Mike DiMauro: Here's a chance to read some of Dr. I's hate mail

Dec. 3—Idle Thoughts, while waiting for Giants-Commanders, high school hoops and one public establishment — just one — to stop playing Christmas music:

— Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, would like to share an e-mail he received last week from reader John Fish, in the wake of a recent column on the Westerly-Stonington football game. It reads verbatim:

"Someone's tight that their hometown football team got 55-0'd on their own turf. I'd be pressed too but not enough to write an embarrassing article and publish it like I'm 5 years old. The second hand embarrassment I felt while reading your abomination of text is something no human should ever have to endure. Is your wife proud? Are your friends proud? How did you think about this, type it out, PUBLISH IT, and still think to yourself: "yeah, this is the one."

"My 12 year old cousin has more dignity than this. How bored are you? I'm currently studying journalism, and this is something I'd never do for my own sake because I don't like feeling like an idiot. Maybe don't go down 49-0 in the first place. Another 6 points never hurt anybody my friend. Maybe tell Stonington High School to just not suck and that won't happen. Or maybe tell whoever got sonned on the final play, BY A FRESHMAN, to never play a down of football again. But until that happens; scoreboard. your article was soft let the kids play."

Dr. I was fine with all of it until the "studying journalism" part.

Note to Mr. Fish: study harder.

— From Dr. I cabinet member Rich Conover: "I think Christmas should go the way of the World Cup. Celebrate it every four years."

— Speaking of the Copa Mundial, Dr. I learned a valuable lesson from watching Poland vs. Argentina the other day.

Argentina snapped a scoreless tie with a goal early in the second half. The Argentina fans not only celebrated the goal, but were still singing, dancing, chanting and cheering 15 minutes later as the game progressed.

It got Dr. I thinking: THIS is a better way to watch sports. Dr. I, watching one of his teams (Yanks, Giants) protect a lead, would not be singing, dancing or chanting. More like cursing, sweating and complaining about the 52 ways the opponent will tie the game.

— Why must fans of UConn men's basketball continually remind us how good their team is?

Duh. We all see the games. But it's like there's a lurking inferiority complex in the fandom that turns them all into yahoos.

— Reader Bruce LaBelle has a theory as to why Westerly football ran it up on Stonington the other day with a 49-0 lead.

"I just thought that you may have overlooked something," LaBelle wrote. "Maybe Westerly was giving 54 and had to cover."

— Dec. 19 at Mohegan Sun Arena: The Day Holiday Classic, featuring East Catholic vs. Notre Dame, St. Bernard vs. Hand and New London vs. NFA. Ticket link: https://am.ticketmaster.com/mohegan/DayBasketball2022

— RIP, Christine McVie. To Dr. I, she's on the Rushmore of all-time female singing voices with Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and Mama Cass.

— Presented without editorial comment: The three tech school football programs got outscored 124-13 in last week's state playoff quarterfinals.

— Former Coast Guard basketball coach Pete Barry on the World Cup:

"Why does the attacking team cross midfield and then all of a sudden play the ball back into its own territory? To me, that's a backcourt violation."

— Dr. I sincerely hopes that Poland World Cup player Artur Jedrzejczyk is never the answer to a puzzle on Wheel of Fortune.

— Tweet of the week: "It's pronounced 'eliminated' not 'Iran.'"

— All 48 teams that qualified for the state high school football playoffs had to pay the CIAC a $150 entry fee to play. That's $7,200.

Ponder this: CIAC member schools already pay a fee to CIAC every year for membership. That means 48 schools just paid to play in their own tournament. It's akin to the ECC charging East Lyme and Waterford to play in the league basketball finals last year.

And yet ... the CIAC walks between the raindrops.

— Congrats to the Eastern Board of Approved Football Officials who will have crews at the Class S and SS semifinals today.

Dr. I says this every year: We never fully appreciate the quality of our officiating until the playoffs hit and we watch inferior crews from other parts of Connecticut (as Ledyard fans could attest last week.)

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro