The time for talk is thankfully over

Most of the ballots have been cast and, unfortunately, whoever wins the governor’s race, it’s going to be a big step down for the residents of Florida. By every measure, Rick Scott was good for Florida – something we saw graphically just a few weeks ago with his decisive actions in the wake of Hurricane Michael. Neither DeSantis nor Gillum will adequately fill his shoes. But the good news is we may finally get a Senator in Washington who does something other than issue platitudes. Scott’s work in Florida over the past eight years is a harbinger of what we can finally expect in Washington.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Are we the only one who finds it strange that State Senate candidate Amanda Murphy refused to reveal in a newspaper profile her marital status or whether she has any children? That aside, for so many reasons, Pinellas will be much better represented by Ed Hooper in this race.

2. As for this year’s amendments, use them for your birdcage – except for Amendment Six that will strengthen our court system and do more to protect victims of crime.

3. At the risk of repeating ourselves for about the tenth time, Clearwater does not need a strong mayor form of government. The big money being thrown at this cause is downright scary – almost as scary as the fact that “Florida’s Best Newspaper” agrees with us on this issue.

4. Our baseball analyst, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED), somewhat shaken by his failure to predict this year’s World Series winner, has Nelson and DeSantis as the winners next Tuesday. If betting, we would put our money on Scott and Gillum.

5. On election eve, you’ve lived in Florida a long time if you remember when Florida elected its first Republican governor since Reconstruction Days – Claude Kirk.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Even though we didn’t have a rooting interest in either team, we have never seen a better baseball game than the Dodgers 18 inning, 3-2 victory over the Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series. You just have to feel for former Ray Nathan Eovoldi who pitched his heart out only to lose after six great innings of relief.

7. This year’s World Series is being contested by the teams with the two highest payrolls in baseball. We hope this is not a precursor to future fall classics as do fans in Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Kansas City.

8. Step back a few years and if you were told three Florida football teams were in the Top 25, you’d never dream two of the three would be UCF and USF.

9. One of the best suggestions to come along in quite some time is moving Halloween to the last Saturday in October. If we can randomly move dates like Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day around, why not move Halloween to a day where kids don’t to go to school the next day?

10. Megyn Kelly joins the roster of media types doing really stupid things. Her blunder aside, Kelly and NBC were never a good fit.

Raiding the Rays

Next spring, there will be three ex-Rays coaches sitting in major league dugouts. Rocco Baldelli and Charlie Montoyo will join Davy Martinez in commanding major league teams. Curiously, all three were considered by the Rays for the top job before Kevin Cash was brought in from outside. Despite a surprising 2018 season, the jury is still out on Cash and his .490 winning percentage over four seasons. In addition to the three coaches, Rays’ de-facto general manager Chaim Bloom is a finalist for the Mets’ GM job. Even if he doesn’t get it, despite being the most qualified candidate, Bloom will be sought by other teams when vacancies for the top job come available.

Next up: Spectrum, FCC chair and Pinellas’ ill-timed traffic lights

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