Hogs called via cell phone at state fair http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/08/10/news/doc489fb1ce768eb378815659.txt Meet the Illinois State Fair hog-calling champion http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1103226,hog081208.article Iowa Public Television: Hog Calling [Windows Media Player] http://www.iptv.org/video/detail.cfm/554/sf07_20070818_6_10 Calling the Hogs: Arkansas Alumni Association http://arkalum.org/traditions/callingthehogs.php The Wonderful Pig of Knowledge! http://pigofknowledge.blogspot.com/ Over the past week, much of the world has been focused on the pomp and circumstance surrounding the Summer Olympics in Beijing. However, in downstate Illinois, amidst rich farm country, another type of champion was crowned � a champion hog-caller. There is something different about this year's champion, she's Doris Probst the first female champion hog-caller. Probst learned her craft while growing up in Effingham, Illinois on a hog farm. The venue was the 2008 Illinois State Fair, and Probst put on a performance that was part pure entertainment and part truly astonishing m'lange of vocalizations that mimicked both a piglet and a full-grown pig. There are many state fair sponsored hog calling contests still to go in the 2008 season, and such stalwarts as Bob Wood (the 1999 World Championship Hog Caller) and Littlefield, Texas's own Roxanne Ward have yet to enter the fray this summer. Despite the fact that Probst was the first woman to win the title at the Illinois State Fair, she remained humble, commenting, "If I had known how good these people were going to be, I wouldn't have come up here." The first link will lead users to a piece from the Monday edition of the Springfield (IL) State Journal Register on the recent triumphs of Doris Probst. The second link leads to an intriguing piece from the Bloomington Pentagraph about the hog-calling efforts made by the third place winner in the Illinois State Fair, who saw fit to call his pigs via cell phone. Moving on, the third link leads to a short video clip of Probst in action, courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times. The fourth link whisks users away to video of young children performing their own hog calls at the Iowa State Fair. The fifth link is quite a bit of fun, as visitors will get the chance to learn (and perhaps attempt) the "Calling of the Hogs", University of Arkansas style. Finally, the last link leads to Brett Mizelle's weblog "The Wonderful Pig of Knowledge!" As might be expected, the weblog covers all things porcine, including rescuing pigs in a post-flood environment and the British Pig Association.