Day by day, we’re losing our greatest men and women

Last week’s somber memorial at Pearl Harbor reminds us that of the 16 million men and women who served the United States in World War II, only 620,000 remain. The vets are dying at the rate of 500 a day. They and their civilian counterparts were, as Tom Brokaw so correctly puts it, our greatest generation. Allow us to tell you the answer we got when we asked our Dad what he did in the war. He helped end it. Your HB (Humble Blogger’s) Dad was too old to serve in World War II but was part of the Manhattan Project which ended the war without the Allies having to invade Japan at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. As a result, several younger brothers he had serving in the war, all came home safely. After the war, he was involved in another project that helped keep the peace – as a member of the nuclear propulsion team for our first atomic submarine – the U.S.S. Nautilus. Yes, we’re proud.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. More on a great generation: there were two Cs (Carpenter and Cooper), two Gs (Glenn and Grissom) and three with S as the first letter (Schirra, Shepherd and Slayton) – that’s how this middle schooler remembered the original 7 American astronauts. With the death of John Glenn last week, this great generation has left us.

2. Okay Donny, you’re President-Elect now despite Jill Klein’s machinations - time to start acting presidential. Step one – close down your damned Twitter account.

3. Ever wondered why two branches of the federal government (legislative and judiciary) don’t have term limits but the third does? We’ve often advocated for reasonable term limits for the Supreme Court (maybe 12-15 years) and the legislature maybe two – six year (Senate) or six two year (House) terms.

4. Over two and a half years ago (RANTS – May 18, 2014) we challenged the city of Clearwater to do something about the embarrassment at Cleveland and MLK formerly known as the 1100 Building. Today the structure is in the same or worse condition as 2014.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the paving on Drew Street ended just beyond its intersection with NE Coachman Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A recent check of EBay showed the recalled Newsweek “Madam President” edition selling for $125 and up. It no doubt will someday be as valuable a publication as the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” gaff of the Chicago Tribune – now worth between $400 and $800.

7. From “USA Today Fictionalized”, otherwise known as the 5:05 Newsletter this gem: Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to the theater to see the hit show “Hamilton” and ended up being lectured by the cast. Later the ghost of Abraham Lincoln appeared to Pence and said, “Could have been a lot worse bro.”

8. Little known fact: We know our premier forecaster of things baseball and other sports, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is 3 for 3 in World Series picks since our blog’s inception. But the rest of the story: although not a “policy wonk”, he is perfect in Presidential predictions for four decades. A few networks and newspapers might want to dial him up in 2020.

9. Kudos to Georgia State University for preserving a big chunk of Atlanta sports history. The university has purchased Turner Field and the site of Fulton County Stadium. Turner will be used for the GSU’s football stadium and a baseball stadium will be erected on the site where Hammerin’ Hank hit #715 and the Braves won their only World Series in the last 60 years.

10. If his health returns, Wilson Ramos, the new Ray’s catcher could be the biggest steal of the offseason. The guy can hit and calls a great game behind the plate.

Willie, we hardly knew ya

Alas, our alma mater, the University of South Florida is again in search of a head coach. This is the bane of second tier football programs; you will always be a farm system for the big five conferences. Truth be known, Willie Taggart would have been better served by staying a couple more years at USF and advancing to a really good job. And that would have happened if Temple’s Matt Rhule had not passed on the Oregon job to go to Baylor. We’re not quite sure that Taggart is ready for prime time. Despite a couple winning seasons at USF, he is a sub .500 coach for his career. We wish him well at Oregon where, happily for the wardrobe, the colors are almost the same as USF, but he will not see a lot of Cincinnati, SMU and UConn on his PAC-10 schedule.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: GUESS WHO READS THIS BLOG EVERY SUNDAY MORNING?