TOP OF THE WEEK

Before we get too excited about the fact that St. Pete is going to take the chains off the Tampa Bay Rays franchise and let them look elsewhere (read Tampa) for a new stadium site – some sobering thoughts. The Rays were dead last in attendance in the major leagues last year. Sure, they outdrew Cleveland by a few thousand, but the Indians played three less home games and actually outdrew the Rays on a per game basis. But the team we need to focus on finished three spots above the Rays in attendance – the Miami Marlins. The Marlins averaged less than 3,500 more fans than the Rays –in a league that traditionally outdraws the American League by five to seven million fans a year – in other words, a push. The Marlins achieved this mighty feat despite having a new, state of the art stadium and an exciting young ball club. At some point, locals and MLB are going to have to face the fact that some markets are simply lousy baseball markets, and no new baseball palace on either side of the bay is going to cure that long term.

Around the Bay –

1. Bob Blackhorn for governor in 2018? Perhaps, but you have to remember that while most folks in the bay area know and respect the mayor, the majority of voters in Palm Beach and Leon counties have never heard of the guy.

2. The city of Clearwater is toying with the idea of trying to put events into Crest Lake Park. They have some work to do. Crest Lake has become a refuge for the homeless so much so that most folks no longer walk the three-quarter mile sidewalk around the park for exercise or use the other exercise facilities in the park. This is definitely a chicken and egg situation. They have to solve the homeless chicken problem before they can have the egg - things like arts festivals and holiday events.

3. When is Pinellas County going to bite the bullet and consolidate its firefighting services?

4. Breaking news: Governor Rick Scott actually won re-election. To read “Florida’s Best Newspaper” comparing his vote totals to medical pot, Pam Bondi and the ’32 Roosevelt landslide among others, one would think not.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when Clearwater got its second radio station – WAZE 860 – 55 years ago this year. The station was founded by WTAN ex-patriots Chuck Adams and Gene Allen Robinson.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Can’t see any scenario where the new “playoff committee” is going to recognize that three of the four best college football teams in the country are in the SEC. The conference will be lucky to get two teams in the final four.

7. Are we the only ones who think that NASCAR’s new playoff system is gimmicky?

8. What you do think – is a guy who appears in roughly one-fifth of his team’s games a Most Valuable Player?

9. Amid the pink slips handed out for fledgling TV series, one survivor is Madam Secretary which got the go ahead from CBS to do 22 episodes despite so-so ratings. Prediction: once the Sunday night NFL season ends, this gem will capture a more sizable audience.

10. Many disappointing seasons later, do you think the Bucs regret firing Jon Gruden? Perhaps, but it’s for sure that ESPN and football viewers in general are happy they did.

IN CLOSING –

We lead with the Rays, we close with the Rays. This is some sort of cruel joke, right? Don Wakamatsu, who was a bust with the Mariners; Kevin Cash, who is a bullpen coach (a job usually given to an old buddy of the manager) and Raul Ibanez, who was an active player two months ago. These are the finalists for the Ray’s job? Is Naimoli running the outfit again? Just because the Rays plucked long shot Joe Maddon out of the air last time and got lucky doesn’t mean lightning will strike twice. And what a slap in the face to the loyal soldier that is Dave Martinez, who incidentally has more credentials than the three finalists combined. Good grief, why didn’t they just pick a successful Little League coach? If you thought the Rays stunk this year, just wait until next season.