Ponderous thoughts I was pondering ...

This year's bunny crop includes this tiny newcomer, who likes my Benz.

Ponderous thoughts I was pondering while realizing that if "notes" columns are good enough for Dan Shaughnessy these days (as he recovers from heart surgery), they are also good enough for me -- and I'm not recovering from anything:

* It could be another "summer of bunnies" around here, as my furry friends have emerged from their hidden homes and are again making their daily rounds to munch on the tasty grass in my backyard.

I know this probably sounds a little ... um, sensitive? ... on my part, and probably earns a mocking shrug in response from some of my former readers from my residence in the sports pages of The Sun Chronicle. But you have to understand one thing. The wild cottontails that live in my yard are such innocent creatures, their presence is a soothing factor in my efforts to cope with the notion that I'm now 70 years old and I'm a lot closer to the end of the road than I am to its start.

Right now, I have three regular visitors to the backyard. I have no idea what their genders are, but they're here and they tolerate my presence, which is a lot more than a lot of humans did over the years.

One of them looks like it has some mileage on it. It's the largest of the three and it's a little more wary of me than the others. It's just comfortable to nibble on the grass and to know where the nearest exit is.

The second one has much lighter fur than the others. It's the middle-sized one and I think it was present last year, because it seems to have the least amount of fear of me and will frequently run up to within a yardstick of me before retreating ... but not far. And sometimes, as I sit in my camping chair, it will find a comfortable spot and stare at me, content to watch the strange human doing the same thing in return.

And the third is a little baby bun, just out of the nest and learning how to fend for itself. It's cute and fearless, not having had to deal with too many threats in its brief lifetime. It will bounce merrily through the grass to say hello, then just as energetically hop away to return to dining. Sometimes I park my car in the backyard, and the little bunny absolutely loves to run under it and peek its head out from underneath every few seconds.

I also have a family of woodchucks whose tunnels run from the foliage overgrowth near the edge of the adjacent pond (I keep it untrimmed as a sanctuary for the wild animals) to at least three openings in my yard. I'd be concerned if those holes were in the open or near a garden (I don't have one), but they mind their own business and are getting a lot less skittish when I'm nearby.

Between the bunnies, woodchucks and various cardinals and blue jays that frequent the yard, it's a lot of harmless entertainment for an old man that enjoys a life that includes less pressure and stress than it used to have.

* Speaking of stress, I was watching the Celtics-Pacers game before I started typing, and the only thing I could think was that the Celtics were seriously lacking in heart by letting this Indiana team hang with them and possibly steal Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals at TD Garden.

Jaylen Brown makes a move.

But then a combination of turnovers and mental mistakes by the Pacers and a clutch three-pointer by Jaylen Brown sent the game into overtime, and the Celtics righted themselves and went on to dismiss the Pacers, 133-128, and this series was finally headed in the right direction.

I'm still not sold on the Celtics, even though it's pretty clear they have the most talent remaining in the playoffs. I've just never felt that this group had the cohesiveness and sense of purpose to win decisively in a big game. They just always seem to want to let an opponent creep back into a game before finding the resolve to get the job done.

But then again, I admit I haven't watched a whole lot of this team. Now that it's practically the only game in town (the Red Sox are still hardly more than an annoyance), I'll pay more attention. And if they bring home Banner 18, I promise I won't act like I've been in their corner all the time. I'm just not that invested in them to get overly excited.

* Meanwhile, I've noticed a few negative articles about the New England Revolution in the big-city media lately. The Globe, especially, tore the soccer franchise a new asshole in a recent analysis piece, saying that it's a poorly-built team, with little talent and a lot of behind-the-scenes turmoil.

Is there need for any further evidence that the Kraft Group doesn't give a damn about this team?

There have been rumblings for quite a while that Robert and Jonathan Kraft have given little more than lip service to the effort to return the Revolution to past levels of success. I can't speak to that because I can't say I've ever cared whether they win or lose, but I have been aware that they really want to get the soccer team and its small crowds out of Gillette Stadium, and have for some time.

Yeah, yeah, I know they packed 65,612 people into the place when Lionel Messi came to town with his Miami team. And I know their average attendance figure has crept over 20,000 per game in recent years -- although I've heard that number reflects tickets sold and not necessarily fannies in the seats. It still costs the Krafts a lot of money to have to drape tarpaulins over two-thirds of the seats and to not realize income from those seats and the potential they have to increase concession sales and parking revenue (big crowds would demand actual parking fees). 

You'd think that if the Krafts really had the clout that their turnaround of the Patriots should have merited, they would have long ago built that soccer-specific stadium that would be more appropriate for the smaller audiences and more cost-effective to operate. But that pipe dream continues to linger in limbo. The best shot so far has been a 30,000-seat stadium close to the Encore casino in Everett, but that couldn't overcome site development issues and a lack of highway access and parking lot space. 

I guarantee you, the Revolution's existing fan base will not trade Foxboro for nothing but public transit.

Hey, I'm as happy as anyone that Gillette Stadium will have a top-tier, seven-game slate of World Cup games in 2026. I won't be going to them, but I'll gladly watch as the World Cup represents the sport at its best -- and it rarely disappoints.

But if Bob and Jonathan aren't serious about using some of the family's $11 billion (according to Forbes magazine) to build a winner and find an appropriate venue for it, then maybe it's time to stop wasting everybody's time and find someone that might want to take on the challenge.

* And once again, I renew my call for the Krafts to use some of that $11 billion to do something that should have been done in Boston long ago -- bring a WNBA franchise to Boston. The time is ripe to jump on board with the momentum the women's game is enjoying, and the Krafts don't even have to buy more land along U.S. 1 to build a 10,000-seat arena.

Here's what $11 billion looks like.

I'm sure there are worries that the Caitlin Clark phenomenon will lose steam if the Indiana Fever continue to lose. And it's troublesome that there seems to be so much resentment among many current WNBA players (and a few notable rookies) over all the attention Clark is getting in her debut season. But the fact remains that Clark has accomplished something that the entire league failed to achieve in 27 years, and that's attracting enough interest for people to actually watch the games and then argue like fools over them on social media afterward.  

There are at least three new franchises coming over the next few years and several other cities are vying for consideration. But Boston is conspicuously absent -- and as I've said before, if Wyc Grousbeck and the Celtics aren't willing to take the lead, perhaps Kraft, the wealthiest of Boston's pro sports owners (well above John Henry's $5.1 billion), should strike a blow for athletes who are begging for recognition and respect.

* The best news of the week was that U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) has trademarked her classic putdown of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) after the latter criticized her "fake eyelashes" in a Congressional hearing. 

I can't wait for the "Beach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body" swag. Not saying I'd wear it, but I'm all for it.

* I don't know if you saw this, but someone brought a digital thermometer into the New York courtroom where the Orange Turd is on trial for election finance fraud involving the payoff to porn actress Stormy Daniels following her tryst with the future president. And the results have been posted on social media as a means of putting into context Trump's complaints that the courtroom is "an icebox" and being kept deliberately too cold.

Temperature readings have been consistently between 72-73 degrees, with humidity between 57 and 64 percent. In other words, it's not an icebox. I keep my house around 75 during summer days, 71 during the winter, and always 66 at night.

Trump has obviously never worked in a normal office building in his lifetime. I had an air conditioning vent directly over my desk at The Sun Chronicle, and I swear that one reason why I look younger than my age was because the cold air put me in partial suspended animation. I would have regarded 73 degrees and 64 percent humidity as "balmy."

And let's face it. At around 6-foot-3 (maybe) and 280 pounds (if only that), Trump would seem to have enough insulation to keep him warm inside a full suit and his loaded Depends. The fact that he often emerges from the courtroom dripping with perspiration as he prepares to deliver his daily diatribes tells me that he was literally trembling for six hours trying to keep his sphincter closed, or he has some very serious problems with substance abuse, or sky-rocketing blood pressure or anything that would disrupt his body's ability to regulate its own temperature. Most likely, all of the above.

Or he could be just an incredibly whiny baby.

* Just two more North TV telecasts (that I know of) left for me this school year -- later today at the King Philip gym (5 p.m., actually), Alex Salachi and I will provide the narrative as the boys' volleyball team plays Medfield with hopes of reaching .500 by the end of the season and qualifying for the MIAA Tournament. Then on Friday, Del Malloy and I will bring you the Westwood-KP baseball game, live from the Gary Lombard Field at 3:45 p.m., as the Warriors hope to reverse their current scuffling ways and get back on track to the postseason.

They will both be live on North TV's Community Channel. And then, unless I get the call for possible playoff action, I'll be off until September. What in the world will I do with myself?

* Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone. I promise, there will be more audio and video podcasts coming soon. In fact, Alex Salachi and I are working on another "Mansfield Memories" episode that will inform and entertain you with tales of our hometown's past. Cheers!

Mark Farinella still regrets owning a rabbit's foot good-luck charm when he was a mere tyke. Contact him at theownersbox2020@gmail.com.