Idle Thoughts, while waiting for the end of Christmas music, John Sterling’s home run call for Juan Soto and for Tommy Cutlets to shred the Packers:

• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, invites all of his loyal readers to Mohegan Sun Arena a week from Monday (Dec. 18) for the third annual Day Holiday Classic.

Three high school basketball games: New London girls vs. E.O. Smith at 4, New London boys vs. Windsor at 6; St. Bernard boys vs. East Catholic at 8.

That’s four defending state champions and the New London/Windsor boys, both of which belong among the bluebloods.

Tickets are $10 (one ticket good for all three games) and may be purchased here: https://am.ticketmaster.com/mohegan/DayBasketball2023.

• Not that Dr. I is ever negative, but unless Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown start to control themselves, the Celtics aren’t winning anything of significance.

In the past week or so, they’ve both been ejected for being irritable with the officials. In close games. In December. What happens in the playoffs when emotions percolate and it actually counts?

• Trivia: Who is the only Red Sox player to win a Gold Glove during the 1990s? (Answer below).

• If you’re like Dr. I, then you know that it’s impossible now to go 25 seconds without thinking “that’s the stupidest thing anyone's ever said.”

But then this Sean McDermott guy in Buffalo, the coach of the Bills, threatens to hold on to the trophy longer than 25 seconds.

A recent published report quotes McDermott referencing the Sept. 11 hijackers “as a group of people who were able to get on the same page to orchestrate attacks to perfection."

Dr. I will simply stop here.

Some articles of stupidity need no further comment.

• If vanilla Joe Castiglione wins the Ford Frick Award (presented annually by the Baseball Hall of Fame to a broadcaster’s contributions to baseball), then ever entertaining John Sterling (followed by Suzyn Waldman) better be next.

• Note to this guy Verdugo:

You’re on the varsity now. Shave the beard, ditch that idiotic chain and drop the attitude.

• So the gutty, gritty BC Eagles will play in the Fenway Bowl on Dec. 28, thus marking the first time Dr. I has ever rooted for the Boston team inside Fenway Park.

Does Dr. I have to chant “Yankees Suck” as a rite of passage or can he be excused?

• Dr. I has used this one before, but upon watching reruns of the Addams Family recently, decided it bears repeating:

Note that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban named their daughter “Sunday.”

If Sunday eventually marries former Indianapolis Colts lineman Jeff Saturday and divorces him for former Dodgers outfielder Rick Monday, she would be Sunday Saturday Monday.

Then if she signs autographs on a Thursday at TGI Fridays with Tuesday Weld and Wednesday from the Addams Family, the press release would read, “Come see Sunday Saturday Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on Thursday at Fridays.”

• Happy 21st birthday to the great Sophia Videll, a St. Bernard grad, student at Bryant University and most importantly, a cancer survivor.

• Congrats to Tyson Wheeler, whose number was retired at the University of Rhode Island the other night.

Two questions: Why did this take Rhody 25 years and when is this going to happen at New London High?

• Yes, Dr. I voted St. Bernard as the preseason No. 1 team in Connecticut in the GameTimeCT state media poll.

• Trivia answer: Mo Vaughn, 1995.

• Finally, RIP to the great Norman Lear. The creator of the greatest sitcom in history (“All In The Family”) to the Jeffersons, Maude and all his other brilliance. In Dr. I’s sphere, there is Norman Lear, Mel Brooks and then everybody else.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro