Dr. I: Once again, the Irish get to keep all their money

Idle Thoughts, while waiting for pitchers and catchers, infielders and outfielders, relievers and closers … you get the idea. • Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, has noticed a change in Coach Hurley's demeanor since the return from Maui. That's because a few well-placed campus spies tell Dr. I that upon return, university president Radenka Maric had a lengthy meeting with the coach and advised him to tone it down. Nice to see leaders acting as such on occasion. • Trivia: Name the six football players at Notre Dame who finished their careers with more than 3,000 yards rushing. (Answer below) • From sports/business writer Joe Pompliano on X: "Now that Notre Dame is in the national championship game, they are guaranteed to take home $20 million from this year's College Football Playoff. And since they are an independent football program, they get to keep every single dollar of that for themselves." Ohio State, by contrast, must share some with the Big Ten. It's like Geno Auriemma always says: "Notre Dame is like Robin Hood. They take from the rich and give to Notre Dame." Here's a better one: There are delusional UConn fans who think Notre Dame should share that money with the other football independents. This just in: Karl Marx doesn't run the NCAA. • If Barcelona women's soccer player Ona Batlle married former umpire Ken Kaiser and then divorced him to marry former New York Football Giant Antrel Rolle, we'd all know how she likes her sandwiches. (Ona Kaiser Rolle) • Dr. I hopes the same fans of the Giants who advocated tanking aren't the same dullards who want The Blowhard Who Used To Throw Hard (Aaron Rodgers) as next year's quarterback. • Among Dr. I's favorite high school kids to cover: Waterford's Pat Flanagan, a tougher-than-Clorox football player despite a modest stature. Pat is all grown up now and a Lieutenant in the Waterford Police Dept. Dr. was thrilled to see the other night that Pat's son, Thomas, hit the game winning basket for the Lancers in the JV hoop game. Also: When you start covering the kids of the kids, you are clearly on the back nine of life. • Idea for the ECC: OK. We all know that the high school football season is going to last longer every year than some marriages do. How about we save as many basketball divisional games as we can for later in the season? It'll give teams affected by football a chance to get healthy and whole before playing their most important games. • Congrats to the boys' basketball programs at St. Bernard and New London and the New London girls. The upcoming weekend's Hoophall Invitational in Springfield is among the most prestigious high school events in the country. You'll also note the word "invitational." That means you have to be somebody to get invited. Good luck to them all. • Did you hear about the mattress who researched his genealogy? He found out he was a twin. (Sorry. Couldn't resist.) • Dr. I loves the Commanders on the money line (+140) Sunday night. (Should the Commanders lose, forget you ever read this.) • Congrats to former Ledyard High soccer player (and highly intellectual BC grad) Michael Larmann, who earned his PhD in history recently from the University of Montana. Dr. Larmann's mother, Tinita, is the girls' lacrosse coach at Ledyard High. • Do those Ohio State people still want Ryan Day fired? (Sadly, probably yes. Because we all know a national championship can't compare to the Michigan game.) • Dr. I sees you, Coast Guard women's hoops, and your 11-2 record. Former athletic director Tim Fitzpatrick did many notable things at the Academy, but none greater than hiring NFA grad Alex Ivansheck as the women's basketball coach. • Trivia answer: Autrey Denson (4,318), Allen Pinkett (4,131), Vagas Ferguson (3,472), Darius Walker (3,249) Josh Adams (3,198) and Julius Jones (3,018). This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro