Highway texting: Senator Rob Brantley just doesn’t get it

A common sense bill that would allow police officers to pull over drivers who text behind the wheel sailed through the Florida House of Representatives. And it passed three Senate committees until Sen. Rob Brantley decided to play God and not have it heard in his committee – the Senate Appropriations Committee. He bases his stance on the weak argument that allowing cops to pull over texters would lead to racial profiling while ignoring the hard facts that among teens alone, 11 deaths every day are attributable to texting. And nearly a quarter of all accidents are attributable to cell phones. Florida is now one of only seven states that doesn’t have a text and get pulled over law. It is way past time for Senator Brantley and his colleagues to get their heads out of the sand and do something about this epidemic.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Question: Is there any reason why Purdue Pharma who has relentlessly marketed their addictive drug oxycodone to doctors over the years be treated any differently than tobacco companies who have been sued for billions of dollars for their assault on America’s health?

2. The recent dustup between Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and a couple of basketball stars (“Just shut up and dribble”) leads to another thought – stop dribbling and take a shot at running the country (or state or county) yourself. It isn’t as easy as it looks boys and girls - we know, we’ve been there.

3. Related note: right now, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is saying all the right things in support of NBA players who wish to trash the President and others. Will we be hearing the same song from Mr. Silver if his attendance and TV ratings tank like the NFL’s have?

4. Speaking of tanking ratings, Papa John’s Pizza has stepped away from its NFL sponsorship due to the furor and ratings drop caused by a bunch of malcontent players. Pizza Hut has replaced them. Good luck with that.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed a steak at Jimmy Hall’s Steak House on Hendricks Street in downtown Clearwater.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. For the second week in a row, a very notable quote from local sports columnist Tom Jones - regarding the NCAA basketball scandals, “I'm confused as to why the FBI is involved. Doesn't it have better things to do than crack down on something that might be breaking NCAA rules but is not necessarily illegal? Right you are Tom – maybe like figuring out how the hell to keep our kids from getting slaughtered in the classroom.

7. A postscript to our concluding item last week (TBRR Feb. 25): several of those budding stars you’re watching this spring, like Ronald Acuna, Vlad Guerrero, Jr., and Bo Bichette, were part of the Florida State League last year. After the big teams move north later this month, there will be another bevy of top prospects performing in Clearwater and Dunedin during the FSL season.  

8. Your humble blogger turns another year older this week. As a kid, I asked my folks for the same birthday gift every year – to attend a spring training game at Jack Russell Stadium and, bless them, they always took me. Now at an advanced age, I still treat myself to the same delight at Spectrum Field every March.

9. Fifty years ago, riding the charts at #1 was Paul Mauriat’s Love Is Blue – the first #1 instrumental in over five years since Telstar in late 1962. There would be a second top tune instrumental in ’68 – Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the Grass in July.

10. Breaking political news from the 5:05 Newsletter: “Joe Biden said he is open to running for president if no other Democrats step up. You know your party’s in trouble when someone signs up for president the way you sign up for karaoke”.

Baseball’s teams with the brightest futures

Let’s start out by emphasizing prospects are just that – prospects. For every number one draft pick like Ken Griffey, Bryce Harper and Chipper Jones, there are folks like Shawn Abner, Mark Appel and Brien Taylor also number one picks and all three busts. Given that, there are some franchises right now whose future looks full of World Series appearances with the young talents they possess. Specifically, the Atlanta Braves with nine of the Top 100 MLB prospects. Others are the Yankees with seven, the White Sox with six, then Pittsburgh and Milwaukee with five each. The thing about this list that’s downright scary is the already stacked Yanks with seven of the best prospects. At the other end of the spectrum, the Cubs, Mets and Royals have no Top 100 prospects – manageable perhaps for the Cubs but not very encouraging at all for Mets and Royals fans in the years ahead.

UP NEXT: Beginning year five; Starbucks in space