Dr. I a big fan of Girls' On The Run

Idle Thoughts, while waiting for Tommy Cutlets 2.0, bowl season and for real gravy on Thanksgiving (not that turpentine from a jar):• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, spent a happy Saturday morning at Great Neck School for the Turkey Trot 5K. The event came in accordance with Girls' On The Run's fall extravaganza, featuring 122 kids from six schools throughout the region paired with 122 adult running partners.How uplifting to attend something with people supporting each other, promoting unity over division.The Girls' On The Run Piece was a KMP (Kate McDonald Production) helped along by dozens of volunteers."When I started (as Executive Director) in 2018 we only had the spring season and we were serving about 150 girls a year," McDonald said. "Now we have a fall and a spring season, and we serve about 350 girls a year. Twenty sites across mostly New London County, but some in Middlesex County as well. We're really happy."The weather wasn't great, although as one man, who was unusually chipper despite his chosen attire (a Giants' sweatshirt) said, "if ain't rainin,' we ain't trainin.'""The program is about showing girls that they have limitless potential," McDonald said, "and teaching them the tools they need in order to realize that about themselves — and to encourage it in others."In unrelated developments:• Quiz: Who has the most career rushing touchdowns for the New York Football Giants? (Answer below)• Dr. I has a public service announcement to the Mets and their fans: Keep your filthy hands off Dr. I's right fielder.• Dr. I met some resistance in the HCS (Human Comments Section) recently about Catholic schools having a competitive advantage in girls' soccer over small public schools in state tournament divisions.Dr. I's (rather obvious) conclusion is that schools able to draw from multiple towns have an advantage over schools confined to town borders.More proof offered here from Waterford coach Chris Ghiglia:"Twelve of the 160 girls' soccer teams in the state are Catholic schools," Ghiglia wrote. "That's 7.5 percent. But since 2021, among the 32 state finalists in the four classes, 16 are Catholic Schools. That's 50 percent. The advantage Catholic schools have is even more than I realized."• Congrats are in order for Coast Guard football and coach C.C. Grant. The Bears ended their season 5-5 with a 42-21 crush job over rival Merchant Marine last week.Maybe in some outposts, 5-5 is met with a yawn. But at Coast Guard, where winning has more obstacles than a corn maze? You go 5-5 and throttle Merchant Marine, you've had a very good season. A tip of the cap to Grant and his staff.• More Coast Guard news: Next year's Coast Guard/Merchant Marine game will be played at Fenway Park (Nov. 15, noon). Not that anyone at Coast Guard sent the press release to The Day or anything (where have you gone, Jason Southard?) Still noteworthy, though.• A thought this week posted on X (formerly Twitter): "If vegetables are so good, why are vegans always trying to make them taste like meat?"• The person who came up with "Big Noon Saturday," otherwise known as Fox's decision to play highly anticipated college football games Saturdays at noon (while we're all running grocery shopping and errands) instead of at night (when we're all home) should be kidnapped and left under a fern in Idaho.• Have we warned the Mets to keep their filthy hands off Dr. I's right fielder?• Dear state girls' soccer coaches: How is it that neither Charlotte nor Paige Jessuck of Waterford High made the Class L all-state team?Like, do you people actually watch the games?• It has come to Dr. I's attention that Ben Zobrist is on the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot.Ben Zobrist.Zobrist captures the zeitgeist on this entire process. As in stupid. Can't we come up with some baseline qualifications to keep the ballot cleaner?• Quiz answer: Brandon Jacobs (60).This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro