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

First thing on our mind:

Note to saintly wife as we close in on 56 years: the physical and mental warranties have long since expired.

Leading off: CPB had multiple chances

Over the last many years, moderate voices called for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and its affiliates, NPR and PBS to slightly “tone down” their leftist bent. Their response was even more such programming. In addition in the Tampa Bay market and others throughout the country, two pillars of public radio, classical music and jazz, were greatly decreased or eliminated completely. The last straw was personal attacks against President Donald Trump and other leaders by high ranking executives of public radio and TV. They should have known better – and now, with substantial cuts in government funding, they do.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

The principal of Leto High was arrested just before the start of the school year, charged with possession of cocaine. Think back to your CHS days and try to imagine that happening to Robert Glenn or William Justice. Our public school system has fallen mightily.

Those yellow buses are taking to the road this week. Keep a look out.

Don’t know about you, but even if a Democrat wanted to put $1,000,000,000 in my bank, I’d help him write the deposit slip.

Where are home insurance rates going up the most - surprisingly, not in Florida. Rates are up over twenty percent in Montana, Nebraska, Minnesota and Washington. The highest annual rates in raw dollars are in Oklahoma and Nebraska – an average of $6000 annually.

Airport advice from the 5:05 Newsletter:When going through airport customs and the TSA agent asks, “Do you have any firearms with you?” do not reply, “What do you need?” FYI: I missed my flight.

Speaking of airports, there’s an organization in suburban Atlanta called Seniors on the Go which features escorted day trips, longer motor coach trips, fly-ins and some cruises. This sounds like a natural for the bay area.

And speaking of seniors, our friend TL reminds us that quite a few of the seniors you see at a nostalgic rock concert are members of the band.

This week in 1939 (8/15), The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Sports, media and other notes:

Welcome to Jen Pawol who Saturday became the first female umpire to work a regular season major league game (Marlinsvs.Braves). Her first game was flawless. Sunday, she calls balls and strikes.

Congratulations to Ed Wade on being inducted into the Phillies Hall of Fame last week. The former GM is one of the nicest men you would ever want to meet (and the subject of one of my favorite baseball stories). Joining Ed was the Phils’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins, major league baseball’s 2007 NL MVP.

MLB rebounded nicely from what could have been a mess when Saturday’s game at Bristol Speedway was rained out. But a well-played game between the Reds and Braves Sunday somewhat saved the day. And tuck this away in your trivia memory bank. With Nashville sure to get an expansion franchise, the man to first homer in a MLB game in Tennessee will always be the Braves’ Eli White.

Sticker observed on the back of an Airstream – “Trailer Swift.”

Idle thought: seems like a lot of us were listening to “yacht rock” for at least a few decades. We just didn’t have a name for it!

The item above noted, we are bewildered at Sirius Radio dropping their satellite Yacht Rock channel, even though it remains on their streaming service.

Topping the charts 50 years ago this week was the Bee Gee’s Jive Talkin’ while ten years earlier Sonny and Cher were riding high with I Got You Babe.

One last thing: NFL scalpers

Geez, you would think guys making nice six (or seven) figure salaries wouldn’t have to stoop to scalping Super Bowl tickets. But over 100 NFL players did just that last season. They will be fined and prohibited from purchasing tickets to the next two Super Bowls. Each NFL player can buy two tickets to the big game, but cannot sell them for more than face value. In addition to the players, a couple dozen team employees were also caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Most of the scalped tickets were sold to so-called bundlers who put together Super Bowl packages. They, too, will face sanctions yet to be determined.

NEXT UP: Salary cap, Words, The Jeans Giant.

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