We know this has been asked before: “Is this the best we can do?”

Let’s start with the GOP. They have an out of control billionaire who needs anger management more than the nomination. Then there’s the darling of the Tea Party who frightens mainstream Americans. Next you have a guy who can just now find his seat in the Senate. Our former governor is suffering from Bush fatigue and other maladies. Christie has a little too much baggage. You have a very qualified candidate from the Buckeye State, who inexplicably waited way too long to get in the race and is too far behind. Carson and the rest have no chance. On the Democratic side you have someone who should be lapping the field but, because of her many missteps, can’t pull away from an avowed socialist. It appears at this point whoever lands in the White House is going to be a compromise and a not very good one.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Florida Highway Patrol reports that crashes at the 22 intersections in Tampa monitored by red light cameras have risen 15 per cent since the camera’s installations. Folks, do we need any more proof that these things are nothing more than a Waldo-like revenue source?

2. The most valuable brand in the world? It’s Apple. The most valuable in Florida? It’s Publix Supermarkets – the only Florida-based brand to crack the Top 500. A couple surprises in the Top 10 compiled by a British branding firm was one brand not there – Disney and one brand in the Top 10 – Wells Fargo which has not been without its issues – at least in Florida.

3. Surely the Christmas decorations on Clearwater’s Memorial Causeway will be down before St. Patrick’s Day.

4. Speaking of the causeway which is properly called Causeway Boulevard. Who is responsible for Clearwater’s neighbor to the north, Dunedin, having a connector to their barrier island with the same name? Plays hob with tourist’s GPS.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the name – H. David Werder. He’s the guy who sat on a flagpole at U.S. 19 and Gulf to Bay starting in late 1982 until January of 1984 – a total of 439 days which is still a record.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. The revolving door that has been ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball has taken another spin with Aaron Boone and Jessica Mendoza joining Dan Shulman in the booth replacing John Kruk and Curt Schilling. Hopefully Mendoza will add some spice to what promises to be a very milquetoast combination of Shulman and Boone. And you have to feel bad for Kruk who was an innocent and very competent bystander when ESPN decided to cut Schilling just as Jon Miller was when the network needed to jettison the toxic Joe Morgan six years ago.

7. She can often be outrageous and off the wall, but good for Sarah Palin for taking NBC to task, live and on the air, when they invited her on the Today Show to discuss Iowa and then tried to ambush her with questions about her son and his personal issues that have absolutely nothing to do with Iowa’s caucus.

8. Guys, do you want to feel really old? Honor Blackman, the James Bond babe in Goldfinger, will turn 91 this year. Oh, the humanity!

9. With all the comings and goings at One Buc Place and elsewhere in the NFL, it probably went unnoticed that the Lions retained their previously interim Offensive Coordinator Jim Bob Cooter – undoubtedly the all-time greatest name among NFL coaches.

10. Our recent piece on the new Royals-Yankees pitching dynamic (RANTS – January 17) got us to thinking of the way the Yankees played it back in the good old days – a pitching staff of Ford and a bunch of no names but with a wrecking crew of Berra, Howard, Mantle, Maris and Skowron along with a bunch of good singles hitters like Kubek and Richardson. Times have changed.

National League headed towards Armageddon

A couple weeks ago, we were shouted down in a Rants and Raves focus group meeting about the worst ideas of the past half-century. Our immediate answer was the designated hitter. The majority ruled our answer could not be a sports answer – which it always is. Much more disturbing to us is the fact that some front office people in the National League are reporting less resistance to baseball’s worst idea of all time. The major argument – it will cut down on pitcher’s injuries. In the words of M*A*S*H’s Colonel Sherman Potter – buffalo chips! Pitchers once were athletes – witness Bob Lemon, Babe Ruth, Ken Brett and Dick Hall – all of whom could have been or were position players as easily as pitchers. Today, our pitchers are all delicate flowers who can throw no more than six innings a game much less bat (and bunt). So let’s add the DH to the NL (adding another 15 jobs for fat, out of shape Dr. Strangegloves); then add aluminum bats and pretty soon we’ll have a slow pitch beer league where every game ends 25-23.