devil in the business? Sun Devil Mike Barnes played football in the 1990s and was a member of the 1996 Rose Bowl team. He is in the Bay area now with his own business. You have to click the article to learn more, and just know you are about to read about a  chocolate artisan. You don’t get to say that much when talking football.

SOME ESPN.COM REQUIRED READING…
Taylor Kelly is playing really well. How well? The college football staff at ESPN.com thinks he deserved Pac-12 Player of the Week following the Utah game. Also, Coach Graham is one of the eight new coaches (of 28) who has a winning record through the first month of the season.

SOFTBALL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED…
Sun Devil Clint Myers has two NCAA titles in his trophy case and gets started on a third starting Feb. 7 with the annual Kajikawa Classic, (which drew huge crowds last year), as our tentative softball schedule has been announced. The Pac-12 Networks will have a say in some changes later but for your planning purposes here you go. We already have this on our calendar: NCAA Tournament starts May 17-19, Super Regionals are May 24-26 and the WCWS is May 30-June 5 in Oklahoma City. Season ticket renewals are underway and more ticket information will be forthcoming in October!

SUN DEVIL THREE-DOT DATA…
Some folks have asked me when I do my weekly radio show on Arizona Sports 620 AM. It’s every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., as Doug Franz, Ron Wolfley and I talk Sun Devil Athletics…Don’t miss Todd Graham’s radio show 7:00 each Monday night prior to a game at the Thirsty Lion in Tempe Marketplace (except this Monday because of the bye week)…

Our Sun Devil volleyball team, off to a 12-3 start and getting great play from Gilbert, Ariz., freshman Macey Gardner and classmate Allison Palmer, has a pair of home contests as it takes on California Friday and Stanford on Sunday this weekend. Both games start at 6 p.m. Get a Pitchfork Pass here and you can see volleyball and soccer in one day easily. Soccer hosts USC Friday at 2 p.m., then hosts UCLA Monday at 7 p.m. All games are on the Pac-12 Network!….

Mark your calendars for two championship events we host this year. Pac-12 wrestling championships will be in Tempe on March 2, 2013, and we host NCAA Regional competition in men’s golf May 16-17, 2013, at Karsten Golf Course…

Tentative dates for Sun Devil football non-conference games in 2013 are Sept. 7 for Sacramento State, Sept. 14 for Wisconsin and October 5 vs. Notre Dame in Dallas. Seven home games are scheduled for next year as we also host Arizona and USC. Renewals will go out this November. The Pac-12 will release the conference schedule in January when season tickets will go on sale to the general public.

Go Devils!