Last week, I asked readers to send in their favorite memories from past Arkansas football season-openers. Instead, I got some e-mails about the Houston Nutt / Frank Broyles / John White approval poll that came out the very same day.

I guess that’s just the way it is in Arkansas these days. Heck, even the Razorbacks’ new play-by-play man is catching you-know-what.

Come on, people, it’s summer. Lighten up a little bit.

There’s only 68 days left until Arkansas begins the 2007 season, and Lord knows there will be plenty of time for squawking after that.

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Until then, here are 68 things to do that will give your brain a break until it’s time for kickoff: 1-4 Go outside, take a deep breath, let it go and soak up some sun. 5 Take your kid or your dog, or just yourself, to the park. 6-10 Walk around the park. Listen to the birds sing and the children laugh. Take another deep breath and let it go. 11 Buy some ice cream bars on the way home. 12-13 Eat one of the ice cream bars while you watch an inning of a baseball game. 14-15 Have another ice cream bar. Watch another inning. 16 Take a nap. 18-19 Wake up and watch the end of the baseball game. 20 Find a swimming pool with a diving board. 21 Do a cannonball. 22 Do another one. 23 Join the game of Marco Polo in the shallow end. 24 Buy a Wiffle ball and bat. 25 Play a game of home run derby in the back yard. (On the house is a home run. Over the house is a grand slam. Everything else is an out. ) 26 Play a game of home run derby at the beach or the lake. (Back up a reasonable distance on shore. Anything that lands in the water is a home run. Everything else is an out. ) 27 Invite buddies over to watch the All-Star Game. 28-29 Grill burgers, drink cold ones. 30-31 Eat burgers, drink more cold ones. 32-33 Draft all the hitters on each team. Put a dollar per player in a hat. 34 The first guy to have a player hit a home run collects the money. 35 Repeat as often as you like. 36 Read You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins, the funniest sports book in the history of sports books. 37 Read The Dixie Association by local author Donald Hays. It’s a close second. 38 Take a hike, preferably to some breathtaking spot like Hawksbill Crag in the Upper Buffalo Wilderness Area. 39-41 Take a deep breath and let it go. Enjoy the view. 42 Play a round of disc golf. (The park at Lake Fayetteville has a pretty neat course. ) 43-44 Play a round of miniature golf, and make the first person to sink a hole-in-one buy a round of snocones. 45-47 Dig out your old baseball cards and have a look. Laugh when you get to Kurt Bevacqua and U. L. Washington. 48-49 Do an Internet search and find out your 1979 Bevacqua card is worth 17 cents. 50-51 Scratch your head and wonder why anyone would pay $ 2. 08 for a 1984 Andy Van Slyke. 52 Wonder why you ever chewed that tree bark-style bubble gum that came with the cards. 53 Wonder if your wife would file for divorce if you started carrying around a pouch of Big League Chew. 54-55 Buy a pouch of Big League Chew. Stash it in the garage. 56-57 Go back to the swimming pool with a diving board. Do more cannonballs. 58 Play more Wiffle ball. 59 Fly a kite on a sunny day. 60 Go bowling on a rainy day. 61 Teach the neighborhood kids how to play kick the can. 62 Act like a kid. 63-64 Swing in a hammock, fall asleep. 65-67 Wake up, take a deep breath, let it go. 68 Get over it.

Contact this reporter at rkeys@arkansasonline. com