Idle Thoughts, while waiting for Opening Day, the Rangers to win the Cup and for Gus Johnson to stop shouting:

• Dr. Idle, Dr. I to his close friends, was doing some detective work the other day and stumbled upon this fortress of fraudulence from the Connecticut State Board of Education:

“The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) has outlined the steps and training required to obtain a coaching permit and keep student athletes safe,” the CSDE website reads. “Before you apply for your permit, you must complete the following courses: CIAC Connecticut coaching course or other approved courses, Module 15 concussion and neck injury management course, First Aid and CPR. Keeping student athletes safe is one of the most important jobs for Connecticut coaches and educators.”

Ah, but what the missive fails to mention is that this applies to public schools only.

That’s right. Certification for coaches in private, independent and parochial schools is not required.

But “safety” is sacrosanct, right?

And once again, the Catholic schools in this state, among others, get to walk between the raindrops.

“All coaching permits are issued through the State Department of Education Bureau of Certification. The requirement to hold a 5-year coaching permit is part of state statute and applies to public school coaches,” CIAC executive director Glenn Lungarini wrote in an email to The Day.

“The state law requiring a coaching permit does not apply to independent, private, or parochial schools. As coaching permits are issued through the CSDE and the law does not apply to all CIAC member schools, the CIAC does not have enforcement authority over coaching permits.”

How is this possibly permissible?

Do parents of private and parochial school students understand their coaches may or not be certified? That maybe nobody in the gym one day knows CPR?

Why is it that we continue to play by different rules?

• Trivia: Who is the UConn men’s basketball career leader for defensive rebounds? (Answer below)

• Mad props to Waterford High athletic director Chris Landry, secretary/photographer/all around MVP Wendy Morris and all the gang in Lancerdom.

Waterford was again the home gym recently to the ECC’s two largest on-campus events: ECC cheerleading and the boys’ basketball semifinals. Crowds in excess of 1,000 both days with all the accompanying headaches and details.

During cheerleading, Landry cleaned up vomit, repositioned and retaped the mats and then danced “Cotton-Eye Joe” with the Unified team. All in the span of about 30 minutes.

Many thanks for all their efforts.

• If actress January Jones married Ohio State football coach Ryan Day, divorced him for former 76ers guard Eric Snow and then divorced him for Baltimore Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely, that would make her a weather forecast.

(January Day Snow Likely)

• Is anyone willing to keep track of how hilariously wrong all these idiotic mock NFL Drafts turn out to be?

Win valuable prizes from Dr. I if you report back with the results.

• As many of you know, Dr. I obtained his law degree from the University of Law & Order.

(Dr. I even dropped a “yeah, but does the prejudicial effect outweigh the probative value?” on the guys at coffee the other day.)

This is why Dr. I wishes a happy retirement to the great Sam Waterston (Jack McCoy) whose last episode on Law & Order was Thursday night. Nineteen seasons and 405 episodes spread over 30 years.

Waterston is often quoted in Dr. I’s musings, such as “were you lying then or are you lying now?”

Among the great TV characters of all time.

• Note to Juan Soto: It doesn’t count until you do it for the Yankees.

So you’re actually a .000 lifetime hitter.

• Nobody (and Dr. I means nobody) has done a better coaching job this winter than Courtney Gomez at NFA. The gutty, gritty NFA Wildcats are in the Class LL girls’ basketball quarterfinals Monday night at Newington.

• Congrats to former Day Softball Player of the Year Maddie Burrows, who hit her first collegiate home run recently for Villanova. Burrows went boom Feb. 16 for the Wildcats vs. George Mason.

• Trivia answer: Jeff Adrien hauled down 740 defensive rebounds from 2005-2009.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro