TOP OF THE WEEK:

Dwyer, Sierens and Wilson! Every once in a while the media makes the news instead of reporting it and that was certainly the case over the past ten days. Three stalwarts of bay area TV news have announced they are retiring. Anne Dwyer has been a steady performer on Channel 13 for the better part of thirty years. Gayle Sierens came straight out of FSU’s Mass Comm program to Channel 8 first as a sports reporter and then a much respected anchor. If you’ve lived here a long time, you might remember John Wilson as an anchor at WTSP Channel 10, but Channel 13 is where they will retire his jersey. Nearly a century of bay area news expertise leaving the airwaves - they will not be easily replaced.

THIS WEEK’S TEN:

Around the Bay –

1. All the smear tactics the Democrats used against David Jolly aside, has any one organization done more to make him look good than the stumbling, bumbling Democratic Party?

2. In a related note, that loose cannon rolling around the political decks (Beverly Young) has got to make both parties do a great deal of squirming.

3. “Florida’s best newspaper” screams “Oh the humanity” about Governor Scott’s light hacking of the state budget. Pure politics, they say. Of course it is – as it has been with every Republican, Democratic or Whig Party governor we’ve had since the beginning of time or at least since 1845 when we became the great state of Florida. As we were reminded in the District 13 race, what is okay for donkeys is usually not acceptable for elephants.

4. A new seemingly chic phrase is “hot mess”. This seems to define what’s happening in downtown Clearwater with the parking garage/hotel/Scientology trilogy. Again, what could possibly go wrong with these machinations?

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater for a long time if you remember the Rainbow, Miss Buckeye and Sea Fever party fishing boats – and Capt. Nick Lopez’ legendary Flo-Jo charter boat.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff -

6. With the baseball Hall of Fame inductions a little over a month away, it needs to be noted that a considerable void in the shrine is the omission of coaches. Managers, yes – three this year alone with Cox, LaRussa and Torre all being inducted; but there needs to be a wing or something similar for outstanding coaches. Here are six who should be first ballot – Don Baylor, Dave Duncan, Walt Hriniak, Charlie Lau, Leo Mazzone and Johnny Sain.

7. Item: The LA Clippers sell for 2 billion dollars. Not bad for a franchise that has had exactly nine winning seasons in their 44-year existence. Imagine what a good team would bring.

8. Somewhat lost in all the hoopla of Dwyer, Sierens and Wilson retiring was the announcement that another extremely talented newsperson is also leaving the airwaves. Yolanda Fernandez has announced she’s leaving Channel 8 to become the public spokesperson for the St. Pete police department. Like Gayle Sierens, Yolanda is another local girl who came back to the community to contribute both on the air and off - another large loss.

9. Speaking of losses, baseball is very much diminished this year with the loss of two beloved “lifers”, - first, Jim Fregosi who died this spring and now Don Zimmer – a baseball icon if ever there was one.

10. The Tampa Bay area will be the home of the 2022 SEC men’s basketball tournament – an Atlanta fixture for many years. Our sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED), citing the fluidity of conference members year to year, predicts that Harvard, Northwestern and Southern Cal could all be in the SEC by then. 

IN CLOSING:

Your HB (Humble Blogger) has been privileged to meet all four of the news people mentioned above at one time or another. Can’t say I’m on a first name basis with any of them, but one incident involving Gayle Sierens sticks in my memory. Years ago, playing in a charity basketball game between two media teams, your HB grabs a rebound, sees a teammate streaking down court and starts to throw a baseball-type pass which hits Gayle square in the face. Fortunately, her pretty face was not damaged, and she could not have been more gracious about the incident- a classy, and despite my errant pass, still pretty lady.