The thing about nice weather is that it goes away. Thank you captain obvious, but soon enough we will leave our respected residences for class and receive a swift blow in the stomach from a sinister winter’s wind. Currently we are lucky enough to be greeted by Mr. Sunshine or “bluebirds on your shoulder.”

So while Mother Nature is lulling us into believing that heaven on earth exists smack dab in the midwest, go out and play before she lowers the temperature and laughs at our misfortune.

If you play, played or are currently playing sports, remember the time when crowds of people didn’t matter, and you didn’t read about how you blew the game in the paper the next morning. You started playing sports for fun.

In some shape or form everyone started out pretending to be in the World Series playing whiffle ball. Getting the girl at the end of the day was a distant thought when it was recess and you had to catch the bomb to beat those darn fifth graders.

ESPN did not cover color wars, but when you glanced across the field and saw the opposing team in blue, while you sported a vibrant gold, it started to count. It wasn’t about anything other than a teaspoon of competition and “play.”

Hopefully, I have sparked enough nostalgia. I expect that at this point you could fill in the next few paragraphs with your own childhood stories.

The NFL just completed its “Play Football Month,” (even though it appears to me that getting tickets to games is hard enough, and they have not exactly had problems finding athletes) so I am proposing to “borrow” the NFL’s idea, because I’m sure it’s copyrighted. I’m advancing festivities into September; welcome to “Just Play Month.”

Tall or short, fat or skinny you can appreciate getting out and playing. The sport doesn’t matter to anybody but the National Association for Health and Fitness, but they’re not invited to “Play Month.”

As far as I’m concerned, basketball burns as many calories as Cornhole. The goal of the month is to have fun. How long has it been since you played kickball? We have dozens of fields just waiting to be played on and a Walmart that offers anything you could ever want. Their sporting goods section is as cheap as it is random.

Organize Olympics between friends and list activities that would stimulate the body and mind … and mind (be sober for a little, come on).

Play manhunt on a weekday night. Donovan McNabb plays tag in the off-season to strengthen his legs and stay in shape.

“Just Play Month” will spark your younger side, which would throw rocks at you now. Do what you must, in between your busy schedule of napping and planning a probably monotonous night. Look at the picture you took of yourself covered in mud while playing football in a rainstorm or get the grime off the old slip-n-slide ($8.99 at Walmart). Whatever it takes.

In December, you will be hooked up to Illini basketball as life support, the Illinois arctic tundra has claimed many lives away from Assembly Hall. So don’t watch another sun set without doing something fun and youthful.

I hate when people try to act too old, too early. I can see the yellow tape at the end of my college experience, and I am trying to hold on to Tinkerbell and shake a little more dust off of her before I am forced to grow up. The lost boys can’t come with, so while they are just hanging around the apartment, play.

The most interesting part about an Illinois winter is the feeling you get when you breathe. The icy death enters your lungs, and all you can do is let out a Joey Lawrence type “Woah” because you didn’t realize it was possible to be so cold. Is that what we are waiting for?

If you pride yourself on going to a prestigious institution chock full of intelligent people, go find some swings and see how far you can launch yourself without face-planting; because you know that’s what nine-year-old (your name) would want.