This week the last of our tributes to some good dining and a wonderful journalist, Tom McEwen, who inspired this year-long effort. During the holidays, we feature a homemade treasure – Tennessee boiled custard – a lot like egg nog only better. You can find recipes in numerous cook books including the Foxfire book and Light of Christ Church’s recently published Recipes from the Soul. Our personal favorite was the wonderful concoction made by our longtime Clearwater neighbor Helen Leach.

As usual, we wind down 2017 with a few of our favorite tidbits

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Here’s a thought regarding the anticipated pot-related epidemic in Florida. In exchange for the privilege of using medical marijuana, you forfeit your driving privileges thereby protecting the rest of us on the road. Hey, if you’re that “sick”, you probably should not be behind the wheel of a car anyway.

2. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you, your kids or grandkids enjoyed “Breakfast with Santa” at one of the Maas Brothers’ restaurants.

3. (From February) Quote of the Week: “A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge” – America’s new Supreme Court Justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

4. Breaking news: Politifact rates claim that President Trump was responsible for Pearl Harbor attack as “Mostly False”.

5. There’s been some gnashing of teeth over a decline in the state’s arts funding – it’s still at nearly $25 million. The arts, unfortunately, have to compete against fire trucks, areas that flood and hungry people who need fed.

6. Just an idle thought, most highly praised presidents weren’t really as good as legend has them and most universally damned presidents weren’t all that bad – with the possible exceptions of Andrew Johnson and Warren Harding.

7. (From February) Quote of the week: “Regulators exist to give certainty to those they regulate” – new EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Comforting words for businesses and individuals who have been severely harmed by the EPA’s “make up the rules as we go along” philosophy of the past.

8. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed a Big Boy at the Frisch’s Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd. The last Frisch’s Big Boys left Florida in the early 1990s.

9. You can now get an Uber or Lyft ride at TIA. Most third world airports have offered this for the past five years.

10. Remember that Texas Instruments calculator you bought in the 70s for $100? You can now buy one of equal capabilities at Dollar Tree.

11. With all our restaurant suggestions this year, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) looks back at four restaurants they wish still existed. They are the elegant Siple’s Garden Seat on Clearwater’s bluff, the not so elegant but really good Robby’s Pancake House, and two other Gulf to Bay landmarks, Chief Charley’s and Young’s BBQ.

12. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you were taught English or American History by the legendary “Uncle Russ” Cantwell at CHS.

13. Just an idle thought: Is the Tesla this generation’s DeLorean?

14. Are we the only one troubled by a shamelessly self-promotional piece in the mail from Charlie Crist? The one with the tiny six-point type proclaiming it was paid for at taxpayer expense?

15. With the negative reaction to the Paris accords pullout by some folks labeled “corporate titans”, we call to mind a thought from O’Reilly and Feirstein’s book Old School: “don’t hector us about climate change while you fly around in private jets and have multiple houses with the carbon footprint the size of Kazakhstan”. Well said.

16. (From August) Breaking news: East Druid Road between Belcher and Hercules is now open. As a reminder, when construction began Obama was still President, spring training was months away and the majority of us were a year younger.

17. (Post St. Pete mayoral edition) - And yes, the irony isn’t lost on us. What passes for a newspaper in our area endorsed a Republican for the first time in a millennium, while the reactionaries here at TBRR gave a nod, albeit tepid, to Mayor Kriseman.

18. You have to imagine the Vegas odds are very strong that neither 2016 Presidential candidate will be on the ballot again in 2020. Carrying that one step further, both parties need to coalesce around a strong one or two candidates for 2020 within the next year.

19. We wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think observing a group of lemmings lined up to buy some overpriced phone that they never answer.

20. TIA’s renovation includes new trams to get folks around – built in Japan. Less than 90 miles away is one of the world’s busiest and most efficient tram systems (Disneyworld) all built in North America.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

1. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) wonders why Gen X and Millennials never carry a single dime with them and go into full panic mode when they encounter a situation where they can’t use plastic.

2. Five names that remind us baseball is still the most unpredictable of all our sports –Kirk Gibson, Don Larsen, Bill Mazeroski, Dusty Rhodes and Bucky F. Dent.

3. (From the first edition after Super Bowl Sunday): Add us to the long list of people who at 28-3 said “the heck with this, I’m going to get some shuteye”.

4. From April - We understand the rationale of major league baseball scheduling a day off after opening day to allow for inclement weather – but in the Trop?

5. From the 5:05 Newsletter, the hits just keep on coming: Democratic National Party Chairman Tom Perez took over the party with a mission to overhaul the party’s direction and energy and give it new life. He immediately ordered all DNC staffers to resign, causing four network newscasts to go dark.

6. From the nearly world famous Gassman law firm sign on Court Street: “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be”.

7. (From May): Number of the week - $36 bucks – the least you could pay for a ticket to last weekend’s Rays – Yankees series. Second number of the week – 30 per cent – the percentage of seats (28,000 total) that went unsold against the best draw in baseball. The Rays just don’t get it.

8. With the addition of the Las Vegas franchise, the NHL now has 31 teams, one more than major league baseball. Why?

9. (May): Idle thought: remember when you could recite the winners of the Indy 500 back ten years or so? Now, we had to look back 23 years to find a name we actually remember – Al Unser, Jr., whose dad and uncle were also winners when the race truly captured America.

10. Bumper sticker seen on the car of a dog lover: “Wag more, bark less”. Good advice for all of us.

11. A name you did not hear mentioned during the celebration of the Houston Astros world championship was Ed Wade. The former Phillie and Astro GM laid the cornerstone of the World Championship team with his drafting of Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel and series MVP George Springer. Ed is one of the truly nice men in the game.

12. (August) What a great story in major league baseball last week. Chris Rowley wins his first start for the Toronto Blue Jays – the first West Point graduate to ever start a game in the majors – proving once again no matter how long you follow baseball, you will always see something new.

13. (From October) A recent study valued the University of Florida Gator football program as a franchise at $682 million. FSU’s gridiron organization came in at $385 million. Which would you want – Gators at 682, Noles at 385 or the Miami Marlins at $1.3 billion?

14. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four, old, cranky people) have selected their most annoying words or phrases in the English language. They are “you know”, “whatever”, “it is what it is” and “quick question” (they’re never quick and they are never singular).

15. (From October): Cue Etta James’ 1961 hit At Last. The Washington Nationals have named ex-Rays bench coach Dave Martinez their manager. Now Tampa Bay fans can get a glimpse of what could have (and should have) been when Maddon blew town.

16. Getting there – that has to be a primary concern as bay area leaders stumble towards a stadium site for the Rays. One of the things that doomed the Trop from the beginning was the lack of cooperation from PSTA in running routes from north Pinellas to the park. This time, HART and the PSTA need to step up.

17. Be honest, you have a contending team, who do you hire - Aaron Boone or Joe Girardi? As one long term Yankee follower put it, GM Brian Cashman wanted a yes man, not a manager.

18. There’s been some push back in Gainesville to the hiring of Dan Mullen as the new head coach. Perhaps it would have been nice to have hired the mercurial Chip Kelly – a somewhat proven commodity. But the wailing about not getting UCF’s Scott Frost is ridiculous. Let’s see how he does against a schedule that doesn’t include Austin Peay, Cincinnati and UConn before we judge him ready for prime time. We think Mullen will do just fine.

19. Ah the joy of being a Bucs’ fan, you know it’s going to end badly (see Carolina vs. Bucs), but you can’t turn away because you need to see just how.

And this year’s favorite of favorites:

Yet another acorn of wisdom from the 5:05 Newsletter: Hollywood is the only place where you are awarded a Doctorate in Political Science after completing your third movie.”

Our Last Song Together (with a bow to the late Glen Yarbrough)

At year’s end, we say good bye to some folks who left their mark, both locally and nationally.

The iconic mother-daughter duo of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher died within a day of each other in December 2016.

Also passing in late December was Tampa Bay area banking scion Bronson Thayer at age 77.

(From January) William Christopher, one of TV’s most famous priests, (M*A*S*H) died at age 84.

Eugene Cernan, as of now, the last man to walk on the moon.

She was the consummate girl next door – America’s sweetheart. With a shadow of a tear, we said goodbye to Mary Tyler Moore in January.

(From February) We note the passing of longtime acquaintance Fred Brown at age 89. An area businessman for decades, Rotarian and traveler, Fred saw one of his fondest wishes come true last fall when his beloved Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series for the only time in his life.

Skip Schafer, Pinellas County attorney and Circuit Court Judge, succumbed to cancer at age 69 in February.

(Also from February) - Moonlighting, Morning and We’re in this Love Together – just three great songs of many from jazz-oriented vocalist Al Jarreau who died at age 76.

(From March) Bad things often happen in threes. In early March our community has lost three outstanding women. Barbara Bissonette, Jean Hamilton and Peg Mallory all made their mark in their own very unique ways. They will be dearly missed.

Liberal and likeable commentator Alan Colmes, the Colmes of Hannity and Colmes on Fox News passed away at age 66.

Dick Fitzgerald, career army officer, distinguished member of Clearwater’s city council and a mentor to those who followed him on the Clearwater dais.

(From March) “Chuck Berry’s checking in from St. Lou, he’s going to sing Maybelline and Memphis, too” – from Jan and Dean’s They Came From all Over the World. The guy who grew up in St. Lou and found fame on Chicago’s Chess record label left us at age 90.

Also in March, we said goodbye to the man who brought the Phillies their first World Championship, Manager (along with pitcher and club executive) Dallas Green.

From April: He and his best friend in show business, Bob Newhart, were two of the best “clean” comedians ever. Don Rickles, the man who was universally loved by everyone he insulted passed away at age 90 – a terrific loss.

No team has won more Super Bowls than his Steelers; he was a gifted prep quarterback, second team All-Pittsburgh to a guy named Unitas, but his lasting legacy will be the Rooney Rule – clearing the path for more minority representation on NFL sidelines and front offices. Dan Rooney passed away at age 84.

From May: The world of baseball and our nation suffered a loss with the passing of Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who authored no-hitters in both leagues and had a noble political career as a U.S. Representative and later Senator from the state of Kentucky.

From June: Former major league outfielder Jimmy Piersall passed away at age 86. To term him colorful would be an understatement.

Was there ever a campier show than Batman? Adam West, the original Batman died at age 88. A final BHAM! POW! to the TV legend.

In July: The early sixties saw him as a young hood on The Untouchables; ten years later, he was impersonation wizard Rollin Hand on Mission Impossible and then there was the 1990s Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. The extremely versatile Martin Landau was 89.

From August: He was recognized as one of the three greatest coaches in Notre Dame history, but his winning record at moribund Northwestern may be even more impressive. Football legend Ara Parseghian passed way at age 94.

A bad week or so for sports fans with the passing of Don Baylor, Dutch Daulton and John Reaves – all made an indelible mark on their respective sports.

He was a Wichita Lineman, a Rhinestone Cowboy and a Country Boy with his feet in L.A. But above all, the late Glen Campbell was one heck of a musician.

If Dick Clark was America’s oldest teenager, Jerry Lewis was this country’s oldest adolescent. Known for his teaming with Dean Martin, his own solo career and his tireless work for MDA, Lewis passed away at 91.

From September: We apologize for being a couple weeks late in noting the latest addition to Rock and Roll Heaven – Walter Becker, one-half of a terrific band of the 70s – Steely Dan.

Back when radio news was still radio news, there were a bunch of terrific radio journalists in the bay area – WTAN’s Dennis Crandall, WDAE’s Ronald J. Ebben, WLCY’s Clair Linn and WFLA’s Marty Giles to name four. Giles, one of the deans of radio news, died left us at age 80.

From October: Admit it guys, we all lived vicariously through him. The keeper of the bunny hutch, Hugh Hefner, was 91.

Also in October: Rock and roll lost a great one in October – Antoine “Fats” Domino passed away at age 89. As we mentioned a couple weeks back (TBRR Oct. 15), the “Fatman” charted 68 singles in his incredible career.

From November: There was no more dominant pitcher in the 2000 decade than Ray “Doc” Halladay whose life ended all too soon in a plane crash off New Port Richey.

The fight world, the bay area and Ybor City, in particular, are mourning the passing of Dr. Ferdie Pacheco at age 89. He might have been best known for his role in Muhammad Ali’s corner, but the depth of his existence far surpassed that.

The Florida Gators lost a big fan and country music a legend with Mel Tillis’ passing.

She was probably best known for her work in TV’s Touched by an Angel. But music buffs will never forget her classic recordings like And That Reminds Me, Don’t You Know and Not One Minute More. Della Reese died at age 86.

(From December) Carolyn Brink was a dear, sweet lady whose function for many years was keeping track of the comings and goings of Clearwater’s city commissioners – the equivalent of herding cats. Mrs. Brink passed away earlier this month. She will be greatly missed.

Few announcers had a catch phrase that was as well-known all over America, but Dick Enberg’s spontaneous “Oh My” captured us all. The versatile sportscaster and Baseball Hall of Famer died just a week before we went to press with this issue.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Starting the year with a big bang!