Established in 2014, Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of local and national politics, sports, lifestyles and Tampa Bay memories from a politically incorrect viewpoint.

Leading off: Trying to understand FTX

As a baseball nerd, we first saw the three letters FTX on the uniforms of major league umpires. We checked it out – one of the crypto currency houses and recalled the words of our wise investment advisor “there are two types of crypto traders, those who are broke and those who will be.” Michael Lewis’ recent book Going Infinite bears that out as he tracks the rise and tumultuous fall of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and his associated companies. Was SBF a misguided altruist or just another Bernie Madoff? Lewis cuts Bankman-Fried some slack perhaps because of their shared leftist viewpoints. The jurors in his first fraud trial were not as forgiving, finding him guilty on five charges that could mean over 100 years in prison upon sentencing in March.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

In the next two weeks (Feb. 4 and 11), we will be highlighting the races for mayor and city council in Clearwater along with our recommendations.

Come on President Trump, you’ve all but clinched the nomination, show a little class.

And congratulations President Trump, your New Hampshire win and virtual clinching of the nomination made Page 8 of the local left wing bi-weekly.

After a deflating presidential bid, Gov. Ron DeSantis should take heart. He’s in the middle of a very successful run as governor and he is still a young man with a lot of opportunities ahead.

But on the other hand, what is the faltering St. Pete Times going to do with the cached attack articles planned for the next ten months?

Don’t know how else to say it – Mitch McConnell is a blundering idiot who needs to be put out to pasture, preferably in the pasture next to Joe Biden.

Something we recently read in a liberal newspaper verbatim: “Special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton DA Fani Willis have a common goal: to prosecute election interference.” Perhaps if that is repeated a few thousand times, someone with an IQ of over 80 will believe it.

Another victim of high interest rates: auto sales which experts predict to be flat in 2024 after somewhat of an upswing in 2023.

Yet another example of our “thriving” economy, after last week’s death knoll for Sports Illustrated comes with news of layoffs and store closings for Macy’s.

January, a good time to be indoors with a good book or have lunch with three of your favorite fiction authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Hailey.

“Borrowed” from a friend, One minute you are young and the next minute you are predicting the weather with your bad knee.

This week in 1928 (Jan. 31) 3M scotch tape is first marketed.

Sports, media and other notes:

5:05 Sports Note: Earlier this month, white smoke was seen emanating from the Cracker Barrel in Tuscaloosa signifying that Alabama has selected a new football coach.

We know there are only 32 head coaching positions in the NFL, but we wish Bucs’ offensive coordinator Dave Canales had held out for something better than the hot mess that is the Carolina Panthers.

Related: former Bucs’ coach Raheem Morris gets the Falcons’ job. With a 21-38 combined record here and previously as an interim in Atlanta; this is probably his last shot as a head coach.

It’s about time - for Todd Helton to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Hitting instructors have their left handed students view videos of that swing. As for Adrian Beltre, first year, we can abide with that, but Joe Mauer, good but not a first year inductee (see Berra, Yogi and Campanella, Roy, neither first rounders). A final swing and miss for Tampa’s Gary Sheffield whose post season struggles probably doomed his chances.

A tip of our cap goes to Nick Dunlap, a University of Alabama sophomore, the first amateur golfer to win a PGA event in a third of a century. Buoyed by his success, he will now turn pro.

TikTok: If you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time, you remember the lounge, spelled a little differently, where at any given time, you could find about a quarter of The Clearwater Sun’s staff.

One last thing: Your Sunday comfort zone

Nothing was more relaxing than sharing a Sunday morning cup of coffee with Charles Osgood who died last week at age 91. He anchored CBS Sunday Morning for over twenty years with a laid back style that made you feel he was sitting across your living room. And while other TV journalists distained radio once they “made it” on TV, The Osgood File on CBS Radio continued even after he left Sunday Morning. That portion of your week was never the same when he (and his predecessor Charles Kuralt) left the living room. Osgood was one of the truly great journalists of the 20^th century.

NEXT WEEK: In the Mood; First drive-thru; Mayor’s election

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