Reading for the realist or perhaps the pessimist

To quote Bette Davis in All about Eve – “Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy night” (not ride as it is often misquoted). Whatever happens between now in November, it’s going to be a bumpy four (and hopefully no more than four) years. To prepare ourselves, we are reading biographies of the ten men generally recognized by historians as the worst presidents in U.S. history. They are Nixon, Hoover, Grant, Tyler, Fillmore, Coolidge, Pierce, Johnson the first, Harding and Buchanan. Some lists include our current president but we’ll give him the next six months to redeem himself. We’re about halfway through the list. Hope we’re wrong, but it’s quite possible whoever wins in November will become part of that list of ten in the future.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Now that the campaign for the White House has begun in earnest, raise your hand if you would rather have the choice of the two Vice-Presidential candidates to lead our country rather than the two freak shows at the top of the ticket.

2. Not a lot has been made of it, but as students get ready to return for the fall session, happy 60^th anniversary to our alma mater, the University of South Florida, founded in 1956.

3. Speaking of schools, the kids are back in session and it’s a quiet time here on the west coast. We can all get back to our favorite restaurants and attractions without the long waits that occur in the spring and summer. Enjoy!

4. While on the subject of spring, that’s when the new Crabby Bill’s at the Clearwater Marina is scheduled to open (March). That will be just short of ten months start to finish or about the same amount of time it took for the Mexican restaurant in the Marina to pick out window treatments.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the magnolia farms south of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., bordering Belcher Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Two large losses in the media world this past week. Dave McKay, for twenty years the morning personality at WQYK, one of this country’s premier country radio stations. And John Saunders, who smoothly guided the enormous egos on The Sports Reporters making it one of the diamonds of the ESPN franchise. He was a versatile sportscaster but it was his work on The Sports Reporters that will live in our memory.

7. Five MLB teams have lost 10,000 games in their history. The loveable losers are, in order, the Phils, the Cubs, Braves, Pirates and Reds. No American League team has lost 10,000 simply because that league has not been in existence as long as the NL. On track to hit 10,000 first are the Orioles and the Twins (including their stays in St. Louis and Washington respectively).

8. Lost in the sad news of Prince Fielder’s career ending is the fact that Prince and his father, Cecil, both ended their careers with exactly 319 home runs – incredible.

9. Related to our lead item, if you’re not up to reading full blown biographies of 10 (or 44) Presidents, there is an excellent book by David Whitney The American Presidents that gives you a 10-15 page mini-biography of each of our chief executives. It’s now in its ninth edition.

10. In a further follow-up to our lead piece, we asked the Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people – and all baby boomers) who was the worst president in their lifetime? Their votes: Carter (1), Nixon (1) George W. Bush (2). Note: the focus group was not allowed to cast a ballot for “whoever wins this year’s election”.

Does Kevin Cash get a third year? Probably.

The Tampa Bay Rays are in full crash mode. They are in line to finish 30 games under .500 for the first time since 2007 when they were known as the Devil Rays. Manager Kevin Cash was a curious pick given the talent already in the organization – Davy Martinez, Charlie Montoyo and Tom Foley. Even so, he finished three games better in 2015 than the previous year but this year is of Titanic proportions. A lot has to do with talent (and to a lesser degree injuries) and that may be his saving grace despite heading for a possible 100 loss season. If it were us, we would cut our losses and promote either Montoyo or Foley – both much more experienced baseball men, but then we would not have hired Cash in the first place. A young team needs veteran leadership not a fresh faced kid. That being said, look for Cash to be in the dugout in 2017 but the results had best be a whole lot better.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THAT FIRST MAJOR LEAGUE HOMER