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.

Leading off: Only baby steps for St. Pete

The announcement has been made – a developer has been chosen for the area surrounding the Trop in St. Pete. That is, by far, the easiest part of a complex equation. Let us tackle just three of the wild cards involved. (1) The team – the Rays, while successful in the standings, are a cellar dweller in attendance, always ranking among the bottom three teams in the MLB. The advent of a balanced schedule may help some with NL heavyweights like the Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers and Phillies coming to town. (2) The big gamble – that surrounding a new park with hotels, eateries and shops will work. All eyes are on Cobb County, Ga. and the Braves with the area surrounding the ballpark, The Battery, spinning off millions. But, it’s not as easy as it looks. (3) And the biggest problem since the opening pitch in 1998 – location. The Trop is located at the bottom of a funnel known as Pinellas County – a horrendous location motivated by political machinations in the 1980s and acerbated by no public transportation to the stadium. Those are three big problems that must be solved if the Rays are going to remain viable in the bay area.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Thanks for the memories, Tom.

Yeah, that’s just what I want to do this weekend, go watch a film with Hanoi Jane and her fellow travelers.

Quote of the week: Biden Vows We 'Have Your Back' on Student Debt Relief. Whose back? It’s certainly not responsible Americans.

One has to wonder about the future of Newsmax given their last place among cable news operations and the recent thuggery of AT&T owned DirecTV who arbitrarily dropped them from their platform.

Asking for a friend, how many pizza joints do you suppose there are in Pinellas County?

Observation from the ever vigilant 5:05 Newsletter: Lately, United States classified documents keep showing up like mail-in ballots.

This week in 1963, (Feb. 11) Julia Child’s The French Chef premieres on WGBH-TV in Boston - one of the first cooking shows in the U.S.

Sports, media and other stuff:

The NFL cannot be proud of the spectacle in Philadelphia last weekend.

Okay, we’re now a believer. We’ll take the Eagles in the Heinz Super Bowl and give the points.

Florida and Arizona State are unlikely to meet over the next few years – except for a possible bowl matchup and that’s a good thing for QB Jaden Rashada who couldn’t resist a couple cheap shots before leaving UF.

“When your morning involves police custody, you've more than likely made a poor choice.” – Sports columnist Mark Bradley on Georgia QB Stetson Bennett’s alcohol-related arrest.                                  

Number of the week: 46 years. That’s the number of years a broadcaster named Caray has called an Atlanta Braves game. The legacy ends with Chip, son of the legendary Skip Caray, moving to the Cardinals where his even more famous grandfather, Harry, began his broadcast career in 1945.

A name to remember - Victor Wembanyama, who will be the 1^st pick in June’s NBA draft. The 7’3” power forward is not a college kid, but a pro in France’s version of the NBA.

An interesting show hosted by Dave Hoeffel on Sirius Radio a few weeks back cataloged the top 50 artists of the 1960s. The top five are the Beatles and Elvis, of course, followed by Ray Charles, Brenda Lee and the Supremes.

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Fast Eddie’s Restaurant in Tarpon Springs known for their “warm beer and lousy food”.

And another thing: Happy Birthday to WTAN

The diploma says we got a Bachelor of Arts degree from USF in Mass Communications, but our real education came at a radio station on Clearwater’s bayfront. The instructors were radio pros like Scott Dilworth, Harry Lytle and Frank Reid. This year, the station celebrates its 75^th birthday. A lot has happened in those 75 years: the birth of one of the bay area’s first FM stereo stations; a ton of Clearwater Bomber championships broadcast and a narrow focus on Upper Pinellas as opposed to so-called regional stations. A lot of call letters have come and gone (think WDCL, WTSP, WAZE, WALT and WLCY); but Clearwater’s first station continues, and we wish them well for the next 75 years.

NEXT UP: Smartest President; Amazon Smile; Rites of Spring

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