Idle Thoughts, while waiting for high school football, college football, pro football, football pregame shows, football postgame shows … you get the idea.
• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, doesn’t understand this sudden need to change the logo at East Lyme High.
If there are “numerous and inconsistent logos throughout the district that need to be cleaned up,” as reported last week in The Day, then use the high school logo of the Viking that has served the school and town well for only 54 years and counting. One town, one logo.
Reader Greg Ellis deftly points out that the NFL doesn’t care about any “trademark infringements,” school officials indicated was among the reasons for change.
We need to teach kids (adults here, too) that tradition begets lineage and lineage begets tradition. You play for who came before you. You adhere to the same principles. And you eventually leave the program imparting that same wisdom to your younger teammates. School colors and logos are all part of it. It’s far more important than the fleeting whims of six-figure salary folks who think they can make changes without including the community, whose tax money pays their salaries.
You want uniformity? One logo? Fine. You have it. It’s 54 years old. It was around long before you people and ought to be around long after you’ve retired to your waterfront condo.
(And if you think mean old Dr. I is picking on East Lyme, he had the same conniption last year when New London trotted out its black uniforms.)
• Dr. I is beginning to see why Red Sox fans called him “Average Alex Verdugo.”
• RIP Pat Williams, the man who created the Orlando Magic, but more importantly was the architect of the great 76ers teams of the ’80s.
Next time one of the youngins tries to tell you that the Curry Warriors of 2016 or the Jordan Bulls of 1996 are the greatest single-season teams of all time, tell them to open a book and study the 1983 Sixers with Dr. J, Mo Cheeks and Moses Malone.
They lost one playoff game — one — and this was in the era of Bird and Magic.
• Surprising to see all the criticism of former Yankee Luis Severino, who said the other day the Yankees “only have two good hitters,” referring to Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
Is that not accurate?
• Can we fix the baseball field at Waterford High?
The number of times it’s been underwater and unplayable this summer (and in the spring) is unacceptable. It’s either not being cared for properly, needs an overhaul or perhaps a combination of the two.
Lest Dr. I remind everyone the inhabitants of the field only have a record 11 state championships and ought to be treated as such.
• Why is it that candidacy for the Baseball Hall of Fame is always a prisoner to the stat geeks?
Example: Interesting piece in the Boston Globe this week on whether Dustin Pedroia should make it.
The Globe reported that the case for Pedroia includes an American League MVP, Rookie of the Year, .299 career batting average, four Gold Gloves, four All-Star games and then the immortal, “higher WAR than second basemen Bobby Doerr, Nellie Fox and Bill Mazeroski, who are in the Hall.”
The case against includes only 11 full seasons, 1,512 games, 1,805 hits and a lower WAR than second basemen Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker, Willie Randolph and Jeff Kent, who never got in.
What if — and this is radical thinking — we could provide some context and proportion here?
Like: He was the heart and soul of two championship teams. The Little Guy Who Could. Dr. I knows Red Sox fans mock “intangibles” because of Derek Jeter. But the intangibles are part of the reason Pedroia should get in.
• Why must we watch commercials on gas pump video screens while we’re filling up?
Love the one at Stop & Shop hawking its Nature’s Promise healthy foods.
Who’s not craving a nice green salad while breathing in ethanol, right?
• Dr. I can probably find something more irrelevant than the NBA Summer League.
But it’s going to take him some time.
• Happy 49th birthday (Saturday) to the great Walter Ray Allen, Dr. I’s favorite UConn player of all time and later a champion with the Celts.
• Rachel Banham and Mo Jefferson to Chicago for Marina Mabrey?
How many Titos and tonics did members the Sky front office have before deciding that was a good idea?
This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro
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