TOP OF THE WEEK:

The recently concluded elections continue to show the declining influence of the print media on election outcomes. To witness: “Florida’s Best Newspaper” recommends 15^th party candidate Charlie Crist on its editorial page and every other page outside the classifieds. Fan Boy loses. Sheldon over Bondi – are you kidding? And on issues, the track record is also not so good. How did that Greenlight thing turn out? Granted, they (along with this blog) did make the right call on the odorous Amendment 2. But Gomer Pyle could have read the tea leaves on that one. In the no-brainers like Senator Jack Latvala and the state cabinet posts (other than Bondi), they really had no logical alternative. But all in all, The Times was pretty much out of step with the electorate.

Around the Bay –

1. Perhaps we are wrong to be surprised by the large margin of victory for the No Tax for Tracks movement. The Greenlight folks brought out a lot of heavy hitters but it was Joe Lunchbucket who said no to the highest sales tax in the state; the fact that the proposed tax would have the biggest effect on those who could afford it least; and, lastly after all the pre-election machinations, folks simply didn’t trust the people at the PSTA - both appointed and elected.

2. Biggest surprises in addition to margin of victory for No Tax for Tracks were the defeat of long time public servant Ed Hooper and the margin of victory for Julie Bujalski in Dunedin in what many observers thought would be a toss-up with Julie Scales. The loss of Scales and Hooper as public servants is a blow to Pinellas County.

3. Hopefully, the 2018 governor’s race will be more about who you’d like to see in the governor’s mansion rather than who you would not like to see there. Prediction: a name to be reckoned with in ’18 will be Adam Putnam.  

4. Well, another Sunday morning, another race to clog up traffic to and from Clearwater Beach. When is the city going to realize these events do nothing for the economy except louse things up on the beach?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a while if you remember when the ultra-modern bowling alley opened on Northeast Coachman Road replacing the old “pin boy” operation just west of the Gulf station near Clearwater’s bay front. The opening kicked off an upsurge in bowling in upper Pinellas with Largo Lanes, Dunedin Lanes, Tarpon Lanes, Hi-Lan Lanes and Shore Lanes opening within the next decade. Sadly, of the six, only Dunedin Lanes remains today.

The Diamond, the Media and other Stuff –

6. Note to Cooperstown: It’s probably safe to start designing that Bochy plaque.

7. Suddenly Skip Holtz and Greg Schiano aren’t looking all that bad. Will Lovie Smith get fired after one year? Probably not, but you have to think the guy in Pittsburgh who let this awful team beat his Steelers (at home) better keep winning if he wants to be around next year.

8. There’s an old saying “Welcome to the NFL”. For Joe Maddon, it’s “Welcome to the NL”. Maddon’s interleague and post season record against NL teams is less than spectacular. Prediction: the Cubs and their bright boys in the front office will regret tossing Rick Renteria over the side of the boat and spending big bucks on a guy who has never coached or managed in the National League. For the sake of a dear 88-year-old friend who, in his lifetime, has never seen his Cubs win it all, we hope we’re wrong.

9. Pre-season college basketball poll has Kentucky listed number one. Why don’t we just put Kentucky in the NBA? Their starting five (and perhaps more) are always there a year after “enrolling” at UK.

10. Again, as in September, Bay News Nine came up short on covering local races. If you wanted to know how county and city races were going, you had much better luck with the trailers on Channels 8 and 10 than on what is supposed to be a local news channel. And what’s up with that Halloween costume one of their “expert commentators” was wearing?

IN CLOSING:

During the seemingly endless debate on legalized medical pot here in Florida, it was pointed out that no state in the South has legalized pot in any form. Is that surprising? No more surprising than the fact that only two states in the Midwest have any sort of legalized pot. It’s simply a matter of values. Legalized pot is strong in the Far West and the Northeast. Does that make one of those sections right and the other wrong? No, it simply reflects differing values in different parts of the country. Vive la difference!