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: Waiting for Biden

Incredibly, six months after the train derailment, people in East Palestine, Ohio still can’t return to their contaminated homes, or their jobs, and their savings have shriveled down to nothing. Joe Biden said he would visit the site. Isn’t six months a little long to wait? Is this the price Ohio residents have to pay for voting for Donald Trump in 2020 –and 2016? If only the train had derailed in Delaware, or any blue state – or the Ukraine. Perhaps East Palestine isn’t as showy as Hawaii, but these people need help – now.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

As you wake up and anticipate your day at work, be happy you’re not a customer service rep at Spectrum - more on that below.

Hurricane thoughts: We guess it’s okay for politicians to use the occasion of a storm for free air time, but at least have your facts straight. Tampa’s mayor was gabbing about how the storm would drain the bay, only to be immediately refuted by meteorologist Josh Linker who correctly told of a storm surge in the bays.

Disney is getting clobbered in this Biden economy. It’s trading in the eighties after being as high as $111 earlier in the year. At the end of 2020, it was trading at $177- more on the mouse below.

One of our readers whose choo-choo pretty much runs in circles asks if we could just put both Biden and Trump in jail and start fresh. Not sure we disagree.

Political news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Governors Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis have reportedly reached an impasse in their Fox News debate planned for November. The impasse is said to be due to one of the debate questions which is “Why are there no U-Haul trucks available in California?”

There’s some good news on the local front. TRIM notices are out and while there are property tax increases, they are relatively modest.

Several of the major wireless companies are taking a red ink bath as their customers no longer mindlessly flock to cellular stores for every minor upgrade in so-called smart phones.

Luncheon date: Now as we’re back in school, three teachers we’d love to reunite with at lunch – Helen Richardson of Haverling (Bath, NY) Elementary, Joseph Maier of Clearwater Junior High and Roger VanGorder of Clearwater High – three terrific educators.

Our condolences to our friend Charlie Robinson on the passing of Louise, his wife of well over a half-century. A truly wonderful couple.

This week in 1963 (Sept. 7) American Bandstand leaves its home city of Philadelphia and becomes a weekly show aired from LA.

Sports, media and other stuff:

My, didn’t ESPN/Disney and Spectrum make tons of friends with Gator fans with their petty standoff taking away the Gator-Utah game last Thursday? With Spectrum, this comes on the heels of price increases of 15% and more. Incredibly, when a Spectrum customer called Friday morning, they were told customer service was not available until the Tuesday after Labor Day. Nice work.

Sadly, we have most likely seen the last of the ultra-talented Wander Franco in a Rays’ uniform.

Here’s something to watch. Never in the history of baseball have any two NY teams (Dodgers, Giants, Mets or Yankees) finished in last place. There’s a very real possibility that could happen this year.

The Athletic ranks all 131 Division I football teams and their first rankings are out with FSU at #8; Florida (40); UCF (42); Miami a disappointing 60; Florida Atlantic (79); South Florida (111 which is actually up almost 20 points from their 2022 finish); and Florida International at 126. UMass anchors the poll – pretty much where they finished last year.

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when virtually every new shopping center had a Publix on one end and an Eckerd Drugs on the other.

…and another thing: CCR, # 2 with a bullet

Fifty-five years ago this week, a band from California with a name that suggested they should have been from here, Creedence Clearwater Revival, issued their first record, a remake of a 1957 Dale Hawkins tune – Suzie Q. It went all the way to #11 on the charts. But that was nothing compared to their run from 1969 to ‘71 when they had eight top ten tunes, but amazingly no number ones. They did have five number twos. Here they are, along with the song that kept them from that coveted number one record – Proud Mary (Everyday People – Sly and the Family Stone); Bad Moon Rising (Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet – Henry Mancini); Green River (Sugar, Sugar – the Archies – no, really); Travelin’ Band (Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel) and Looking Out My Back Door (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Diana Ross). CCR also had seven two-sided hits – an amazing career.

NEXT UP: You gotta see this; DOE’s latest target; Robin Roberts

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