Idle Thoughts, while waiting for the Giants to get a first down, Jerry Remy's return and for Kyrie vs. LeBron:

• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, continues his bemusement with those cultivated Boston sports fans.

They keep moving race relations forward, don't they?

Latest: The sign draped over the Green Monster the other night that read, "Racism is as American as Baseball."

This a few months after Adam Jones of the Orioles was taunted with racial slurs at "friendly" Fenway.

This after Bruins fans a few years ago took to Twitter to rain racial epithets at a hockey player named Joel Ward, born in Barbados, then of the Washington Capitals.

Ward's transgression — aside from his skin color, apparently — was eliminating the Bs from the playoffs.

But it's not fair to pick on Boston.

Nah.

All coincidences, right?

• Idea for the football Giants: Forgo the shotgun for poor Eli Manning and have him throw from punt formation.

No, really. It'll take the pass rush — the inevitable pass rush, given the five turnstiles masquerading as the offensive line in front of him — a little longer to get there.

Then Eli can throw the ball down the field without fear of getting beheaded.

• Not to be ungrateful because, you know, general manager Jerry Reese was part of two Super Bowl championships with the G-Men.

But his arrogance in not fixing the offensive line will render a top five defense moot this season.

• Congrats to Dr. I guy Tim Haggerty who won the Great Neck CC club championship.

Hags did so on Labor Day wearing Payne Stewart-style knickers.

A nice touch.

• Haven't heard much from Pats fans so far this year.

Hmmm.

Y'all in witness protection?

• OK. If someone calls you "Pork Chop," is that a term of endearment or a suggestion you may need to mix in a salad?

Discuss.

• Speaking of salads: Wedge or Caesar?

Discuss.

• Note to NESN: Dennis Eckersley is the only one allowed to replace Jerry Remy.

Because some of those other drones could put coffee to sleep.

• Your dinner plans for Sept. 26 are at Mr. G's.

Peter and George will be doing a pasta dinner fundraiser from 5-9 p.m. for the New London "Fenway" Little League field which sustained some storm damage recently.

So get there.

• These people who say there's a double standard at ESPN because it fired Curt Schilling and not Jemele Hill?

Come back to us, people.

Check in.

Sip some decaf.

Read a book now and then.

And try really hard to bring some proportion to the story, not merely outrage and indignation.

Because if you think Schilling's improprieties — insulting the entire transgender community and comparing Muslims to Nazis — is in any way proportional to calling Trump a bigot, you have officially left the store without all of your groceries.

• Congrats to NFA grad Khaleed Exum Strong — one of Dr. I's favorites — who scored a touchdown in his first college game last week for Assumption.

• Speaking of NFA: Dr. I has been here for 25 years. Rarely, if ever, has he seen a high school quarterback play a better game than Shea McManaway did for the Wildcats the other night.

McManaway threw for 328 yards and ran for 152 in NFA's 35-29 loss to Cheshire.

The kid wasn't just a stud. But fun to watch, too.

• Whoever came up with the ECC/SCC scheduling alliance in football: Go to the window and collect.

Fun games so far: Xavier-NFA; NFA-Cheshire; Fitch-Notre Dame.

And the ECC teams are doing just fine.

• If someone can explain the rules of field hockey to Dr. I, please inquire within.

• Finally, congrats to four Waterford High seniors: Walker Sutman (Fairfield, baseball), Jacklyn Lavoie (Stetson, soccer), Mike Burrows (UConn, baseball) and Mikey Buscetto (Southern New Hampshire, basketball).

All heading to college and getting it paid for.

Pretty accomplished class, wouldn't you say?

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro