I try to be positive. Upbeat even. Mix in some occasional spirituality. You know. Doing my part. But here is the sad truth: Sometimes, you just have to lose your sunny disposition. This is one of those times. Hence, I'm calling what follows Dumb Things I've Seen Recently:

• Why are we all acting like Dodd Stadium is suddenly obsolete without minor league baseball? This just in: Minor league baseball hasn't been the same here since the Yankees left.

Half the appeal of the old days was the occasional Major League rehab stint we'd get to see. Roger Clemens, Darryl Strawberry, Hideki Irabu and David Cone (among others) all gave the Navigators a certain cachet. That's been gone for almost 20 years. The Yankees left, leaving us with farm teams of the Giants and Tigers. Harder to care.

Still, the stadium on the hill offers plenty for the future. It can be a home for local college conference baseball tournaments (Big East, NEC, Atlantic 10, etc.) It could be an NCAA regional site. The home of the ECC Tournament. A potential state tournament site for state semifinals. A place for high school/college soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. Concerts. You get the idea.

• Speaking of Dodd, it was a gathering place last weekend for the Musings of the Maskless. And the participants, few of whom appeared to be candidates as potential returning champions on Jeopardy, strained my equanimity.

Example: One person called Gov. Lamont's mask mandate "complete tyranny."

Now I know. It's best to ignore extremists. This is an exception. So I explored tyranny's etymology, happily knowing I just lost half of them with the word etymology.

I always find it best to consult, you know, Aristotle on such matters. Here is what he wrote in "Politics" on the late 14th century term with roots in French, Latin and Greek: "Any sole ruler, who is not required to give an account of himself, and who rules over subjects all equal or superior to himself to suit his own interest and not theirs, can only be exercising a tyranny."

Seems more like Hitler/Mussolini to me. Besides, Gov. Lamont gives an account of himself every day during his press briefings. He answers every question, too.

Tyranny? Stop. Wear the mask and pipe down. As previously stated: It's a mask. Not a catheter.

• So I settle in Saturday afternoon to watch the UConn-BC hockey game. (UConn won, by the way, reiterating that Mike Cavanaugh is a really good coach). I find Channel 20 on my YouTube TV guide and click.

I get two seconds of the game before it goes dark. Then I see "This program is not authorized to be streamed over the Internet."

Sigh. So why would YouTube TV offer a channel whose full programming isn't available?

Why would Channel 20 show a game not everyone could watch?

And while we're complaining, why is watching sports getting harder? This can't be shown. That can't be streamed. Channel 3 picks the Patriots over the Giants. Channel 61 picks the Giants over the Patriots. DirecTV drops Fox 61. Atlantic Broadband drops SNY. YouTube TV drops NESN and YES.

I mean, I just want to watch the game. I'm not asking too much, right? Like I'm not asking for a million dollars or for a few dullards to wear a mask. I just want to watch the game. Is there anybody out there who can show some mercy to a reasonably nice middle aged man?

• Monday's New York Post quotes Daniel Jones saying, "I'm not sure (the hamstring issue) hampered me too much. I was able to move around in the pocket and do what I needed to do throwing the ball."

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

Now don't get me wrong. I like the kid and think he'll be a productive NFL quarterback. But he moved like an arthritic snail Sunday and thus couldn't hit a bull in the butt with a snow shovel. Appreciate the willingness to play hurt, kid. But if you're not at full strength, sit down.

• The Yankees are only $25 million apart with D.J. LeMahieu. I know. Why would you want the best hitter in the league back? Probably because D.J. doesn't care about launch angle. Just base hits. Doesn't count anymore.

Love Hal Steinbrenner complaining about losing money last year, too. Hal: The pandemic is going to end sooner or later. Raise ticket prices. Beer prices. Parking prices. Whatever. It's the Yankees. People will come to watch the Yankees. They always have. It's the Yankees. Now give D.J. what he wants.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro