Or maybe he saw the Colonel on the other side of the street.

Sometimes I'm like a dog with a bone. Even when I make a non-joking observation or a joke that isn't about math, there will be a math joke in it.

It's like that time The Riddler overheard another criminal making plans for robberies, so he left clues for Batman (and the rest of the Super Friends to stop him. But his compulsion forced him to commit alternative crimes that also fit the clues.