So, I'm driving down the road one day last week when a commercial comes on the radio.

This wasn't just any commercial, mind you, but one touting the fact a local radio station will carry the broadcasts of Arkansas' football games this fall. What made me reach for the volume knob, though, was the voice of Paul Eells.

Whoever made that commercial deserves a raise because, nearly two years after his untimely death, an audio clip of Paul saying, "Touchdown Arkansas !" still causes goosebumps even during the dog days of summer. If you're of a certain age, in fact, hearing Paul takes you back to another time entirely.

For me, listening to Paul was as much a part of my childhood as riding a bike. In those days, every other game wasn't on cable TV.

In those days, any time my grandfather took me to a game in Little Rock was a bigger holiday than the Fourth of July. On the more frequent occasions I clicked on my General Electric radio to listen to the games, Paul Eells was Arkansas football - at least for those three hours.

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After hearing him the other day, I went home and looked up the column I wrote in the wake of his death. Part of what I did in that column was take seven questions - a "Super Seven" - from a 20 Questions interview I did with Paul just a few hours before Arkansas' season-opener against Tulsa in 2003.

Here are those questions, and Paul's answers:

ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE This is your 26 th season as Arkansas' play-by-play man, but you're smiling like it's your first. Is that how you feel ?

PAUL EELLS It really does. It seems like it's kind of hard in July and August to get going, but once we come up and do the [preseason ] special, I get fired up getting around the coaches and the players.

ADG Can you give us a handful of games that are the highlights of your time at Arkansas ?

PE I think the 1979 Arkansas-Texas game... because that's when I first appreciated what Texas-Arkansas meant to people in Arkansas. The 1981 [ Arkansas-Texas ] game where Lou Holtz said at a pep rally on Thursday, "You ain't seen nothing yet" and it was a 42-11 game. Then the two Tennessee games, the one in Knoxville when Clint [Stoerner ] lost the football and the one the next year when he got some redemption.

ADG Do you have a lowlight ?

PE That Tennessee game over there... and the [1982 ] SMU game when there was a pass-interference call that cost Arkansas a championship.

ADG How many times do you think you'll say, "Touchdown Arkansas !" today ?

PE I'm thinking at least seven times. (Note: Paul was close. Arkansas scored six touchdowns while beating Tulsa 45-13 later that night. )

ADG How about a prediction for the Texas game ?

PE I know this sounds like a homer, but I really think Arkansas can win the ballgame. I'm going to say 24-21. (Note: Paul was close again. Arkansas won 38-28 seven days later. )

ADG Has there ever been a play or situation that left you speechless ?

PE Probably the Stoerner to [Anthony ] Lucas touchdown pass because I kind of lost it. The other one was when U. S. Reed hit that long shot against Louisville back in [the ] 1981 [NCAA Tournament ]. I was incoherent.

ADG What's the hardest thing about being a play-by-play man ?

PE Describing it where the listeners can actually get a visual... and one of the things I have problems with is giving the score often enough.

It still boggles my mind that Paul worried about giving Arkansas fans a visual. I can envision some of the touchdowns I heard him call today just as easily as I did when they happened.

What's really flabbergasting, though, is that I can remember the look on Paul's face every time I saw him in the press box so many years after I'd listened to him via that black plastic radio. It's easy to remember Paul's face because it was always the same - adorned with a smile that radiated warmth and sincerity every time he asked how I was doing.

Make no mistake, I wasn't special. That's how Paul treated everyone, or at least everyone with whom I saw him come in contact.

The Razorbacks honored Paul by wearing a sticker on their helmets the season after he died. With another season just around the corner, I'd like to think it's not too late to honor him by treating every game like it's my first - or last.