Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

It only took 5 days for the attacks to begin

We are a bit surprised it took so long – five days before the liberal media jumped all over Gov. Ron DeSantis for his response to Hurricane Ian. Seems he finally tired of answering the same dumb question for the 50^th time - “Why didn’t he and other officials order an evacuation earlier?” and snapped back with the answer that every weather person in Florida was predicting a Tampa Bay landfall – not southwest Florida. Then there was the whack job on last Tuesday’s editorial page who doesn’t think DeSantis should look to Washington for help and somehow links it all to abortion issues – all the while ignoring the fact that Florida is a massive contributor state (taxes outflowing versus money inflowing). The guy has done a hell of a job and our only surprise is that it took the liberal press led by our own Tampa Bay Half Truths all of five days to rush to the attack.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Another good run, but the local’s bats went cold at the wrong time. That happens to many teams who face the Cleveland pitching staff. Certainly one of the greatest games in post season history, if (to quote Dwayne Statts) not the outcome.

A Rave goes to the Tampa Bay Bucs for donating $1 million to the relief effort in Southwest Florida. While all of us cannot match those numbers, you can kick in a few bucks at your next checkout at Publix. And thanks to them for their $1 million contribution and providing a conduit for the rest of us. Oh, related to our lead article, didn’t see any mention of our local newspaper chipping in with any relief dollars.

Our friend TL, quoting a very reliable source, tells us it takes about 300 local law enforcement officers to cover a Presidential visit. Hope you enjoyed your southwest Florida junket Joe. What a massive waste of needed resources.

The circus continues in St. Pete – this time to replace Council person Lisa Wheeler-Bowman, who most recently was caught living outside the district she is supposed to represent – the latest in a series of follies including playing fast and loose with campaign funds in her first try for office.

Help us with the math. October is gas tax (about a quarter a gallon) free month in Florida, yet prices are as high or higher than they were on September 30.

Answer: Lyndon B. Johnson. Question: who was the only Senate Majority Leader to later become President of the United States?

Asking for a friend: how many corners in the Tampa Bay area have a Walgreens on one corner and a CVS across the street?

From the peerless 5:05 Newsletter:” I tried to Google Martha's Vineyard today and got redirected to Grapevine, Texas.”

This week in 1915 (October 12) the Ford Motor Company manufactures its one millionth automobile. (More on Ford below).

Sports, media and other stuff:

Borrowed from another blog: “Over the last six months, I’ve watched every episode of the Bachelor/Bachelorette, Love Is Blind, Ultimatum and Love Island UK with my girlfriend to justify how much football I’m going to watch in the next five months.”

Hard to imagine, but Jackson State coach Deion Sanders’ name is being tossed around as a potential replacement at one of the five (and there will be more) Division I schools already looking for a new head coach. Could Georgia Tech be a fit?

Related: Wisconsin dumps head coach Paul Chryst despite a 67-26 career record at a school that isn’t exactly Alabama or Georgia – or even Ohio State or Michigan.

The Seattle Mariners are back in the playoffs after a long drought. How long? Between Mariner’s playoff appearances every team in every major sport (MLB, NFL, NHL and the NBA) has made a playoff appearance.

Tony LaRussa is generally considered one of the smartest managers in the last half century. His only failing was (to paraphrase Bacharach-David) not knowing when to leave. The USF grad’s return to the White Sox was ill-fated, partly due to health issues. Now he steps away already a Hall of Famer.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you own a copy of No Small Feat, a neat recipe book published by The Silver Sisters, a group founded in 1978 and devoted to finding loving homes for adoptive children.

Ford does it again

The F-150 pickup truck has managed to keep the Ford Motor Company in business for the past couple decades. It outsells its closest competition by about a quarter million units per year. More importantly, Ford has not managed to mess it up – yet. The company has had some notorious missteps in its history – beginning, of course, with the 1950s Edsel debacle. Its most successful car of the 50s was the Thunderbird, which they managed to turn into a monstrosity by the mid-70s. Their neat retro T-Bird of the early 2000s was too little, too late and the model went away in 2006. Now, perhaps the most successful Ford nameplate of all time, the Mustang, has been turned into a nondescript electric car that looks like about two dozen other vanilla vehicles. It’s a tragedy for car enthusiasts – and priced at over $70,000 to boot. What would Lee Iacocca think? If you’re lucky enough to own what used to be a Mustang – hang on to it.

NEXT UP: Sock drawer; Mad Magazine; No halftime show

100922/738

Sorry, time does not permit replies to comments