TOP OF THE WEEK:

Pinellas County has an average group of constitutional officers – ranging everywhere from quite good to barely adequate, but the superstar of our elected constitutional officers over the past half-dozen years has clearly been Property Appraiser Pam Dubov. Her announcement that she will leave office after this term was a body blow to Pinellas County. Pam is truly a hero - having taken an office that was riddled with corruption and turning it into a model of efficiency and, for the taxpayer, fair play. One cannot possibly argue with her motivation to leave office but that does not make the loss of a truly excellent public servant any easier to swallow. We wish her only the best.  

HIS WEEK’S TEN:

Around the Bay -

1 Perhaps you’ve heard this before but it bears repeating – “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

2. The mid-term elections in our country will probably be determined by which party can “outdumb” the other. District 13 here in Florida and the Cantor fiasco in Virginia would indicate it is currently a dead heat.

3. It might not have been everybody In Dunedin’s first choice, but the Tai Chi Society’s purchase of the venerable Fenway Hotel will at least breathe new life into the picturesque property.

4. Like Roger Maris’ 61st home run in New York or Hank Aaron’s 715th in Atlanta, everyone in Clearwater “was there” the night the old Gulf to Bay Drive-In Theater burnt down 49 years ago.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

5. It will be an interesting off season in the NBA as the Heat try to buy their way to another championship or two.

6. Arguably the five greatest disc jockeys of the rock and roll era were Dick Clark, Casey Kasem, Alan Freed (who coined the term rock and roll), Wolfman Jack and Cousin Brucie Morrow. With the passing of the revered Casey, only Cousin Brucie remains of those five pillars of rock and roll radio and television. Brucie is still going strong hosting a series of rock and roll concert shows on the east coast and a weekly show on Sirius XM.

7. Looking at recent MLB standings versus payroll, the Oakland A’s project to average $838,000 per win this season. Their fellow major leaguers down the coast, the Dodgers, will average 2.8 million dollars per win, and unlike the A’s, are on track to miss the playoffs. For comparison sake, our local baseball club is projected to average 1.28 million per win and will certainly have free time come October.

8. Many of you who receive this “masterwork” each week also receive the 5:05 Club Newsletter. For those of you who may have missed this gem from a couple weeks ago, we repeat it here: “Columnist Maureen Dowd said she ‘curled up in a hallucinatory state’ after eating a pot laced cookie. Which, coincidentally, is what most people do after reading Maureen Dowd’s columns.”

9. It was fifty years ago this month that the Chicago Cubs made their infamous Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio trade. Each fan can think of one huge clinker of a trade his team made over the years: the Reds Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas trade; the Pirates Bert Blyleven for the “Tijuana Brass” exchange; the Braves entire farm system for Mark Teixeira. And your club’s worst trade of all time was?

10. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have recently inked long term contracts to continue on PTI – the best sports commentary show on the air. Just wish the two would focus a little more on sports and less on their occasional drifts into “I’m not a sociologist, but I play one on TV.”

IN CLOSING:

Drawing on personal experience - if the rather elegant and somewhat pricey venue where your HB (Humble Blogger) held the wedding receptions for his two children had asked for a guest list (as opposed to count), the reply would be something about where the sun doesn’t shine. The recent flap over whether a prominent defense attorney and longtime Clearwater resident could attend one of his closest friend’s daughter’s wedding is ridiculous and like many other blunders will do only very “positive” things for Scientology’s standing in the community.