Idle Thoughts, while waiting for Gerrit Cole to heal, an unusually warm spring and for turf and lights at Bacon Academy:

• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, is the first to admit the men’s basketball selection committee airballed the entire selection and seeding process.

But when does the statute of limitations kick in on all the whining from the Big East?

It’s one thing from the fans. They’re fans. But now the media toadies are chiming in:

“As we get set for Day 2,” one sycophant wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “know that Kentucky, BYU and other money-grubbing/never-enough football schools want a world where Oakland plays Duquesne for a spot in the field while they own a bye and sit and watch.”

This just in: “money grubbing never enough football schools” are the Capo Di Tutti Capi of college sports. And since the Big East doesn’t have football, the Big East is largely irrelevant. Should it really work that way? Perhaps not. But it’s reality.

If the people around here would stop being so provincial, they might realize that college football is quite popular in most other areas of the country. Just not this one. “Money grubbing never enough football schools” make the rules.

As the great John Thompson once said: “People pray for poor folks. They listen to rich folks.”

Note to the Big East apologists: The rest of us will pray for you if you shut up and listen.

• Dr. I still maintains that if the Sons of Liberty could have seen the future, they’d have thrown themselves into Boston Harbor, not the tea.

Example: the possibility of a Robert F. Kennedy Jr./Aaron Rodgers presidential ticket.

Were they to win, Dr. I would begin humming “O Canada” (our home and native land) and conclude that Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan is lovely this time of year.

• Oh, so the immortal Mr. Ohtani had no idea his close friend was gambling?

Sure. Just find Dr. I the bookmaker who would continue to take bets from some guy who makes thousands but loses millions.

Doesn’t work that way.

Now the question becomes what level of gymnastics MLB will perform to protect its golden goose.

• Please know that Dr. I doesn’t care about your bracket.

• More inspiring work from the women’s selection committee, too. Let’s see: Make sure LSU and Iowa are in the same region to ensure that one of the two best players in the game (Angel Reese or Caitlin Clark) won’t make the Final Four.

Who wants to watch them anyway?

• Spies tell Dr. I that the CIAC fined St. Bernard $250 for its basketball team leaving the court early after last Sunday’s Division I championship game.

• Dr. I is thinking about forming the Brady Sheffield Fan Club.

Turns out the day after he led Old Lyme to its first boys’ basketball state title, he was freezing his ascot off at baseball practice, as an assistant coach to Phil Cohen.

We should all love something as much as Sheffield loves Old Lyme, CT.

• Next season’s hoops at Mohegan Sun: Providence vs. UMass; Temple vs. Boston College. The winners meet the next day. Maybe PC can avenge its loss in the NIT the other night to the gutty, gritty Eagles.

• Saquon who?

• Dr. I was recently asked his views on the best wrestling “heels” ever: 1. Ric Flair; 2. Iron Sheik; 3. Razor Ramon; 4. Ravishing Rick Rude.

• Solid effort from Yoshinobu Yamamoto the other day in his MLB debut, holding the Padres to five in the first inning.

• Catholic schools occupied five of the top seven spots in the final GameTimeCT boys’ basketball media poll of the season.

Nothing to see here, though. Move along, folks. Move along.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro