Flight 370 - still no credible answers

It is the greatest aviation mystery since Amelia Earhart went missing in the 1930s. Unlike Earhart’s craft, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014 carried sophisticated tracking gear – all which was switched off not long into the flight. It is presumed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean after making an inexplicable 180 degree turn from its original northerly flight plan. Since then – lots of theories including very recent nonsense that the pilot is in a Taiwanese hospital – he isn’t and that Chinese searchers have identified wreckage on the bottom of the ocean – they haven’t. CNN’s Richard Quest has written a compelling book on the subject (The Vanishing of Flight MH370) including a believable hypothesis on what may have happened. If you can skip past the self-congratulatory segments on himself and his network, it is well worth a read as the four-year old mystery gets no closer to conclusion.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In the midst of all uproar about the separation of children, Laura Ingraham had a compelling interview with three mothers separated from their children – permanently. Each mother lost their child to an illegal alien who had been jailed and then allowed to walk free.

2. Pardon us if we don’t buy the argument that President Trump’s tariff policies are harming the newspaper industry. That industry has been on life support for a couple decades.

3. With summer’s temps and power bills going up, we haven’t talked to many people who have bought into Duke Energy’s “same bill every month” plan. Most who ran the numbers found it to be advantage Duke.

4. Speaking of energy, we’re sure it’s Justice Kennedy’s resignation, Jameis’ suspension or Joe Crowley’s loss in New York that the oil companies will blame for last week’s 15-20 a gallon price hike. It cannot possibly be the 4^th of July holiday and a chance for them to gouge the American public.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at the Steak and Ale on U.S. 19 just south of Gulf to Bay Blvd. The chain’s last restaurants closed about ten years ago.

Sports, media and other stuff

6. It was a July 4^th weekend when we saw our first major league game – a Giants-Pirates doubleheader at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. If we were commissioner, teams would have to play at least one home doubleheader on a summer holiday weekend.

7. This week back in 1966, something happened in baseball that had never happened before – a player hit two grand slams in one game – a pitcher no less! Other players have equaled the Braves’ Tony Cloninger since but he remains the only pitcher to ever turn the trick.

8. Michael Kelly’s hiring as USF’s new AD looks like a big win for the Bulls.

9. Television insiders do not predict a long future for The Connors, the Roseanne spinoff. Many say that once contractual obligations to actors and behind camera folks are fulfilled, it’s bye-bye – possibility as soon as ten episodes.

10. As promised, each summer holiday edition of TBRR, we’ll have a doubleheader in our series selecting the best player/pitcher of each MLB franchise (see back story TBRR 3/25); this week – the Marlins and the Padres. The Marlins have one of the shortest histories in the game and no Hall of Famers. Their top winning pitcher won only 62 games but what an ambassador for baseball – Dontrelle Willis (he was a heck of a hitter, too). On the player side, there hasn’t been a lot of longevity, but former Marlin Giancarlo Stanton tops the list as the Marlin’s top player in their brief existence. As for the Padres, they have a little longer history than the Marlins and two outstanding folks to consider. Anyone who is called “Mr. Padre“ is probably a good choice. Tony Gwynn was a 15-time All Star and 8-time batting champion and first ballot Hall of Famer. A more recent Hall of Famer gets the nod as the Padres best all-time pitcher – Trevor Hoffman who holds the NL record for saves with 601, all but 47 of them in a Padres uniform.

MLB at the half way mark

Three months down and three months to go in the national pastime: Some thoughts – half season MVPs – Braves’ Freddie Freeman and Boston’s Mookie Betts. Cy Young – Max Scherzer and his former teammate Houston’s Justin Verlander. It’s hard to imagine the teams in the AL now qualified for postseason changing. The National League is different with every division and wild card race extremely tight – which will make for an exciting second half. Teams to watch in the second half – the Nationals and the Mariners. Teams likely to be most active at the end of July trade deadline – Cubs, Dodgers, Indians and Yanks. Big sellers will be the Orioles, Mets, Reds and our local nine.

UP NEXT: Goodbye City Hall; guess what icon closed 27 years ago?

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The “art” of returning calls

We were looking for a sporting goods item a few weeks back. Scrolled through our options on the internet and came across Dicks Sporting Goods. Was about to look, then suddenly remembered this is the same company that failed to return a family member’s call on a fairly important matter during the past year – scratch them in our search. It amazes us that companies (and individuals) cannot take the few minutes it takes to return a call from a customer, potential customer or vendor. In saying call, we are grouping all those modern conveyances that we do not practice – emails, texts and a twitter – if that is applicable in this case (still don’t know what twitter is, but our current President seems to). Beside the fact, returning a message is just common courtesy; not doing it can cost you customers, potential customers and, worse, friends.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. There were media conservatives Charles Krauthammer and George Will and then there were the rest. Krauthammer, who overcame early paralysis to become a formidable conservative voice, died from cancer last week at 68.

2. If the Democrats want to have a chance at reclaiming the governor’s mansion, they need to run Philip Levine, but the Demo candidate will most likely be Gwen Graham who will not beat Adam Putnam.

3. We want to tip our cap to Shawn Morrison, the owner of Car Tunes on East Bay Drive in Largo. We came in with an issue involving our new car’s radio and our MP3 player. It certainly was not a big money making project for Shawn, but he treated us like it was. Thanks!

4. We’re not sure we are ready for valet parking at Publix which is being tested in South Tampa, but we sure like the covered parking at the Island Estates store particularly during summer’s rainy season.

5. Super hero news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Last month marked the 80th birthday of Superman. Now that he is 80, Superman is rendered helpless by Kryptonite and his email password.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. We repeat our assertion of earlier this year (TBRR 1/7/18) that the Bucs need to cut their losses with Jameis Winston. It’s too late to salvage the ’18 season with the possible three game suspension looming, but this year’s draft priority needs to be a potential franchise quarterback.

7. Times beat writer Marc Topkin’s look at the 2019 Rays last weekend read very much like a concession speech.

8. Gee, do you think the U.S. Open will wind up at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club any time soon after last weekend’s debacle?

9. The answer: George Malone, Warren Davis and Charles Patrick. The question: Who wrote The Book of Love? – a smash hit 60 years ago this month.

10. In our continuing series of each MLB franchise’s best players and pitchers (see back story TBRR 3/25/18), the Mets are up this week. Choosing their best all time pitcher is an easy one – Hall of Famer Tom Seaver who won 198 of his 311 victories with the Mets. On the player side, it’s a little tougher as the three best players (all Hall of Famers) to wear a Mets uniform, Gary Carter, Willie Mays and Mike Piazza all had significant time with other clubs. One career Met stands out even though his later career has been ravaged with injuries – 13-year Met David Wright who has poked 242 career home runs and maintained a batting average just shy of .300 and is a seven-time All Star.

Clearwater and the Phils

First full disclosure, we were more than casually involved in the original effort to build the Phils a new stadium back at the turn of the century. What is shocking to us is the price tag of proposed renovations to the complex at Drew and 19 is double what the entire stadium cost in the early part of this century. And in looking at the menu of upgrades, there are more than a few “nice to haves” rather than need to haves. We like the fact that the Phils, as they did with the original stadium, are on the hook for any cost over runs, but just the same, there seems to be the need for a little value engineering for a city facing a tax increase and uncertain county and state support for this very large project. Finally, an admittedly cynical analysis will tell you that the days of cities in Florida and Arizona jumping through hoops to land 18 or so spring training games each year has come and gone.

UP NEXT: Flight 370; celebrating the 4^th; MLB mid-season

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Telephone home invaders need to be punished – hard

The once vaunted “Do Not Call List” has become a joke. Telemarketers and worse call homes on that list with impunity. Some conscientious folks report violations to the Do Not Call hotline but, by most accounts, those folks are either overwhelmed or just don’t care. The newest spin by these phone creeps is using 727 and 813 area code numbers making you think it’s someone you know but don’t recognize the number. Bob Driver, the former Clearwater Sun columnist had a tongue in cheek piece on dealing with these miscreants (Beach Bee – March 16) – his best suggestion is answering the phone “IRS Office, this is agent Johnson”. Speaking of the IRS, perhaps it’s time for the feds to step in and, after say five or so violations and warnings, revoke phone service for the various companies and their officers/owners. Draconian? We don’t think so.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. It was a good move by the Hillsborough County Commission to trash a proposed single district scheme being touted by Commission chair Sandy Murman. The plan was fraught with problems including an unwieldly nine-person commission.

2. She started at the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce and then led the Dunedin Chamber for 18 successful years. Lynn Wargo died early this month at age 57 – a tremendous loss to our community.

3. Alice Marie Johnson, a cocaine trafficker, was pardoned by President Trump after intervention by the famous for being famous Kim Kardashian. Ms. Johnson served 22 years in jail. That is probably a few days each or less for all the lives she and her fellow drug pushers ruined.

4. We agree with several posters on Twitter. The International House of Burgers name will be short lived. Why? Let’s see there’s IHOP, Perkins and little else. On the other side of the coin, there’s McDonald’s, Burger King, Checkers, Wendy’s, Hardee’s, Five Guys, Red Robin, In and Out plus a dozen more. Some restaurant experts say it’s just a summer thing and the IHOP brand will return when the weather turns cool.

5. From the trendsetting 5:05 Club Newsletter this gem: There is talk of legalizing marijuana in Utah. However, Mormons are worried that marijuana may be a gateway drug to coffee.

Sports, media and other stuff: 

6. The Rays may not have the best team in baseball but their broadcasters match up with any team. Dewayne Statts is destined for the broadcaster’s wing in the Hall of Fame and Andy Freed and Dave Wills are a terrific radio duo.

7. Factoid: Only ten out of every million adults in the U.S. have never seen The Tonight Show.

8. Summer begins this week and here are five great summer tunes to crank up on your music device – Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69 (a very good year); Johnny Rivers’ Summer Rain; The Beach Boys classic Kokomo; Beach Baby by First Class and arguably the ultimate summertime theme – Surf City by Jan and Dean.

9. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you shopped at Kash and Karry Supermarkets which became Sweetbay which was folded in Winn Dixie. Making the story even more confusing, the original Kash and Karry in Plant City was first named Big Barn!

10. In our season long series on the best player/pitcher of each franchise (see back story TBRR 3/25/17), some weeks are tougher than others. With the Indians our focus this week, you immediately think of pitching – Hall of Fame pitching like Bob Feller, Bob Lemon and Early Wynn. The nod goes to Feller who won 266 games for the Tribe despite missing three and a half years during World War II. The signature endorsement for Feller comes from the great Ted Williams who called him “the finest pitcher I ever faced”. On the player side, it’s a tight race between two Hall of Famers – Larry Doby and Jim Thome. Both were great but Thome’s numbers are just overwhelming.

One the eve of the Governor’s race, a good read

Floridians will be electing a new governor in a few short months. There’s no time like the present to reflect on those who have come before our current governor and his successor. For instance, did you know that we had a governor who ran on the Prohibitionist Party ticket or one who claimed that Pope Benedict XV was trying to take over Florida or one who ran for governor when he discovered he could live rent-free in the Governor’s Mansion? And they were all the same person – just one of many interesting things about our chief executives in Robert Buccellato’s Florida Governors Lasting Legacies. It’s a good primer for the primaries and November’s general election.

Up Next: Clearwater & the Phils; Return the Call; who wrote The Book of Love?

On medical pot, Nelson’s memory is short

Quote of the week from current Senator Bill Nelson: “I don't want a government or a politician to get in the way of a doctor recommending what should be the treatment, the medical treatment, for that doctor's patient.” He was referring to smoking medical marijuana. Nelson’s memory is short. What he conveniently forgets is that Florida’s doctors (and law enforcement authorities) were foursquare against the half-baked constitution amendment allowing for medical pot.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We make a slight change in the header directly above in honor of one of our early career mentors. Roy Nilson, the man behind the tremendous success of WLCY radio, coined the term “Great Tampa Bay” in the early 1960s.

2. As economic commentator Stuart Varney points out, McDonalds’ move to kiosks in their stores is going to eliminate that first job option for many of our youth. It’s also just plain irritating to those of us who want to order food from a human being.

3. You wonder about the future of Tampa’s Citrus Park Mall, once a high flyer. It lost upscale pieces like Brooks Brothers and Restoration Hardware several years ago, and now a major anchor, Sears, departs. Can game rooms and tattoo parlors be far behind?

4. Treehouse update: back in January (TBRR 1/28), we profiled our favorite group on earth – the Morton Plant Wellness Center Treehouse and reported the café where they meet closed. Clever individuals they are, the boys simply started bringing Yetis full of coffee from home and continue their daily efforts to strengthen our world.

5. Not sure whether this latest tidbit from the 5:05 Newsletter qualifies as legal news or sports but here goes: “The Supreme Court has struck down a federal law that banned sports gambling. The ruling came down seven-to-two, which cost me a bunch of money because I had bet on six-to-three”.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Hey Dos Equis, how did that new “most interesting man in the world” work out?

7. If the Rays are still at .500 at the end of this month, they are for real. But the odds are they won’t be. All but three games this month are against teams over the .500 mark. Stay tuned.

8. For what it’s worth, our All-Star Ballot includes three Braves, two each Indians and Angels and an all-Florida catching tandem in Ramos and Realmuto. But we’re still having trouble dealing with no voting in the parks and being able to vote up to 35 times. This isn’t Chicago.

9. He was the baseball man’s baseball man. Red Schoendienst, the oldest living member of the hall of Fame, died last week at age 95. The redhead made his mark in St. Louis, but was also part of a World Series championship team in Milwaukee in 1957.

10. Last week we reviewed the great players of the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers. It’s only logical to follow that up with a look at the best player and pitcher of their longtime rivals – the New York/San Francisco Giants. The Giants are a team with a lot of great players – Bonds, Cepeda and McCovey to name three. But the Giant of all Giants is the Say Hey Kid – Willie Mays. On the pitching side, Gaylord Perry was a stalwart for the Giants over the years but even his impressive numbers pale in comparison to those of the Dominican Dandy – Juan Marichal.

Roku – the baseball fanatic’s dream come true

If you, like us until a year ago, have never heard of Roku, you are in for a treat. The Roku device itself, sells for considerably south of $100. You pair that with a $90 or $120 investment and you are in baseball heaven. The former number gets you the MLB package, which according to your taste, can provide you with every game of your home town team with your announcers. The later number gives you the games of every major league team – the only exception if your home town team happens to be playing at the Trop but then you can rely on the Fox network. It’s relatively easy to hook up (you must have a router) and the Roku customer support is terrific. If you don’t have time to watch the whole game; Roku and the MLB package give you a condensed game of about 15-20 minutes in length usually within two hours of the game’s conclusion. With Father’s Day just around the corner, it is an ideal gift for a Dad who’s a big fan.

UP NEXT: Summer sounds; telephone invasions; Florida’s governors

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Think long and hard about giving felons the vote

Last month, a federal court of appeals rightfully agreed that the state of Florida does not have to willy-nilly grant voting rights to every felon who completes their prison terms. It will now be in the hands of the voters who, one hopes, will look hard at the crop of potential voters they would enfranchise. Truth be told, it may not matter as there has never been any accurate measure of how many of these model citizens ever took the time to cast a ballot. We guess they were too occupied with peddling drugs, stealing cars or counterfeiting bills. The silver lining is even if this improvident measure passes, murderers and rapists (at least those who could not bargain down their crimes) will still be barred from the ballot box. The not so silver lining is Florida would be adding 1.2 million people to voter rolls who have demonstrated little regard for the law.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Floridians will soon smoke medical marijuana. Oh goody, that will make our roads so much more interesting.

2. This year marks the 50^th anniversary of the last biennial legislative session in Florida. Many observers feel we should return to every other year legislatures feeling less harm would be done if legislators meet only every other year.

3. Quote of the week: “I’d win in a landslide”. Blustery ambulance chaser John Morgan on what would have happened if he had run for governor. We think not.

4. 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani is this year’s National Spelling Bee champ. He should have been given the prize for simply spelling his own name. Without our meds, we occasionally have trouble with our name – the third most used first name and 25^th most common surname.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ate at the Owl Diner on Park Street – now part of the footprint of the PSTA bus station.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Roseanne Barr was justifiably cashiered for her insensitive twitter last week. But the sad thing is that similar diatribes from the left appear every day on TV, the internet and elsewhere, and the lunatic fringe authors live to tell the tale – witness the consistently disgusting Samantha Bee’s latest.

7. We’ve prepared a treatise on what we perceive as the value and advantages of sabermetrics in baseball. It is attached at the end of this week’s blog.

8. Sports quote of the week: “The Rays keep playing for tomorrow and tomorrow never seems to come”- crack baseball analyst Ken Rosenthal.

9. NBA finals – our crack prediction team likes Golden State in seven – and hopefully before baseball’s All-Star break.

10. We continue our rundown of MLB franchises’ best player/pitcher since 1950. This week we feature another storied franchise – the Brooklyn/LA Dodgers and turn to a fellow baseball fan and friend since the third grade – not to mention a long time Dodger fan. His picks were the incomparable Sandy Koufax as their best pitcher and picking from a bunch of Hall of Famers on the offensive side like Campy, Duke, Jackie and Gil (who should be there); he picks their elite outfielder for 16 years – Duke Snider. And he votes an honorable mention to a non-player but certainly a Dodger legend – Vin Scully.

Induct Anka and Sedaka before they reach Rock n’ Roll Heaven

We feel it important to mention at least once a year the absence of Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The two men combined for 83 charted records and six number one hits – plus writing dozens of songs for others including Sinatra, the 5^th Dimension, Connie Francis, Captain and Tennille and Buddy Holly. There is a petition on the internet for Sedaka – probably one for Anka as well, but we can’t research it as we have been without internet access for two days thanks to the knuckleheads at Spectrum. These two guys are 76 and 79 respectively. They need to go into the Hall while they can still savor it.

UP NEXT: Giants’ best, Roku, Nelson’s weak memory

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Remember

The case against a strong Clearwater Mayor (Part 3)

To recap parts 1 and 2 (TBRR May 13 and 20). Will a strong mayor lessen the burden of Scientology in Clearwater – no. And do the citizens of Clearwater want to be a St. Pete or Tampa – again a no. What’s it going to cost? A question that needs an answer before Clearwater considers a strong mayor. A peek at our neighbors to the east and south can give us some clues. In Tampa, Mayor Bob Buckhorn gets paid just over $150,000 a year – more than Clearwater’s city council combined. And because, he is a politician not a manager, a top administrator is required. In Tampa, that is slightly more than $200,000 – more than an 18-year city manager makes in Clearwater. And that’s the best case. In St. Pete, Mayor Rick Kriseman comes in at roughly $180,000, but he has used his some four years in office to build a top heavy pyramid complete with deputy mayor, chief of staff and assorted other functionaries all pulling in north of $150,000 each – you’d think it was Chicago. For that kind of money, you better get a Lexus. But – does Clearwater need a Lexus and, more importantly, is there any guarantee we get a Lexus? No, there isn’t.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Some weeks back, we promised a further list of companies that have recently moved to suppress free speech from the conservative side. It seems especially appropriate to list them this week. They are, but not limited to, Jenny Craig, Wayfair, Nestle and Office Depot. We had already mentioned the multi-layered Johnson & Johnson conglomerate in a previous post.

2. There was a moving ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Jude last weekend ordaining three young men as priests, but the biggest response from the packed cathedral came when Bishop Gregory Parkes mentioned that the three young men were Noles, Gators and Bulls respectively.

3. Further proof that only the good die young, long time Pinellas lawmaker and all around good guy John Morroni succumbed to cancer last week at age 63.

4. All this tempest about Publix’ support for Adam Putnam. The guy has deep roots in Polk County as does Publix. Do you expect them to support some Tallahassee dweller?

5. Hurricane season begins this Friday. Alberto is our first storm name and we offer this sage advice from 5:05 Newsletter: How do I prepare for hurricane season? Answer: STEP 1. Buy enough food and bottled water to last your family for at least five days. STEP 2. Put these supplies into your car. STEP 3. Drive to California and remain there until Halloween. Good advice – wish we had that last year when we drove to Jacksonville and drowned our four month-old car.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. The seven game lost to the Caps was disappointing, but we take solace in the fact we had a better run than all but two hockey fandoms.

7. A local electrical lineman said it best last week – “If I carried on at a customer’s home or anywhere else in my workplace, I’d be fired. So why is the NFL players’ workplace any different”?

8. It’s fun to watch a visiting team’s telecasts from the Trop and listen to visiting announcers try to explain the rings at the stadium. It’s like hearing someone attempting to explain a very complex video game.

9. Techno geek alert, if you use Carbonite for your cloud services, you might want to re-think that. The company has a disturbing habit of collecting money and then not providing the services promised. Experts tell us pcloud, BACKBLAZE and Amazon Cloud are better alternatives.

10. This holiday week, here’s the first of our doubleheaders concerning franchises’ best players/pitchers. (Back story 3/25 TBRR) We take up two teams with somewhat shorter histories – the Diamondbacks and the Mariners. For the D’Backs, one only need to look to the heroes of the 2001 World Series – Luis Gonzalez who holds virtually every hitting record for the club plus the winning base hit in ’01 Series. But the MVP of that series was one of the most dominant pitchers in recent history, Randy Johnson with four ERA titles, nine strikeout titles and a perfect game. What’s not to like? Our second franchise is the Seattle Mariners. Let’s save space and just say Ken Griffey, Jr. – the face of the franchise for 11 seasons. On the pitching side, for the second time in this series of articles, we select an active player as the franchise best – King Felix Hernandez who has notched 160 victories and a Cy Young Award in his 13 seasons with the Mariners.

MLB at the 1/3 mark

It’s two months down and four more to play – some thoughts: The Mets are star crossed. They started the season on fire but one injury after another has doomed them to fourth place in the NL East. The AL East is going to be fun with the Yanks and Sox. Biggest disappointments at the one-third mark – the Dodgers, in danger of missing the playoffs, and the Indians who lead a weak AL Central by default. The nicest surprises are the local nine who are flirting with .500 and a team that should be flirting with .500, the Atlanta Braves, with the best record in the tough NL East.

UP NEXT: Should felons vote? The Owl Diner; Roku

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The case against a strong Clearwater Mayor (Pt. 2)

Last week (TBRR), we dealt with the argument that a strong mayor would lessen the burden of Scientology in Clearwater. In brief, it won’t. This week, we look at our neighbors with their strong mayor government form – and ask ourselves do we want to be St. Pete or Tampa? We wager the overwhelming response of Clearwater residents would say no. Tampa is little more than an Atlanta, Charlotte or Jacksonville wannabe without the corporate headquarters to pull it off but just as much traffic congestion as any of those. St. Pete can’t make up its mind what it is - artsy? touristy? city of green benches? Clearwater isn’t and can’t be any of those. It is a beach community, with, like most cities, a downtown on life support and an eastern half that doesn’t want anything to do with either the beach or the downtown. No shift in a form of government is going to change that. In fact, if you look at the most successful city in Pinellas County – it’s Dunedin by a landslide. They are doing quite well with a manager-council form of government. (Next week – the concluding Part III – the cost of a strong mayor form of government)

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The ill-advised race to get a cop in every Florida school is having a trickledown effect with smaller city agencies losing their officers to larger ones and not enough new folks to draw upon.

2. Many liberals are squalling over Gina Haspel’s nomination to head the CIA. The woman has three decades of experience in the agency and, as for her treatment of post 911 terrorists. We need to remember this is not a Scout troop she will be heading.

3. Clearwater city council member Doreen Caudill correctly read the tea leaves and dropped out of a planned race against incumbent County Commissioner Pat Gerard. Time is short and it appears that Gerard, regretfully, might get a free ride in November.

4. Want to know what makes Pinellas County’s School Board look so good? It’s being compared to the train wreck that is the Hillsborough County School Board.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you shopped at the Skycrest Supermarket on Drew Street.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Best word of the week: “Stupid” – USF’s eminent political guru Dr. Susan MacManus when asked on 97-WFLA what word she heard in the ubiquitous Laurel/Yanny sound bite. 

7. Just missing our list of future Hall of Famers last week (TBRR 5/13) was Robinson Cano. He probably will not be able to overcome last week’s 80-day PED suspension.

8. During last week’s two-game Rays-Braves series, one of the Rays’ beat writers referred to the visiting Braves as “the old home team” as they were the only team in the South from 1966 to 1993. A lot of local folks, understandably, have not been able to give up that 50-year allegiance.

9. Here are five guys who may never make it to the majors but if they do, what fun announcers and writers will have. They are (with their parent organizations) Trey Cabbage (Twins), Walking Cabrera (Rockies), Cash Case (Reds), Cutter Dyals (Braves), and J.D. Murder (Cards). Our local nine has a couple interesting names in the minors – Trey Hair and Phoenix Sanders.

10. Another week of franchise best players (see back story TBRR 3/25) and another legacy franchise although most of that legacy has been losing. The Chicago Cubs best player is a three way race – Ryne Sandberg, Billy Williams and Mr. Cub – Ernie Banks. It’s hard to deny the honor to someone nicknamed Mr. Cub – a two time MVP on teams with losing records. Pitching is a two-man race between Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddox. With four Cy Youngs, albeit only one with the Cubs, the honor goes to probably the smartest pitcher in baseball history – Greg Maddox. Interesting side note here – both Jenkins and Maddox wore #31 and the number has been retired by the Cubs in honor of both pitchers.

The case for a 140 game season

Mike Viso, who writes for a baseball site Foul Territory, makes a compelling case for shortening the major league baseball season twenty games or so. We’re approaching Memorial Day and warmer weather but surely we haven’t forgotten the cancellations in the northeast and some of the terrible conditions at Wrigley and elsewhere in April.  Viso proposes ending spring training around Tax Day – giving us at least something to be happy about (our thought not his). For Florida, this shortens the “dry spell” between the end of spring training and the start of summer vacations. Fewer games would mean less revenue, but the argument can be made the fewer the games the higher the per-game demand. It’s better for groups who split season ticket packages – fewer games to cover. Fewer in-division games – 19 is way too many. And a few less inter-league games might not be so bad either.  And the World Series would not be played in a blizzard. A lot of solid reasons, but will it happen in our lifetimes? By the way, a recent poll of some 10,000 MLB Trade Rumors visitors split right down the middle on shortening the season.

UP NEXT: Strong Mayor Pt. 3; hurricane season; MLB at the 1/3 mark

The case against a strong Clearwater Mayor (Pt. 1)

We subtitle this first installment of three “The Elephant in the Room – or the Downtown”. The small core of supporters for a strong mayor form of government say (behind closed doors) that a strong mayor would make a difference on the chokehold Scientology has on the downtown. Yet they don’t say how – because it won’t. That ship sailed with the inaction of city commissions back in the late seventies and early eighties. Scientology is here to stay, like it or not. How the city deals with them is another matter, but that is a matter of timing, personalities and outside influence as in the federal government developing a spine and dealing with this pseudo religion and their abuses. A strong mayor system would have little, if any, influence on the millstone that is Scientology. (Next week – Part II – do we really want to be St. Pete or Tampa?)

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Liberals are throwing up their hands over the fact that over 20% of the doctors “certified” to distribute medical marijuana have significant blips on their records including several in Hillsborough and Pinellas. This is something the mainstream medical profession and law enforcement officials warned us about prior to last year’s vote.

2. Factoid: One larger U.S. company has quietly put together an HR task force with the goal of significantly reducing the number of millennials in their work force citing the age group’s less than strong work ethics.

3. If you missed out on the annual postman’s food drive last weekend, please drop off a few items at your place of worship or directly to Religious Community Services on Druid Road just west of Myrtle Ave. This time of year is the toughest for this great organization. Thanks!

4. One of the nicest and loveliest “first ladies” of Clearwater, Karen Aungst, passed away last week after a battle with cancer. Our condolences go to former Mayor Brian Aungst and Brian, Jr.

5. Tech news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen announced he will invest $125 million in a research lab to teach artificial intelligence machines common sense. I am not sure I like the idea of inanimate objects having common sense. I don't need my refrigerator to be like, “Yeah, maybe you don't need any more ice cream.”

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. All-time Rays’ great Evan Longoria probably didn’t make any friends with his opinion that the Rays should probably leave the bay area, but he’s probably right. The local newspaper editorial bashing him and pointing out the increased attendance of the Giants with a new park overlooks (as usual) an important fact – the Giants have won three World Series in this decade – the park had nothing to do with that. Just like the Marlins with their glitzy new park drew 8200 over the weekend in a match up with the hottest team in the National League.

7. Speaking of the Rays, one of the great feel good stories of 2018 is the return of former Brave ace reliever Jonny Venters as a Ray. After three Tommy John surgeries, he’s getting people out like the old days including a shutdown inning against his former team last week.

8. Ah May - the time of year you fondly remember names like Vukovich, Unser, Ward, Johncock and Foyt.

9. Last week’s analysis of the best Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers players got us thinking about the players who comprised the one year and done Pilots. Here are a few names you might remember: pitchers Jim Bouton and Mike Marshall along with position players Tommy Davis (a former batting champ), speedy Tommy Harper and slugger Don Mincher – all but Marshall were beyond their prime when they were Pilots.

10. In our continuing series of major league franchises greatest player/pitcher (back story BRR 3/25), we have another storied franchise to look at – the St. Louis Cardinals. Since we limited ourselves to the past 75 years, we eliminate stalwarts such as Dizzy Dean and Frankie Frisch. Only one player in MLB history is known as “The Man” and Stan Musial earned that title. On the pitching side, during his heyday in the 1960s Bob Gibson had no other right-handed peer – an easy pick as the best hurler for the Cards.

What Hall of Famers are we watching play right now?

There are seven players in the major leagues right now that, if their career ended tomorrow, would be in the Hall of Fame. They are Adrian Beltre, Miguel Cabrera, Clayton Kershaw, Albert Pujols, Max Scherzer, Mike Trout and Justin Verlander. Here are seven more that are on their way but need probably another 3-5 seasons at their current level to make it to the Hall – Kris Bryant, Madison Bumgarner, Freddie Freeman, Paul Goldschmidt, Bryce Harper, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Votto.

UP NEXT: 140 game season? Strong Mayor Part II; Skycrest Market

The short memories of the voting public

A recent poll by a left wing organization showed the number one issue among left leaning voters is gun control. "If we'd done this poll two months ago, gun control would have been in the single digits," said a spokesperson for the Democratic leaning Public Policy Polling. Does this spell the death knell for Republican candidates this fall? Hardly. Two things are operative. Voters on the right aren’t likely to change their stance on 2^nd Amendment rights and it’s a long way from March (when the poll was published) to November. Lots can happen to Joe or Josephine Voter – loss of job, bigger paycheck, a hurricane or two or trouble overseas to name a few. Voters have short attention spans – just look at what happened to the anti-gun numbers six months after the shootings in Newtown, CT. In short, memories are short. Check back with us in mid-July.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Michelle Wolf’s career is now on the same path as that of Kathy Griffin. When you get panned by such diverse individuals as Sean Spicer and Andrea Mitchell –along with the New York Times, your future doesn’t look extremely bright.

2. This month, “Florida’s Best Newspaper” gets a new business editor. We ask the same question we asked when the last one was appointed – wouldn’t it make sense to have a business editor who had actually been in business at some point in their career?

3. We wish to announce we do not plan to run for mayor of Tampa next year. Apparently, everybody else in the bay area is.

4. We got several answers to our rhetorical question last week (TBRR 4/29/18) about not using glass soda bottles these days. The most logical answer is the weight differential between glass and plastic/aluminum.

5. Breaking international news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding cake will be lemon elderflower instead of the traditional fruitcake. Incidentally, “Lemon Elderflower” is the name Queen Elizabeth uses on Tinder.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. USF’s football schedule is out beginning with North Carolina’s Elon University and ending with UCF. We like the fact that the UCF-USF game is becoming a Florida-FSU, Georgia-Georgia Tech or Clemson-South Carolina type game.

7. This is scary if you happen to have the Atlanta Braves on your schedule. Last week, the Braves had the three youngest players in baseball in their line-up. One, Mike Soroka, started and won the game with a one-run major league debut; another, Ozzie Albies, leads the NL in homers and the third, MLB’s top prospect Ronald Acuna, entered the game hitting a sizzling .417.

8. Over the years, Ford has produced the Model A, Falcon, Taurus, Fairlane, Galaxie, Crown Victoria, the infamous Edsel and the iconic Mustang and Thunderbird vehicles. Within three years, there will be only a couple sedans (including the Mustang) left in the Ford inventory as they focus almost completely on SUVs and trucks.

9. With TV season nearing an end, the two new breakout shows for the year were: Drama – The Good Doctor and Comedy – Young Sheldon – both ranked in the Top 10 of most watched shows.

10. This week we take a look at yet another expansion franchises’ best players/pitchers – the Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers. It’s safe to say no one will ever enter the Hall of Fame wearing a Pilots trident. But some Brewers are there and the two best are career Brewer Robin Yount and their best pitcher, who also had some great years in Oakland, but Rollie Fingers was the best of all the Brewers to this point.

The SS United States and Amelia Earhart

Last month (TBRR April 1 and 8), we had pieces on America’s last flag liner – SS United States. And recently, several news sources have reported new evidence that famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart may have perished, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, as castaways on the Pacific’s tiny Gardner Island. The connection between the ship and the aviatrix is this – Noonan was not her original navigator – the future Captain of the United States, Harry Manning, was; but due to delays caused by the plane’s mechanical issues, Manning had to return to his normal profession as a liner captain. Noonan, a good navigator, but one who reputedly had troubles with the bottle, replaced Manning. Would Manning’s presence in the cockpit have made a difference in history? Like Earhart’s ultimate fate, we’ll never know.

UP NEXT: Strong Mayor, Pt. 1; current Hall of Famers; red light scam

Does USF need an on campus football stadium?

Although our household contains three degrees from USF, we were not part of the “stakeholders” survey regarding an on campus stadium for USF. But we did obtain a copy of the nine-question survey. We could only honestly answer yes to one of the questions – that it would enhance the college experience for current and future students. But no to us visiting the campus more often; the stadium elevating the school’s national profile; making the school more selective in enrollment (they tightened that up right after your humble blogger left); also no to increased fund raising across all departments; engaging more alumni; enhancing USF’s chances of moving to a more attractive conference or increasing student enrollment. We fudged on a question of it being a tremendous asset for enticing future recruits as we have a problem with “tremendous”, plus we imagine a lot of recruits salivate at the prospect of playing in a pro football stadium. To recap that’s one yes, seven no’s and a weak maybe. We’ll be anxious to see what fellow alums think.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. It’s not a particularly fun time to be in Clearwater city government with the salary and leave scandal at the Fire Department along with one of their staffers being hit with drug charges; missing money in the Parks and Rec. Department and a costly gas outage on Clearwater Beach requiring restitution to beach restaurants for lost earnings. The gas issue can be charged off to a freak situation – the rest strictly lack of oversight.  

2. If the city of Clearwater is going to do a long-rumored relocation of City Hall, they need to fast track it. Nearly a quarter million dollars in renovations to the half-century old building are scheduled. Why put that kind of money into something you’re going to soon tear down?

3. Moves are on to eliminate plastic straws in many communities including some in the bay area. Sea World already uses degradable paper straws. The rub is they cost approximately 20% more than a plastic straw. The logical answer is to make plastic straws an “asked for” item at restaurants.

4. Looking back fifty years ago to 1968, “new” items included the 747, the Big Mac and the 911 emergency phone number. The newest actor to burst on the scene was Dustin Hoffman who played the rather confused Benjamin Braddock in the classic The Graduate. The biggest new group of the year was Gary Puckett (a Clearwater resident) and the Union Gap.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember returning your glass Canada Dry, Coke, Pepsi, Royal Crown or 7-Up bottles to the market and getting your deposit money back. In this era of trying to conserve resources, why don’t we still do that?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Earle Bruce, who passed away last week at age 87, made his mark at Ohio State but also coached the University of Tampa Spartans and gave current Ohio State coach Urban Meyer his first job.

7. The reincarnation of Roseanne is off to a strong start in the ratings and has already been renewed. Interesting spin – where arch conservative Archie Bunker was played by the very liberal Carroll O’Connor in All in the Family; the right-leaning Roseanne charter is indeed played by an actress with strong conservative views.

8. Word on the street is Amazon is developing a home robot. When it is able to vacuum the rugs and clean the bathrooms, give us a call.

9. Idle thought: while it is great to hop on the net and find any possible baseball item we want, we still miss the postman dropping off our weekly copy of The Sporting News, baseball’s Bible, which ceased publication five years ago.

10. A lot of our early selections in our best player/best pitcher series have dealt with expansion franchises, but this week is a bit tougher with the storied Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves franchise (see back story TBRR 3/25). You had two great third basemen in Matthews (the only man to play in all three cities) and Jones, but also had one of the greatest outfielders of all time in Hank Aaron, our choice. Pitchers – take your choice of Glavine, Maddox, Niekro, Smoltz or Spahn. We take Spahn as almost all of his success was with the Braves while the others, especially Maddox, thrived elsewhere.

MLB at the 1/6 mark

Baseball runs approximately six months. At the end of the first of those months, some observations: places where the season is going to seem awfully long –Cincinnati, Kansas City, Miami and, yes, here in Tampa Bay. Small sample size but early season disappointments are AL -- Twins, NL – Nats. Everybody who had Ryan Flaherty, Asdrubal Cabrera and Dansby Swanson in the Top Five batting averages in the NL, raise your hand. In the AL, not many surprises with names like Betts, Mauer, Moustakas and Judge in the Top Five. Turns out those predicting the downfall of the Nats’ Ryan Zimmerman in 2017 were a year early – he heads into the end of the month hitting .188 – although that’s up from .121 a week ago.

UP NEXT: Voters’ short memories; royal wedding; SS United States and Amelia

Objections to dual enrollment plan make no sense

As mentioned previously in these environs, we seldom agree with anything columnist John Romano writes, because he seldom makes any sense. Take his latest diatribe against funding of dual enrollment for private school students. Romano objects to students from private schools getting a free ride in dual enrollment programs (as do public school kids) because the public schools foot the bill. And where does this money come from? Taxpayers – whom we often forget have kids in both public and private schools – the difference being the private school kids don’t require buses, texts, computers and other peripherals on the public dime – a monstrous savings to the public school system. Romano then raves on about the lack of oversight and standards at private schools. Hogwash – take a look at any standard of performance by private school kids versus public and draw your own conclusions. Talk about being off base!

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. More on education – agree or disagree with her, you have to admire Pinellas School Board member Linda Lerner’s tenacity. The veteran of six terms will call it quits at the end of this term.

2. Move over Sully, there’s someone with whom you need to share the spotlight. What a great job by Southwest Capt. Tammie Jo Shults and her crew of Flight 1380.

3. Pinellas County’s proposed approach to stopping young people from stealing cars is so much pie in the sky. A think tank believes putting victim and car thief together and singing Kumbaya along other methods previously proven ineffective will stop the epidemic. The solution is much more obvious – for the sheriff to do his job and the courts to hold offenders accountable and not turn them loose back on the street.

4. Every time you think Planned Parenthood can’t do anything more foolish, they do just that. We give you their tweet looking for Disney Princesses who have committed any number of unnatural acts.

5. From the equal opportunity offender the 5:05 Newsletter: Costco is selling a Doomsday food kit that can feed a typical family for a year. Walmart sells the same kit, but it only feeds a typical Walmart family for six days. Wow, that’s harsh.

Sports, media and other stuff

6. You know you’re getting old: last week in a AA game, Vlad Guerrero, Jr. took Jose Mesa, Jr. deep. They are the sons of a newly minted Hall of Famer and a steady reliever for the Phils and Indians. It seems like just yesterday.

7. The latest big box store that has observers worried is Bed, Bath and Beyond whose stock dropped to its lowest point in several years last week.

8. He was an irreverent judge on Night Court and Dave Barry’s alter ego on Dave’s World, but to us, his bit roles as grifter “Harry the Hat” on Cheers were classic. The incredibly talented Harry Anderson died last week at age 65.

9. Factoid: Cher, Petula Clark, Olivia Newton-John, Elvis and B.J Thomas – five terrific singers, all with at least one #1 song to their credit, but none of the five ever wrote any of the songs that they put on the charts at any position.

10. In our continuing 2018 feature of best players/pitchers for each team since 1950 (back story TBRR 3/25) – this week the Blue Jays. Best player is easy – Hall of Famer Robby Alomar. Pitcher – a little tougher, but we give the nod to the late Roy Halladay over another Blue Jay icon – Dave Stieb.

America’s matriarch

There was only one other woman in U.S. history like her – Abigail Adams – wife to a President, mother to another. Like Abigail Adams, Barbara Bush was very plain spoken and, like her predecessor, did not always agree with her husband on policy matters. She was a voice for change particularly in the areas of literacy and AIDS. She was, of course, also the mother of our state’s 43^rd governor and said famously during his failed presidential campaign, that perhaps the U.S. had enough of the Bush family. We did not always agree with her, particularly on right to life issues, but admired greatly her immense fortitude. America has suffered a great loss.

UP NEXT: USF Stadium, plastic straws, MLB at the 1/6 mark

Yet more shoddy journalism

Perhaps you read last week’s front page story concerning how Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam is personally withholding state restitution for lost trees for some southwest Florida citrus growers. What in fact is the case is a Circuit Court Judge trying to write law rather than uphold it. There is a plan in place to pay these folks but continuing litigation has held it up. Similar cases where there was not on - going litigation have been resolved. And it is the state that is responsible for payment – not Putnam. A couple other side issues – Putnam wasn’t even the Agriculture Commissioner when this action was taken – under a Democratic administration. And by the way, Putnam is the leading candidate for Florida’s governorship, but alas, he is a Republican. Other than all the facts above, the story in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” was correct i.e. they spelled Putnam’s name correctly.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Tax Day Wisdom from President Ronald Reagan: “Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July; Democrats believe every day is April 15th.”

2. Mid-April – the time of year you pay your taxes and finally get someone over who knows what they’re doing to set up the electronic device you got for Christmas.

3. One would hope that fired FBI Director James Comey will net enough from his tell all book to sustain him for the rest of his life as he has lost credibility with both Democrats and Republicans and the American public in general.

4. Interesting statistic from last month’s Clearwater city election. Well over 4 out of 5 voters cast their ballots prior to Election Day which will, no doubt, result in further combining of polling places in future elections.

5. (With thanks to a dear friend) You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Carillon Concerts on the Brown Estate in Harbor Oaks.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. It didn’t get a lot of play in the local media but the U.S. sled hockey team won the gold medal at the winter Paralympics in South Korea – thanks to some last minute heroics by 20-year-old Declan Farmer whose roots are here in Pinellas County.

7. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has taken Facebook to task over privacy issues. While the allegations against Facebook may be justified, Cook needs to do more than a little cleaning up in his own kitchen before he targets other companies.

8. The Tampa Bay Rays’ worst season was 2002 when they lost 106 games. The 2018 edition is on track to clear that with room to spare. First step in reversing things – get rid of the ridiculous bullpen days and bring in a couple journeymen innings eaters to spare what talented arms the Rays possess.

9. While the Miami Marlins are just as awful as predicted, their telecasts took a large leap forward with the addition of MLB’s Paul Severino as their play by play man.

10. Each week during the baseball season, we are selecting the best player and pitcher from each franchise over the last seven decades (back story TBRR 3/25).This week’s spotlight falls on the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland A’s. Ironically both of their best players/pitchers also made a mark later in their careers with the Yankees. They are Reggie Jackson and, in a close vote over Rollie Fingers – Jim “Catfish” Hunter.

Century old candy bar in danger

News broke this past week that New England Confectionary might shut down. They are famously known for the NECCO wafer. But for residents of western Pennsylvania, their more significant product is the Clark Bar – introduced 100 years ago in Pittsburgh by David L. Clark. The Clark family sold out in the 50s and the brand has passed through several hands (including Hershey) sometimes causing the bars to temporarily vanish from store shelves. There was a particular time in the mid 90s when we needed the bar in large quantities when the only place we could get them was a Food Lion store in Tarpon Springs - thanks to a kindly manager. For the uninitiated, the Clark Bar is packaged in an orange wrapper with dark blue lettering and tastes something like a Butterfinger – only better. If the New England Confectionary Company does indeed close its doors, the bar might again find a new home – or like lost choclate treats like the Cabana, Secret, Texan, Toffo and others will become just an historical note.

NEXT UP: Telephone home invaders; car thieves; guys headed for the Hall of Fame

Cancer in Clearwater’s Fire Department continues

People who have lived in Clearwater a long while should not be surprised by the recent revelations of vacation and sick leave abuse in the Clearwater Fire Department. Over twenty five years ago, stories were being printed about retired “disabled” Clearwater firefighters taking on post career jobs involving lifting furniture, working under cars and other activities that are not usually done by the disabled. We had hoped that City Manager Bill Horne bringing in a fresh face from outside the system in 2016 would turn the department around. It hasn’t. These latest findings have cost Clearwater taxpayers nearly a quarter million dollars in unearned leave time and the overtime required covering the absences. The consequences for this must start at the top – not the bottom of the food chain.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to above item: at the risk of repeating ourselves, the answer to what ails the Clearwater Fire Department – and several others is a unified county firefighting system.

2. Two cities doing it right – day in, day out, the sidewalks of Dunedin and Tarpon Springs are loaded with visitors and locals alike.

3. Random question: why is it that folks like District Judge Mark Walker, U.S Reps. Kathy Castor and Charlie Crist seem so devoted to giving convicted felons the right to vote and pay so little attention to the rights of law abiding citizens and, worse, the victims of the felon’s crimes?

4. Our condolences to the Locke family on the passing of their matriarch Dene Locke at age 86. Dene was a long time educator in Pinellas County schools. Her late husband, John, was a respected Clearwater attorney for several decades.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater long time if you dined at Bill Irle’s on North Fort Harrison Avenue.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. If you believe in free speech, there are several companies you might want to stop patronizing – the most ubiquitous – Johnson and Johnson which makes so many products not under their name i.e. Aveeno, Benadryl, Visine and many more – all which have alternatives, often less expensive store brands. More on speech suppression companies in coming weeks.

7. A literary preview from the 5:05 Newsletter: The publishers of former FBI Director James Comey’s upcoming memoir are taking extreme precautions to prevent the manuscript from leaking. “Yeah, it would be a shame if something got out at the wrong time and ruined everything for him” said Hillary.

8. NCAA Notes: Other than the alumni of the three other schools, was anybody in the country not rooting for Loyola of Chicago in the NCAA? Other schools might want to take note that eventual champion Villanova (winners of 2 of the last 3) started four juniors and a freshman – not a crew of one and dones as has become the fashion.

9. Last week (TBRR April 1) we highlighted the efforts of a devoted few to save the liner SS United States. The story of its birth, life and now life support is told very well in a couple books – A Man and His Ship by Steven Ujifusa and SS United States by John Maxtone-Graham. Maxtone-Graham’s effort is a bit more of a coffee table book, but both are full of knowledge on America’s last great liner and worth a read if your interest lies in the sea and its ships.

10. Our season long player/pitcher ranking continues with the Astros (see back story TBRR 3/25). Best player – it’s a near tie between the right side of their infield for so many years – Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio – the nod goes to the more versatile Biggio. And in a close vote for their best pitcher, Larry Dierker wins by an eyelash over Mike Scott remembering that Nolan Ryan already secured a spot on the Angel’s all time listing.

Baseball’s most historic games:

Major League Trade Rumors’ writer Jason Martinez answered a question from a reader a few weeks back about the one historic baseball game he would like to witness or re-witness. His answer was a good one – April 15, 1947 the day Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color line. We asked some fellow baseball fans for theirs and this is what we got – the incredible 7^th game of the 1960 World Series where the underdog Pirates beat the Yanks 10-9 on the first 7th game walk-off home run in history; the very first World Series game in 1903 between the Boston Americans, as they were then known, and the Pittsburgh Pirates - both teams had playing managers – Jimmy Collins and Fred Clarke - both Hall of Famers. Boston prevailed in what was then a nine game series. How about a game where the two pitchers combine to give up one-hit in nine innings? It happened in 1965 when Bob Hendley of the Cubs threw the game of his life – giving up one hit to the Dodgers. The home team’s pitcher, the legendary Sandy Koufax, threw a perfect game winning 1-0. Ironically, Hendley was not quite as good four days later back in Chicago – giving up four hits but beat Koufax 2-1! Another nomination went to the famous “called shot” by Babe Ruth in the third game of the 1932 World Series at Wrigley – the Babe’s last World Series.

UP NEXT: Reagan wisdom; Putnam attack; a three-city franchise’s best

Notes from a baseball geek’s best day of the year:

Several leftovers from baseball’s Opening Day. The Rays gave their opening day customers cow bells. If there is anything that captures 20 years of Rays baseball, it’s a cowbell. Both Joey Cora of the Bosox and Gabe Kapler of the Phils made rookie managerial errors in their debuts – pulling dominating pitchers early leading to comeback wins by the Rays and Braves respectively. We folks on the east coast don’t get the full picture of teams playing out west – like the fact that Felix Hernandez just pitched his tenth consecutive season opener. That’s stuff that only applies to names like Robin Roberts, Tom Seaver and Walter Johnson. It’s another season, another stint on the DL for Troy Tulowitzki. If the guy could have stayed on the field, he might have been headed for the Hall. Also, now that Peter Gammons has semi-retired, there probably is not a better baseball writer in the country than MLB’s Richard Justice who spent years covering both the Rangers and Astros.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Happy Easter – and April Fools Day. This is only the first or second time this has happened since many of us were born – 1956 was the last time.

2. Quote of the week: Sheriff Grady Judd at a recent Polk County commission meeting responding to a question: “I’m not here to discuss politics”. Who is he kidding? Sheriff Judd is the biggest politician in Polk County if not all of central Florida.

3. There’s an election in New Port Richey next week with a healthy field of seven candidates to fill two vacated council seats. Most cities have trouble pulling together a field – to see seven candidates in New Port Richey is refreshing.

4. Peter Stamas, who with his brother Nick founded the iconic Stamas Boat Company, passed away in Tarpon Springs last week at age 94.

5. Florida’s most recent unemployment rate was 3.9 per cent – lower than the national average of 4.1. Among the highest, somewhat surprisingly, are Alaska at 7.3 per cent and D.C. at 5.7.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Baseball lost one of its finest last week with the passing of “La Grand Orange” as Rusty Staub was known in his Montreal playing days. Good as his on-field efforts were, they were overshadowed by his charitable works both during and after his playing days. Staub was 73.

7. Guess we’re one of the few who feel FSU coach Leonard Hamilton owes no one an apology for his reaction to CBS reporter Dana Jacobsen’s repetition of the same question over and over. It became not an interview but a clear case of badgering. Jacobson aside, the NCAA deserves a lot better than some of the hacks CBS ran out there this year.

8. Forty-five years ago this week (1973), Roberta Flack’s Killing Me Softly With His Song was the Number 1 hit in the country and would be the biggest hit of the year – the second year in a row this happened for Roberta following The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in 1972. The only other artist to have the biggest record two years in a row, as you might expect, was Elvis with Don’t Be Cruel (’56) and All Shook Up (’57).

9. Yet another baseball note: best hire of the offseason was not Jake Arietta, Yu Darvish or J.D. Martinez, but the White Sox re-hiring of Nevest Coleman, a former groundskeeper, who spent 23 years in prison falsely accused of murder.

10. As promised, the first of our week by week look at each baseball franchise’s greatest players and pitchers in the past 75 years (back story – TBRR 3/25). We lead off with the Angels and our best player goes to a still active Angel – Mike Trout. It is only a matter of five years after he hangs ‘em up when Trout is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Best pitcher – he could qualify as several teams best pitcher, but it was with the Angels that Nolan Ryan really broke out to a Hall of Fame career. Next week – the Astros best two.

Some modern day Don Quixotes

She was once the face of America – a glamorous, well-engineered beauty of the seas – the fastest ocean liner ever. Today, sadly, she sits in the Delaware River, in a full view of the highway – pretty much a rusting hulk – the SS United States. Built in 1952, designed by acclaimed naval architect William Francis Gibbs, she ruled the seas in the 50s and 60s. By the end of the sixties, the airplane had pretty much eclipsed trans-Atlantic voyages. The United States and her foreign competition, the Queens and the SS France were retired. Many attempts have been made to turn her into a more modern cruise type ship, a floating hotel – and now a museum. Unfortunately, the cost of doing any of those is more than it would cost to build a replica. There is a SS United States Conservancy, headed by the designer’s granddaughter Susan Gibbs, that raises money to keep the grand old lady from the scrap heap. But they face daunting odds - $60,000 a month just to dock it and hold off further damage from Mother Nature. We’ve seen the vessel and it’s a sad sight. We wish them well as they tilt at windmills.

NEXT UP: Fire Department issues; historic baseball games; the Astro’s best

Disney theme parks have lost their way

“To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past…and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America…with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.” These were the words of Walt Disney at the opening of Disneyland in 1955. Since then, Disneyland and its several spin-offs including Central Florida’s Disneyworld have veered far afield from Walt’s dream back in the innocent 50s. The parks have become havens for the rich only. A normal family cannot afford the prices which top $100 a day, plus parking, plus innumerable gift shops with overpriced objects, plus very average food at very expensive prices. The annual passes which began at about $100 a year with some blackout days now are pushing $1000. The latest assault on a family’s pocketbook is a charge to park at the on property hotels, which before the parking charge, begin at well over $300 per night plus admission to the parks, other things cited above plus transportation. Walt Disney envisioned Disneyland as something the average family could enjoy. His successors have lost sight of that vision.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. A few, brief thoughts on the need for school resource officers (RSOs). Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri’s numbers are a little askew when he speaks of having to fund sick leave and vacations – he estimates 31 additional hires. Sick leave – yes; vacations – no. Schools are closed over two months each summer not counting holidays. RSOs should be hired on the same basis as educators – you work your vacation around the school calendar – this would chop probably a quarter million or more off the tab. And Pinellas County Commissioner Pat Gerard expressing frustration over underfunding by the legislature? How long have you been in government, ma’am? Unfunded mandates or underfunded mandates are as old as government itself. Imitate private enterprise and sharpen your pencils folks.

2. Just a little over six months ago (TBRR 8/6/17) we were heralding the completion of the never-ending Druid Road construction west of Belcher Road. Now, we somewhat patiently await the completion of Druid Road construction that is snarling traffic east of Highland Avenue.

3. We bow to some readers who question the wisdom of year-round daylight savings time (TBRR, Feb. 25). Frankly, we don’t care whether it’s EST or EDT as long as it’s constant year round.

4. Idle thoughts: three people/things we could care less about: Stormy Daniels, the Scientology Network and who says what at whatever performing arts award show.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the modernistic Clearwater Chamber of Commerce headquarters on Clearwater’s bluff – the site is now a part of the downtown library footprint.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. The man who turned a few record racks in his Dad’s drugstore into an international giant, Tower Records, has died. Russ Solomon was 92. There is a neat bio on his company you can find on some of the history outlets. Well worth a viewing.

7. The Tampa Bay Rays are planning to go into the season with a four man rotation. That worked well for the Cleveland Indians some sixty years ago when the four were Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon, Herb Score and Early Wynn. We’re not so sure about Archer, Eovaldi, Faria and Snell. We give it a month – or less.

8. NCAA Notes: It was tough seeing our alma mater USF’s women’s team get vanquished in the first round of the tournament. As we noted last year (Rants 4/1/17) and as Tom Jones opined last week, there needs to be some sort of arrangement where ESPN’s Dick Vitale works some of the key games of the NCAA Tournament. There is no greater ambassador for the game.

9. That crusading metropolitan “news” source, the 5:05 Newsletter strikes again: The U.S. Senate heard testimony detailing the threats posed by Russian interference in our democracy. The probe included the ads they bought on Facebook. We cannot allow Russia to deploy misleading propaganda to unfairly influence a U.S. presidential election. That’s the U.S. media’s job.

10. Our baseball guys are going to create a little controversy over the upcoming season. Each week of the season, we’re going to look at one of the 30 teams and pick their best player and pitcher since the arbitrary year of 1950. As the season runs a little less than 30 weeks, we’ll cheat and, like the old days, have doubleheaders on the weeks of Memorial Day, 4^th of July and Labor Day; up first next week (in mostly alphabetical order) – the Angels.

Noted baseball soothsayer Achmed Walled predicts:

First, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) does not see a World Series in the Ray’s future. Now on to less sure predictions: In the Senior Circuit, Achmed likes the Nats, Cubs and Dodgers to take their divisions with the Brewers and Rockies securing wild card spots. His falling off a cliff team is a tie – the Cards and Diamondbacks. In the American League, our mystical man from the east likes the Yanks, Indians and Astros to take their divisions with the rejuvenated Twins and the always tough Bosox taking the wild cards. Our crack prognosticator and former tube jockey says to look for the Rangers to circle the drain this year.

UP NEXT: The Angel’s best; modern day Don Quixotes; telephone home invaders

Where to retire?

One of the things we permit to arrive in our email daily is Everyday Health which offers some helpful ideas on healthier living without an overabundance of commercial content or “way out there” medical advice. The email recently touted eight places best suited for retirement. This particular piece triggered our “way out there” alarm. Among the places cited were Okinawa, Ikaria in Greece, Costa Rica and, get this, New York City! In order, way too distant, very shaky economy, nice place to visit but… and couldn’t you find any place more expensive? There was one Florida locale mentioned – Gainesville with its great medical reputation plus the university. As for us, we’ll take the bay area, thank you.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Clearwater voters chose wisely sending veteran policy maker Hoyt Hamilton and Clearwater native David Allbritton by overwhelming margins to seats on their city council.

2. Two years hence, Allbritton and Hamilton will be getting at least two new fellow council members with three seats up for grabs and the mayor and council member Doreen Caudell termed out. Word on the street is former mayor Frank Hibbard might seek a return to the center seat with at least one former council member also weighing a return. First term council member Bob Cundiff is eligible to run again.

3. Quote of the Week: “Keep on marching and keep on speaking out." Senator Bill Nelson to a rally of high school students. Our response to Sen. Nelson: stop talking and do something.

4. As alluded to late last year, (TBRR 10/15/17) some 30,000 people will be out of work as Toys ‘R’ Us seeks to liquidate its U.S. holdings, another brick and mortar victim of the internet.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you dined at Tampa’s famous Los Novedades which dated back to the 1890s and closed its doors in the early 1970s.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. “Stephen Hawking was a giant of theoretical physics who bridged the divide between science and popular culture” – from Great Britain’s The Independent. It’s sad that perhaps the greatest scientific mind since Einstein was known as much for his appearances on The Big Bang Theory as he was for his work as a distinguished physicist. He was 76.

7. Tiger didn’t win the Valspar, but his remaining in contention all weekend was a big win for the sport.

8. Quote of the week: 'The 15,000, 18,000 people a night that we get is comparable to 75,000 people a night in Manhattan. We are a smaller community and that's okay’ - the words of Rays’ CEO Brian Auld. 18,000? The last year the Rays averaged 18,000 was 2013. They have the lowest attendance in baseball by over a quarter million fans yearly.

9. Admit it – you had never heard of the University of Maryland Baltimore County until last Friday night.

10. The Blue Jays will retire Roy Halladay’s #32 before their home opener next week against the Yanks. Next step for the late Blue Jay ace will be Cooperstown – maybe not on the first ballot but his 203 career wins versus only 105 losses put him in a rare stratum of modern day pitchers.

In baseball, like everywhere else, hogs get slaughtered

There were three noteworthy MLB signings over the past couple weeks – Carlos Gonzalez with the Rockies for 8 million dollars; Jonathon Lucroy with the A’s for 6.5 million and Mike Moustakas rejoining the Royals for 5.5 million. The amounts are slightly more than each of us will pocket this year. But these gentlemen earlier turned down three year deals of 45 million, 21 million and 45 million respectively – wanting yet more than that. The phrase has been attributed to Mark Cuban, Bruce Williams and numerous folks on Wall Street. Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered – if you can call a multi-million dollar deal for a year’s work getting slaughtered.

UP NEXT: Our baseball soothsayer, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) predicts

TBRR beginning its fifth year – a retrospective

This week marks the start of our fifth year of Tampa Bay Rants and Raves (TBRR). We open this edition with a look back at the beginning and subsequent anniversaries. Four years ago (2014) the blog was launched pretty much by outrage at carpet bagging Alex Sink strutting into Pinellas County to save us from ourselves. She was defeated for a U.S. Representative seat by a much more qualified David Jolly. In 2015, we were comparing a sensible Lyft-Uber regulation plan in St. Pete with a return to the old days in Tampa – fortunately statewide regulation has come to Florida eliminating fiefdoms like Tampa. In 2016, TBRR proved we never take ourselves too seriously by paying tribute to Tampa’s Sportatorium and its assembled characters like Eddie Graham, Haystack Calhoun and Gordon Solie. And a year ago, we questioned the viability of a Scientology backed shopping experience in downtown Clearwater - haven’t heard much about that lately.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to the lead item – as we move through our fifth year, we’ll do occasional flashbacks to a previous year’s edition over the past four years.

2. Almost as scary as the threats to our schools are, just as scary are some of the knee jerk reactions mostly from the left – including one internet newsletter advocating the repeal of the second amendment. Hey, while we’re at it, let’s repeal the first amendment – at least the part about freedom of the press which isn’t liberal or religions with which the left might have issues.

3. Related to the above: hope you caught the column by respected journalist Bill Maxwell on the folly of turning our educators into an armed militia.

4. Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. circle of life: Pep Boys is back on Gulf-to-Bay after several years’ absence. Had they waited another six months they could have had their old location back which was recently abandoned by West Marine with their move into part of the old Kmart location.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the Ellis Bank chain.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Friday, March 2, 2018 marked some sort of record for NBC Nightly News. Due to a world class winter storm and a double murder on a college campus, the nightly news went eight whole minutes before finally trashing President Trump – keeping it classy.

7. We turn our clocks ahead today (3/11) hopefully for the last time. Both chambers of the state legislature have passed the bill making Daylight Savings Time the year-round time for Florida. It now goes to Congress which should not be a great hurdle.

8. It appears that Phillies star shortstop Jimmie Rollins is going to call it a career and perhaps have some sort of advisory role with the Phils. Is the former MVP, three-time All Star and four-time Gold Glover a Hall of Famer? It’s a tough call as middle infielders usually don’t need as gaudy offensive numbers as other position players.

9. Two passings of note from the past week, Roger Bannister the first man to crack the seemingly impossible four minute mile died at 88. And Charles Ogden Stiers, one of the dozen or so regular and recurring actors who made M*A*S*H the great show it was, passed away at age 76.

10. From the 5:05 Newsletter going where no man has gone before: In a major scientific discovery, NASA announced that a star system 39 light-years away contains seven Earth-size planets, at least three of which appear to have Starbucks.

A throwback to Clearwater’s ancient drawbridge

Over a decade ago, Clearwater finally bid adieu to its outmoded drawbridge leading to the Memorial Causeway and its best in the world beach. Now, the merry crew down at City Hall has decided to place a crosswalk at the entrance to the beach complete with red light to gum up traffic – and just in time for spring break. The city already has a underground cross walk at the east end of the marina – not 500 feet from the new one. If, the city was hell-bent to put in another crosswalk, wouldn’t an elevated one make a whole lot more sense? Granted, it would have cost more, but it would have been about 10,000 times more effective.

UP NEXT: Where to retire; Roberta and Elvis; Los Novedades

Highway texting: Senator Rob Brantley just doesn’t get it

A common sense bill that would allow police officers to pull over drivers who text behind the wheel sailed through the Florida House of Representatives. And it passed three Senate committees until Sen. Rob Brantley decided to play God and not have it heard in his committee – the Senate Appropriations Committee. He bases his stance on the weak argument that allowing cops to pull over texters would lead to racial profiling while ignoring the hard facts that among teens alone, 11 deaths every day are attributable to texting. And nearly a quarter of all accidents are attributable to cell phones. Florida is now one of only seven states that doesn’t have a text and get pulled over law. It is way past time for Senator Brantley and his colleagues to get their heads out of the sand and do something about this epidemic.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Question: Is there any reason why Purdue Pharma who has relentlessly marketed their addictive drug oxycodone to doctors over the years be treated any differently than tobacco companies who have been sued for billions of dollars for their assault on America’s health?

2. The recent dustup between Fox News’ Laura Ingraham and a couple of basketball stars (“Just shut up and dribble”) leads to another thought – stop dribbling and take a shot at running the country (or state or county) yourself. It isn’t as easy as it looks boys and girls - we know, we’ve been there.

3. Related note: right now, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is saying all the right things in support of NBA players who wish to trash the President and others. Will we be hearing the same song from Mr. Silver if his attendance and TV ratings tank like the NFL’s have?

4. Speaking of tanking ratings, Papa John’s Pizza has stepped away from its NFL sponsorship due to the furor and ratings drop caused by a bunch of malcontent players. Pizza Hut has replaced them. Good luck with that.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed a steak at Jimmy Hall’s Steak House on Hendricks Street in downtown Clearwater.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. For the second week in a row, a very notable quote from local sports columnist Tom Jones - regarding the NCAA basketball scandals, “I'm confused as to why the FBI is involved. Doesn't it have better things to do than crack down on something that might be breaking NCAA rules but is not necessarily illegal? Right you are Tom – maybe like figuring out how the hell to keep our kids from getting slaughtered in the classroom.

7. A postscript to our concluding item last week (TBRR Feb. 25): several of those budding stars you’re watching this spring, like Ronald Acuna, Vlad Guerrero, Jr., and Bo Bichette, were part of the Florida State League last year. After the big teams move north later this month, there will be another bevy of top prospects performing in Clearwater and Dunedin during the FSL season.  

8. Your humble blogger turns another year older this week. As a kid, I asked my folks for the same birthday gift every year – to attend a spring training game at Jack Russell Stadium and, bless them, they always took me. Now at an advanced age, I still treat myself to the same delight at Spectrum Field every March.

9. Fifty years ago, riding the charts at #1 was Paul Mauriat’s Love Is Blue – the first #1 instrumental in over five years since Telstar in late 1962. There would be a second top tune instrumental in ’68 – Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the Grass in July.

10. Breaking political news from the 5:05 Newsletter: “Joe Biden said he is open to running for president if no other Democrats step up. You know your party’s in trouble when someone signs up for president the way you sign up for karaoke”.

Baseball’s teams with the brightest futures

Let’s start out by emphasizing prospects are just that – prospects. For every number one draft pick like Ken Griffey, Bryce Harper and Chipper Jones, there are folks like Shawn Abner, Mark Appel and Brien Taylor also number one picks and all three busts. Given that, there are some franchises right now whose future looks full of World Series appearances with the young talents they possess. Specifically, the Atlanta Braves with nine of the Top 100 MLB prospects. Others are the Yankees with seven, the White Sox with six, then Pittsburgh and Milwaukee with five each. The thing about this list that’s downright scary is the already stacked Yanks with seven of the best prospects. At the other end of the spectrum, the Cubs, Mets and Royals have no Top 100 prospects – manageable perhaps for the Cubs but not very encouraging at all for Mets and Royals fans in the years ahead.

UP NEXT: Beginning year five; Starbucks in space

At last, common sense about time changes

The Florida House of Representatives by an overwhelming 10-1 margin has voted to put Florida on daylight savings time year round. The measure, which still must pass the State Senate and then Congress, gets rid of the antiquated system of springing ahead and falling behind. Most importantly, it means another hour of sunshine for Florida’s largest industry – tourism. And just how important is tourism to Florida? Consider that it employs 66,000 people – at Walt Disney World alone. And then there’s the bay area with its beaches, fishing, cruises and aquariums. When implemented, it will be a big win for Florida – and long overdue. A letter to your State Senator, and later, our Congressional members would help.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. St. Petersburg is planning to ignore their long standing policy of not naming things after living individuals and re-name their library after our 44th president. Perhaps they should first review last year’s Corrine Brown Transit Hub debacle in Gainesville.

2. Ruth Eckerd Hall is asking the city of Clearwater for a 3-million dollar grant to help with their 20-some million dollar refurbishing. The vote is March 1. The city and the hall have always worked closely together, but with an election just days away, shouldn’t the sitting council defer to the new council on this matter?

3. And speaking of that election, the gloves have come off in the race between incumbent Hoyt Hamilton and challenger John Funk with both sending out incendiary mailing pieces attacking their opponent. The irony is Funk worked in Hamilton’s campaign four years ago.

4. We would hope the Pinellas County School Board will not cave in to a thin-skinned member’s request to stop doing business with a long established recreation center because of a flyer to which she objected.

5. Breaking news: Clearwater Beach named the number one beach in the nation by Trip Advisor. What’s not to like?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Speed Weeks are over - the 500 just another race. The races that used to capture the fancy of race fans more than any other were the Duel 125s that were do or die for racing teams. It was rendered meaningless by the fact that there were not even enough entries to fill the field, much less having cars that potentially would miss the race. NASCAR has truly tumbled.

7. Quote of the week from world class sports columnist Tom Jones: As great as spring training is, prices are still too high for exhibition games. Anything over $20 for games that don't count and have players you've never heard of playing half the game is obnoxious. Actually, come to think of it, anything over $10 is pushing it.

8. Major league baseball has changed the rules regarding one of biggest time wasters in a game – visits to the mound. Teams are now allowed six “no-pitching change” visits a game. That sounds good, but there are a bunch of exceptions which render the rule virtually useless. Count on still witnessing three hour plus games.

9. He, probably more than any American, crossed religious and political lines. Billy Graham, who died at 99 last week, was truly America’s pastor.

10. Now that the Winter Olympics have concluded this thought from the sports desk at the 5:05 Newsletter - “The Winter Olympics seem like many of the sports were invented by drunk people”.

Spring Training: A baseball geek’s treasure trove

(Tom Jones’ comments above aside for a moment) Spring training in Pinellas County: the Yankees will be here, as will the Orioles, the Braves, the Pirates and the Bosox. But none of their stars will be present. Big names like Stanton, Freeman, Machado and Pedroia just don’t travel. And even the names you might recognize will be gone after two at bats. But it’s after those two at bats that baseball geeks relish. There you will see names like Ronald Acuna (MLB’s #2 overall prospect), Vlad Guerrero, Jr. (3), Gleyber Torres (5), Brent Honeywell (12) and Bo Bichette (14). These guys representing the Braves (Acuna), Blue Jays (Guerrero and Bichette), Yanks (Torres), Rays (Honeywell) are the All-Stars of the future. Enjoy them now because five years from now, like Pedroia and the bunch, they won’t be traveling to away games. Do some research and see who your favorite team’s budding stars are and enjoy them this spring. A postscript: as we were “going to press” we learned of Brent Honeywell’s impending Tommy John surgery – a major blow to the already striped-down Rays.

UP NEXT: World Series winners five years from now; parking nonsense

Our dubious method of picking sheriffs

The Tampa Bay area has morphed from having legitimate lawmen as sheriffs to politicians heading their sheriff’s departments. Hillsborough County will have an “election” this fall to choose a sheriff. Unfortunately, as has become the custom, former sheriff David Gee “retired” before the end of his term and engineered the appointment of Chad Chronister – giving him incumbency. Chronister has already accumulated a war chest of a quarter million dollars which, in itself, is just sick. The same thing happened in Pinellas a few years back with politician Jim Coats “retiring” so fellow politician Bob Gualtieri could assume incumbency and have a huge advantage in the sheriff’s election. Long time Pinellas residents remember when we had true lawmen such as Don Genung, Jerry Coleman and Everett Rice heading the department. It appears that on either side of the bay, that era is over – making for not the best leadership and not serving area residents well.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Quote of the week: from a recent “politifact” article: To make a point, politicians are increasingly picking out just facts that make their case. But hasn’t that been politifact’s business model since its inception?

2. Spectrum cable bills going up again – if ever there was an area of commerce crying out for competition, it’s the cable industry. Unlike other quasi monopolies, there is no government oversight – there should be.

3. Related to number two above, a little tip: if you are not a cable junkie who has to have 500 channels, ask about Spectrum’s TV Choice plan. They aren’t going to tell you about it until you ask where they want their equipment dropped off.

4. Good grief! A virtually rain-free State Fair run - when was the last time you remember that happening?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever stopped into Kelly’s Sundries on Drew Street in Skycrest. As a kid, that’s where you bought your model airplanes and you always left with Mr. Kelly’s “take it easy now” echoing out the door.

The diamond, the media and other stuff\

6. Each year, baseball geek sites have this inexplicable love for the Rays. Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA rankings (to show how geeky, it has both the words empirical and algorithm in it) have the Rays at 84 wins and a wild card berth. We’d wager some serious money against that outcome.

7. Whether or not you’re a big fan of ESPN, their 30 for 30 show featuring Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells is a must watch for both the serious and the casual NFL follower.

8. Philadelphia sports scribe Geoff Mosher recently penned a fascinating article on the future of Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles. It’s worth a trip to the Fan Rag sports site for a read.

9. He was in nearly three dozen movies, but we all remember him warmly as the plain spoken Martin Crane on Frazier. The great character actor John Mahoney died two weeks ago at age 77.

10. We also note the passing of a colorful baseball figure who had one sweet swing. Tito Francona hit as high as .363 in his 17 seasons – doing that in 1959 with the Indians, the team his son Terry now manages.

Common sense returns to the baseball marketplace

Websites that deal with baseball hot stove deals are singing the blues over the lack of movement particularly in the free agent market. Sure, there have been some blockbuster trades involving stars like Stanton, Ozuna, Cole and Longo. But some top notch free agents remain unsigned with spring training days away. The labor union is whispering the “C” word (collusion). But the vast majority of observers are seeing baseball execs finally coming to their senses and not offering ridiculous contracts that will have 40-year old designated hitters or pitchers earning a king’s ransom based on their performance from six years ago. Scott Boras might not like it, but to most baseball observers, it’s downright refreshing.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Finally, the correct time; baseball fan’s delight

Is Ybor City a fait accompli?

St. Pete (or shall we say Pinellas County) gave up without much of a struggle and it appears Ybor City will be the most likely site for a new baseball stadium. Will it turn attendance around? Yes for a year or two. Then it will be just like Miami and back to crowds in the four figures every night. The bay area is a great baseball market – for the four or five weeks of spring training. It simply doesn’t have the demographics or the corporate sluggers to support an 82-game season no matter where you locate a new stadium.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Florida’s legislature is kicking around term limits for county school boards – not a good idea unless it applies to Hillsborough County where the limit should be “time served”.

2. Happy 70^th birthday to Clearwater’s first radio station – WTAN – still broadcasting since 1948 - now from studios on N. Myrtle Avenue in Clearwater. For most of its history, the studios sat right on Clearwater’s Bayfront, and at its zenith, it was a strong AM/FM combo.

3. State Rep. Joe Gruters has been named to Amtrak’s board of directors. Given Amtrak’s record of the past two weeks, we can only surmise captaincy of the Titanic was not available.

4. Attorney General Jeff Sessions drew some heat last week with his suggestion that maybe Americans should take a few more aspirin and a few less opioids. That just doesn’t seem to fly with this generations’ need for instant gratification or relief.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you shopped at the Food Fair grocery store at Gulf to Bay and Duncan Ave.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Just a thought related to our lead item. If the bay area’s major league baseball team is going to move to Tampa, at least rename them with a brand that has some legacy – the Tampa Tarpons. Think of what it would do in new merchandise sales alone!

7. Hottest selling baseball apparel in the last two weeks – anything with the Cleveland Indians’ 70-year-old logo on it.

8. Chutzpah defined: a 5-11 team raising ticket prices after yet another year of declining attendance.

9. It’s only logical to assume that Josh McDaniels is the Patriot’s head coach in waiting after he passed on the top job with the Colts. Many rumors suggest that next season will be Bill Belichick’s last as head coach.

10. Back in the day we had AP and UPI for our international news, now we have the 5:05 Newsletter with this report from Great Britain: Princess Charlotte went to her first day of nursery school last week. It was a little intimidating for the other kids… for “Show and Tell,” she brought Scotland.

52: One for the ages

Some thoughts on last week’s Super Bowl…Scratch another team off the list of those who have never won a Super Bowl, there still are 14 who have not (more on that in a future issue)…Big rivalry between east and west Pennsylvania - Flyers-Penguins, Phils-Pirates etc. but last Sunday everybody in the western part of the Keystone State was rooting for the Eagles to keep the Patriots from that 6^th title – a distinction held only by the Steelers…To win, the Eagles had to play a perfect game – and they did…Credit to Al Michaels for correctly saying that a single turnover would decide the game and it did…His broadcast partner Chris Collingsworth needs to decide if he wants to analyze the game or ref it…But Collingsworth is right in joining several others who say the catch rule has to be fixed right now…Despite the high octane offenses, SB 52 had the lowest rating since ’09…If Horatio Alger were still alive, he’d surely write a book about Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles…Amazing how some Boston media and fandom has turned on Bill Belichick after the Patriots loss. Can only think of about 20 teams who would welcome him tomorrow….Finally, we just don’t recall a better Super Bowl.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Bad way to choose lawmen; pitchers and catchers

The most dangerous man in the Florida Senate

The most dangerous man, or woman, in the Florida Senate is Democrat Gary Farmer from Ft. Lauderdale – and given recent events, that’s saying something. An unabashed proponent of medical marijuana, Farmer sees no danger at all in moving to the next step – legalized recreational grass. This is something the medical profession and law enforcement agencies saw coming and why they so strongly opposed an ill-conceived constitutional amendment for medical pot. In a recent interview, Farmer blithely segued from legalized pot to his frustration over Florida’s opioid crisis. And what does every study in the history of mankind show as the first drug of use prior to opioid addiction? Marijuana! Guys like Senator Farmer are a very real danger to Florida’s future.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Good initial effort by our Chief Executive in the State of the Union. The “Americans are dreamers, too” remark will live on in history. And young Joe Kennedy acquitted himself nicely in the reply although it lacked the positive tone you would have expected from his forbearers.

2. Next Wednesday, we have the opposing confluence of Valentine’s Day, a day of chocolates and sumptuous dinners, and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of a season of self-denial. Another quirk of the calendar is six weeks hence when Easter falls on April Fools’ Day.

3. The failure of the 911 system over a large part of the greater Tampa Bay area is downright scary. The public needs an explanation and vastly improved safeguards - like yesterday.

4. Idle question: why on the days folks have the most leisure time (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) is the Clearwater main library open the fewest hours – just five hours each day?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at the Lum’s Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd. – famous for their hot dogs steamed in beer.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. On the eve of the Super Bowl, a report notes that interest in the NFL is down – most alarmingly in certain demographics the league holds precious – young men. There’s some spin doctoring going on as to the cause of such a significant fall – blaming the concussion issue. But let’s be honest – a bunch of spoiled brats taking a knee during our national anthem has done irreparable harm to the NFL.

7. We justifiably take MLB’s Commissioner to the woodshed below, but his ideas on speeding up the game (a proposed limit of six mound visits a game and keeping batters in the batter’s box between pitches) makes a lot more sense than a pitch clock. Let’s hope the player’s union sees the light on this one.

8. Local media gave just three lines to the most significant baseball trade of the off-season – Christian Yelich going to the Milwaukee Brewers making them the odds-on favorite to win the AL Central Division.

9. Word on the street is that ex-Blue Jay Jose Bautista, who has Tampa roots, would like to play for the Rays - advice to Rays’ front office – run, don’t walk.

10. Remember when the Dallas Cowboys were known as America’s team during the Tom Landry era. Now, they vie for the title of America’s most disliked team along with the New England Patriots.

Bud Selig’s weak-kneed successor:

Congratulations to MLB Commissar Rob Manfred who now has forever cemented his legacy as the man who stripped a 70-year old icon off the jerseys of Cleveland's American League baseball team. This is the team that brought the first African American player to the American League in Larry Doby - a team of Catholics like Herb Score; those of the Jewish faith like Al Rosen, in addition to Doby, pioneering Black stars like Al Smith, Luke Easter and baseball's first Black manager Frank Robinson; early Latin American players like Bobby Avila, Chico Carresquel and the current Francisco Lindor. In short, this franchise doesn't have a racist bone in its body, but political correctness and Rob Manfred must prevail. Manfred strips away the iconic Wahoo logo while looking the other way as wife/girlfriend beaters get a slap on the wrist instead of the lifetime ban they deserve. We only thought Bud Selig was bad; he comes across as another Judge Landis when compared to his weak-kneed successor.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: pioneer radio station, free agents and 60s shopping

 The Clearwater city election

Surprise! There is an election in Clearwater in less than two months. Two of Clearwater’s five city council posts are being contested. One incumbent is up for re-election – longtime councilman Hoyt Hamilton. He is being challenged by Clearwater Beach Realtor John Funk. Easy call here – Hamilton’s experience and his Clearwater roots outweigh Funk’s rather limited resume. Councilman Bill Jonson is termed out of his seat which is being sought by Clearwater native David Allbritton and political newcomer Tom Keller. Here again, Allbritton’s grasp of his community and his service on city boards over the years make him an overwhelming choice. The election is March 13 and mail ballots will be going out soon.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In a 19-paragraph article on Florida’s robust economy and employment rates – the best in a decade and a half by all measures, not a mention of Governor Rick Scott or the programs he put into place upon election to “Get to Work”. Now, if he had a letter other than R after his name…

2. The folks at USF are losing sight of their primary mission in the bitter infighting over who should be calling the shots at their satellite campuses. Their job is to turn out well-qualified graduates, not to engage in meaningless turf wars.

3. By proclamation, the Morton Plant Hospital Treehouse (see below) proclaimed that elected officials not be paid during any government shutdown – to include any back pay after the end of the shutdown.

4. The spirit of Gasparilla is spreading with news there will be a mini-invasion of Indians Rock this year. It’s not the first invasion of Pinellas County. There was another in Clearwater back in 1976. Unfortunately those invaders never went away.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) if you remember the old fashioned soda bottle vending machines filled with ice cold water where you slid your purchase along a rail and through a coin-activated lever.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Patriots should win the Super Bowl, but they seem to be winning by just enough each game, so give us the opening line of the Eagles plus 5.5 points. We would be happier with six.

7. Now that the Hall of Fame ballots are in (congratulations to Vlad Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones and Jim Thome) don’t dismay if your favorite player did not get a big vote. On their first time on the ballot, Hall Of Famers Duke Snider and Bert Blyleven got 17 and 17.5 percent respectively.

8. Allow us to hop on the bandwagon and predict a terrific season for the San Francisco 49ers next year. Jimmy Garoppolo has taken the reigns of the offense magnificently and Kyle Shanahan has far exceeded our expectations. No, that’s not right. We simply were completely wrong about the job he would do.

9. Idle observations: last week (TBRR Jan. 21) we mentioned Pittsburgh’s KQV had gone silent at the end of 2017. KQV was unique in several ways. It was one of just a few stations east of the Mississippi with a “K” rather than “W” call letter – its long time Pittsburgh rival KDKA, America’s oldest station, is another. And KQV was one of a handful of stations with just three call letters. We have a couple in the South – WBT in Charlotte and Atlanta’s WSB – both 50,000 watt regional stations dating back to the 1920s.

10. From the sports section of the 5:05 Newsletter: The Winter Olympics are a few weeks away. That means you have less than a month to pretend you understand curling.

Farewell, at least temporarily, to the Treehouse

The late Skip Carey once said he did not want to belong to any organization that would have him as a member. We disagree. For over a decade, a group of leading citizens (known informally as the Treehouse) has allowed us to occasionally sip coffee with them and help right all the wrongs in the world weekday mornings between 7:00 and 7:30 at K’s Cafe in the Morton Plant Wellness Center. Coffee follows a morning workout (wink, wink). The group consists of a restaurateur, an attorney, CPA, insurance agency owner, neurosurgeon, retired judge, former politician, current politician, Realtor, builder, retired hospital executive, a competitive sailor and a guy who defies description. Main qualification is a thick skin as feelings are not spared. Your humble blogger is frequently targeted for allegedly having a cellphone with a rotary dial. We recently corrected that by getting rid of the cellphone all together. Sadly, K’s Café closed last week leaving the august group temporarily homeless. Hopefully, Clearwater’s answer to the Algonquin Roundtable will reform in the near future. It is a terrific group of gentlemen (a few of our wives occasionally visit to class up the place) and we wouldn’t swap our tenuous membership for any other group on the planet.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: The most dangerous man in the Florida Senate

Casino shuttle boat fire

The coverage of the tragic boat fire in New Port Richey revealed the print and, for the most part, electronic media’s depth of ignorance concerning boat safety. Stories cited Coast Guard reported violations. Virtually 90 percent, if not higher, of Coast Guard inspections of passenger vessels yield violations – the Coast Guard takes their job very seriously. The vast majority of violations, like all those cited in news reports, are the fix these within a certain amount of time variety i.e. they are not hazardous to boat operation. The more serious violation earns the boat a “do not sail” designation. The issue has to be rectified and re-inspected before the boat can leave the dock. None of the issues on the Island Lady came even close to that status. Lastly, let it be said that Captain Michael Batten did an incredible job of handling the situation. He is to be commended; the local news media not so much.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. If we were a member of AARP, and we’re not for several reasons, we would be furious that our membership money was spent on some puffy full page newspaper ad congratulating Sen. Bill Nelson for basically doing nothing – in an election year, of course.

2. Another Sunday, another morning of gummed up traffic on Clearwater Beach and Sand Key as folks try to get to church, restaurants etc. in the face of another foot race that could just as easily be run on the miles and miles of publicly financed trails in our county.

3. Idle observation - at least once a day on the road we spot a car with chrome wheels that are worth considerably more than the vehicle they grace.

4. Number of the week – $11.1 billion- the annual budget of the IRS. Good grief.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed an Italian meal at Vince Anna’s on Cleveland Street downtown.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Fifty years ago this week, the ground breaking show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In hit the airwaves. In virtually every analysis over the years, it has been voted one of the two dozen or so best television shows in history with good reason. Where else could you see Richard Nixon say “sock it to me”!

7. Another sign of the times for the critically ill newspaper industry. The Boston Herald was filed for bankruptcy. The Herald is Boston’s second largest paper with circulation slightly less than half of the Boston Globe which is also witnessing its circulation and revenues shrinking.

8. Speaking of media troubles, folks who grew up in Pittsburgh would be shocked to learn that KQV, the city’s top rocker in the sixties, and a respected news channel in this century went off the air at the end of 2017.

9. Speaking of Pittsburgh, if there haven’t been already, there need to be
shakeups in the Steeler coaching staff after a mistake-riddled loss to a so-so Jacksonville. Mike Tomlin’s job is probably safe, but both his coordinators need to go.

10. Exactly a year ago (TBRR – Jan 21, 2017) we wrote a piece about the five sports voices that will forever stay with us – Lindsey Nelson, Curt Gowdy , Skip Caray, Vin Scully and Keith Jackson. The charming good old boy from the South passed away last week at age 89. Saturday gridiron will never be the same without Nelson, and now, Keith Jackson – one of the greatest.

The seven cities without a World Series trophy

Nearly a quarter of all major league teams have never won a World Series. Living in the bay area, we surely know one of them. Other than our Rays, there are the Brewers, Mariners, Nationals, Padres, Rangers and Rockies. The interesting thing is five of those seven could change that in 2018 and it wouldn’t be a monumental upset. Only the hapless Padres and our local nine have virtually no shot. Two stand out as possibilities in ’18 – the Nationals with all that talent and finally a decent manager and the Rockies who made the playoffs in their first year under Bud Black. Both have strengthened some weak areas and could pull off a World Series win this year. Of the seven, our money would be on the Nats.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: More on KQV; the 49ers and Clearwater’s election

 Oprah for president? As long as we’re being ridiculous:

We guess television maven Donald Trump opened the door for anybody and anyone to run for the White House. Recently, left wingers began to salivate over Oprah Winfrey, but why stop there? How about Ellen DeGeneres – wouldn’t it be classy to have a president wearing tennis shoes? Or any of the talking heads at the various awards programs – the folks who think the 38^th parallel is a geometry term. The list goes on – why not Morning Joe or Colbert or maybe just a governing body of the participants on The View? Suddenly, Bernie Sanders or Jill Stein or Alfred E. Newman seem to be solid choices.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Last year, we were quick to take a bank (Wells Fargo) to task for their shady dealings (TBRR August 13 and Sept. 10). On the other side of the ledger, we cannot say enough good things about how Debra Jones and her staff at Regions Bank helped us out when our account was breached through no fault of their own – kudos!

2. Retail notes: South Tampa Sam’s Club is closing – part of about five dozen shutterings nationwide. “Odd”, “dysfunctional” and simply “I don’t like it” are among the prevailing reviews of Island Estates’ new Publix.

3. The debate rages on as to who will benefit from the new tax plan and who won’t. All we know is until it does indeed include a post card on which to file your taxes and the IRS, as we know it, is abolished, it cannot be a total success.

4. Factoid: Clearwater is the 16^th largest city in Florida. At the 2000 census, it was 10^th. For the record, Tampa is the third largest, St. Pete fifth and Largo follows after Clearwater at 28^th.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Clearwater Lumber, Hamerick Lumber and Pinellas Lumber companies. Now about the only independent yard left is Nall Lumber being run by the third generation of that long time Clearwater family.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A recent article on the late Trans-Siberian Orchestra founder Paul O’Neill revealed him as strikingly similar to another famed orchestra founder in terms of passion for his work, plus a larger than average dose of inflexibility and paranoia. The other orchestra founder from eighty years ago was Glenn Miller. His story is portrayed nicely in George Simon’s book – The Glenn Miller Orchestra.

7. It’s Girl Scout cookie time – if you’ve sworn off the Thin Mints to help shed a few pounds, there is a program where you can buy the cookies and have them donated to a member of our armed services – neat (and healthy) idea.

8. Our granddaughter’s BFA (best animal friend) Nicholas, a dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, is now 6 for 7 in picking the national college football champion with Bama’s win. Each year he’s given two toy footballs representing the contenders and this year picked the Tide over the Dawgs.

9. Watching the breakup of the Marlins, there are two prime trade chips left – outfielder Christian Yelich and catcher J.T. Realmuto. Yelich is very good but the combined defensive/offensive skills of a catcher like Realmuto come along once in a blue moon. He is the more valuable asset.

10. A semi-sports note from our friends at the 5:05 Newsletter: China increased the penalty for disrespecting the National Anthem from 15-days to 3-years in prison… in case you were thinking of taking a knee on your next visit there.

Bucs 2018 – Forget about a winning season

The Bucs with a last minute miracle pulled out a win on the last play of the season to finish a disappointing 5-11 for 2017. A peek at next year’s schedule reveals that 8 of their 16 games will be against 2017 playoff teams plus a tough road game in Dallas and a match up with 2017’s most improved team – the San Francisco 49ers. Even with the awful Browns and Bears on their schedule, it’s hard to forecast a significant improvement from this year’s 5-11.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Clearwater election, fancy wheels and Laugh-In

Time for the Bucs and Winston to part ways

Might as well start off 2018 with a very large bang - it’s time for the Tampa Bay Bucs to trade Jameis Winston and start fresh with a quarterback with equal skills and much less baggage. Winston’s value is going to continue to spiral downward, not that he ever was that much with his alarming tendency to give the opposing team the ball about three times a game. Tellingly, Kevin Clark of The Ringer lists the star QBs of tomorrow as Garoppolo, Goff, Prescott, Watson and Wentz – no mention of #3. The Buc’s record during the Winston era is 19-29 – a couple of those wins with Ryan Fitzpatrick at the helm - not exactly Tom Brady-like. And with the Buc’s draft position this season there are two excellent quarterbacks who could fall in their laps – Louisville’s Lamar Jackson and USC’s Sam Darnold Both are excellent college quarterbacks (we particularly like Jackson), again, without the rape, groping and shoplifting baggage – not to mention how often he loses his composure on the field. It’s a daring move, but has a lot more upside than down. The question is - are the Bucs willing to admit they made a large mistake with Winston?

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Recent developments give hope that Florida will not become California or Colorado East. The city of Dunedin votes to extend the moratorium on medical pot dispensaries. Meanwhile, First Green Bank, the first Florida bank to handle pot producing clients, has dropped them effective a week ago. Rock on.

2. We have now completed another round of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza and New Years – or as we like to refer to it, The Festival of Carbs.

3. In that same vein, the stars aligned during the holidays with Florida-perfect weather, thousands of happy visitors and happy merchants and attraction operators.

4. It looks unlikely that Governor Scott will call a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Jack Latvala. If he does, the overwhelming favorite would be former State Rep. Ed Hooper, who plans to run for the seat in the regular election. Latvala would have been termed out.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you enjoyed a slice or two of pizza served up by Shakey’s Pizza Parlors – good pizza complete with a ragtime piano. There are now only about 50 Shakey’s left – virtually all in California.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. “The alphabet now ends at Y." The words of Sue Grafton’s daughter in announcing her famed mother’s passing last week. The mystery writer’s signature was alphabetical titles – the last being Y Is For Yesterday.

7. The I-4 teams (USF and UCF) acquitted themselves nicely against SEC and SWC teams in last week’s bowls.

8. Regardless of Monday’s college championship game outcome, the winner is the SEC. With revenue sharing, all SEC teams get a piece of the total revenues from the game rather splitting the take with another conference – a rather significant pay day for Alabama, Georgia and their playmates.

9. Related to our lead piece: Memo to Bucs’ front office – did you happen to catch the Tennessee-Kansas City game?

10. From the 5:05 Newsletter, never afraid to reach beyond our borders for its version of the news: President Vladimir Putin announced that he will run for a sixth term as president in 2018. An hour later, he announced that he had won.

Our Hall of Fame ballot:

The Hall of Fame announces their 2018 Class in a couple weeks. We emphasize that we do not have a ballot BUT if we had one, six names would be checked off starting with this year’s only certainty – Chipper Jones. Joining him on our ballot are hitting machine Vlad Guerrero, consistently excellent right hander Mike Mussina, Cleveland slugger Jim Thome, fielding magician Omar Vizquel and the game’s greatest left handed reliever Billy Wagner. We continue to be baffled why this critical major league position gets short shrift (see Hoffman, Trevor and Smith, Lee).

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Next governor, taking a knee in China, tax plan

 This week the last of our tributes to some good dining and a wonderful journalist, Tom McEwen, who inspired this year-long effort. During the holidays, we feature a homemade treasure – Tennessee boiled custard – a lot like egg nog only better. You can find recipes in numerous cook books including the Foxfire book and Light of Christ Church’s recently published Recipes from the Soul. Our personal favorite was the wonderful concoction made by our longtime Clearwater neighbor Helen Leach.

As usual, we wind down 2017 with a few of our favorite tidbits

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Here’s a thought regarding the anticipated pot-related epidemic in Florida. In exchange for the privilege of using medical marijuana, you forfeit your driving privileges thereby protecting the rest of us on the road. Hey, if you’re that “sick”, you probably should not be behind the wheel of a car anyway.

2. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you, your kids or grandkids enjoyed “Breakfast with Santa” at one of the Maas Brothers’ restaurants.

3. (From February) Quote of the Week: “A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge” – America’s new Supreme Court Justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

4. Breaking news: Politifact rates claim that President Trump was responsible for Pearl Harbor attack as “Mostly False”.

5. There’s been some gnashing of teeth over a decline in the state’s arts funding – it’s still at nearly $25 million. The arts, unfortunately, have to compete against fire trucks, areas that flood and hungry people who need fed.

6. Just an idle thought, most highly praised presidents weren’t really as good as legend has them and most universally damned presidents weren’t all that bad – with the possible exceptions of Andrew Johnson and Warren Harding.

7. (From February) Quote of the week: “Regulators exist to give certainty to those they regulate” – new EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Comforting words for businesses and individuals who have been severely harmed by the EPA’s “make up the rules as we go along” philosophy of the past.

8. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed a Big Boy at the Frisch’s Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd. The last Frisch’s Big Boys left Florida in the early 1990s.

9. You can now get an Uber or Lyft ride at TIA. Most third world airports have offered this for the past five years.

10. Remember that Texas Instruments calculator you bought in the 70s for $100? You can now buy one of equal capabilities at Dollar Tree.

11. With all our restaurant suggestions this year, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) looks back at four restaurants they wish still existed. They are the elegant Siple’s Garden Seat on Clearwater’s bluff, the not so elegant but really good Robby’s Pancake House, and two other Gulf to Bay landmarks, Chief Charley’s and Young’s BBQ.

12. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you were taught English or American History by the legendary “Uncle Russ” Cantwell at CHS.

13. Just an idle thought: Is the Tesla this generation’s DeLorean?

14. Are we the only one troubled by a shamelessly self-promotional piece in the mail from Charlie Crist? The one with the tiny six-point type proclaiming it was paid for at taxpayer expense?

15. With the negative reaction to the Paris accords pullout by some folks labeled “corporate titans”, we call to mind a thought from O’Reilly and Feirstein’s book Old School: “don’t hector us about climate change while you fly around in private jets and have multiple houses with the carbon footprint the size of Kazakhstan”. Well said.

16. (From August) Breaking news: East Druid Road between Belcher and Hercules is now open. As a reminder, when construction began Obama was still President, spring training was months away and the majority of us were a year younger.

17. (Post St. Pete mayoral edition) - And yes, the irony isn’t lost on us. What passes for a newspaper in our area endorsed a Republican for the first time in a millennium, while the reactionaries here at TBRR gave a nod, albeit tepid, to Mayor Kriseman.

18. You have to imagine the Vegas odds are very strong that neither 2016 Presidential candidate will be on the ballot again in 2020. Carrying that one step further, both parties need to coalesce around a strong one or two candidates for 2020 within the next year.

19. We wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think observing a group of lemmings lined up to buy some overpriced phone that they never answer.

20. TIA’s renovation includes new trams to get folks around – built in Japan. Less than 90 miles away is one of the world’s busiest and most efficient tram systems (Disneyworld) all built in North America.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

1. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) wonders why Gen X and Millennials never carry a single dime with them and go into full panic mode when they encounter a situation where they can’t use plastic.

2. Five names that remind us baseball is still the most unpredictable of all our sports –Kirk Gibson, Don Larsen, Bill Mazeroski, Dusty Rhodes and Bucky F. Dent.

3. (From the first edition after Super Bowl Sunday): Add us to the long list of people who at 28-3 said “the heck with this, I’m going to get some shuteye”.

4. From April - We understand the rationale of major league baseball scheduling a day off after opening day to allow for inclement weather – but in the Trop?

5. From the 5:05 Newsletter, the hits just keep on coming: Democratic National Party Chairman Tom Perez took over the party with a mission to overhaul the party’s direction and energy and give it new life. He immediately ordered all DNC staffers to resign, causing four network newscasts to go dark.

6. From the nearly world famous Gassman law firm sign on Court Street: “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be”.

7. (From May): Number of the week - $36 bucks – the least you could pay for a ticket to last weekend’s Rays – Yankees series. Second number of the week – 30 per cent – the percentage of seats (28,000 total) that went unsold against the best draw in baseball. The Rays just don’t get it.

8. With the addition of the Las Vegas franchise, the NHL now has 31 teams, one more than major league baseball. Why?

9. (May): Idle thought: remember when you could recite the winners of the Indy 500 back ten years or so? Now, we had to look back 23 years to find a name we actually remember – Al Unser, Jr., whose dad and uncle were also winners when the race truly captured America.

10. Bumper sticker seen on the car of a dog lover: “Wag more, bark less”. Good advice for all of us.

11. A name you did not hear mentioned during the celebration of the Houston Astros world championship was Ed Wade. The former Phillie and Astro GM laid the cornerstone of the World Championship team with his drafting of Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel and series MVP George Springer. Ed is one of the truly nice men in the game.

12. (August) What a great story in major league baseball last week. Chris Rowley wins his first start for the Toronto Blue Jays – the first West Point graduate to ever start a game in the majors – proving once again no matter how long you follow baseball, you will always see something new.

13. (From October) A recent study valued the University of Florida Gator football program as a franchise at $682 million. FSU’s gridiron organization came in at $385 million. Which would you want – Gators at 682, Noles at 385 or the Miami Marlins at $1.3 billion?

14. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four, old, cranky people) have selected their most annoying words or phrases in the English language. They are “you know”, “whatever”, “it is what it is” and “quick question” (they’re never quick and they are never singular).

15. (From October): Cue Etta James’ 1961 hit At Last. The Washington Nationals have named ex-Rays bench coach Dave Martinez their manager. Now Tampa Bay fans can get a glimpse of what could have (and should have) been when Maddon blew town.

16. Getting there – that has to be a primary concern as bay area leaders stumble towards a stadium site for the Rays. One of the things that doomed the Trop from the beginning was the lack of cooperation from PSTA in running routes from north Pinellas to the park. This time, HART and the PSTA need to step up.

17. Be honest, you have a contending team, who do you hire - Aaron Boone or Joe Girardi? As one long term Yankee follower put it, GM Brian Cashman wanted a yes man, not a manager.

18. There’s been some push back in Gainesville to the hiring of Dan Mullen as the new head coach. Perhaps it would have been nice to have hired the mercurial Chip Kelly – a somewhat proven commodity. But the wailing about not getting UCF’s Scott Frost is ridiculous. Let’s see how he does against a schedule that doesn’t include Austin Peay, Cincinnati and UConn before we judge him ready for prime time. We think Mullen will do just fine.

19. Ah the joy of being a Bucs’ fan, you know it’s going to end badly (see Carolina vs. Bucs), but you can’t turn away because you need to see just how.

And this year’s favorite of favorites:

Yet another acorn of wisdom from the 5:05 Newsletter: Hollywood is the only place where you are awarded a Doctorate in Political Science after completing your third movie.”

Our Last Song Together (with a bow to the late Glen Yarbrough)

At year’s end, we say good bye to some folks who left their mark, both locally and nationally.

The iconic mother-daughter duo of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher died within a day of each other in December 2016.

Also passing in late December was Tampa Bay area banking scion Bronson Thayer at age 77.

(From January) William Christopher, one of TV’s most famous priests, (M*A*S*H) died at age 84.

Eugene Cernan, as of now, the last man to walk on the moon.

She was the consummate girl next door – America’s sweetheart. With a shadow of a tear, we said goodbye to Mary Tyler Moore in January.

(From February) We note the passing of longtime acquaintance Fred Brown at age 89. An area businessman for decades, Rotarian and traveler, Fred saw one of his fondest wishes come true last fall when his beloved Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series for the only time in his life.

Skip Schafer, Pinellas County attorney and Circuit Court Judge, succumbed to cancer at age 69 in February.

(Also from February) - Moonlighting, Morning and We’re in this Love Together – just three great songs of many from jazz-oriented vocalist Al Jarreau who died at age 76.

(From March) Bad things often happen in threes. In early March our community has lost three outstanding women. Barbara Bissonette, Jean Hamilton and Peg Mallory all made their mark in their own very unique ways. They will be dearly missed.

Liberal and likeable commentator Alan Colmes, the Colmes of Hannity and Colmes on Fox News passed away at age 66.

Dick Fitzgerald, career army officer, distinguished member of Clearwater’s city council and a mentor to those who followed him on the Clearwater dais.

(From March) “Chuck Berry’s checking in from St. Lou, he’s going to sing Maybelline and Memphis, too” – from Jan and Dean’s They Came From all Over the World. The guy who grew up in St. Lou and found fame on Chicago’s Chess record label left us at age 90.

Also in March, we said goodbye to the man who brought the Phillies their first World Championship, Manager (along with pitcher and club executive) Dallas Green.

From April: He and his best friend in show business, Bob Newhart, were two of the best “clean” comedians ever. Don Rickles, the man who was universally loved by everyone he insulted passed away at age 90 – a terrific loss.

No team has won more Super Bowls than his Steelers; he was a gifted prep quarterback, second team All-Pittsburgh to a guy named Unitas, but his lasting legacy will be the Rooney Rule – clearing the path for more minority representation on NFL sidelines and front offices. Dan Rooney passed away at age 84.

From May: The world of baseball and our nation suffered a loss with the passing of Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who authored no-hitters in both leagues and had a noble political career as a U.S. Representative and later Senator from the state of Kentucky.

From June: Former major league outfielder Jimmy Piersall passed away at age 86. To term him colorful would be an understatement.

Was there ever a campier show than Batman? Adam West, the original Batman died at age 88. A final BHAM! POW! to the TV legend.

In July: The early sixties saw him as a young hood on The Untouchables; ten years later, he was impersonation wizard Rollin Hand on Mission Impossible and then there was the 1990s Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. The extremely versatile Martin Landau was 89.

From August: He was recognized as one of the three greatest coaches in Notre Dame history, but his winning record at moribund Northwestern may be even more impressive. Football legend Ara Parseghian passed way at age 94.

A bad week or so for sports fans with the passing of Don Baylor, Dutch Daulton and John Reaves – all made an indelible mark on their respective sports.

He was a Wichita Lineman, a Rhinestone Cowboy and a Country Boy with his feet in L.A. But above all, the late Glen Campbell was one heck of a musician.

If Dick Clark was America’s oldest teenager, Jerry Lewis was this country’s oldest adolescent. Known for his teaming with Dean Martin, his own solo career and his tireless work for MDA, Lewis passed away at 91.

From September: We apologize for being a couple weeks late in noting the latest addition to Rock and Roll Heaven – Walter Becker, one-half of a terrific band of the 70s – Steely Dan.

Back when radio news was still radio news, there were a bunch of terrific radio journalists in the bay area – WTAN’s Dennis Crandall, WDAE’s Ronald J. Ebben, WLCY’s Clair Linn and WFLA’s Marty Giles to name four. Giles, one of the deans of radio news, died left us at age 80.

From October: Admit it guys, we all lived vicariously through him. The keeper of the bunny hutch, Hugh Hefner, was 91.

Also in October: Rock and roll lost a great one in October – Antoine “Fats” Domino passed away at age 89. As we mentioned a couple weeks back (TBRR Oct. 15), the “Fatman” charted 68 singles in his incredible career.

From November: There was no more dominant pitcher in the 2000 decade than Ray “Doc” Halladay whose life ended all too soon in a plane crash off New Port Richey.

The fight world, the bay area and Ybor City, in particular, are mourning the passing of Dr. Ferdie Pacheco at age 89. He might have been best known for his role in Muhammad Ali’s corner, but the depth of his existence far surpassed that.

The Florida Gators lost a big fan and country music a legend with Mel Tillis’ passing.

She was probably best known for her work in TV’s Touched by an Angel. But music buffs will never forget her classic recordings like And That Reminds Me, Don’t You Know and Not One Minute More. Della Reese died at age 86.

(From December) Carolyn Brink was a dear, sweet lady whose function for many years was keeping track of the comings and goings of Clearwater’s city commissioners – the equivalent of herding cats. Mrs. Brink passed away earlier this month. She will be greatly missed.

Few announcers had a catch phrase that was as well-known all over America, but Dick Enberg’s spontaneous “Oh My” captured us all. The versatile sportscaster and Baseball Hall of Famer died just a week before we went to press with this issue.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Starting the year with a big bang!

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): We will spend this week devoted to the family staying in our pajamas just a little longer and cheating on our diet with a breakfast of a large glass of milk and our beloved mother’s raisin filled cookies. Hope you’ll take a moment this week to feast on a similar family tradition. Merry Christmas!

As we conclude our yearlong dining suggestions

Next week we wrap up our yearlong list of 52 dining suggestions.   We hope that we may have made you aware of a gem or two of a restaurant you had not tried before. We have eaten in every one we listed – most much more than once. Sadly, two have left us during the year - Roosevelt Boulevard’s Cheddars and Clearwater’s Farmer Boys. We’re sure there were some oversights – after all, there are hundreds of restaurants in Pinellas County alone. But we have given you a year’s worth, and we hope you’ll try some of them and perhaps maybe shoot us a comment below on a place we might have missed. We will feature some of those in 2018. In the meantime, bon appetit!

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Forgive us for not joining the hoards piling on State Senator Jack Latvala. The longtime Pinellas legislator did the right thing in resigning. Now it’s up to the proper authorities to sort things out. We can only say that Latvala was unquestionably the most effective legislator for Pinellas County over the past two decades. The alleged indiscretions, if true, are inexcusable, but let us see how things play out before reaching any final judgement.

2. Every year when your HB (Humble Blogger) rings the bell for the Salvation Army, we hear a heartwarming story or three about the Army’s good works. This year was no exception as a woman related how the Army helped her almost a decade ago when times were very tough. Now she can’t pass a kettle without dropping in some money. Thanks to all of you who did the same this holiday season. And thanks to our SW (Saintly Wife), daughter and granddaughter for ringing at our side along with the wonderful Hilkert family.

3. Idle musing: in our sixty years as a Florida resident, we’ve become familiar with cities like Archer, Coleman, Jay, Malone and Paisley. But until some recent research, we had never come across Hypoluxo, some 2000 residents strong, in Palm Beach County. How it got its name is more complicated than space allows.

4. Stolen from the creative marquee of attorney Alan Gassman: Santa and Mrs. Clause, your postnuptial agreement is ready.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed the jazz at Woody Riley’s Warehouse on Garden Avenue – especially Paulette Pepper and the Garden Avenue Seven.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. As predicted, the break-up of the Rays has begun with the trade of Evan Longoria. The return was about as expected – the Arroyo kid they picked up has a lot of potential and outfielder Dennard Span was just a salary dump by the Giants in exchange for taking on Longo’s rather hefty contract.

7. The Yankees acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton is causing seismic waves all the way from Tampa Bay to Anaheim. But just as important was their reunion with C.C. Sabathia, a strike throwing machine - more on the Yanks and 2018 in a couple weeks.

8. Fifty years ago as 1967 wound down, the top three hits in America were Hello Goodbye by the Beatles; Heard It Through the Grapevine by Gladys Knight, down from number one – this song would also be number one a year from now, but by Marvin Gaye and at number three - the Monkees’ Daydream Believer.

9. NFL takeaways from Week 15 – with the induction of Jon Gruden into the Bucs’ Ring of Honor – the trinity is two-thirds complete. Tony Dungy needs to be added to that list. Along with Gruden and previously inducted John McKay, Dungy made the franchise what it is – no other Buc coach comes close to that trio’s accomplishments. John Fox, Hue Jackson and Chuck Pagano are just three coaches who will be hiring moving companies in the next week. The Giants and Bengals have already made moves for a total of five and there could be one or two more.

10. Happy 7^th birthday to our greatest Christmas gift ever – our granddaughter Emma Kathleen.

Bing, Nat, Perry and other Christmas favorites

On Christmas Eve when our Raves and Rants focus group turns on the Victrola (hey, they’re old) these are their particular favorites – Bing Crosby’s I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Perry Como’s Home for the Holidays, Nat Cole’s The Christmas Song, Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24 and Wham’s Last Christmas. In the words of another Christmas tune (thanks to Les Brown) from TBRR – We Wish You the Merriest!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Our year-end retrospective

 This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR) It’s the time of year for holiday vacations and perhaps a trip to your old hometown restaurant. Two must stops for your HB (Humble Blogger) and SW (Saintly Wife) are Bullocks BBQ in her hometown Durham, N.C. and a classic meet and greet joint, Chat-A-Whyle Restaurant, of Bath, NY in the Finger Lakes region. Both still good after all these years.

Rays teardown: don’t get your hopes up

Virtually every observer feels a teardown of the Tampa Bay Rays is inevitable with the Yanks acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton (more on that in a future issue). And most folks think the keys to the rebuild will be Evan Longoria, Chris Archer and closer Alex Colome. The guy who the Rays can best be rid of is Colome. No non-competitive team needs a closer. Ironically, Colome probably will bring the best value. Longoria’s peak value was two years ago; other than his glove, he is sliding backward and won’t bring all that much. The gold standard for returns on starting pitchers is what the White Sox got for Chris Sale last season or the Braves for Shelby Miller the year before. Archer won’t bring that much. The trio will fetch some decent returns but not anything near the foundation of a dynasty.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Doug Jones is the new U.S. Senator from Alabama. The recommendation here is that he enter into a short term lease for his Washington living quarters. He beat a seriously flawed candidate by less than a point and a half. We’re guessing the GOP will offer up a markedly stronger candidate next year.

2. Factoid: Only two men have been on a national ballot five times – FDR (4 presidential runs and an unsuccessful run as a VP candidate in 1920) and Richard Nixon (VP – 1952 and 56; unsuccessful presidential run in 1960 and successful runs in 68 and 72).

3. If you’re old like us, you remember when only police cars, fire trucks and ambulances had flashing lights. Nowadays, it seems everything from repo haulers to rinky dink security companies to ice cream vendors have them - sensory overload.

4. Speaking of police cars, we just completed a 2600 mile motor trip and saw more traffic stops in the stretch from Lawtey to Waldo than the rest of the trip combined. Those two cities, along with Starke, are an embarrassment to the state of Florida.

5. Carolyn Brink was a dear, sweet lady whose function for many years was keeping track of the comings and goings of Clearwater’s city commissioners – the equivalent of herding cats. Mrs. Brink passed away last week. She will be greatly missed.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Baseball’s newest Hall of Famers are Jack Morris and Allen Trammell – time was when 3.90 ERAs and .285 batting averages didn’t get you in the Hall. We still await two guys who dominated in the 1960s (Roger Maris – two MVPs) and the 1980s (Dale Murphy, again, two MVPs) to receive their due.

7. Shocking that the folks who select teams for college football’s final four at last realize that it’s okay to select two teams from the same conference. Actually, it’s not that shocking when every authoritative poll in the country had one-loss Alabama ranked ahead of two-loss Ohio State.

8. As predicted back in May, (TBRR May 7), there are more layoffs coming at ESPN. This time, however, most of the pink slips are for folks behind the scenes.

9. A thought shared by a member of our TBRR focus group after being chemically assaulted in a restaurant: a woman’s perfume should be discovered, not announced.

10. You’ve lived in Florida a long time if you remember Walt Disney World’s A through E tickets. Our Rants and Raves focus group (now comprised of five old, cranky people) adds you’ve lived in the Sunshine State a while if you remember when the average citizen could afford to go to WDW.

Jimbo Fisher – winning versus $$$

First a fact that many might not be aware of – the winningest Division 1 football program since 1980 is … FSU. And Jimbo Fisher decided to leave that legacy for a few lousy extra million. Know this – he will not have the success at Texas A&M he had in Tallahassee. The reason? Two words - Alabama and Auburn. Supposedly, A&M has one of the finest facilities in the country, and the DeLorean was a pretty car. Maybe you can be rich beyond belief and be satisfied with 8-4 seasons. But then he was rich beyond belief at FSU and had a national championship to boot. And lest we forget, besides the Tide and the Tigers, there’s LSU, Mississippi and Mississippi State. Welcome to the SEC, Jimbo.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Wrapping up our year-long tribute to Tom McEwen

This week’s dining tip (see back story in the Jan. 1 TBRR): a different style of dining. Hop on board the Starlight Majesty for surprisingly good food, music and, at this time of year, a chance to view Christmas lights from the water on Island Estates and down Belleair way.

Is Clearwater ready for a strong mayor?

Talk has started surfacing (again) about Clearwater perhaps moving to a strong mayor form of government. Some of the talk is occasioned by the pending retirement of long time City Manager Bill Horne in the next couple years. With almost twenty years at the helm, Horne certainly brought stability to the post where the average stay is somewhere less than five years. The only two larger cities in the bay area, St. Pete and Tampa, both have strong mayors but population size is not the overriding factor. Some incredibly small cities in Florida have strong mayors and larger cities like Cape Coral, Ft. Lauderdale and Gainesville have council-manager systems like Clearwater. There has not been any blindingly obvious reason for change, but a couple weak managers after Horne could tip the equation.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Apologies for the late edition, we are just back from the frozen tundra that is the Finger Lakes region of New York after celebrating one of those significant birthdays (the ones ending in a 0) for our beloved sister. Glad to be back in the warmth just as she is happy to have her surprise company from underfoot!

2. From a post of a Facebook friend: The obscure we see eventually; the completely apparent takes longer…

3. Don’t you tire of seeing people whip into handicapped spots who can walk better than you? We need to tighten up the requirements for such permits – perhaps with photo IDs; stiffen the penalties for abusers and then let everyone with a legit placard park for free anywhere.

4. You may not know Alton Miller, William Pitt or Marvin Simon, but you surely know Glenn Miller, Brad Pitt and Neil Simon – just three famous folks known by their middle name.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ate at the A&W Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd. The chain was absorbed by the group that owns KFC and Taco Bell, but is again a stand-alone corporation, so perhaps Clearwater will see a return of the classic drive-in.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Yes, we were in the media business for a couple decades, and yes we are a bit naïve, but what has been revealed in the last six months or so re: O’Reilly, Lauer and Rose et al is astounding.

7. There’s been some push back in Gainesville to the hiring of Dan Mullen as the new head coach. Perhaps it would have been nice to have hired the mercurial Chip Kelly – a somewhat proven commodity. But the wailing about not getting UCF’s Scott Frost is ridiculous. Let’s see how he does against a schedule that doesn’t include Austin Peay, Cincinnati and UConn before we judge him ready for prime time. We think Mullen will do just fine.

8. This was one of the weirdest ways to find out your head coach is leaving – FSU’s Jimbo Fisher’s Christmas tree was dumped on the curb for trash pick-up. A lot of folks call the Noles hiring of Willie Taggart a step backward. Don’t think a couple nice years at USF (but Charlie Strong’s was better) and one so-so year at Oregon makes him quite ready for one of the Top 10 programs in the county..

9. A couple weeks ago Serena Williams and her fiancé were married in NOLA with famous people and their 11-week old daughter in attendance. Call us old-fashioned, but shouldn’t people like Williams, who tons of young people look up to, perhaps get married then start a family?

10. From the merry elves at the 5:05 Newsletter: Starbucks unveiled its holiday cups, which had illustrations that customers can color in themselves. It is perfect for people who are too busy to make their own coffee at home, yet still have enough time to color in a coffee cup.

What event would be #1 on your bucket list?

Our Rants and Raves focus group (now composed of five old, cranky people) considered this question and came up with the following (1) Home plate box seats at a New York Yankee game. (2) Another Big Apple event – the Christmas season with Rockettes, the store fronts and the Rockefeller Plaza tree. (3) A Bruno Mars concert. (4) The annual consumer electronics show held in Vegas in January and (5) An annual party thrown by conservative pundit George Will to celebrate the opening of the baseball season. And yours?

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: E Tickets, perfume and welcome to the SEC, Jimbo

Okay, now that things have cooled down a bit, the outside porch at Carrabba’s on Gulf to Bay is a nice spot to relax and dine – and what a menu!

Parking issues – the only way to go is up

It’s a tale of two cities but the tale applies to all of Pinellas County, one of the most densely populated counties south of Manhattan. In Dunedin, city officials are grappling with parking issues – whether to charge for downtown parking or stay (mostly) free. One of the things they are considering is a parking garage. The same holds true for Clearwater Beach, particularly its marina where parking plans have been all over the chart the last couple years – mainly because they permitted a new restaurant to come in without any additional parking (a story for another time). In both cases, it would appear a parking garage would be, in large measure, a solution. The marina has the space for a non-obtrusive garage; it would seem there would be similar space off the main drag of Dunedin. It’s a solution both cities need to seriously consider.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:  

1. Driverless transit buses in the bay area? We think we’ll pass. And don’t bother calling us when you develop the pilotless airliner.

2. Idle question: are we trying to stuff fifteen pounds into a five pound sack by looking at a Rays site in Ybor City?

3. She was probably best known for her work in TV’s Touched by an Angel. But music buffs will never forget her classic recordings like And That Reminds Me, Don’t You Know and Not One Minute More. Della Reese died last week at age 86.

4. Breaking news, the TBRR focus group (comprised of four, old cranky people) has added a fifth old cranky person – actually older and, arguably, crankier than the other four. Their first combined observation appears next week.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Reddy Kilowatt the cartoon spokesman for Florida Power and other electric utilities across the country.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Be honest, you have a contending team, who do you hire - Aaron Boone or Joe Girardi? As one long term Yankee follower put it, GM Brian Cashman wanted a yes man, not a manager.

7. Takeaways from NFL Week 12: The Atlanta Falcons win over the 4-7 Bucs keeps them in playoff contention, but they continue to show an alarming tendency to allow teams to get back into games. And on the college front, Dan Mullen was probably the safest hire for the Florida Gators, but we don’t see a Spurrier or Meyer-like run during his tenure. And the University of Tennessee’s football program, no make that athletic program, is a just a hot mess with too many outsiders telling the people in charge what to do.

8. We are sorry to report the end of StPetersBlog a, for the most part, conservative look at things emanating from St. Pete. The blog shut down last month with its editor now concentrating on another project – Florida Politics – worth a read.

9. Factoid, Al Capone, who profited immensely from the act, and U.S. Rep. Andrew Volstead, who gave his name to the Volstead Act, died within a week of each other seventy years ago.

10. Yet another acorn of wisdom from the 5:05 Newsletter: Hollywood is the only place where you are awarded a Doctorate in Political Science after completing your third movie.

The Thursday Evening Post

A favorite drawing that hung in our office for years depicted the office of The Thursday Evening Post with a printer approaching the publisher saying, “Boss, there’s no way we’re going to be able to get out the first issue before Saturday evening.” Which is a roundabout way of saying next week’s TBRR will be a little late – probably Monday night or Tuesday morning as your HB (Humble Blogger) and SW (Saintly Wife) take a much delayed vacation in New York’s Finger Lakes and the Shenandoah Valley. See you in about ten days!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Strong mayor for Clearwater?

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR) is again a little off the charts but your HB (Humble Blogger) and IW (Incredible Wife) jaunt out to Countryside Mall this time of year – not to shop (we’re early shoppers) but to watch shoppers with their treasures while enjoying one of many offerings of the mall’s food court - people watching at its best.

Hillsborough teachers in a dilemma

It’s easy to see both sides of the problems in the Hillsborough School System. Teachers were talking of “working to their contract” – in other words doing what is laid out in their agreement and nothing more. That means no after school conferences or phone calls and no grading papers at home. As one retired educator who we deeply respect said, that only hurts the kids not the nincompoops who employ the teachers (the last part our words, not hers). Teachers routinely work ridiculous hours, reach into their pockets for needed classroom supplies; but don’t harm the kids in your effort’s to get the rate of pay to which you’re entitled. But do everything in your power to get rid of the cancer that is the Hillsborough County School Board – the folks who should have been kicked to the curb in the last election.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Senator Bill Nelson tells us the tax reform bill working its way through Congress will harm small business. Nelson has fed at the public trough for over forty years. What he knows about small business could be printed on a 3x5 index card with space left over.

2. The Florida Gators lost a big fan and country music legend with Mel Tillis’ passing last week.

3. The fight world, the bay area and Ybor City, in particular, are mourning the passing of Dr. Ferdie Pacheco at age 89. He might have been best known for his role in Muhammad Ali’s corner, but the depth of his existence far surpassed that.

4. Publix is sticking to its story that the new two story Island Estates store will be open on Thursday, December 7. Stay tuned.

5. Stolen from attorney Alan Gassman’s Thanksgiving week newsletter: Happy Thanksgiving; don’t forget to set your scales back ten pounds tonight.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Danica Patrick will retire from racing after next year’s Indy 500. Exercising a Herculean amount of restraint, we report this without comment.

7. Takeaways from NFL Week 11 – and you thought the Bucs were inept. And how ‘bout those Eagles! In the AFC – same old, same old - the road to the Super Bowl will go through New England and Pittsburgh.

8. It is sad to see three very proud franchises utterly lost. The 49ers (Walsh, Montana, Rice), the Giants (Coughlin, Gifford, Taylor) and the Browns (Paul Brown, Jim Brown, Graham) are a combined 3-28 this season. It should be noted the Browns share the name only. The team comprised of the greats above was moved to Baltimore in 1996 by the infamous Art Modell who not only moved a beloved franchise but fired perhaps the greatest coach in NFL history – Bill Belichick – there’s a legacy!

9. Factoid: the top five groups by record sales and airplay of the rock era are The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, Temptations and Chicago. Quite a list, although we were a bit surprised the Supremes and the 4 Seasons didn’t make it.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at the Sandy’s hamburger restaurant on Missouri Avenue just south of Cleveland Street. Sandy’s, a chain started by some former McDonald’s franchisees, was bought out by Hardees in the early 70s and the Clearwater store closed shortly thereafter.

So long to Little E; good but not his Dad

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has hung up his racing gloves after 19 seasons and 26 wins on NASCAR’s biggest circuit – his wins are roughly one-third the number his late father posted on the circuit to go with seven championships. Dale Jr. will go down as one of NASCAR’s most popular drivers ever, but not one of the elite. His 26 wins rank him 29^th all time. The generally accepted top five of NASCAR are, in no particular order, Bobby Allison, Dale, Sr., Jeff Gordon, David Pearson and Richard Petty with honorable mention to Jimmy Johnson, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough. And wasn’t it refreshing to see a smaller operation team win NASCAR’s top prize? Congratulations to Martin Truex, Jr. and the Furniture Row team.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Parking going up and Brian, Burt, Carole and Neil

This week’s dining tip: (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): Your Humble Blogger and Saintly Wife were blessed a decade ago when our daughter married a very nice young man from an even nicer family. This large Irish contingent has welcomed us into the fold including their wonderful Thanksgiving family celebration that usually numbers twenty or more. We hope you’ll be breaking bread with family and good friends as well this coming week.

What’s driving St. Pete politics?

First you need to dispel the fantasy that Donald Trump had anything to do with Rick Baker’s loss – despite Mayor Rick Kriseman’s less than noble attempt to politicize a non-partisan race. Years ago, a lot of people voted for Ronald Reagan because he was simply a nice guy; we suspect a lot of folks voted against Rick Baker because he’s not. Did the Rays issue play a part - maybe? And voters mysteriously ignored severe infrastructure and staff issues in the Kriseman administration. It’s going to be interesting to see how a second Kriseman term plays out. The mayor mustn’t delude himself into thinking the election result was a mandate because it wasn’t. He and his team have a lot of work to do to leave a strong legacy.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. For perhaps the first time in our life, we agree with uber-liberal columnist, Daniel Ruth. A recent column correctly opined if there are six or so women who were somehow harmed by the actions of State Senator Jack Latvala, they need to come forward and identify themselves. It is impossible to defend oneself against rumor and innuendo.

2. Way too much is being made out of the election results in Virginia – a traditionally blue state. And in St. Pete, as mentioned above, an incumbent mayor was reelected, so what?

3. It is long past time to end the antiquated ritual of swapping between daylight and standard time. Arizona and Hawaii get it – why can’t the rest of the country?

4. We wonder what Alexander Graham Bell would think observing a group of lemmings lined up to buy some overpriced phone that they never answer.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Rotary and Sertoma Turkey Shoots on vacant land on the east side of U.S. 19 back in the sixties and early seventies. Most of the land was owned by the pioneering Coachman family.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Take away from week 10 in the NFL. Name one person who thought the team with the best record in the league would be … the Philadelphia Eagles! The Bucs improve to 3-6 but an objective look at the balance of the schedule shows four or five losses projecting to a 6-10 or 5-11 season.

7. Here we go again, MLB head Rob Manfred and the correctness police are looking at Cleveland’s logo. Look out KC, Atlanta and Washington – you’re next. My, but pro sports sure have their priorities screwed up.

8. Idle question: don’t you miss the traditional Lions-Packers Thanksgiving game? The Lions will at least make an appearance on Turkey Day playing the Vikings.

9. We’re not sure who the Gators will hire but the most interesting hire would be Chip Kelly who could be a huge success or a colossal failure. You get the feeling there would be little middle ground.

10. Good hire by the Atlanta Braves in bringing 40-year-old Alex Anthopoulos on board as their new GM. Anthopoulos did a great job in building the Toronto franchise and arguably has even more to work with in Atlanta, possessors of MLB’s number one farm system.

How many people can a Corvette feed?

We thank our high school classmate and hit record recording engineer (Campbell, Diamond and Streisand among others) Ron Hitchcock for passing along for this somewhat lengthy, but right on point piece:

A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said, "I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost."                

I replied I am not sure. It fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it. It fed the people who make the tires. It fed the people who made the components that went into it. It fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires. It fed people in Decatur IL. at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore. It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families. BUT… I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed. That is the difference between capitalism and welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills. When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self-worth. Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value. Socialism is taking your money against your will and shoving something down your throat you never asked for.                        

PS: It is a darn good looking car!!!!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Teachers, Sandy’s burgers & top groups

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): it’s now cool and tolerable and the crowds at Walt Disney World are not so large. If you’ve never dined at their 50s Prime Time Café in the Hollywood Studios, you’re in for a treat. Comfort food with Mom lecturing you about eating your green vegetables; it’s a hoot.

The changing U.S. Presidency

A recent read of Diller and Robertson’s The Presidents, First Ladies and Vice Presidents made us realize how much the presidency has changed in just the last decade. Their book published in 2005, which inexplicably canonizes Al Gore, but otherwise is informative, lists some commonalities among presidential candidates then: White, Protestant (except one), male, married (except one) and a history of public or military service. In the past twelve years, you can scratch white, male and history of public service off the list. In the years ahead, who knows what other changes will come to the presidency?

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to our lead item, you have to imagine the Vegas odds are very strong that neither 2016 candidate will be on the ballot again in 2020. Carrying that one step further, both parties need to coalesce around a strong one or two candidates for 2020 within the next year.

2. Nice touch – on the eve of Veteran’s Day, the California chapter of the NAACP proposes doing away with the National Anthem. Thanks folks, we vets appreciate the gesture.

3. A lot of guys in the military have paid a much heavier price for infractions much less grievous than those of Bowe Bergdahl.

4. Two and a half million dollars later (the combined monies spent by the two candidates), we have a winner in the St. Pete Mayor’s race and we don’t think it’s the people of St. Pete. However, it would seem that Rick Kriseman is the lesser of two evils.

5. And yes, the irony isn’t lost on us. What passes for a newspaper in our area endorsed a Republican for the first time in a millennium, while the reactionaries here at TBRR gave a nod, albeit tepid, to Mayor Kriseman.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. There was no more dominant pitcher in the 2000 decade than Roy “Doc” Halladay whose life ended all too soon last week in a plane crash off New Port Richey.

7. Take away from NFL Week 9: The Tampa Bay Rays played 162 games and finished two games under .500 –nothing to write home about. The Bucs have played eight games and are twice that many games under .500. And should we mention their season, and probably their head coach, are toast?

8. Number of the week – 15 cents. That’s what a McDonald’s burger cost when the first Clearwater store went up on Gulf to Bay Blvd. Last week, a family of three paid just shy of $25 for some sandwiches and small fries (no drinks) at the Golden Arches.

9. Topping the charts 40 years ago this week was Debbie Boone’s You Light Up My Life which, incredibly, would stay at #1 longer than any other song of the 70s – ten weeks.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time (and know your sports) if you recall the winningest pitcher in Clearwater Bomber history was not Herb Dudley or Weldon Haney or John Hunter but the vastly underrated Eddie King who won 411 games for the 10-time World Champions.

One solution to speeding up major league baseball

Major league baseball continued its trend to longer games this year with the average game pushing three hours, ten minutes. And the recently completed post season games were just ridiculous in their length. One observation during regular and post season is the excessive visits to the mound – not just from the dugout but by the catcher, the shortstop and the water boy (okay, we exaggerate somewhat). MLB needs to limit the trips to the mound or penalize excessive trips by calling a ball beyond say three combined trips per half inning. In post season, the worst offender, by far, was Cubs catcher Willson Contreras who seems to visit the mound about every fourth pitch. If you don’t know what you’re going to do to a particular hitter in a particular situation, then your pre-game planning is extremely poor. Get rid of the excessive trips to the mound and you’ll have a game under three hours, Mr. Manfred.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: Corvettes, Turkey Shoots and Indians

The problem in Puerto Rico

It is heart rendering to see the population of Puerto Rico still without power after being blasted by two major storms – heart rendering but, unfortunately, understandable. Puerto Rico is not Florida where you can simply roll trucks down I-75 and begin the re-electrification process. It is an island over a thousand miles from the nearest point in the U.S. The island is surrounded by smaller islands that have no resources and problems of their own. It is a logistical nightmare that, unhappily, will take time – much more time than it took U.S. areas to get back on line. And the fact that the company charged with restoring the power grid in Puerto Rico and U.S. Interior Secretary are from the same town has as much relevance as saying Barack Obama and Al Capone were both from Chicago.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to our lead item, we grow weary of hearing that every bit of trash hasn’t been picked up, every insurance claim hasn’t been settled and how awful FEMA is. We’ve spoken to some FEMA workers in the aftermath of Irma and these are hardworking people. Getting back to normalcy after a natural disaster like Irma isn’t quite as easy as writing a newspaper article critiquing these folks’ efforts.

2. We just don’t understand liberals – the supposed friends of the common man. Recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post, the most liberal paper north of St. Petersburg, suggests financing President Trump’s infrastructure improvements with an increased gas tax, the most regressive tax there is short of a tax on groceries.

3. Getting there – that has to be a primary concern as bay area leaders stumble towards a stadium site for the Rays. One of the things that doomed the Trop from the beginning was the lack of cooperation from PSTA in running routes from north Pinellas to the park. This time, HART and the PSTA need to step up.

4. Idle thought: four broadcasters we don’t know but would enjoy a long leisurely lunch with: WTVT’s Charlie Belcher, baseball guys Jon Miller and Joe Simpson and Fox News commentator Brit Hume – an eclectic group to say the least.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area or anywhere else for a long time if you remember the 6 ½ ounce bottle of Coca Cola – still the best tasting of the bunch!

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A name you did not hear mentioned during the celebration of the Houston Astros world championship was Ed Wade. The former Phillie and Astro GM laid the cornerstone of the world championship team with his drafting of Jose Altuve, Dallas Keuchel and series MVP George Springer. Ed is one of the truly nice men in the game.

7. Alibi most heard a week ago this Monday: “the Astros and Dodgers ate my homework”. What a game – ending at 1:35 a.m. EDT - perhaps the best World Series game ever.

8. Cue Etta James’ 1961 hit At Last. The Washington Nationals have named ex-Rays bench coach Dave Martinez their manager. Now Tampa Bay fans can get a glimpse of what could have (and should have) been when Maddon blew town.

9. It seems that former UF offensive coordinator Dan Mullen is the leader in the clubhouse for the vacant UF job. But the Gators could do a lot worse than making a call to Tampa where Charlie Strong has turned the Bulls’ program around.

10. The Hall of Fame ballots go out this month. One first timer is a slam dunk – Braves third baseman Chipper Jones. Another name to keep an eye on is shortstop/magician Omar Vizquel. He was the next generation’s Ozzie Smith and, like the wizard, deserves a plaque in Cooperstown.

Some off season notes

It is now officially the off season in baseball and we offer up a few names and items to keep in mind during the dark days between pitchers and catchers in early February. First, a name to keep in mind – Shohei Otani; he is the Babe Ruth of Japanese baseball. A power hitting pitcher/outfielder, Otani could quite likely be in the majors for Opening Day. It appears his future will probably be as a pitcher/DH. Next year’s surprises could be the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets –teams who were out of the hunt in 2017 but likely will bounce back. Baltimore intends to build on its core with a pitcher or two and there is absolutely no way the Mets can have the amount of injuries they sustained this season. They could both be serious contenders in 2018. And, as we go to press, only 87 days until pitchers and catchers report!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: THE PRESIDENCY, 15 CENT BURGERS AND EDDIE KING

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): your HB (Humble Blogger) loves pancakes. Robbie’s Pancake House spoiled us with their proprietary recipe. A couple places we’ve mentioned this year have good ones – Olga’s and Largo Family Restaurant. But the best we’ve had since Robbie’s closed are at two chains - IHOP and Perkins Pancake Houses.

The St. Pete Mayor’s race

Gosh, we feel sorry for the voters in St. Petersburg. Their choices in next week’s mayoral race are almost as bad as last year’s “who do we mistrust least – Clinton or Trump?” On one hand, you have a free spending liberal who added layers upon layers of high-priced staff when ascending to the throne. Despite all these geniuses, St. Pete’s crime rate is up; they are about to lose the Rays and let’s not even get started on their sewage issues. It would seem like an easy choice until you consider former mayor Rick “My Way or the Highway” Baker who is right 100 percent of the time – just ask him. He simply doesn’t play well with others and his vow not to recuse himself in city negotiations with his employer, Bill Edwards, is ludicrous. It’s close, but better the devil you’ve got than the one you had before.

Tampa bay, politics and stuff:

1. What is it about south Florida that produces legislators like Debbie Wasserman Schultz, State Rep. Daisy Baez who doesn’t want to live with the people she represents and that circus act Frederica Wilson? Surely they can do better.

2. Pearl Harbor Day – December 7. That is the date one Publix official has given your humble blogger as the targeted date of opening for the rebuilt Publix on Island Estates. Other employees say January.

3. Idle thought: a look at Hillsborough County’s school board and their minions would make a great reality show.

4. Rock and roll lost a great one last week – Antoine “Fats” Domino passed away at age 89. As we mentioned a couple weeks back (TBRR Oct. 15), the Fatman charted 68 singles in his incredible career.

5. From the 5:05 Newsletter, the publication that never gets defensive but often offensive, this gem: I wonder how many people who want to obliterate all traces of the Confederacy drive Volkswagens?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Takeaways from Bucs’ week 6A: It was a bookie’s dream – a push. No payouts just collect the vigorish, but then how much action is there on two teams with a combined 5-5 record going in? With the loss, barring some upsets one way or another, the Bucs project out to a ten loss season.

7. Houston’s win over the Yankees in the ALCS was eerily reminiscent of the Twins’ win in the 1991 World Series where the home team in a dome won only their home games. 1991 revealed some hanky-panky by Twin’s stadium officials. We hope a quarter century later, MLB has a better handle on such shenanigans.

8. Among the luminaries at Game 1 of the World Series joining Scully, Lasorda, Koufax and Torre was Lady Gaga. We’d be willing to bet some very serious money that she can’t name two Dodgers or even one Astro.

9. College notes: Mark the day after Thanksgiving on your calendar. It’s probably the most meaningful game in the history of both USF and UCF as the two teams, both unbeaten at press time, play in Orlando. And, if we remember right, the loser of the Penn State – Ohio State game gets into the college playoffs. Somehow or other, Penn State, one of the four best teams in the country, will get hosed again.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you dined at the Robbie’s Pancake House mentioned in this week’s dining tip – Gulf to Bay in Clearwater, Madeira Beach and on US 19 in Holiday. You can still buy the batter fixings at Williams Sonoma – none better!

Three playoff managers gone

We’re not quite sure this has ever happened before, three guys who guide their teams to the MLB playoffs are let go. Maybe you can understand Dusty Baker who has fallen short of a title in three different cities – each time with superior talent and while burning out a pitching staff. Perhaps even John Farrell who was tied to some extracurricular activity that may have been embarrassing to the Bosox. But the guy has a ring! Then there is the move that makes no sense at all – Joe Girardi. Joe has averaged 20 games above .500 per season for the ten years he managed the Yanks – and has a ring. The sad thing is the manager’s job with his hometown Cubs was his for the asking a few years back but he elected to stay on with the Yanks - no good deed shall go unpunished. Unless Tony LaRussa wants to come out of retirement at age 73, there is no one on this planet who has done a better job of managing the past ten years than Girardi. If he wants to continue to manage, the line forms at the right. And Brian Cashman, the Yank’s GM, hasn’t called us yet, but the best replacement for a guy who shouldn’t have been replaced is right in his dugout – bench coach Rob Thompson.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: PUERTO RICO, COKE & THE HALL

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): Summer’s gone but the incredible sunsets linger and there is no better place to view them while enjoying a good meal than from the porch of the Palm Pavilion on the north end of Clearwater Beach.

Southern statues now, Southern food next?

Not real sure where we stand on the “statue thing” except that we are wasting a lot of valuable time on it – either leave them up, move them or tear them down, but for the love of Pete, move on. Our worry is about where political correctness will next rear its ugly head. Food? Should we perhaps eliminate traditional Southern food like fried okra, black eyed peas, real Southern (i.e. without a bunch of tomato sauce) BBQ, grits and delights like banana pudding and peach cobbler lest they offend somebody? The late, great Lewis Grizzard would roll over in his grave – if he hasn’t already.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. By the way, if you don’t know who Lewis Grizzard is, you are functionally illiterate.

2. There is going to be some sort of wrist slap for Democratic State Rep. Daisy Baez of Dade County for not living in the District she was elected to rep. Seems pretty basic – live where you want to run – maybe even for a year or two – don’t you think Ms. Sink?

3. GEICO is taking a lot of heat for giving $20k to the families of the car thieves who rammed the insurance company’s client while they were running a red light at over 100 mph. They are just protecting their client – a necessity in Florida which very badly needs tort reform legislation – hard to do in a legislature full of lawyers.

4. For what it’s worth, we suffered a significant material loss during Hurricane Irma. GEICO was our insurance company. They made the claims process as painless as humanly possible.

5. Yet another GEICO item: The Florida Orchestra’s version of the insurance company’s “triangle player” commercial has gone viral. It’s a hoot.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Takeaway from Buc’s Week 5A: The Cardinals were another game we had penciled in as a win in our 8-8 season prediction. The rest of the season is not as dark as predicted by local doomsday pundits, but the ship needs some course correction.

7. The 5:05 Newsletter hits another one out of the park: Hillary Clinton’s new book “What Happened” topped the best-seller lists this week. Bill Clinton collected $12-million for his memoirs, while Hillary collected $8-million. That is $20-million for the memories of a couple who for years have repeated, under oath, that they could not remember anything.

8. Factoid: outdoing the Clintons (above), ex-Ray Carl Crawford made 21.9 million this year for not playing an inning of baseball. Nice work, if you can get it.

9. Riding at the top of the charts fifty years ago this week was the biggest selling single of the year, Lulu’s To Sir with Love. As mentioned previously (TBRR – April 23), it was the biggest female single hit of the sixties. Ironically, although Lulu was from the British Isles and had a TV show in the UK, her smash hit never cracked the charts in the UK.

10. Related to #1 above, if you wish to become enlightened, grab one of Lewis Grizzard’s books. We especially recommend I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1962.

The post season so far

The Washington Nationals are the Buffalo Bills of major league baseball – maybe a change in the dugout was in order. Dusty Baker channels former Phils manager Charlie Manuel – good hitting coaches but bad tacticians who absolutely destroy pitching staffs. Conversely, we cannot be convinced that was the problem in Boston – it starts with dumping a third baseman who hit 31 homers and drove in 101 this year while the Bosox had a revolving door at the position. Speaking of changes, the Yankees need to sacrifice some offense and get a decent catcher. Gary Sanchez’ only position is designated hitter. He is arguably the worst catcher in baseball. Finally, Cubs had a bunch of career years and tons of lucky breaks in 2016 and deluded themselves and others into thinking they had several world championships in their future. They need help on the mound before 2018.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: MAYOR’S RACE, PANCAKES & PUBLIX

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): we’ve featured two really good dine-in locations for pizza this year – Capogna’s and Post Corner. For the order out variety, it’s hard to beat Marco’s on Missouri Avenue just south of Druid Road – decent prices and quality far above most typical carry out/delivery operations.

Toys”R”Us bankruptcy hurts hundreds of thousands

The recent news of Toys”R”Us financial troubles causes some concern for their some 65,000 employee’s futures. But the issue goes much deeper than that. The key is the phrase you read in virtually every bankruptcy case  “restructure debt”. That is a very nice way of saying paying vendors, who supplied goods and services in good faith, pennies on the dollar, if that. You have to be on the other side of a bankruptcy (and we have) to experience the frustration of a large account payable vaporizing into nothingness. It’s bad enough when your own business mistakes bite you in the wallet, worse when someone else’s mismanagement does so. So it’s not just 65,000 employees who suffer in a deal like this – try multiplying that number by five or ten or more – the businesses and their employees who will take one on the chin – for a few, possibly a fatal blow.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1.Clearwater’s economic development efforts took another step backward with the departure of de facto head Seth Taylor after a drunken incident last weekend. Clearwater’s economic development efforts, the envy of the bay area twenty years ago, have been in a deep funk for over a decade.

2. This coming weekend marks Clearwater’s premier outdoor event each year – Jazz Holiday. Although it has morphed from its pure jazz beginnings, it’s still a terrific entertainment opportunity.

3. Curious fact: recently 114,000 voters came off the Florida rolls for lack of participation. Nearly 25 percent of the “lost” voters were in Hillsborough County – only one percent in Pinellas.

4. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) are unanimous in their feeling that our country, like many others, should have a compulsory two-year national service commitment. Freedom isn’t free and think of what could be accomplished with such a program.

5. If you’ve lived in the bay area a long time and were an auto racing fan, you’ll want to attend the annual Golden Gate Speedway reunion on Sunday, October 22, at the site of the speedway on Fowler Avenue – now the Big Top Flea Market. Several drivers and cool old race cars from the speedway’s heyday will be there.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Earlier this year, we cataloged a number of great acts of the rock era who never made it to the top of the charts – some major omissions from those earlier lists – Bruce Springsteen (25 charted records), Wilson Pickett (38), Brook Benton (50) Nat Cole (60) and Fats Domino – who had 68 charted records!

7. This month marks the 61^st anniversary of Don Larsen’s perfect game against the Dodgers in the World Series. Larsen threw 276 innings for the Yankees that year. Nowadays, the players union and agents would be screaming bloody murder if a team worked a pitcher that many innings.

8. Our star prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) hasn’t been himself since his World Series pick Cleveland Indians got bounced by the Yankees. Still, he’s 3 for 4 in World Series predictions since the inception of TBRR. Those are Hall of Fame percentages.

9. Oh yes, the hockey season has begun. Wake us when it’s over.

10. Idle thought: do you think anyone will ever come up with one of those restroom hand blowers that actually dries your hands?

MLB managerial comings and goings

John Farrell is out in Boston – after winning the ultra-tough AL East two years in a row. The reasoning is lack of success in post season which is always a crap shoot. We’re anxious to see how well his successor does in Boston. The Bosox front office better get it right. Terry Collins was no surprise in New York or Brad Ausmus in Detroit although Ausmus will have a job next year if he wants one. Kicking Pete Mackanin upstairs makes no sense after extending him a few months ago – but then do any Phillies’ moves make that much sense? Could this time around be the well-deserving Dave Martinez’ time? It should be.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: GRITS, LEWIS GRIZZARD & A SINGER NAMED LULU

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): how can just plain soup and salad be so good? Don’t know, but it’s probably the most popular offering at the Olive Garden chain – along with their really good breadsticks and a dependable Italian menu up and down.

Las Vegas aftermath

This won’t keep you long. We can pretty much sum up our feelings with this – the framers of the Constitution meant what they said about the right to bear arms and that should never change. What the framers of the Constitution did not say or mean was the average citizen having the right to own an arsenal. You can protect yourself, loved ones and property quite satisfactorily without weapons that spew hundreds of bullets a minute - the same for hunting. Our federal government must do the responsible thing and enact laws that restrict these weapons of mass destruction to the proper law enforcement and military authorities – and do it now!  

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Pardon about half of Tampa Bay for being skeptical with the finding of “accidental” in the fire at Robert E. Lee Elementary. With an intruder alarm going off at the same time as the fire?

2. Next month, Pinellas taxpayers will be asked to approve yet another decade (2020-2030) of an extra penny tax for infrastructure projects in the county. The tax has generally worked well over the years but looming out there somewhere is the possibility of a hike in the general state sales tax of six percent as budgets get tighter and tighter.

3. At the same time, Clearwater voters get a chance to finally take some positive steps toward having the bay front reach its potential without commercialization. Seems like a slam dunk.

4. A couple things we recall from public service: first, our job is to pick-up trash (public utilities), bounce basketballs (leisure and the arts) and catch bad guys (public safety). Also this – solid waste isn’t sexy. EXCEPT when there are remains from Irma laying everywhere, then solid waste becomes pretty sexy.

5. From TBRR, three years ago this week: By a 3-2 vote, with members George Cretekos and Bill Jonson dissenting, the Clearwater City Council opted for a $100,000 piece of “art” for the new firehouse that no one can see.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Takeaways from Buc’s Week 3A & 4A: granted, Nick Folk made the winning field goal with time expiring against the Giants, but then reverted to form against New England going 0 for 3 turning what could have been a signature victory into another “L”. Let the tryouts begin!

7. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg speaking in MLB Trade Rumors about the team’s low revenues cited less than expected attendance numbers from visits of clubs like the Bosox and Cubs. This is what happens when you jack up ticket prices to an unreasonable level when good draws come to town.

8. We know post season doesn’t count towards regular season awards, but if you watched game one of the American League division playoffs, there can be no doubt this is the year of José Altuve.

9. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when car agencies downtown bore names like Crown, Kennedy-Strickland, Pruitt, Stone-Bolton and Thayer.

10. We’re sure at least a few of the items we “borrow” from the 5:05 Newsletter are true – maybe even this one: “Mexican cocaine kingpin Juan “El Chapo” Guzman’s defense lawyers are requesting to have El Chapo’s trial held in Los Angeles, where he can be tried by a jury of his customers”.

Fox News displays resiliency

Imagine you are the San Francisco 49ers of old and you lose Joe Montana and Jerry Rice in the same season. Bye bye title. This is what has happened in the past year at Fox News. The conservative cable channel loses superstars Megyn Kelly and Bill O’Reilly – not to mention a rather solid Greta Van Susteren. Yet the network thrives. Sean Hannity moves to nine and crushes his competition. Tucker Carlson, who inherited O’Reilly’s eight o’clock slot, is down some from his predecessor’s gigantic numbers, but still leading the time period by a large margin. And in a master stroke, Fox has brought on Laura Ingraham to host their 10 p.m. hour beginning the end of the month. Ingraham’s take no prisoners approach should be the piece de resistance to three solid hours of cable – evenwithout Montana and Rice.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: TOYS “R” US, FATS DOMINO & GOLDEN GATE

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): it’s somewhat dwarfed by its larger cousin, Hooters, but Pete and Shorty’s on Gulf-to-Bay at Hampton in Clearwater offers up some good old fashioned comfort food including meatloaf, shepherd’s pie and their incomparable Shorty Burgers.

World Series picks to click: Achmed goes for four straight

Our post season baseball predictor par excellence, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is taking a shot at going 4 for 4 in World Series predictions. Hopefully, in the words of a great philosopher, it won’t be a wasted shot. Achmed originally predicted the Dodgers over the White Sox in six, but we found that he again had not taken his meds and had drifted back to 1959. In 2017, he forecasts a series matching up two teams a long time between world championships, the Cleveland Indians (1948) and the LA Dodgers (1988). Achmed likes the boys by the lake to prevail this time around.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We did a piece a few weeks back (TBRR – August 6) favorably comparing Duke Power to other industries. They don’t fare too badly in their own industry either – try buying power in Michigan or New York or Connecticut. But we have to take them to task for their latest charge – asset securitization. Come on folks; just say we’re paying for the botched job at the Crystal River nuke plant.

2. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price went completely out of bounds with his excessive use of private and military jets, but as taxpayers, not sure we want our cabinet officers flying coach either.

3. The U.S. Senate race is more than a year away but the front page puff pieces on Florida’s do nothing Senator, Bill Nelson, have already started appearing. Shades of Hillary last fall.

4. Admit it guys, we all lived vicariously through him. The keeper of the bunny hutch, Hugh Hefner passed away last week at age 91.

5. From the Worldwide Leader in stuff that’s mostly factual, the 5:05 Newsletter: From the incredible 5:05 Newsletter: Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Jose and now Hurricane Maria. Enough hurricanes already. So many businesses on the coasts are boarded up, it is like Obama never left office.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A recent study valued the University of Florida Gator football program as a franchise at $682 million (before scandal). FSU’s gridiron organization came in at $385 million. Which would you want – Gators at 682, Noles at 385 or the Miami Marlins at $1.3 billion?

7. During this post season time, take a few minutes and google the well-respected Furman Bisher’s interview with baseball legend Joe Jackson. It’s an incredible piece which will give you insight into one of the most misunderstood men and events in baseball history.

8. One more thing regarding Jamele Hill’s recent racist remarks (TBRR – Sept. 17). After viewing some current photos, she might want to keep this number handy: 1-800-651-6000 - just saying.

9. Speaking of the ’59 World Series mentioned above, game five of that series still holds the record for World Series attendance with 92,706 people filing into the LA Memorial Coliseum to witness Bob Shaw and two relievers outduel Sandy Koufax 1-0.

10. Takeaways from Buc’s Week 2A: Remember how national networks always cut away for commercials during the National Anthem until a bunch of spoiled, arrogant, young millionaires decided to make a sham of the ceremony? On another front, we mentally had the Vikes game down as a win in our pre-season thinking.

Has interleague baseball run its course?

We enjoy local sports columnist Tom Jones. We only wonder why a guy with his skills isn’t in a top five market. One of his recent columns concerned baseball’s interleague play and how blasé it has become. It’s time to say enough already. Maybe we could be persuaded with a home and home series for the Rays and Marlins or the Yanks and Mets but then what about Seattle or Minnesota? They don’t have a traditional rival. Most fans can wait until the World Series to watch NL vs AL. And while we’re dumping interleague play, let’s get rid of 19-game schedules within divisions. It’s great for the Rays with strong draws like the Bosox and Yanks, but we bet Chicago and Oakland would like to see a little more of those teams each year as well. And we imagine Rays’ pitchers would like to see a few more Oakland or Chicago White Sox games on their schedules.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: STATUES NOW; IS SOUTHERN FOOD NEXT?

As always, we open with this week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR). Up in Tarpon and out in Countryside, you’ll find a pair of exceptional breakfast/lunch restaurants – Rodie’s. The Tarpon location will remind you of the revered Robbie’s Pancake House; the Countryside location gives off a First Watch feel - can’t go wrong with either.

Tampa Bay Rays and MLB delusional?

Recently, MLB commish Rob Manfred visited the bay area and declared the clock is running on finding a new stadium for the Rays. First it’s about an 8 in 10 chance that new location will be in Hillsborough County. More importantly, it won’t matter. Sooner or later (we’d prefer sooner so a bunch of taxpayer money isn’t wasted), major league baseball is going to have to conclude that Florida is a lousy baseball market. The Marlins built a palace in South Florida and are drawing empty seats. Now, the excuse for their second from last MLB attendance is the location of the palace. Don’t we study location to death before we plant a shovel? The Rays attendance is so abysmal (last in MLB) that no baseball palace, no matter where, is going to revive it. It’s just the nature of the market. We hope the powers that be will realize it before a bunch of money that could go to schools, roads and other necessities is foolishly wasted.

Tampa Bay, politics and other stuff:

1. It’s almost amusing watching the local media doing a soft shoe regarding the fire at Robert E. Lee Elementary in Tampa.

2. Extremely cheap shot by “Florida’s Best Newspaper” at Florida utilities for not undergrounding more lines while they are busting their hump to restore power. You think closing a nuke plant is expensive (read rate increases)? Many communities have opted to underground lines on their dime. And the rest of the story which we seldom get from “FBN”; underground lines are very often subject to failure due to flooding – just ask power customers in Jacksonville. Perhaps a new low by the Times - well for this week anyway.

3. Irma inconvenienced us all but aren’t some of us acting like whiney little snowflakes when our power is out an extra 12 hours while people in the Caribbean and the Keys have no roofs over their heads?

4. St. Pete Mayor’s race: Are these two guys trying to throw the election to their opponent? Latest less than smart act is Kriseman’s very transparent attempt to politicize the storm recovery efforts. And he’s not alone among bay area politicians.  

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember names like City National Bank, Bank of Clearwater, First National Bank and First Federal Savings and Loan of Clearwater.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Takeaways from Buc’s Week 1A – let’s not get too giddy about a win over the Bears and why does John Fox (9-25 with the Bears) still have a job?

7.The Bucs and Lightning’s ticket policies designed to keep “away” fans from choice seats ignores a universal truth – most of us in the bay area are from elsewhere and were Bear or Red Wing fans about 25 years before either the Bucs or Lightning existed.

8. Quote of the Week: (related to #7 above) – “I didn't know we had that many people from Chicago, Illinois, Midwest area in Tampa, but I guess we do” - Chris Archer after noting all the Cubs fans in the stands at the Trop. Really Chris? You are just noticing that?

9. We fall on our sword for our feature on M*A*S*H last week with no mention of Edward Winter. He only appeared in seven episodes of the show over the years as Col. Flagg of “military intelligence” but each one was a classic. Also needed to mention Gary Burghoff – the only carry over from the movie.

10. It’s reported that Brad Ausmus is out as Detroit’s manager. He can have a choice of three or four jobs next year if he wants them. A good fit would seem to be Atlanta where Brian Snitker is rumored to be on the way out.

Yet another Irma note

An amazing number of businesses, and worse, churches refused to allow visiting utility trucks assisting Duke Power to use their parking lots as staging areas – choosing instead to lawyer-up with worries of liability etc. One such group of Samaritans was refused by 13 businesses and, incredibly, seven churches before finding a staging area in the parking lot of Light of Christ Catholic Church in northeast Clearwater. These guys were our heroes and we’re refusing them staging areas? Hats off to Father Bill Wilson and his parishioners at Light of Christ for making the workers welcome while they helped restore normalcy to our community.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WORLD SERIES PICKS TO CLICK

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): Been to a ballgame yet this season? No trip to a Ray’s game is complete without stopping for a burger and fries or the terrific onion rings at Ferg’s on Central Avenue.

Irma – where to start?

(Oh yeah, the promised Ray’s piece is delayed another week). We begin by admitting your HB (Humble Blogger) is a moron. We left the relative safety, as it turns out, of the bay area for Jacksonville of all places. Yes, we know you’re thinking “how did that turn out?” Not well. But other than a likely significant material loss (covered by insurance), we compose this piece safe and sound back in the bay area – with power since last Monday night. All in all, an incredible display of people looking out for each other, showing extreme patience in gas lines and taking time to thank our first responders for their extra hours and extraordinary service - a shining hour for our area and our state.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Three cheers for Attorney General Pam Bondi for calling out the pond scum who jumped at the chance to gouge their neighbors during last week’s weather crisis. You could hear the frustration in her voice in that she couldn’t prosecute a lot of them. Maybe our legislature might want to change a law or two.

2. Hmm...another red state, another hurricane, maybe the wack job from the U of Tampa has something – nah!

3. Being an equal opportunity offender, after taking Rick Baker to task last week, we must chide current Mayor Kriseman for his constant attempts to make a non-partisan race partisan. “Neither of the above” looks better and better in the St. Pete mayor’s race.

4. Idle thought: shouldn’t we expect better from Equifax?

5. Yet another gem from the 5:05 Newsletter: “KFC announced it is considering removing the Colonel Sanders logo from their outdoor signs; just in case the Confederate statue protesters are ever able to put two and two together”.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. You’ve lived in the bay are a long time if you ever shopped at an Ivey’s Department Store.

7. Factoid: The Miami Marlins are on a course to lose $70 million this year, yet they just sold for over a billion dollars. This is what happens when you have guys with a lot of money and only 30 such items (MLB franchises) in the world.

8. Watching a bunch of major league hitters unsuccessfully swat at R.A. Dickey’s knuckle ball last week reminds us of a comment by legendary hitting coach Charlie Lau, “There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works.”

9. We apologize for being a couple weeks late in noting the latest addition to Rock and Roll Heaven – Walter Becker, one-half of the terrific 70s band – Steely Dan.

10. You get a very clear idea in what direction ESPN is headed by looking at the incredibly poor judgement of anchor Jamele Hill last week. Take her remarks and substitute Barack Obama for Donald Trump and add a similar racist diatribe and that person is now doing weekend sports in Great Falls, Montana. That isn’t speculation – just see the case of MNF musical icon Hank Williams, Jr.

45 years ago – a television classic debuts

Very few television shows spun off from movies succeed. M*A*S*H, which debuted 45 years ago this week, was the resounding exception. Strong writing, good direction and an incredibly talented ensemble of characters made the show one of the biggest hits of the late seventies and early eighties. Even some major cast changes, the very strong Wayne Rogers and Larry Linville for not quite as strong Mike Farrell and David Ogden Stiers didn’t seem to hurt. And while McLean Stevenson was good as the medical misfits’ fearless leader, Harry Morgan often stole the show as Col. Sherman T. Potter. The new television season is here. Will there be a M*A*S*H among them? We hope so.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – RAYS FEATURE – MAYBE!

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 TBRR): there’s a reason you often have to wait for a table at Red Robin in Countryside Mall – excellent burgers including a sumptuous turkey burger and some terrific soups and salads.

Early edition, Irma and some names to keep in mind

Our usual Sunday serving of drivel appears early this week, we’ll compensate with a late edition next month – more on that in a week or two. We move a Rays lead piece back a week to concentrate on stuff that isn’t drivel – like the good work of our state and local leaders to keep us aware of the threats from this monster storm. We’re also reminded of why we ring a bell every year for the Salvation Army – our local Army members are just back from Texas and jumping right back into the fray. And unfortunately, we have to remember names like Seven-Eleven and Chevron – two retailers who wasted no time at all in trying to gouge their fellow Floridians in the time of crisis. No, we don’t want to hear how some of these scoundrels are independent operators and corporate isn’t responsible. If your contractual agreement with these thieves doesn’t include some specific language about gouging, it’s you Mr. CEO of Seven-Eleven or Chevron who is responsible and we hope every consumer will act accordingly.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. We did some analysis last week of the St. Pete Mayor’s race (TBRR Sept. 3) and living in upper Pinellas, don’t have a dog in that fight, but if we were a St. Pete voter, Rick Baker’s refusal to recuse himself in city business with his employer would be a non-starter. Recusing yourself when there’s even a hint of a conflict is Public Service 101.

2. Nothing changes; U. of Tampa professor makes incredibly stupid remark about hurricanes and red states and is justifiably discharged by the university. Liberal media goes insane. Now imagine, if you will, if someone were discharged for a similar insensitive remark about a blue state. The sound you would hear would be crickets chirping.

3. More campus news compliments of the delightful 5:05 Newsletter “Some students at the University of Southern California are demanding Tommy Trojan stop riding a horse that’s always been named ‘Traveler’ after Robert E. Lee’s horse. They apparently don’t want anything to distract from the dignity of O.J. Simpson’s Heisman Trophy on display in Heritage Hall”.

4. Drove by a local Wells Fargo branch last week. Amazingly, there were cars in the parking lot even after revelations that another 1.4 million accounts were improperly handled. A shoe box or under the mattress seem to be much better alternatives.

5. Idle question: why do parents think it’s cute to have six year-olds phone businesses – especially tourism-related activities? Would they prefer the companies answer their calls with six-year-olds?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Bucs are coming off a 9-7 season but this year’s schedule is measurably tougher than 2016 – put us down for 8-8 and a tenth straight year of no playoffs.

7. Over the past few months, we profiled some recording artists who had great careers but never a number one record in the rock era. At the other end of the spectrum, here are the folks with the most number one records – The Beatles (20); Elvis (18); Mariah Carey (15); Michael Jackson (13) and The Supremes (12).

8. Number of the Week: 8 – the number of teams who have been officially eliminated from MLB pennant races. It will be a long and meaningless three weeks for fans of the A’s, Braves, Giants, Mets, Padres, Phillies, Tigers and the White Sox. For more than half that group, 2018 isn’t looking so bright either.

9. Factoid: 18 major league pitchers have defeated all 30 major league clubs. The latest to do so was the venerable Bartolo Colon when he defeated the Diamondbacks a few weeks ago. Somewhat surprisingly, only one Hall of Famer has turned the trick – Randy Johnson.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you (and probably your parents) visited St. Pete’s incredible Webb’s City complete with its dancing chicken.

Our List of 10 Best Quarterbacks

And we are underway, the long march to the Super Bowl. In honor of opening week, here is a list of the ten best quarterbacks we’ve been privileged to see play the game. First, a bow to two near misses Jim Kelly and Dan Marino, two fine quarterbacks but they never got a ring. In alphabetical order, our Ten Best: Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady, John Elway, Bret Favre, Otto Graham, Bob Griese, Joe Montana, Ben Roethlisberger, Johnny Unitas and Steve Young – eight Hall of Famers and the other two, Brady and Roethlisberger, will join them when their playing days are over.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WAKE UP MLB AND TAMPA BAY!

This week’s dining tip (see back story Jan. 1 TBRR): they have burgers and other interesting stuff but the thing that sets Culver’s apart is their unique blending of their frozen custard with virtually everything that is sweet. Our personal guilty pleasure is picking up a pint of the Kit-Kat bar frozen custard. They are at the corner of Hercules and Gulf to-Bay occupying the space formally housing the revered Vinyl Museum.

The St. Pete election

In your HB’s (Humble Blogger’s) checkered political career, a very good friend who was a State Representative offered his support with this qualification “If you think it would help you more, I’ll support your opponent.” This half joking exchange came to mind when former President Obama offered up his help to St. Pete incumbent mayor Rick Kriseman just before last week’s election. It seemed to help. By most samplings, the incumbent mayor was trailing, but he pulled off a virtual tie in the primary balloting. If you listened to the speeches on election night, Kriseman seemed to have the momentum moving forward while Baker’s speech sounded a bit desperate. A lot of ballots were cast before the Obama endorsement. You have to believe some of those votes will change in November – advantage Kriseman.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to our lead item, we now await the former president’s choice in next year’s Treasure Island election.

2. Speaking of candidates, there is a lot of talk about Mike Pence’s chances down the road. Our current Veep should remember that only two vice-presidents have been elected to the presidency on their own in the past 180 years – Van Buren and Bush 41. And both failed to get re-elected.

3. Factoid: the person whose image appeared on Time Magazine’s cover more than anyone else? It was the late President Richard Nixon – 51 times.

4. Among the current list of non-fiction best sellers is a the tome Al Franken Giant of the Senate. Talk about an endless string of punchlines – half of which have the word munchkin in them.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you recognize the name – Virginia Seymour. She was the Indian Rocks Beach woman who won the contest to name the Sunshine Skyway which opened 63 years ago this week.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. So many feel good stories out of Texas and then you hear one like the Holiday Inn Express that forced a fleeing family to leave their two dogs in a hot car overnight because of their no pets policy. There are times when common sense and decency overrules “company policy”. This is one of them. Can’t help but wonder how many room nights that act cost the chain.

7. With advent of September, baseball rosters may be expanded. In a recent fan poll at the Major League Rumors website, fans by a 2-1 margin voted in favor of modifying September’s large rosters. Most logical solution is to allow as many players to be called up as team desires but to require a set 25 or 28-man roster for each game.

8. Idle thought: the pitcher was usually the best athlete on your Little League, High School and American Legion teams. How do they become such lousy hitters when they hit professional ball?

9. New definition of stone wall: trying to get help for a solvable problem from the Apple Company. We used to brush off the many anti-Apple sites on the web. Not so much anymore. They have become like the uncaring industrial trusts of the previous century.

10. From the crusading 5:05 Newsletter: A five-year-old girl who ran a lemonade stand in London was fined 195-pounds for not having the proper trading permit. This is why I tell all kids in my neighborhood to open all their lemonade stands offshore in the Cayman Islands.

Rays – wait till next year

As we mentioned last week (August 27 TBRR), the Rays needed to go at least 4-2 on their swing through Missouri to keep their post season hopes alive. They were close at 3-3 but the Fat Lady is clearing her throat. There are just too many teams to jump and too tough a schedule in September to make that happen. The biggest surprise of the week was the vote of confidence for Kevin Cash – three years, three losing records. That usually gets you fired unless your employers make the mistake of signing a rookie manager to a five year contract. Who knows? Maybe Cash will live to see his fifth year unless Rays’ management finally fesses up to a bad hire.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: RAYS AND MLB’S COMMISSIONER DELUSIONAL?

 This week’s dining tip (see back story in the Jan. 1 TBRR): it started in Ybor City in the early twentieth century and has spread to Celebration, Sarasota, St. Augustine and, luckily for us, Clearwater Beach. The Columbia is truly a dining experience – particularly if your Clearwater server happens to be Gene, who is only in his second day there after flipping burgers for the past several years.

In search of Cincinnatus

The legend of Cincinnatus dates back to about 500 years before the birth of Christ. He was a farmer who left the plow when his nation was threatened. After noble service, he returned to the plow. Modern historians compare him to George Washington who did much the same. Over the last couple years, we have profiled two local men who provided similar public service – Clearwater’s Dick Fitzgerald and J.B. Johnson. Unfortunately, these men were the exception rather than the rule. The norm is to run for your local governing body, then a regional body, then a house or senate seat and then maybe recycle to the regional body au nauseam. Same old people - just a new place at the public trough. It might be time for individual term limits – say 20 or 25 years and then off to a real job.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It isn’t official, but the word on the street is Clearwater native David Allbritton will be making a run for Clearwater’s city council in the next election cycle. That is good news for our city.

2. Watching the continuing mess that is Hillsborough County education, we note they have a severe air conditioning issue in several of their schools. As a Tampa Bay area student grades 5 through 12, it occurs to us the first air conditioned classroom we experienced was in college - just saying.

3. From the 5:05 Newsletter - Media Message: “You have reached MSNBC. Listen carefully, our menu has changed. If you are calling to report an in-coming missile from North Korea press one and leave a message. If you are calling to complain about President Trump’s extended vacation please stay on the line. Someone will be with you immediately

4. Before you criticize Trump and his predecessor, Obama, for spending too much time away from the White House, consider this fact from Mark Updegrove’s excellent book Second Acts: Lyndon Johnson in his some five years as President spent right around 380 days (or over a year) at his Texas ranch.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area for a long time if you remember when it was heavily populated with Larry’s Ice Cream Parlors. There is now one left in the region – on St. Pete Beach.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Back when radio news was still radio news, there were a bunch of terrific radio journalists in the bay area – WTAN’s Dennis Crandall, WDAE’s Ronald J. Ebben, WLCY’s Clair Linn and WFLA’s Marty Giles. Giles, one of the deans of radio news, died last week at age 80.

7. If Dick Clark was America’s oldest teenager, Jerry Lewis was this country’s oldest adolescent. Known for his teaming with Dean Martin, his own solo career and his tireless work for MDA, Lewis passed away last week at 91.

8. Like the “California or Bust” of the olden days, it’s “Missouri or Bust” for the Rays this week. They absolutely must win both series with the Cards or Royals or the for sale sign will go up for several members of the locals.

9. In a 15-5 blowout in Chicago a couple weeks back, Red’s second baseman Scooter Gennett hit his 20^th home run of the season and later threw an inning to save a beleaguered Red’s bullpen. The last player to both pitch and hit his 20^th home run in a game was a fellow named Ruth.

10. ESPN has become the laughingstock of the industry with their foolish move of replacing Rob Lee from the play by play of a University of Virginia football game next week – simply because of his name. Rob Lee is of Oriental heritage for goodness sake. By the way, Robert is the third most common first name in the USA, Lee the 22^nd most common surname. Good luck guys.

Hooray for Ian Kinsler

By this time, Ian Kinsler has been taken to the woodshed for pretty much speaking the truth. After a dust up with home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, Kinsler, who’s a pretty fair country ballplayer, suggested that Hernandez seek another line of work – something that those inside baseball have been saying privately for years. Year in, year out, Hernandez has been ranked one of the worst three or four umps in baseball along with Joe West, C.B. Bucknor and Bob Davidson, who mercifully retired at the end of last season. If you’re in the bottom five percent of your profession, you usually don’t last – unless like Hernandez, you have a strong union.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE ST. PETE ELECTION AFTERMATH

We open with this week’s dining suggestion (see back tory in Jan. 1 TBRR). For a true New York-style deli with killer corned beef and roast beef sandwiches, the Lucky Dill on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor is hard to beat - so many tempting items on their large menu.

Speaking the King’s English

“You can't give good customer service if you don't hire appropriate employees. Hiring improperly and expecting great results nonetheless is like picking the wrong Olympic team and expecting to get the gold” – Forbes Magazine. It gets more and more frustrating trying to resolve a matter important to you and being confronted with someone you cannot understand. We have no issue with companies hiring some offshore help for back office operations but please give us someone who can speak understandable English on the phone to help solve our problem. Persons familiar with the problem advise you the next time you are confronted with such an issue to politely ask to be connected with a customer service rep in the U.S. Most often your request will be granted. If not, maybe it’s time to move on to another vendor.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We’re not sure just what President Trump was supposed to do in response to the mess in Charlottesville that would have appeased the liberal media.

2. We’re just about a week away from the St. Pete primary and, to this observer, incumbent mayor Rick Kriseman looks like the leader at the turn.

3. Another terrific attraction closes down at Disneyworld. The Great Movie Ride entertained families for years. The montage of great films and great actors and actresses at the end of the ride was worth the cost of admission alone. Walt wouldn’t be happy.

4. News item: Major Mark Welch resigns from the Florida Highway Patrol after authoring a controversial ticket quota email. But we could see a law enforcement future for him in, say, Lawtey or Waldo.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Carter’s Army Navy Store on Cleveland Street – the first place you could buy a Drew U t-shirt – the slang name for the SPJC campus on Drew Street when it opened in the mid-sixties. The real Drew University is in Madison, NJ.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A little over a year ago (May 29, 2016 TBRR) we announced we were pulling the plug on ESPN’s tired Pardon the Interruption. The several reasons, including the fact it was pretty much a basketball only show, were outlined in last year’s piece. We dropped by last week and in the second week of pre-season NFL, the battle in the NL Central and a fierce AL fight for playoff spots, the lead story was … (wait for it) … LeBron and the Cavs. We’ll drop in again in 2018 if it’s still on the air.

7. What a great story in major league baseball last week. Chris Rowley wins his first start for the Toronto Blue Jays – the first West Point graduate to ever start a game in the majors – proving once again no matter how long you follow baseball, you will always see something new.

8. Factoid: Even though he batted strictly left-handed and threw lefty, Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly is ambidextrous.

9. Speaking of the Marlins, the biggest positive among baseball insiders is not who bought the franchise, but the fact that previous owner, Jeffrey Loria, is out of baseball.

10. Last week was your HB’s (Humble Blogger’s) 48^th anniversary. Long suffering wife made the comment that your HB might not remember the details of our wedding but probably could recall who won the late model feature at Sunshine Speedway that evening. Not so. The races were rained out that night.

Local media needs to unite on reporting standards

Bay News Nine anchor Veronica Cintron looked absolutely ridiculous last week as she pontificated on how her organization’s “standards” do not permit the release of youthful offender’s names in crime reporting. Earlier that day, you could read complete profiles of all the youth involved in the grand theft auto in the Bay News Nine’s “partner” St. Pete Times. We know the media is a dog eat dog enterprise with everybody looking for an exclusive, but in sensitive areas such as youth committing crimes, our local radio, TV and print journalists need to come together and establish a market-wide set of standards in this and other sensitive areas of reporting.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – IN SEARCH OF CINCINNATUS

We’ve mostly avoided chains in our weekly dining suggestions this year (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants), but the smallish First Watch chain delivers a local feel. We miss their lean machine and fruit crepe entrees recently dropped, but their menu still offers some unique and healthy options.

How does Wells Fargo stay in business?

Like the 1960s disc jockeys used to say “the hits just keep on coming”. With Wells Fargo, it’s the revelation of the month, cheating vets with illegal fees related to mortgages; overcharging their auto loan customers on insurance; opening investment accounts without their customer’s knowledge or permission. And previously unpublicized, when a local organization’s employees accessed the institution’s financial records, they got, instead, the personal account of the group’s CEO. How many strikes before you’re out? It seems like Wells Fargo has more than used up their allotment.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Today as we go to press, we salute Phil Mickelson, George H. W. Bush, Randy Johnson and our colleague Steve Zweig. All are left handed and today is National Lefthanders Day.

2. Are we the only one troubled by a shamelessly self-promotional piece in the mail from Charlie Crist? The one with the tiny six-point type proclaiming it was paid for at taxpayer expense?

3. An unlikely political source, baseball writer extraordinaire, Peter Gammons, reminds us that the advent of fake news was probably way back in 1948 with the famous DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN headline.

4. Idle thought: has it every bothered you that the planet-named streets in Clearwater’s Skycrest neighborhood (Mars, Venus, Jupiter etc.) are in the wrong order?

5. From those merry elves at the 5:05 Newsletter: Latinos say they are worried by the crackdown on immigration. One Latino posted this note on the White House website. “I’m terrified that Trump is going to deport my Latina mother-in-law who is here illegally and lives at 1801 3rd Street Los Angeles 90023 - blue house on the corner, she gets home at six.”

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Looking back in Clearwater history – specifically the northwest corner of Gulf to Bay and Duncan: Over the years it’s been Howard the Trader, Steak and Shake, Grandy’s, Krispy Kreme and now Thornton’s. Thanks to longtime friend Doug Hilkert for helping us remember Grandy’s.

7. Woodstock, that counter-culture lovefest, happened 48 years ago this week. As they say, if you remember Woodstock, you weren’t there – and, having much nicer things to do that weekend, we weren’t.

8. The fact that the Rays are hanging on in the wild card race speaks volumes to the mediocrity of the American League this year. In the National League, as of this writing, the Rays would be seven games out of the wild card race with four teams to leapfrog.

9. A bad week or so for sports fans with the passing of Don Baylor, Dutch Daulton and John Reaves – all made an indelible mark on their respective sports.

10. And you may not have heard of Joe Clark who also passed this last week at age 98. He was a three-time Purple Heart recipient as an advance scout during World War II and honored not only by his own government but the French government, as well, for his heroism in the European theater. A resident of Palm Harbor, Joe, along with his brother, my Dad, were my two biggest heroes.

Glen Campbell: a big part of the soundtrack of the sixties

The frustrating thing about a Glen Campbell concert was he could sing half the night and you still may not hear your favorite Campbell song – there were so many – 38 charted singles in all. Similar to the Bacharach-David/Warwick connection, Glen found a friend in Jimmy Webb (Wichita Lineman, Galveston, By the Time I Get to Phoenix and others). He had his own TV show, toured with the Beach Boys in the mid-sixties including a stop in Clearwater and in the early sixties was part of the Champs of Tequila fame. And before all the fame, was probably the most in demand studio guitarist in L.A. He was a giant of the industry.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – SPEAKING THE KING’S ENGLISH

 As always, we begin our blog with a dining tip (see back story – Jan. 1 Rants). It’s tiny and you may have to wait but it’s good – the Tin Can Restaurant on Myrtle Avenue just south of Cleveland Street. Great steak and eggs! Open for breakfast and lunch.

Duke Energy not so bad when compared to others

Okay, Duke Energy is coming off a good fiscal quarter – good but not outlandish. All we know is they provide dependable service and send us emails frequently about how to spend less with them. Compare this if you will with Spectrum and their smoke and mirrors game with “promotional rates” while raising fees with impunity. Then there’s Apple, the king of planned obsolescence to go along with some other policies that border on theft. Then there’s Wells Fargo – a company so “special” they have earned an entire segment in next week’s blog. Suffice to say they have serious issues. Next to this trio, Duke doesn’t look so bad.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Breaking news: East Druid Road between Belcher and Hercules is now open. As a reminder, when construction began Obama was still President, spring training was months away and the majority of us were a year younger.

2. Also “breaking” – you can now get an Uber or Lyft ride at TIA. Most third world airports have offered this for the past five years.

3. Remember that Texas Instruments calculator you bought for $100? You can now buy one of equal capabilities at Dollar Tree.

4. Idle thought: we have the feeling a lot of people now wish they had pulled the lever for John Kasich.

5. You’ve lived on Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed one of the incredible milk shakes at the Bresler’s Ice Cream Parlor on Gulf to Bay just east of Clearwater High. Still the best shakes we’ve ever had. The last Bresler’s closed its doors ten years ago.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. He was recognized as one of the three greatest coaches in Notre Dame history, but his winning record at moribund Northwestern may be even more impressive. Football legend Ara Parseghian passed way last week at age 94.

7. Best song you never heard and never charted – Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore by mid-sixties group Ruby and the Romantics – nicely covered by the Carpenters in the 70s. You can hear Ruby’s version (and the Carpenters’) on You Tube.

8. The Atlanta Braves have indicated that Manager Brain Snitker will return next season. But they need to revisit two of their offseason coaching hires – pitching coach Chuck Hernandez – the Braves are in the bottom third in major league pitching and supposed fielding guru Ron Washington – the Braves defense is also in the bottom third.

9. Our peerless baseball prognosticator, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) hates the Dodgers, but the Bums are an odds-on favorite to win it all this year. Will he risk his perfect World Series record by picking against the hated Dodgers? Like the song says “See you in September”.

10. Of note: the two teams with the most walk-off wins this season also have two of the three worst records in the majors – The Oakland As and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The MLB trade deadline – what we liked, what we didn’t

First, the local nine stirred up some dust with about four deals, none of which materially improved the team – adding yet another one-dimensional left handed bat and three middling relievers. No playoff there. The clear winners were the Dodgers adding Yu Dervish and two strong lefties for their ‘pen; the Yankees adding both a front end and a back of the rotation pitcher and two bullpen stalwarts. A close second was the Red Sox adding Addison Reed to team with the major’s best closer Craig Kimbrel for their eighth and ninth innings. The one move we don’t understand is the Rockies’ acquisition of backstop Jonathon Lucroy whose career appears to be on the downside.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WELLS FARGO – HOW DO THEY STAY IN BUSINESS?

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants), when was the last time you pigged out on a box of doughnut holes from Dunkin Donuts along with their excellent coffee? Save your HB (Humble Blogger) one or two of the cinnamon treats.

Will Sewergate decide the St. Pete election?

It now seems that gross inattention by Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration lead to the sewage crisis in St. Petersburg. This has to make the Rick Baker camp happy. But wait. There are a lot more dynamics in St. Pete other than the admittedly serious sewage issue. Little things about what they are going to do about the ill-conceived dungeon where the Rays play, the economic malaise of Midtown and the city’s embarrassingly high crime rate. It will only get more interesting as we head to August 29^th’s primary.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. TIA’s renovation includes new trams to get folks around – built in Japan. Less than 90 miles away is one of the world’s busiest and most efficient tram systems (Disneyworld) all built in North America.

2. It was truly a local bank when it was called Liberty Bank, then it was gobbled up by Tampa-based USAmeribank losing quite a bit of its local feel. Now the “delocalization” is complete with the sale to a New Jersey bank.

3. Admittedly, we are political and military wonks, but can’t help thinking about 98 per cent of the free world is wondering “who the hell is John Kelly”?

4. New Florida auto tags noted over the past several weeks – NASCAR and Tennis - still to come, no doubt, lawn bowling, shuffleboard and horseshoes.

5. From TBRR one year ago this week: “Beach and Island Estates residents are bracing themselves this week for the closure of the Island Estates Publix for probably a year or so while a new store is constructed on the current site”. The “or so” in a year or so appears to be another three months.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Last month (RANTS – June 25), we profiled five recording artists who, despite great careers, never had a number one record. Here are five more – Blood Sweat and Tears, the Hollies, Martha and the Vandellas, the Moody Blues and Gene Pitney - despite his 15 Top 40 songs.

7. Five names that remind us baseball is still the most unpredictable of all our sports –Kirk Gibson, Don Larsen, Bill Mazeroski, Dusty Rhodes and Bucky F. Dent.

8. Bumper sticker seen on the car of a dog lover: “Wag more, bark less”. Good advice for all of us.

9. If you remember and enjoyed Punch magazine, you’ll love the 5:05 Newsletter. A recent sampling: “Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Kaine tweeted that President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement because he is jealous of Former President Obama. Kaine is still waiting for one of his 15 followers to retweet him”.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you went to the movies at the Ritz Theater on North Fort Harrison Avenue.

Some shows we never get tired of watching

Every once in a while, we stroll up to some of the channels numbered 600 and up where a lot of vintage TV shows are replayed. Most of them, sadly, are tired or just not relevant in the second decade of our new century. But here are four that stand the test of time, we’re sure you can think of more; Seinfeld, other than the old cars in the exterior shots, the program could still be current. Two and a Half Men, the Charlie Sheen episodes only, make you laugh at a joke you’ve heard six times before. M*A*S*H, was a period piece (1950s) and the strong cast and good writing never grows old. Finally, another period piece, The Untouchables, (1930s) had such a docu-drama flavor to it, you felt you were watching history back then as you do today.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – MLB TRADE DEADLINE MOVES, GOOD & BAD

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS): It is the classic greasy spoon (and we mean that only in the fondest sense). We’re talking about Olga’s on Belcher Road just north of Nursery. Terrific breakfast and lunches at very affordable prices complete with one or two surly waitresses you expect (no, demand) in a place like that. Like one or two other spots in our yearlong restaurant suggestions, it’s cash only.

Saluting one of the two most unique towns in Pinellas County

Tarpon Springs is justifiably proud of its Greek heritage. One need only walk down Dodecanese Blvd. (named for the Greek Islands from where many Tarpon residents originated) and view the sponge boats and shops, the authentic Greek restaurants and various static displays celebrating the heritage of this terrific community. Their Epiphany celebration in January is unparalleled anywhere in the country. For years, the legendary Pappas Restaurant drew standing room only crowds. Tarpon Springs is a Pinellas gem, unmatched anywhere else in Florida – anywhere else in the United States.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Our prayers are with Sen. John McCain and his family.

2. The St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport continues to grow with another double digit increase in passengers last month. You would feel a whole lot better about the growth if not for the fact that so much of the increase is based on one airline with a shaky reputation.

3. We guess it will rate a front page headline on a week when a sizable retailer does not close down or file Chapter 11. Gymboree is closing down two of its four bay area locations.

4. This blog is no fan of Scientology but a Calvary Baptist Church pastor’s recent remarks on the cult are reminiscent of the church’s then pastor O.E. Burton’s over the top comments on Catholicism in the 1950s.

5. Quote of the week: “There are expectations of her. The expectations are not the status quo.” Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, part of the selection committee choosing Pinellas County’s new attorney – Jewel White. Well said sheriff, now is it unreasonable to expect the same from your office?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The somewhat trustworthy 5:05 Newsletter reports: Organizers in L.A. are planning to make a 1.3-mile-long pizza using 8,000 pounds of dough and 3,600 pounds of cheese. Said residents of L.A., “Is it possible to get that gluten free”?

7. Couple Rays’ notes: our all-time favorite Rays’ name, Jumbo Diaz, has been designated for assignment. No need for the cheap shot last week by the Times beat writer at Colby Ramus. As the old Joe South song admonishes – “walk a mile in my shoes”.

8. From one of our six confirmed readers this tidbit: Seven players who need to hang ‘em up - CC Sabathia, SP – New York Yankees; Chase Utley, 2B – Los Angeles Dodgers; Ichiro Suzuki, RF – Miami Marlins; Carlos Ruiz C – Seattle Mariners; Bartolo Colon, SP – Minnesota Twins; Carlos Beltran, LF/DH – Houston Astros and local guy Ryan Howard - released from Atlanta Braves. We might quarrel with Beltran who is down in the 230s right now but tends to heat up in the second half. Otherwise, put a fork in them.

9. In the early 60s, he played a young hood on The Untouchables; ten years later, he was impersonation wizard, Rollin Hand, on Mission Impossible and then there was the 1990s Oscar for playing Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. The extremely versatile Martin Landau passed away last week at 89.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember when it was standard practice to throw confetti during a parade.

Number one hits – only the name is the same

Compliments of that rock and roll encyclopedia Jerry Osborne and his “Mr. Music” column, here are four titles you’ll remember that hit number one not once but twice however with entirely different lyrics – My Love by Petula Clark and later by Paul McCartney; Best of My Love first by the Eagles and later by Emotion; I’m Sorry initially by Brenda Lee and later John Denver; finally 1959’s Venus by Frankie Avalon and in the early 70s by Shocking Blue.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – TRAMS, NEW PUBLIX AND BUCKY F. DENT

This week’s dining tip (see back story in the Jan. 1 RANTS).We lead off the blog with a breakfast suggestion – on the run. It is hard to beat the made on location bagels at Clearwater Bagel on Gulf to Bay just west of Clearwater High School.

The battle over school funding

There’s a great deal of back and forth regarding funding primary education in Florida. On one side is a group that feels that every dollar should flow to Florida’s public schools which rank in the 40’s nationwide. It might not be broken, but it’s hardly a model system. Charter schools have had some hiccups but along with home schooling and private schools they are producing the kids who are finding their way to the top colleges, and later, the top jobs. And those who cry for every dollar to go to public schools need to know this: if every taxpayer who is not burdening the public system with their offspring suddenly decided to send all their kids to traditional schools, the system would collapse within a week.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Incredible quote of the month (related to our lead piece): Hillsborough School Board member Melissa Snively wondered: Should principals be held accountable when their students leave for charter schools, or to be homeschooled? Is she serious? This would be a field day for every labor lawyer in Hillsborough County. It’s no wonder the Hillsborough system is up to its neck in debt.

2. Random thought: the Democrats had better come up with a stronger candidate if they want to reclaim Florida’s governor’s mansion next year – and we don’t mean John Morgan.

3. Just a guess that Bill Horne and David Miscavige don’t exchange Christmas cards.

4. From TBRR one year ago this week: “Within a week, the FBI announces it has concluded its investigations of Hillary Clinton - and D.B. Cooper - so many punchlines, so little space”.

5. Happy 40^th birthday to one of your HB’s (Humble Blogger’s) favorite places on earth – Banana’s Record Store in St. Petersburg. For good reason, we are allowed only a limited amount of visits each year.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. From the publication that makes us say “wish I had thought of that first”, The 5:05 Newsletter: “I am so glad I grew up in the 50s and 60s because I did so much stupid stuff and there is no record of it anywhere.”

7. Cubs acquire Jose Quintana and the NL pennant. Not so fast, the guy is 4-8 with a four and a half ERA and an under .500 pitcher for his career. We still like one of those juggernauts from the NL West.

8. A statistic to keep an eye on in the second half – the Rays have committed the fourth most errors in major league baseball. That has to dramatically improve if there is any hope for post season play for Tampa Bay’s boys of summer.

9. It’s easier to name the teams who have not inquired as to the availability of Ray’s ace David Archer. As long as the Rays can stay around .500 by the trading deadline, the answer to all inquiries will be no.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Phillies’ spring training organist Wilbur Sapp being ejected from Jack Russell Stadium for serenading the umpiring crew with Three Blind Mice.

Who do you support and what do they support?

A friend who is a pro-life advocate used to complain about taking road trips with his even more passionate pro-life wife. At lunch time, they would pull off the road and head into a fast food spot and his wife would protest – “no not there, they support Planned Parenthood”. So down the road they would go in search of a Chick-fil-A. It got us to thinking. We need a new pair of tennis shoes soon. Do we continue with our somewhat blind loyalty to New Balance? Apparently that is okay as they do not make the list of pro-abortion contributors like Converse, Docker and Nike to name three footwear companies. Here are a few more pro-abortion contributors you might want to avoid – American Express, Exxon, Macys, Pepsi and Starbucks. In a subsequent issue, we’ll provide some names that support pro-life causes.

SNEEK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK: ONE OF PINELLAS COUNTY’S MOST UNIQUE CITIES

As usual, we begin with this week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS). The Largo Family Restaurant on Missouri Avenue is the consummate family restaurant. All three meals are covered (breakfast all day) along with a wait staff that is more like family – very good and very reasonably priced.

The long overdue shakeup at the Clearwater Marina

Within the last two months, the Number 1 and 2 men at the Clearwater Marina, Bill Morris and Gordy Wills, have been cashiered by the city – a move long overdue. The marina has been troubled with human resources complaints, favoritism and what has to be one of the greatest deals ever cut by the city – if you happen to be the proprietor of the Salt Cracker and Marina Cantina Restaurants in the marina. The marina has moved heaven and earth to accommodate a newcomer to the marina, Bay Star Restaurants, often at the expense of other marina businesses - many a half century or more old. A highly placed city official puts the blame for the marina malaise at the feet of recently departed Assistant City Manager Rod Irwin citing his lack of oversight at the facility.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It was a classic Ted Baxter line from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. “It all started at a 5000-watt radio station. That’s exactly where founder Bud Paxton started Home Shopping Network which sold last week for $2.1 billion.

2. Memo to the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County. Please, with a capital P, come to some sort of compromise on the century old Confederate monument in Tampa and then get on with the matters of city and county.

3. Skimmers at gas stations are causing more and more trouble. An easy fix to the threat is to buy gas cards and use them rather than your credit or debit card – particularly on the weeks when Publix offers a $50 card for $40 with a $50 grocery purchase – a savings of 20 per cent and a whole lot more security.

4. From TBRR one year ago this week: “It is quite likely the next President will appoint as many as four Supreme Court Justices”. One down, now we’ll see how many more selections President Trump will get.

5. On our last ride down Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater, we stopped counting empty storefronts at two dozen.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. “Country Joe” West recently umpired his 5000^th major league game. That’s a lot of missed calls for a guy constantly ranked as one of the four or five worst umpires in baseball. That aside, it is unspeakable to toss a ball at an umpire who has his back turned to the crowd. The person responsible for the incident in Milwaukee should never be allowed in a major league ball park again.

7. Proof you can live to be 100 and each season you will see something on the diamond you’ve not seen before. Last week in Oakland, a fan caught three foul balls in one game including two on consecutive pitches!

8. A few weeks back (RANTS – May 28) we mentioned that James Brown was the number five artist of the rock era despite never having a number one record. Here are five other artists who, despite great careers, never had a number one record – Creedence Clearwater Revival (but five #2s), Tom Jones, The Kinks and two rock and roll pioneers – Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard.

9. From the one and only 5:05 Newsletter: FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller Adds Hillary Clinton to Legal Team.

10 Related to Item 1 above, you’ve lived in Pinellas a long time if you remember the station where Bud Paxton started it all was WDCL, 1470. The station, founded in 1956, took those call letters to represent Dunedin-Clearwater-Largo.

The refreshing attitude of Freddie Freeman

A quick back story: Atlanta star first baseman Freddie Freeman gets injured in May and is out for two months. The Braves, desperate for a replacement, trade for Matt Adams of the Cardinals. Adams, given a chance to play regularly, turns into Fred McGriff, just pounding the ball. When Freeman returns, there is no place to put Adams and his big bat. No problem, says Freeman, I’ll relearn third base, the position he played in high school. It mirrors a similar sacrifice made by a former face of the Atlanta franchise, Chipper Jones, when he volunteered to play left field so the Braves could add Vinny Castilla’s bat at third base. How refreshing the attitude of these two guys, who are close friends, when compared to so many spoiled brats who play pro sports. We hope Freeman will flourish at the hot corner.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE FIGHT OVER SCHOOL FUNDING

God Bless America

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story – Jan. 1 RANTS): for breakfast or lunch, try Benedicts on Belcher Road just north of N.E. Coachman Rd. As the name suggests, there are several varieties of Eggs Benedict, multiple quiches and omelets that the plates barely hold. There’s also a location on Bayshore Blvd. in Dunedin.

Some birthday wishes for our union at age 241

First, a couple wishes were already granted by the Supreme Court in the past week – a provisional okay to President Trump’s travel restrictions and the high court recognizing that churches should not be excluded from a statewide safety program simply because they are churches. And heading forward, we hope sometime this year, Donald Trump finally gets it and starts acting like a President. We hope we find some sort of solution to the scariest man since Adolf Hitler – the nut job in North Korea. We also hope our state gets a more effective U.S. Senator than the one we’ve been saddled with for the past 16 years. We hope the leaders in Congress start working for the good of our country rather than the good of their political careers and party. We hope sometime, somehow Pinellas gets a strong representative like David Jolly back in Washington. And the ice cream to go with the cake on this 241^st birthday would be for our country to finally get a sensible medical system. Despite this and more, our great nation – she’s still the best.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The U.S. lost three presidents and gained one on July 4. Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 – the 50^th anniversary of the birth of our nation. James Monroe died five years later in 1831. Forty-five years after that, Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. Some thoughts from each of these Presidents below.

2. From John Adams: Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

3. From Jefferson: Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.

4. From James Monroe: The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.

5. From Coolidge: No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Despite the departure of cable superstar Bill O’Reilly, Fox News Channel is still dominating prime time among cable news channels. The performance of FNC has a lot to do with conservative viewers having nowhere else to go.

7. With the addition of the Las Vegas franchise, the NHL now has 31 teams, one more than major league baseball. Why?

8. Does anybody want to win a baseball championship? At this writing as we head for the All Star break, only three teams had win streaks of two or more games – the last place team in each NL division - Phils, Reds (two each) and Giants (three).

9. Realize we are old-fashioned to a fault but major league pitchers wearing single digit numbers like the Rays’ Blake Snell and the Jays’ Marcus Stroman harks back to Little League and is kind of bush.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed a Big Boy at the Frisch’s Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd. The last Frisch’s Big Boys left Florida in the early 1990s.

The Presidents Club – a must read for the political junkie

It sometimes takes us awhile to get around to a good book. Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy’s The Presidents Club hit the bookshelves five years ago, but it is a timeless work. Dealing with how ex-presidents have interacted with the current POTUS – and each other, the authors create a masterpiece of inside baseball involving the Oval Office and those who have occupied it. Some Presidents have tended to be better ex-Presidents than Presidents like Nixon and Carter although both tended to go rogue on occasion when handed a foreign assignment by the sitting President. The unique relationship between Bush 41 and Clinton is heartwarming – likewise that of Hoover and Truman. If you’ve not enjoyed this book, put it on your list of things to do for the second half of the year.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK –THE SHAKEUP AT THE CLEARWATER MARINA

Midway through our year of dining suggestions (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS) – a tried and true favorite – O’Keefe’s on Fort Harrison Avenue near the Morton Plant campus. Try the fish and chips, shepherd’s pie or a bowl of their excellent French onion soup.

Little people with too much time on their hands

A few weeks ago, we ambled back to a site where we used to spend some time – a site that deals with local history. Right away we were assaulted by a post from one of the site Nazis spouting about this person and that person – anything but local history. The post reminded us why we don’t go there so often anymore. Back at the old home owner’s association, we have another midget who must meddle with minutiae. Fortunately, this individual is in the minority of the association’s board but nonetheless impedes progress. Folks, there is yoga, Pilates, knitting, cycling and a million good books to read. Find a productive hobby – and a life.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Last week (RANTS June 18) we bemoaned the outrageous amount of money being spent on the St. Pete mayoral campaign that could easily be won by “None of the above”. But in Georgia, a record $50 million dollars was spent on the District 6 Congressional race for a chance to be lower in House seniority than the pride of Pinellas, Charlie Crist.

2. There’s a reason for the smile on your Realtor’s face. Homes are flying off the shelf at a record pace – and at record prices.

3. Surely there is a middle ground between the Obama policy of “okay Cuba, we are going to give you a lot of concessions despite your horrible human rights record” and the Trump retreat to the Kennedy era of the early sixties.

4. Just an idle thought: Given his pronouncements and actions, why is John McCain a member of the Republican Party?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember many of the fine jewelry stores in downtown – Korones, Mijares, Smith’s, Tilley’s and Trickel’s – just to name five.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Headline from the St. Pete spin doctors last week Attorneys General plan to sue Trump. You wonder what has our nation’s attorney generals all stirred up. Turns out it’s two AGs – barely plural, and from Maryland and D.C. – the swamp – and over some non-issue - other than that, straight forward journalism.

7. Given the wobbling of long time household names like Sears, Penney’s and Macy’s, we shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Neiman-Marcus is in trouble. For over a century, the store has radiated class. Your humble blogger was privileged years ago to meet their late CEO Stanley Marcus, who, like his store, emanated class.

8. Happy Birthday to Babe Zaharias who would be 103 this week. If you’re not familiar with her athletic accomplishments, google her. She was, without question, the greatest female athlete in our nation’s history.

9. We made our first visit to Rotisserie Duck a few weeks back to view 71 reasons why guys love baseball. It got us coming back for more – last week the baseball blog had a terrific article on Jimmy Piersall well worth a read.

10. So many of us have a long list of what we would do if we were baseball commissioner. Add to that list; be embarrassed by our signature on every official ball – nothing but squiggles and curves.

MLB at the three month mark:

“All rise, here comes the judge” has become the theme of the renaissance in the Bronx this summer. It appears, despite spotty pitching, the Yankees are back and they are reminiscent of the 50s where it was Whitey Ford and a bunch of no name pitchers who got seven or eight runs scored for them every night. In the AL Central, Cleveland, to no one’s surprise, has made it to the top and then there’s the Astros in a different galaxy from the other 29 teams.. The Nats lead a very weak NL East by default; in the Central, the ’16 champs Cubs must overtake the Brewers to make the playoffs as they are 9 games out of the wild card. And who would have guessed at the half way mark, the Rockies would have the best record in the NL – a lot of that has to do with Bud Black. The next few weeks get cool with the trading deadline less than a month away.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: SOME BIRTHDAY WISHES FOR OUR NATION

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): The brighter sibling in our family introduced us to the Acropol Restaurant several years back. They have two locations – Sunset Point Road just west of U.S. 19 and on Starkey south of East Bay Drive. They feature a huge menu. On Starkey, say hello to one of our favorite servers, Kelly.

The price of Pinellas political poker is going up

We are embarrassed to report that the two candidates for mayor of St.Petersburg have already collected over a combined million dollars for their campaigns. In a word, that is just sick. The incumbent Rick Kriseman and his challenger former mayor Rick Baker will no doubt far exceed those numbers by the end of the campaign. We recall a successful city commission candidate in Clearwater in the mid-nineties expressing embarrassment in raising $14,000 as a political newcomer. Nowadays even in Clearwater that would be considered chump change. It’s time to bring some sanity to political spending in local elections.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It has become easier to produce this tripe due to our new computer with the speed of a rocket ship. It replaces a device the vintage of an Apple II. Many thanks to Ray’s Connecting Point in Dunedin.

2. The Florida Supreme Court has struck down a common sense law capping how much money lawyers can seek in medical malpractice suits. Does this surprise you? There aren’t many doctors on the Florida Supreme Court.

3. Idle thought: with the billions of dollars being poured into medical research, why is the answer to so many ailments “treat it with marijuana”. What’s wrong with these folks?

4. Related to the above item, have you received an email yet announcing Cannabis Gummies “now legal to buy and ship in all 50 states”? The world is tilting on its axis – and not in the right direction.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember gardening guru Gil Whitton’s popular shows on WFLA and WTAN.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Was there ever a campier show than Batman? Adam West, the original Batman, passed away last week at 88. A final BHAM! POW! to the TV legend.

7. Twice in the past week, we have tried to get a wrap of fifty one dollar bills from two different banks with no success. We cannot only surmise there is a nationwide shortage of one dollar bills. Pass it on and please read the disclaimer at the top of the page.

8. If you missed Tom Jones’ excellent piece on doubleheaders in Sunday the 11^th Times, try to retrieve it. Jones, although a fairly young guy, is quite old school.

9. Factoid: Mario Mendoza, the light hitting shortstop who was the inspiration for the Mendoza Line or “below the Mendoza Line” (sub .200), actually had a career batting average of .215.

10. Related to the above note, Hall of Famers who flirted with the Mendoza Line during their careers. Bob Uecker (inducted for his broadcasting) finished right at .200 and Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa’s playing career ended at .199.

Cards lead the NL in retired numbers

Last month, we reported on the 20 (or 21 depending on whether you count two guys who had their #8 retired) retired numbers for the Yanks. Not surprisingly, the next largest group of numbers retired belongs to the National League’s version of the Yanks – the Cardinals. Among their players and managers honored: 1 – Ozzie Smith; 2 - Red Schoendienst; 6 - Stan the Man; 9 – Enos Slaughter; 10 – Tony LaRussa; 14 – Ken Boyer; 17 – Dizzy Dean; 20 – Lou Brock; 24 – Whitey Herzog; 42 – Bruce Sutter; 45 – Bob Gibson plus Rogers Hornsby whose initials appear with the retired numbers. The Rajah played before they issued numbers to players.

SNEAK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK - PEOPLE WHO NEED A HOBBY

We continue our weekly dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants). This week a breakfast or lunch suggestion – try Benedicts on Belcher Road just north of N.E. Coachman Rd. As the name suggests, there are several varieties of Eggs Benedict, multiple quiches and omelets that the plates barely hold. A second location is on Bayshore Blvd. in Dunedin.

The restaurant landscape is changing

We are sad to report that one of the restaurants featured in our weekly 2017 feature has closed. We learned this as we attempted to dine there with another couple last weekend. Cheddars on Roosevelt Boulevard had a simple sign in the window saying that due to rising costs and changing tastes, they were shuttering the establishment. Further research by one of our Rants focus group members shows this is a national trend. Folks, particularly the younger generations, are becoming more eat at home types either cooking or ordering in. And it’s having a very negative effect on casual establishments like Cheddars, Outback and Chili’s to name a few. Sales are down and more and more casual restaurants are waving the white flag - sad to see.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Not all news is bleak for Cheddars devotees. Their Pinellas Park location remains open on Park Blvd.

2. Okay, everybody who thought John Morgan had noble motives in his push for medical pot raise their hands. It’s now apparent that Florida’s king of ambulance chasers also wants to be the king of legalized pot in the Sunshine State.

3. One of our oldest friends (dating back to third grade) shared this with us recently. "The only thing worse than bad governance is an electorate that looks the other way." Remind us just when it was that we last witnessed good governance in our nation?

4. We know it’s early, but it’s hard to imagine a better qualified candidate for Florida Attorney General than former Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Ashley Moody.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you exceeded your clothes budget just a bit at one of the classy Wolf Brothers clothing stores.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. This week we focus on our own media – TBRR. Last week’s rants went nearly 900 words – a rather verbose record, but there was a lot of territory to cover. This week, a leaner, meaner 800 words.

7. From the publication that begs the question “what kind of twisted mind comes up with this stuff”, the 5:05 Newsletter, this gem: Police in states where marijuana is legal are struggling to find a system to determine if someone is too high to drive. So far, the best method is to hand them a breathalyzer and see if they inhale.

8. Jimmy Piersall passed away at age 86 last week. To term him colorful would be an understatement. On the event of his 100^th career homer, he ran the bases facing backward. The shot was hit off another baseball notable who died this year – Dallas Green. We have to imagine that if the two faced off again, the old school Green drilled him.

9. Oddest baseball story of the year – Miami Marlins reliever Junichi Tazawa’s rehab assignment has been delayed because his Japanese interpreter quit and the Marlins were worried he might become confused in his rehab efforts. Perhaps if you take a six-figure job in America, you might want to pick up a copy of Rosetta Stone?

10. Summer begins next week and here are five great summer songs for your music device: Robin Ward’s The Most Wonderful Summer; Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful; the Beach Boy’s Do It Again; Ron Dante’s Summer Medley and Dancing, Shagging on the Boulevard by Alabama. Happy summer!

A “what if” involving the Cubs, Rays, White Sox and Yanks

A piece by ESPN’s Andrew Marchand a few weeks back got us to thinking “what if?” In 2012, Joe Girardi had an opportunity to manage his hometown Cubs and, of course, eventually passed. His GM, Brian Cashman, promised not to stand in his way even though Girardi had a couple years left on his Yankee contract. All Cashman asked was not to be blindsided at the last minute and to be allowed to start looking for a replacement. The Cubs hired Dale Sveum and then Rick Renteria who did a bang up job but was dumped when the Cubs had a chance to sign Joe Madden. But if the Cubs had signed Girardi, they might have made it to the Promised Land a year or two earlier. And the Yanks might have made a run at Madden and the Rays might have gone after a very talented third base coach in San Diego (Renteria). And the White Sox, now headed by Renteria, – who knows? Kevin Cash maybe?

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: THE PRICE OF PINELLAS POLITICS IS GOING UP

Dining tip #23 (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants) – After Keegan’s last week, we’re going to stay on the Gulf Beaches for one of our absolute favorites – Sweet Sage on North Redington Beach – open for breakfast and lunch. Be decadent and try one of their outrageous crepes or the Twice Stuffed Eggs Benedict.

The art of customer service

Over the past month, your humble blogger has had some minor surgery done and bought a new car. First, let us say the end results of both were good. It was the getting there that varied dramatically. That “getting there” is referred to as customer service. The auto dealership, and we have no problem mentioning them, was Dick Norris Buick GMC. There were a couple of minor blips in the car transaction and they were handled quickly and professionally. On the surgical side, changed and cancelled surgical dates and follow-ups, the inability to ever speak to a staffer “live” and just general screw-ups with insurance and other matters. We won’t mention the surgical practice because the surgeons are good but their front office performance is nothing short of awful. We guess the car business is more competitive than the surgical biz, but that is absolutely no excuse for shoddy treatment of patients (customers).

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. With the negative reaction to the Paris accords pullout by some folks labeled “corporate titans”, we call to mind a thought from O’Reilly and Feirstein’s book Old School: “don’t hector us about climate change while you fly around in private jets and have multiple houses with the carbon footprint the size of Kazakhstan”. Well said.

2. Don’t know about you, but last week we had the strongest urge to go to some railroad tracks in the bay area and wave a final farewell to the Ringling Brothers Circus train as it made its last journey to Sarasota. The loss of the circus is one of the great societal tragedies of the 21st Century.

3. With our first Florida summertime weekend and its boating tragedies and near tragedies behind us, we continue to be amazed you must be tested and licensed to operate a private motor vehicle but not a private vessel where the consequences of mistakes and negligence are compounded exponentially.

4. How things can change. Two weeks ago (RANTS – May 21) we rhetorically asked if there was a more disliked woman in the U.S. than Nancy Pelosi. Turns out there is. Cathy Griffith has been lambasted in diverse corners from the VFW to The View. She has expressed remorse – remorse in that she knows her career trajectory is now about the same as that of Bill Cosby and O.J. Simpson.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you went to either the Gulf-to-Bay or Thunderbird Drive-In Theaters.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Media types whose heads are blowing off about so-called back channel communications with Russia should read Gibbs and Duffy’s The President’s Club which reveals such communications have been commonplace since the mid-20^th Century.

7. NBC Nightly News, once dominate in the evening, is now behind ABC in total audience at 6:30. Its answer to its problems? Among other things, let’s attack Fox News. Go figure.

8. Last week, we noted the 100^th anniversary of JFK’s birth – the first President born in the 20^th Century. The last President born in the 19^th Century was his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower.

9. Idle thought: remember when you could recite the winners of the Indy 500 back ten years or so? Now, we had to look back 23 years to find a name we actually remember – Al Unser, Jr., whose dad and uncle were also winners when the race truly captured America.

10. Legend has it that Dr. James Naismith developed basketball as a winter sport to go between fall’s football and spring and summer’s baseball. Imagine what he would think to see the NBA finals being played in the first full week of June.

Why some guys love baseball

There is a website with the unlikely name of Rotisserie Duck that recently featured 71 compelling reasons why guys love baseball. If you’re too lazy to Google it, here is a sampling of a half dozen: The aroma of the bubble gum in a nickel pack of Topps baseball cards should be bottled as a women’s cologne - men could never resist; Talking baseball with the fan next to you in the stands has nothing to do with race, religion, politics, age or sexual identity; You clearly understand the stupidity of any baserunner who tried to go from 1B to 3B when Roberto Clemente was playing RF; “The Bender”, “The Hook”, “Uncle Charlie”, “The Yellow Hammer”, “The Yakker” & “The Deuce” all mean the same thing….baseball has a language of its own; Looking through a set of baseball cards from the 1950s gives you a wonderful history lesson that tells you the identities of Dusty, Duke, Red, Minnie, Puddin’ Head, Spook, Smoky, Suitcase, Pee Wee, Junior & Rube and finally, for those of us lucky enough to live in Florida - Sitting behind home plate in March watching the veterans shape up and the youngsters trying to impress, makes an adult feel like a kid again.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: A “WHAT IF” INVOLING THE RAYS, YANKS AND CUBS

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): It’s kind of a slack time before the summer rush, so that means there may be a few empty tables at Keegan’s on Indian Rocks Beach - great chicken and grouper sandwiches along with a most unusual and tasty Key Lime Pie.

Mooring fields – another no brainer for Clearwater

A Clearwater Beach entrepreneur wants to start mooring boats out in the Mandalay Channel – the body of water between east Clearwater Beach and Island Estates – an idea fraught with problems. To concentrate on two obvious problems, they are a navigation hazard in an already busy channel and more importantly an environmental issue at a facility that will have no pump out functions. Fortunately, the proposal by William Blackwood faces several hurdles at the city in the way of development codes. We can find no one at city hall, elected or appointed from City manager Bill Horne down, who is on board with this proposal. Even if Blackwood gets it by the city, an extreme long shot, he then faces county approvals as well where he should not expect a warm welcome either.    

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. A tip of our Rants and Raves cap to Governor Rick Scott for his veto of the so-called liquor wall law. Alcohol dependent people and our youth have enough temptation without vodka being an aisle away from Raisin Bran in grocery stores. We give a further tip of our cap to Publix who stood out among their less principled competitors in opposing this law.  

2. Forget about being sheriff, we suspect Pam Bondi would lap the field if she ran for governor. The state’s attorney general says she’s not in that race either. But Republicans, who realize their lead candidate might be a guy who reminds you of Opie of Maywood, could come knocking.

3. Out of the blue comment from a nurse attending your humble blogger last week: “Don’t you wish John Kasich had been elected President”? Frankly, yes.

4. Last week (RANTS- May 21) we reported on the guilty conviction of north Florida Rep. Corrine Brown being found guilty of the theft of hundreds of thousands of charity dollars. Now the Gainesville City Council is looking at removing her name from a transit hub – just another reason not to name things after living individuals – particularly politicians.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater awhile if you ever enjoyed Seafood and Sunsets at Julies on Clearwater Beach. Favorite menu entry was the Craig Rubright - something to the effect of a hardboiled egg and 6 Budweisers - hold the egg.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Nothing better to start off the week than to find your community has been awarded a Super Bowl in 2021. The folks at Raymond James Stadium have proved over and over again they are up to the task.

7. Number of the week - $36 bucks – the least you could pay for a ticket to last weekend’s Rays – Yankees series. Second number of the week – 30 per cent – the percentage of seats (28,000 total) that went unsold against the best draw in baseball. The Rays just don’t get it.

8. The world of baseball and our nation suffered a loss this past weekend with the passing of Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who authored no-hitters in both leagues and had a noble political career as a U.S. Representative and later Senator from the state of Kentucky.

9. Factoid: the top five recording acts of the rock era – Elvis, the Beatles, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and, somewhat surprisingly, James Brown, who unlike the other four, never had a number one record.

10. This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of John F. Kennedy – the first American president born in the 20^th century.

MLB at the two month mark:

In the American League, it looks like the only sure thing is the Houston Astros. They have sprinted away from the field and are looking to add another arm before August. The Yanks lead the East but pitching remains a dark cloud for the Bombers. Nicest surprise, by far, is Minnesota but can they maintain? In the National League, nothing is an ironclad cinch. The Nationals, while leading the East, have the same concerns as the Yanks – pitching - specifically a leaky bullpen. In the Central, after shaky starts, the cream (read Cards and Cubs) are starting to come to the surface. In the West, other than the Padres, it is impossible to count anybody out. Nicest surprise in the NL – the Braves, who despite losing MVP candidate Freddie Freeman, are playing winning ball – for the moment.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK -THE ART OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): They’re back and nicer than ever. Crabby Bill’s has reopened at the west end of the Clearwater Marina on Clearwater Beach. Stop by and see what’s new.

Okay 70 per cent of pro-pot Florida voters, you figure it out!

The exact number escapes us, but close to 70 per cent of Florida voters said yes to legalized medical pot last fall despite warnings from law enforcement and medical experts. Now, the Florida legislature is scrambling to figure out what to do to prevent the inevitable abuses of the law much like our Wild West approach to opioids for many years with “medical doctors” in downtown Clearwater and elsewhere having their parking lots jammed with out of state license plates seeking their “medical help”.  Already we are seeing signs like the one at the exit of the Belcher Road and Gulf to Bay Publix last week proclaiming “Legal Weed, $199, phone (some 866 number)”. The sign is just the vanguard of what is going to be one hot mess in the Sunshine State. Thanks, folks.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Tucked in a two inch column in last Sunday’s paper was a piece reporting the guilty verdict of former State Rep. Corrine Brown for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars designated for charities. Can’t help thinking that if the D behind her name had been an R, the story would have been front page with a World War II size headline.

2. There’s been some gnashing of teeth over a decline in the state’s arts funding – it’s still at nearly $25 million. The arts, unfortunately, have to compete against fire trucks, areas that flood and hungry people who need fed.

3. Medicare is 51 years old this year. The bill was signed into law by LBJ in Independence, Missouri. The recipient of the first Medicare card was the pride of Missouri – Harry Truman – a token of President Johnson’s esteem for our 33^rd President.

4. Just an idle thought: is there a more disliked woman in America than Nancy Pelosi?

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you attended a show at the Showboat Dinner Theater.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A gem of a program hidden on the Smithsonian Channel is Aerial America, a show giving airborne views and fascinating commentary on our fifty states plus some significant landmarks. Give it a view during this summer of reruns.

7. A tip of our baseball cap to the Phillies for extending the contract of Pet Mackanin. His record with the Phils since taking over is about 40 games under .500 but you could pick any manager in the Hall of Fame and the results with a team undergoing such a major overhaul would not be any better.

8. Two teams that everyone wants to play right now but won’t in two months – the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays – both very talented teams severely crippled by injuries to key players.

9. Borrowing a thought from our Facebook friend George Miller – I need to lose 25 pounds to be fat. My, but that hits home!

10. Factoid unearthed by the most spectacular member of our Rants and Raves focus group: the top singing duo of all time is not Simon and Garfunkel (ranked 3^rd), the Everly Brothers (ranked 2^nd) but Hall and Oates. Rounding out the Top Five duos are the Righteous Brothers and surf era twosome Jan and Dean.

About those retired Yankee numbers:

Last week we mentioned Derek Jeter’s number 2 was the last single digit to be retired by the Yankees. To review: 1 – Billy Martin, 2 – Jeter; 3 – Ruth; 4 – Gehrig; 5 – DiMaggio; 6 – Torre; 7 – the Mick; 8 – two great catchers, Berra and Dickey and 9 – Maris – one of the two best players not in the Hall of Fame. But wait, there’s more: 10 – Rizzuto; 15 – Munson; 16 – Ford; 20 – Posada; 23 – Mattingly; 32 – Howard; 37 – Stengel; 42 - Rivera; 44 – Reggie; 46 – Pettitte; 49 – Guidry and 51- guitar playing Bernie Williams. Throughout the baseball season, we’ll look at some other storied franchises with bunches of retired numbers.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: A SMALL BLIP ON THE RADAR WITH MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS FOR CLEARWATER AND OTHER COASTAL COMMUNITIES

Happy Mother’s Day

This week’s blog dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS) – excellent from their boat seafood with some unique atmosphere – Rusty Bellies at end of Dodecanese Blvd. in Tarpon Springs – right on the Anclote River.

Comey firing: the last step in cleaning up Department of Justice

You have to hark back to the days of the Nixon administration to find a Justice Department more riddled with incompetence and corruption as we have witnessed during the past eight years. We saw two attorney generals who did President Obama’s bidding rather than doing the things with which an attorney general is tasked. The whole mess culminated with Loretta Lynch’s infamous meeting with Bill Clinton on an airport tarmac and James Comey’s on again, off again pursuit of Hillary Clinton’s misdeeds. Now the last of the team has been swept away – some would say a scapegoat for the actions of those above him. Now begins the task of restoring our country’s faith in its Justice Department.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Poor St. Pete, like the rest of the country, they were faced with a choice between Clinton and Trump. To add insult to injury, they had Charlie Crist shoved down their throats by an activist judiciary. Now it appears another Hobson’s choice is on the horizon with having to choose between Baker and Kriseman in the next mayoral election.

2. Failing grade for Bethune-Cookman grads booing commencement speaker, Betsy DeVos, our nation’s Education Secretary. Way to keep it classy. But kudos to the school’s president Edison Jackson for intervening – telling the miscreants to act like adults or expect their diplomas in the mail sometime before the end of the year.

3. From the venerable 5:05 Newsletter: The U.S. Senate is being ripped by Democrats for appointing thirteen “old white men” to the committee to rewrite the healthcare bill. Imagine how irate they would be if they ever looked closely at the group picture of the signers of the Constitution.

4. If we were going to spend several hundred dollars to see Paul McCartney this summer (which we’re not), it would have to be in a venue with much better acoustics than Amalie Arena.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Grey Moss Inn on the corner of Ft. Harrison and Pierce Blvd. downtown. Bonus points if you remember the business right behind the Grey Moss.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The day we go to press the Yankees will retire Derek Jeter’s number 2 – the last of the Bronx Bomber’s single digits to be retired. Not surprisingly, the first ever number to retired was also that of a Yankee – Lou Gehrig’s number 4.

7. Item: The Nashville hockey team has reached the NHL conference finals for the first time in its history. Now be honest, did you know Nashville even had a hockey team?

8. After more than a decade of non-participation in NFL playoffs, maybe the answer to the Buffalo Bills’ woes isn’t their recently fired GM or head coach but the team ownership.

9. From the nearly world famous Gassman law firm sign on Court Street: “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be”.

10. Just an idle thought: Does being identified as the official surfboard of the Tampa Bay Rays or the official snowmobile of the Minnesota Twins gain you credibility with anybody?

Sitcoms, viewers get mostly good news

Networks have given the green light to some solid sitcoms for the 2017-18 season. Among the renewed shows are CBS’s quirky Life in Pieces, first year series Kevin Can Wait and Man with the Plan, along with venerable shows Big Bang Theory and The Middle. Apparently, Ted Danson is enough to carry The Good Place, a rather weak NBC entry. On the other hand, the classic frustrated male in a female world series, Last Man Standing, won’t see a seventh season – a shame. Finally and mercifully, The Real O’Neal’s has been cancelled after two seasons.

SNEAK PEAK AT WEEK: YANKS WILL SOON RUN OUT OF TWO DIGIT NUMBERS  

During a nearly half-years’ worth of dining suggestions (Back story in RANTS – Jan. 1) to lead off the blog, we’ve pretty much avoided chains. But the breakfasts, the lunches and the dinners at Cracker Barrel are wonderful. In the last couple decades, they have replaced Howard Johnson’s as the go-to place on the interstates.

A city misstep that lead to more Scientology influence

In the middle 1990s Clearwater’s city commission (they weren’t called a council back then) made a great real estate investment – buying the Sun Bank building at the corner of Cleveland and Garden in downtown. The city’s plan was simple – use the tower to replace an aging city hall and consolidate all but first responder activities in the building while reserving the rest for future expansion and continuing to collect rents to finance the project. The building was nearly 100 per cent occupied at the time. The city would eventually move in as leases expired. A year later, due to term limits, faces changed on the council and the body, inexplicably, voted 3-2 to sell the building – at what proved to be a large loss. Now, years later, the Scientologists control the building – one of the two best business towers in downtown. Had the original decision prevailed, you would have a city hall in center city and the attendant businesses it would have attracted around it – instead of a bunch of scientology controlled store fronts that no one but the Ft. Harrison navy patronizes. Huge opportunity missed. We conclude this three-part series next month with the second opportunity missed to avoid being known as Hubbardville.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to our lead item: For what it’s worth, two of the three votes that pushed to sell the valuable downtown tower were swept out of office the next time they faced some very angry voters. The third vote read the tea leaves correctly and chose not to seek reelection.

2. Quote of the week: Donald Trump on the annual correspondent’s dinner: “a large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now."

3. Following up on the correspondent’s dinner, it seems somehow fitting that some guy named Hansan Minhaj keynoted the event.

4. Wacko of the month: U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D, CA. You listen to this woman and you wonder what is she is drinking – or smoking or both.

5. Two more gubernatorial candidates made it official last week. Adam Putnam, who at the moment, might be considered the GOP frontrunner and former Democratic Rep. Gwen Graham. The projection here is neither wins the prize. Putnam will likely be swept away by another Rick Scott-type Republican. Graham’s only real qualification is her last name.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Looks like a good haul for the Bucs in the 2017 draft. But then every team’s fans think that this time of year.

7. What is it with former Dallas quarterbacks? Being under center for the Cowboys seems to be an instant qualification for entry into the broadcast booth. Granted, “Dandy Don” Meredith was sensational. Troy Aikman, depending on your outlook, is somewhere from ok to awful. And now Tony Romo with absolutely no experience joins the CBS lead team?

8. Just an idle thought: Is the Tesla this generation’s DeLorean?

9. Hard to argue with several pundits’ observations that last week’s Red Sox-Cubs series could be a World Series preview.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined or stayed at the elegant and timeless Clearwater Beach Hotel on Mandalay Avenue.

The facts behind ESPN’s Black Wednesday

Over 100 people at ESPN lost their jobs the last Wednesday of April. There have been numerous reasons floated as to why it became necessary to jettison so many folks. You’re really old if you remember the beginnings of ESPN. Its first launch was as a radio network which failed. Then came cable TV with the network’s flagship show – Sports Center. With local stations giving maybe three to five minutes to sports, a thirty minute highlight show made lots of sense. Today with all the sources available to a sports fan, that model just doesn’t work anymore. That is the main reason for ESPN’s struggles. Yes, there are contributing factors like increasing rights fees, a perceived liberal agenda and a bunch of shows that just aren’t that good. But ESPN is much like the VHS, the Plymouth and Blockbuster. It has just outlived its usefulness. April’s Black Wednesday won’t be the last for the network.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A LOT OF GOOD RENEWAL NEWS FOR MAJOR SITCOMS

This week’s dining tip (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants). Two places have spoiled us for pizza over the years – Capogna’s which we featured a couple months ago and the other – Post Corner on south Clearwater Beach. Try their hamburger and onion pizza; it’s the best – very good (and large) salads too.

At last, statewide regulation for Lyft, Uber

Good for the Florida legislature. They have ended some 67 different sets of rules under which ride sharing services Lyft and Uber have operated. Since its existence some three years ago this blog has been advocating for a level playing field for Lyft and Uber. We confess that we have a different definition of level playing field than Tampa’s Louis Minardi who fronts the Florida Taxicab Association. We can only imagine Minardi’s definition goes back to the good old days in Tampa when palms were greased for choice cab stands and airport service. Hats off to St. Pete’s State Senator Jeff Brandes whose tenacity finally got this through the house and senate.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We lead off this week’s political commentary by falling on our sword – apologies to Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson for inadvertently transposing his first and last names last week. Easy to do when a guy has two names that can be either first or last names, but not an excuse for our lack of attention to detail.

2. Keep your eye on Tallahassee this week where legislators are back sliding on requirements that folks who “need” medical marijuana have known their physician for more than five minutes. Also, a troubling bill allowing grocery store liquor sales has gained momentum.

3. Acting a lot like a spoiled kid that didn’t get his way, Scientologists tried to torpedo a distribution of county bed taxes to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium after the CMA refused to sell them a piece of property the city wanted. And the Ft, Harrison navy wonders why the majority of Clearwater residents don’t trust them.

4. Can’t say enough nice things about Kenny G’s impromptu concert on a Delta flight out of Tampa which raised a couple thousand bucks for Relay for Life.

5. The Tonight Show’s Ed McMahon famously referred to New Year’s Eve drinking as “amateur night”. The same thought came to mind last week with Record Store Day. With all the hullabaloo, that’s probably the one day a year hard core aficionados stay away from vinyl emporiums.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Five guys we hated to see let go by ESPN: super baseball analyst Jim Bowden; former Buc Trent Dilfer; perhaps the best NASCAR guy alive, Dr. Jerry Punch; Jayson Stark, a jewel of a baseball writer; and NFL expert Ed Werder. On the other hand, they cut Len Elmore – what took them so long? More on ESPN’s bloodletting in next week’s blog.

7. Factoid: Only three network TV shows ended their run while still on top of the ratings. They were I love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show and Seinfeld.

8. Add Las Vegas to the cities on major league baseball’s radar for relocation/expansion. The city’s reputation for gambling is not as onerous as it once was now that we gamble on everything from the Super Bowl to how long it will take to get from the courthouse to the roundabout during spring break.

9. Never since Poor Richard’s Almanac has there been more sensible thinking than in the 5:05 Newsletter. Witness this recent pearl of wisdom: According to a new study, cats may have more potential than dogs to sniff out bombs. The problem is cats just won’t bother to tell you.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you were taught English or American History by the legendary “Uncle Russ” Cantwell at CHS.

MLB observations at the one month mark

First: some good news, bad news. Bad news: the Toronto Blue Jays are stumbling just as badly as predicted by our predictor par excellence, Achmed Walled. The front office has to be kicking themselves for bringing back Jose (.129 at this writing) Bautista who’s having the worst year since Cuba’s Fulgencio Bautista in ’59. Our other pick to not click, the Washington Nationals, have been a pleasant surprise – so far. Keep an eye on their suspect bullpen, Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth – guys they need to perform. And the injuries won’t last forever, so don’t sleep on the Mets. As for the Rays – just about what everybody thought – struggling to stay at .500.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: HOW CLEARWATER COULD HAVE AVOIDED SCI-TI STIGMA, PT. 2

It’s been awhile in this dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants) segment since we just went out for a treat. This week, let’s visit one of the long established, family-owned “treat” spots in Clearwater – the Dairy Kurl on Gulf to Bay just east of Highland Avenue. Great soft serve and shakes.

What’s good for motorists, also good for other road users

First, let us say the writer of this diatribe is a motorist, bicyclist and pedestrian. A few weeks back, predictably, there was a knee jerk reaction in the media over some bicycle advocate being hit by a car on the east coast. This prompted many jurisdictions including Clearwater to say they are going to crack down on violations by all road users. We’ll see. You would expect a lot of citations for folks who jaywalk through Clearwater’s roundabout; bicyclists who blow through stoplights and yield signs with impunity and motorcyclists who do more dumb things than you can imagine. Our guess is there will be a few weeks of crackdowns and then bikers and walkers will go back to doing the same dumb things and worse their brethren in automobile’s do.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. From a week that was – Hernandez and O’Reilly, just two more names to keep in mind as people who grew drunk with fame.

2. The city has made it official; they will buy a critical piece of downtown land from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The aquarium turned down a much larger offer from Scientology. Maybe we should all stroke a check to the CMA for their fortitude and the great work they do on Island Estates.

3. Cool write ups on Clearwater’s marina and some of its tenants in the latest Clearwater Beach Neighborhood Newsletter edited by Bob Griffin. Gosh, we never realized the Double Eagle’s Sandy Haggert once had dark hair!

4. From the 5:05 Newsletter, the hits just keep on coming: Democratic National Party Chairman Tom Perez took over the party with a mission to overhaul the party’s direction and energy and give it new life. He immediately ordered all DNC staffers to resign, causing four network newscasts to go dark.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember sitting in spring break traffic while waiting for the draw bridge to open and close.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. With the Lightning season over, the Rays, to no one’s surprise, sputtering along at .500 and little excitement over the Bucs, it’s a safe bet to predict a playoff-free season for Tampa Bay in 2017.

7. A day a year for major league baseball to honor Jackie Robinson is all well and good, but MLB has to either get rid of the confusing concept of every player wearing 42 or spend a few bucks and put name tags on the back of the uniforms.

8. While on the subject of Robinson, maybe it’s time to revisit the idea of universally retiring the number of the most outstanding player from Latin America, both on and off the field – Roberto Clemente. The idea was floated by MLB several years ago but not acted upon. Most disturbing at that time was the Robinson family’s opposition to honoring Clemente.

9. This gem of knowledge from Lou Simon’s Sixties Satellite Survey on XM Radio: with all the big female singing acts of the 60s, Petula Clark, Lesley Gore, Brenda Lee to mention a few, the biggest selling female single record of the 1960s was Lulu’s To Sir with Love. But overall, the most successful female singer of the 60s was Little Miss Dynamite – Brenda Lee – all four foot, nine inches of her.

10. Most interesting thing about the Buc’s 2017 schedule is the tail end. On the last three weeks of the season, they play all three division rivals – two at home. That period will make or break the Buc’s season as well as the other three teams.

Fox News southbound

Left wing news types, both television and print, are turning handsprings over Bill O’Reilly’s fall from grace. And it is with good reason. On cable, O’Reilly was eating every other competitor’s lunch with nearly twice the audience of his closest rival. CNN and MSNBC tried everybody and everything under the sun to dislodge the Fox News giant over the years with no success. In the end, O’Reilly himself did what the other cable companies could not do. It is safe to say that Fox’s bench is about as weak as that of the Democratic Party and they will come back to the field. They had already lost Megyn Kelly. Carlson Tucker taking the O’Reilly time slot is a lightweight. Hannity is about the only bullet left in the holster and he’s no O’Reilly. Look for the other cable news networks to smell blood and redouble their efforts to unseat Fox News.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: THREE TV SHOWS THAT WENT OUT WHILE STILL ON TOP

After nearly four months of our weekly dining tips (back story in Jan. 1 RANTS), we have made no mention of seafood. So many great choices, but our number one is the Frenchy’s Saltwater Café on Poinsettia Avenue just off the roundabout on Clearwater Beach - Key West atmosphere and fresh off their boat seafood.

This week – a no brainer for Clearwater and CMA

This week, the Clearwater city council votes on buying some critical downtown property from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. A few quick points: good for the aquarium for not bending to the Church of Scientology’s efforts to further “buy” Clearwater. And shame on cult spokesman Ben Shaw for accusing the CMA board of bad fiduciary management for not taking Scientology’s bloated offer. Paying four times what a property is worth is good financial judgement, Mr. Shaw? Lastly, this should be, and better be, a slam dunk 5-0 vote by our city council. Talk last week that a couple council members were wavering is troubling. Debate on this should last a nanosecond although we know politicians like to hear their heads rattle but there is really nothing to say about the cult’s takeover efforts that hasn’t already been said.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Despite the self-serving efforts by Chuck Schumer and his merry band, balance has been restored to the Supreme Court with the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch. Now, the left wing must pray fervently for the good health of Justices Ginsberg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor.

2. The spike in Airbnb (short term rental service) usage in the bay area is not necessarily a good thing. Many of the Airbnb properties rented out violate both community and governmental regulations. This is a service that needs much greater local and state oversight.

3. Watching the back and forth on a new Rays stadium site, one is reminded of the late Jimmy Breslin’s book Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?

4. Just an idle thought, most highly praised presidents weren’t really as good as legend has them and most universally damned presidents weren’t all that bad – with the possible exceptions of Andrew Johnson and Harding.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you boogied at Studio 19 at Gulf to Bay and U.S. 19.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The MLB Network continues to be geography challenged. Last week, folks in the bay area got “regional coverage” of a game between two teams a combined 2500 miles away (1178 and 1329) instead of two teams a combined 1480 miles away (1024 and 456). Go figure.

7. In citing some outstanding guys whose baseball careers apparently ended with spring training last week (RANTS – April 16), we should have mentioned a young left handed reliever named Paco Rodriguez mysteriously cut by Atlanta despite a solid spring. Keep your eye on where this guy lands.

8. Riding the charts at #1 fifty years ago this week was the only father-daughter song to ever hit the top spot - Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s Something Stupid.

9. From that equal opportunity offender, the 5:05 Newsletter: Jesse Jackson attended a “Miracle Service” at a church in Chicago. He “laid his hands” on a man and told him, “You can walk today.” The man told Jackson that he wasn’t paralyzed. However, after the service, the man went outside and found his car was stolen.

10. No team has won more Super Bowls than his Steelers; he was a gifted prep quarterback, second team All-Pittsburgh to a guy named Unitas, but his lasting legacy will be the Rooney Rule – clearing the path for more minority representation on NFL sidelines. Dan Rooney passed away last week at age 84.

Killing the Rising Sun: a best seller worth its salt

Political lightning rod Bill O’Reilly and his co-author Martin Dugard have crafted perhaps the best researched Pacific war book in Killing the Rising Sun. It’s the latest in O’Reilly’s series that also featured Jesus, Kennedy, Lincoln, Reagan and Patton. We had read Lincoln and Patton and found them good but not great. But having read hundreds of World War II non-fictions over the years, we have never encountered a better researched effort than this one. When a World War II buff finds facts he had never read anywhere before, that’s quality research. The authors have a way of laying out the facts in a very readable style. The latest in the killing series is one of those unique books you simply hate to see end. We hope that O’Reilly, whose father served in the Pacific war, will return to that theater again and give us more. This is a must read.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: NEEDED - EQUAL ROAD ENFORCEMENT FOR ALL VEHICLES

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): last week we mentioned the late, great Philly Hoagie Shop in Clearwater. Well the descendants of the owner of that landmark have a neat operation of their own on Clearwater Beach – the Beach Shanty on Mandalay - quite possibly the best breakfast on the beach along with lunch plus a very friendly staff.

How Clearwater could have avoided its Scientology reputation

First of three parts

They called themselves the “United Churches of Florida” when they came to Clearwater in 1976 and remarkably managed to fool a lot of very smart people. We recall one very prominent citizen proposing their front man for membership in Clearwater’s most prestigious service club. Clearwater’s mayor at the time, Gabe Cazares (profiled in RANTS 9/25/16) was one of the few who smelled a rat. His thanks for his thorough investigation of several Scientology fronts was years of harassment which ended in his filing suit against the cult – a suit that was settled out of court. Meanwhile, most other political and civic leaders sat on their hands as the cult took over the Fort Harrison Hotel, then Schrafft’s Motor Lodge and then one property after another. Had there been a few other leaders with backbone like Cazares, Rev. C. Ray Jones and Jack Russell, Jr., to name three, the beach head at Project Normandy (the cult’s code word for their invasion of Clearwater) would have not been established. And at the same time Clearwater was looking the other way, federal agencies like the IRS and FBI folded like cheap accordions. Opportunity missed on two fronts. Next month: how an ill-advised 3-2 vote established another beach head for the cult.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. It was interesting to watch on the bubble Senator Bill Nelson try to navigate his way through joining his Democratic brethren in trying to block one of the most qualified SCOTUS nominees in years while not incurring the wrath of Florida voters. Good luck with that, Billy.

2. Oh yeah, Palm Sunday weekend, one of the busiest at the beach and yet another foot race to gum things up for the second year in a row. If you’d like to gently suggest that Palm Sunday may not be the best weekend for a road clogging race try www.irongirl/events/clearwater.htm or myclearwater.com.     

3. As you write out a check to the IRS this week, make sure to note in memo area – “spend it wisely”.

4. Recently (RANTS – Feb. 19), we mentioned the Sunset 19 Point shopping center being difficult to navigate. Incredibly in the weeks since, it has grown worse. The merchants out there should be talking to their lawyers.

5. He and his best friend in show business, Bob Newhart, were the two of the best “clean” comedians ever. Don Rickles, the man who was universally loved by everyone he insulted, passed away last week at age 90 – a terrific loss.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Good to see former Central Catholic star Ryan Webb sign with the Giants. San Francisco has a reputation for nurturing pitchers and this could be just what Ryan’s career needs at this juncture.

7. We understand the rationale of major league baseball scheduling a day off after opening day to allow for inclement weather – but in the Trop?

8. Just an idle thought: was the University of South Florida a lot better off when they didn’t have intercollegiate sports? Virtually all of their programs seem to be an unhealthy distraction to the main function of a university.

9. Related to our lead item: you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you attended a dance or two at the Fort Harrison Hotel’s elegant ballroom. To the cult’s credit, the ballroom has been restored to its 1950s-60s elegance.

10. Fifty years ago this week, an otherwise very intelligent young lady said yes to some moron’s request for a date. Thanks sweetie, it’s been a terrific ride!

Spring training is over and we say goodbye to some familiar faces

The end of spring training always leaves Floridians (and we guess, people in arid Arizona) a little melancholy. First, it will be another ten and a half months before we can sit within shouting distance of our favorite players and teams. Face it; there are a lot more local fans who would check “other” rather than Rays as their favorite team. Secondly, the end of spring training means the end of some fine baseball careers. We think specifically of Ryan Howard, not picked up by any team until a week ago and Jimmy Rollins cut last week by the San Francisco Giants – two guys who were part of the core of some great Phillie teams. Then there’s B.J. Upton and Desmond Jennings, once the centerfielders of the future for the Rays, along with Ryan Hanigan probably the best overall catcher the Rays had over the past three-four years. Upton, Jennings and Hanigan will catch on somewhere else but probably on minor league contracts with a ticket to obscurity.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – NO BRAINER FOR CLEARWATER AND THE CMA

We are a quarter way through a year of dining suggestions (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants). This week’s is so easy. Just stop by your local Publix deli and treat yourself to one of their dynamite subs. We particularly suggest their Italian that will take you back to the days of the revered Philly Hoagie Shop.

Biden vs. Trump; Kasich vs. Clinton; Sanders vs. Cruz. Who wins?

Now that Donald Trump has downgraded his living accommodations to the White House, it’s tempting to look back and see what might have happened if the electoral matchups were changed. What if the Democrats had dumped a badly wounded Hillary Clinton and gone with Joe Biden would Biden have won? We’d guess there is about a 50/50 chance – not much difference than the original matchup. What about John Kasich vs. Hillary who he always outpolled? Would he have won? Given all the missteps by Clinton, probably more resoundingly than Trump’s win, although Kasich’s actions after the Trump nomination were troubling. What if Bernie prevailed? Does he beat Trump – unlikely. Kasich – no way. Cruz – better than an average chance as Cruz’s right wing baggage is just as heavy as what Bernie carries with his left hand. What might have been? Right, Jeb?

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The failure to repeal Obamacare is being characterized as a defeat for President Trump. It will prove to be a bigger defeat for the American public when the program collapses of its own weight.

2. A small loss of jobs in Florida in the last month is being treated like the beginning of the Hoover administration by Rick Scott haters. In truth, Florida’s annual job growth, last month’s small hiccup included, is just under double the national average.

3. The medical pot bill working its way through the Florida House has some very common sense provisions, among them – requiring patients to be under the care of a physician for 90 days before pot can be prescribed. This tends to eliminate tons of out of state plates at certain doctors like we had in the bad old days. We all need to monitor this bill closely.

4. Sign of the times: Sign announcing the closing of the Radio Shack in what used to be Searstown on Missouri Avenue. Radio Shack was cutting edge in the ‘50s and ‘60s as was the corporation that was the namesake of the strip mall for years. Now both Radio Shack and Sears teeter on the verge of extinction.

5. As a long time Clearwater resident, we just get depressed when we travel the canyon of high rises that is now the south end of the beach. Clearwater has become Lauderdale-Miami.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The 5:05 Newsletter strikes again: Californians began a petition drive to put seceding from the United States up for a vote on the next ballot. When California entered the Union in 1850 people had no electricity, the state had no money, practically everybody spoke Spanish and there were gunfights in the streets…. So, nothing has changed.

7. One of our all-time favorite baseball quotes: “Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs.” – Tim McCarver.

8. As the NCAA tourney rolls along - contractual agreements aside, there should be some rule that Dick Vitale must be involved post season broadcasts. No individual has more enthusiasm or is a greater ambassador for the game.

9. Upset with a couple calls that went against them in the NCAA, Kentucky basketball fans posted numerous bogus evaluations against a referee’s roofing business. Way to keep it classy UK!

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you realize how lucky you are to know so many long time residents, but how unfortunate it is that they know every dumb thing you did in your misspent youth.

Achmed Walled predicts 2017 MLB season – take it to the bank

He’s three for three in picking the last three World Series winners. This year our omnipotent predictor Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes three teams to come out of the NL Central into postseason – the World Champ Cubs plus the re-tooled Cards and the Pirates. In the East, he likes the pitching staff of the Mets to carry them to victory with this prediction – they will make a move for a strong corner infielder at or prior to the trading deadline. Out west, he foresees a repeat of 1951 with the Dodgers and Giants tying at the end of the regular season forcing a playoff. In the junior circuit, Achmed gives the nod to the Red Sox, Indians and Rangers in the division races with the Yanks and Mariners as wild cards. But if the Yanks don’t compete, Achmed says there will be a fire sale in July as the Yanks look to their future stars. Finally, our soothsayer sees a lot of disappointment for Nationals andBlueJays fans in the 2017 season.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – HOW CLEARWATER COULD HAVE AVOIDED SCI-TI LABEL – PT. 1

We open with this week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): We are ashamed to admit that often we just stop at this place for a piece of pie and nothing else – but what pie! It’s the Village Inn on Gulf to Bay and also on Walsingham Road in Largo.

Al Lang’s legacy in jeopardy

With all of St. Pete heavyweight Bill Edwards’ money behind it, the referendum to improve (or in the eye of a long time baseball fan – desecrate) Al Lang Field will probably win approval of the city’s voters on May 2. The turnout will be light which means it will be mostly pro-soccer folks at the polls. If all this comes to fruition and the Rowdies advance to the so-called major league of soccer, at least have the decency to rename the facility. Having a soccer field named after the father of spring training in the bay area, not to mention a former mayor, is a slap in the face to his legacy. A better idea would be to name the new Rays ballpark, should it remain in Pinellas, after Mayor Lang. We’re sure corporate wordsmiths could weave the Mayor’s name into whatever commercial label they come up with. But it’s sad that the best venue for baseball by far on either side of the bay will be occupied by soccer. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays are looking at fifth and sixth best sites for their new stadium instead of the one that would be among the best two or three not in the bay area, but in all of baseball.

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Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Did the voters in central Florida not know of controversial State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s stance on the death penalty when they elected her? This is the problem with judicial races – most people either ignore them or cast an unthinking vote rather than checking with legal acquaintances that have a better feel for the candidates. Plus Ayala also benefited from another political truism: on down-ballot races, being the first name is worth from five to as much as ten percent. Regardless, if she won’t enforce Florida law – any law, she needs to go.

2. “Chuck Berry’s checking in from St. Lou, he’s going to sing Maybelline and Memphis, too” – from Jan and Dean’s They Came From all Over the World. The guy who grew up in St. Lou and found fame on Chicago’s Chess record label left us last week at age 90.

3. And a familiar face for so many springs here in Clearwater passed away last week. Dallas Green was part of the Phillies organization for over forty years as a player, World Series winning manager and an executive. There weren’t many nicer men in baseball than Dallas Green.

4. Speaking of Dallas Green, you may remember the Phillies threw a big celebration at Jack Russell Stadium the following spring after Dallas brought them their first World Championship. Master of Ceremonies for the event was Good Morning America’s David Hartman who, at age 81, remains active today doing documentary work for PBS and the History Channel.

5. Factoid: Eight of our first ten presidents did not have a middle name. Our 33^rd, Truman, had only a middle initial.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Tampa Bay Rants and Raves’ one and only Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED), predictor of the last three World Series Champs, is warming up in the pen and will present his predictions next Sunday on the eve of Opening Day.

7. Over seeded and under seeded are two terms that have become part of the NCAA basketball lexicon in recent years. And this year, the FSU Seminoles were the poster children for being over seeded.

8. And as spring training is winding down, a question. Why so few televised spring games for Florida’s MLB teams? Their northern neighbors have found the televised spring games to be a boost for regular season sales – something MLB’s two lowest drawing teams badly need.

9. The 5:05 Newsletter has been on a roll recently with gems like this: Apple passed Samsung as the top seller of phones. But to be fair, that is because, thanks to the Notepad Seven, Samsung has rebranded itself and now considers itself part of the munitions industry.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ate at the Dutch Pantry – where Gulf to Bay, Highland and Court Street intersect.

Trying to understand the Tampa Bay Bucs

Late last month, the Tampa Bay Bucs announced their second ticket price increase in the past two years and a hefty one at that. They are no doubt giddy over the fact they are a .500 team over that stretch. Their fans are not that giddy. Attendance fell last year and is down nearly ten percent since 2008 – the last year they were coached by Jon Gruden. The Bucs future looks promising but the problem is it doesn’t look as rosy as their division rivals – the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers both Super Bowl participants over the last two seasons. And the New Orleans Saints aren’t exactly chopped liver owning a 31-19 record against our boys over the course of the rivalry including a late season win last year that all but eliminated the Bucs playoff hopes. It’s a calculated risk by Bucs management after watching attendance slip a thousand people a game after last year’s price increase. This year’s numbers bear close watching.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT ELSE? – IT’S OPENING DAY!

Throughout 2017, we open each week with a dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants): With season upon us, sometimes you have to wait for a table, but it’s worth the wait at Cheddars at Roosevelt and U.S. 19. Terrific salads and plenty of home style meals along with our favorite - their grilled salmon.

Clearwater continues to play third fiddle:

The recent announcement that defense contractor CWU, Inc. was moving its offices and thirty employees from Clearwater to Tampa came as no surprise to folks who follow Clearwater’s economic development efforts – or the lack thereof. Adding insult to injury was CWU’s announcement they would be adding another twenty positions to their newly repositioned offices. There was a time when Clearwater had an aggressive economic development team who were proactive in visiting with key industries with the message they were from the government and DID want to help – or stay out of the way if that was in the best interest of that particular company. Many a job was saved from relocation by these visits not only by bureaucrats but policy makers who could carry a company’s concerns back to their fellow policy makers and get some action. Those lessons seem lost on Clearwater’s current leadership both appointed and elected. Cutting ribbons is nice, but they don’t keep well-paying jobs in Clearwater. It’s time to shake things up more than a little as the city council of the late nineties did in establishing a strong economic development team.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It seems to be an ironclad rule, the smaller the community, the greater amount of political intrigue. For proof, look only as far as Madeira Beach and their total revamping of their governing body – not that it was a bad thing.

2. Idle thought: Queen Elizabeth is now exchanging diplomatic messages with her 12^th American President.

3. A salute to Clearwater city council member Doreen Caudell for refusing to meet with head scientologist David Miscavige unless it was in a public forum, and a Bronx cheer to city manager Bill Horne for keeping his five bosses out of the loop so long regarding the cult’s downtown plans.

4. In a related note, we find The Toronto Star is keeping its eye on the Sci-Ti situation – not sure why. But in a recent article, the paper refers to Clearwater as a “down-on-its-heels resort town”. Has the author of that tripe ever been to Clearwater, eh.

5. With so little local news coverage anywhere, why doesn’t Bay News 9 concentrate in that area instead of trying to channel MSNBC?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It’s our all-time favorite Tampa Bay Ray’s name – 6 foot 4, 280 (conservatively) pound pitcher Jumbo Diaz – recently acquired from the Reds.

7. Baseball trade rumors are fascinating but some like the one this week of Evan Longoria going to the Atlanta Braves are just nonsensical for many reasons. First, Longoria is the cornerstone of the Rays. Second, the Rays asking price would start with uber-prospect Dansby Swanson which would be a non-starter for the Braves.

8. Yet another snippet from the 5:05 Newsletter which no doubt caused a stir in Japan: President Trump’s rant about Nordstrom dropping Ivanka’s fashion line reminded me of how Harry Truman once threatened to slug a music critic who panned his daughter’s singing. We all knew Trump was going to have a Harry Truman moment and, so far, we are just lucky it was only this one.

9. With all our restaurant suggestions this year, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) looks back at four restaurants they wish still existed. They are the elegant Siple’s Garden Seat on Clearwater’s bluff, the not so elegant but really good Robby’s Pancake House, and two other Gulf to Bay landmarks, Chief Charley’s and Young’s BBQ.

10. You’ve lived in Pinellas County for a long time if you remember the Joyland amusement park on U.S. 19.

One of five living survivors of the USS Arizona tells his story in All the Gallant Men

We were surprised to learn that the story of the ill-fated USS Arizona had never been told by any of its crew. Finally, last fall, Donald Stratton released a book that related the story as only a survivor of that date in infamy could. In All the Gallant Men, Stratton makes no apologies for his resentment towards the Japanese military (not its citizens) 75 years later. Who could blame him? Stratton was seriously wounded in the sneak attack and was saved only because a sailor on a nearby vessel ignored an officer’s order and threw a line to the blazing Arizona and saved six men from the flames. After an arduous recovery from his burns, Stratton was medically discharged but re-enlisted when he fully regained his health – serving again in the Pacific aboard the destroyer USS Stack until war’s end. You hate to throw around the word “great” too often – but this heartfelt telling of Pearl Harbor and beyond is a great book.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: TAMPA BAY SPORTS – AL LANG FIELD AND BUCS TICKET PRICES

We’ve been at this dining suggestion thing for a couple months now and no mention of pizza thus far. One of our favorites is Capogna’s on Gulf-to-Bay at Duncan. Not just great pizza, but terrific salads and one of their best kept secrets – their burgers (featured every Tuesday night). And Al, Stefani and their staff treat you like family.

Shall we call it E-meter Mall?

So the noble Church of Scientology wants to take over the retail development of downtown Clearwater. On one hand, you have to salute them, where you see a void; an opportunistic entity will try to fill it. And if nothing else, the downtown Clearwater cult is opportunistic. But do they really think Mr. and Mrs. Average Clearwater Resident would patronize some cult-created shopping experience? Hell, nobody goes downtown now, they certainly will not go down to patronize some boutique or restaurant offering L. Ron Hubbard’s writings at the checkout counter. It was pointed out that neither voters nor appointed/elected officials can do anything to derail E-meter Mall or whatever they want to call it, but they can and will vote loudly with their pocketbooks. The sad part is that will only make downtown Clearwater even more isolated to the average citizen. In the weeks ahead, we will review three junctures where all this could have been avoided but wasn’t.  

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We’re certain that Circuit Judge Susan Barthe ruled against ex-cop Curtis Reeves for all the right reasons. But had she bought Reeves’ explanation he felt his life threatened by a cellphone and some popcorn, her judicial career would have been over by the next election – or sooner.

2. From Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy’s fascinating book – The Presidents Club – “In 1960 after one of the closest elections in history, both Hoover and Eisenhower quietly told Nixon not to contest the results, even as rumors spread of Chicago precincts where machines registered 121 votes from 43 voters … to protect the presidency from a crisis of legitimacy”. Regretfully, the same message was not delivered to Hillary Clinton and her minions.

3. Brace yourself beach dwellers and beach goers, spring break is this week with virtually every county school system in the bay area shut down.

 4. Did you know that Pinellas County’s newly minted tax collector is named Charles W. Thomas? Do you care? He must, as he has it emblazoned on his return envelopes in 36 point type – about the same size as the average newspaper headline.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Universal Cigar plant on East Avenue in downtown.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Quote of the week: I'm sure some who have been the focus of my stories will be happy I am leaving.' – retiring Channel 10 reporter Mike Deeson. Mr. Deeson flatters himself. He scored some hits, yes, but many of his targets were low hanging fruit that a sophomore journalism student could have nailed. But more than anything, he was just mean-spirited in his reporting.

7. We covered MLB’s rules changes last week (Rants – March 5). In a few short weeks, baseball writers will record for posterity just who will be the first batter to get an automatic BB and who the pitcher was. Just like DH Ron Blomberg and Luis Tiant back in 1973. We suspect if Tiant knew then what he knows now about the DH, he would have drilled Blomberg. For the record, he walked him – not intentionally.

8. Spring training attendance in 2016 was down about 100,000 fans from 2015 and early returns this year aren’t projecting much better. The reason is $30, $40 and even $50 tickets to see one or two regular players on the visiting side. MLB used to have a pretty firm minimum of four regulars traveling to each away game but that has been widely ignored – particularly with the ridiculous World Baseball Classic this spring. Water down the lineups if you wish, but at the same time water down the steep gate prices.

9. In this era of protesting everything from nuclear weapons to cat litter, our Rants and Raves focus group is staging a “water with lemon” protest at restaurants in response to the continuing price escalation of staples like coffee, tea or soda. Things that cost about forty cents to make are often topping out at three bucks or more – just ridiculous. But do tip your wait staff as though you had a beverage. It wasn’t their idea to jack up the prices.

10. We pay scant attention to the Oscars, but the La La Land – Moonlight snafu makes us think Steve Harvey was somehow involved.

Dick Fitzgerald: mourning the loss of another Clearwater leader

It was exactly a year ago this week (RANTS – March 13, 2016) that we profiled eight leaders who have served the city of Clearwater so well during the past quarter century. Sadly, while preparing the article, we learned of the passing of one of those eight – J.B. Johnson. Now twelve months later, we mourn the death of another of those stalwarts – Dick Fitzgerald. Of the eight we profiled, no two were more alike than J.B. and Dick. Both personified senior statesmen who were voices of reason during the turbulent times of the 1990s in city government. Both proudly served their country in the Armed Forces – Dick a career Army officer. Both were the antithesis of career politicians – gentlemen who served their terms and quietly returned to retired life – although both were the source of wise counsel to many others who followed them on the Clearwater City Council. Dick, like J.B., will be greatly missed.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: CLEARWATER CONTINUES TO PLAY THIRD FIDDLE IN JOB CREATION

As is our custom this year, we open with a dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS). Spring training is upon us and no spring at Bright House Field is complete without a delicious Delco Philly Cheesesteak. Not a baseball fan? They have a restaurant on Main Street in Dunedin - heads up – no credit cards.

Entering year four - with thanks to you

We guess it had something to do with being semi-retired and having too much time on our hands. Or some carpetbagger who decided she would move over from Hillsborough County and save little Pinellas from itself. Or getting frustrated with attempts to write a couple novels – both still unfinished. Anyway on March 9, 2014, the first edition of this drivel hit the internet. Now 156 issues and some 125,000 words later, we launch into our fourth year. Our thanks to the some 1200 plus folks who have read that first edition and an estimated 4000 who have stopped by since. Plus the four or five people who have input into what is said here weekly – none of whom would want to admit it. It is truly a joy to produce this thing and as we’ve said many times before, it pretty much writes itself. Again we thank you and ask a favor. If you somewhat enjoy what you read here, tell a friend. Thanks!

The bay area, politics and stuff:

1. Congratulations to the left wing wackadoos who have forced Senator Marco Rubio to close his Tampa office due to their distracting, not to mention pointless, demonstrations. Now the average citizen who wishes an audience with Rubio staffers has no venue in the bay area. Now there’s democracy in action – nice work!

2. Breaking news: Politifact rates claim that President Trump was responsible for Pearl Harbor attack as “Mostly False”.

3. Attorney Alan Gassman, whose witty signs on his Court Street marquee are occasionally featured here, is a workaholic who even files his Thursday Report while on vacation. We just wish he wouldn’t rub in it that the report is being filed from St. Maarten.

4. As spring training continues, Las Vegas odds rate it as even - which will come first: the World Series or the completion of the construction work on East Druid Road.

5. Bad things often happen in threes. Over the past couple weeks our community has lost three outstanding women. Barbara Bissonette, Jean Hamilton and Peg Mallory all made their mark in their own very unique ways. They will be dearly missed.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. You’ve never heard Donald Trump call the 5:05 Newsletter “fake news”. Frankly, we don’t know why. Here’s a tidbit from a recent edition: Nancy Pelosi again said that the Democratic Party does not need to change course and that she would give herself an “A” for her leadership. They just lost the House, Senate and presidency? Talk about grading on the curve.

7. Three words for last week’s “Great American Auto Race” at Daytona - gimmicky, gimmicky and gimmicky. We know tastes are changing but splitting the race into three heat races isn’t the answer – shortening the race would be better. And it didn’t help that five of the first eight out of the race were Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Matt Kenseth and the queen of crashes – Danica Patrick.

8. Better than last year, both the Phils and the Blue Jays will at least host one night game a piece this spring – against each other on back to back days – Monday and Tuesday March 27 and 28. Night games seem to work for the Yanks in Tampa who host five this spring. Don’t understand why the Pinellas teams couldn’t schedule more.

9. Quote of the week: “America has never more urgently needed the insistence that real success must be honorably achieved”. Columnist George Will’s comment on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s refusal thus far to admit PED users into the sanctum that contains names like Ruth and Gehrig and Feller.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the horrific “no name storm” that hit the gulf coast 24 years ago this month. The storm was responsible for 47 deaths in Florida.

MLB Baseball rules – what needs to change?

We will spend only one sentence on baseball’s worst rule – the DH. It needs to go but won’t. Even this baseball reactionary finds little to argue about the automatic intentional walk rule. Sure, once or twice a season maybe an intentional ball gets thrown away allowing a runner to advance so the rule represents little downside. The upside is the automatic BB will often keep a pitcher in the game and avoids a trip to the mound. The proposed rule that never will be adopted is starting extra innings with a runner on second base. There are too many reasons why this is sacrilege but the players union opposing it is reason enough. And you probably knew there would be more than one sentence about the hated DH rule. Just a fact to ponder, since the inception of the DH in 1973, the length of games has increased just less than one half hour. We rest our case.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: TED AND JOE AND BERNIE AND JOHN – WHAT IF?

We open with this week’s dining suggestion (see Jan.1 RANTS for back story). Lent begins this week and for our Catholic readers, a couple of Ash Wednesday and Lenten Fridays quick pick-up suggestions – the venerable Filet-O-Fish at McDonalds and the terrific tuna subs from Subway.

Mixed feelings over Channel 16 going dark

It was announced recently that the University of South Florida will be selling off WUSF-TV for slightly south of $20 million dollars. We are sad to see our alma mater sell their flagship media outlet, having uttered our first words on television on that facility nearly fifty years ago. It was black and white then. On the other hand, it has never made much sense to have two PBS outlets in the market and Channel 16 has always played second fiddle to its older cousin WEDU-TV Channel 3 and has been a losing financial proposition. Sad as it is to see Channel 16 go away, it makes just too much sense for the university.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Quote of the week: “Regulators exist to give certainty to those they regulate” – new EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Comforting words for businesses who have been severely harmed by the EPA’s “make up the rules as we go along” philosophy of the past.

2. Mr. President, you’re doing a good job; now if you could just throttle down the rhetoric a bit.

3. We often lament the death of objective journalism but there are still a few guys and gals around who can write a piece without an ax to grind. One of these pros is the Times’ Tom Tobin who authors most of their Scientology coverage. Even the cult members would have to admit that Tobin presents a balanced report. There should be more like this veteran reporter.

4. Hope you didn’t need anything from Clearwater’s main library last week. For three days, its parking was taken up by some music concert – yet another reason it should have never been built on the bluff. Then on Monday came one of about three dozen “holidays” that close our libraries every year. And, for whatever reason, Tuesday afternoon parking at the facility was also non-existent.

5. We noted recently that Publix is scaling back on the “free slices” at the deli when you order some custom cuts of deli meats or chesses. Good for them; it will speed up the process and while they’re at it, perhaps scale back on their demonstration areas. Too many shoppers treat them like a free buffet while clogging up the aisles for the folks who just want to get their groceries and get out.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The long running Fox News show was Hannity and Colmes – a give and take between Sean Hannity on the right and a much too nice Alan Colmes on the left. Colmes, a liberal even the staunchest conservative admired, passed away last week at age 66.

7. With spring training underway, this factoid – the five winningest teams in this century are the Yankees (no surprise there), the Red Sox, Cards, Braves and the Angels (bit of a surprise there). Just missing the cut – the Athletics.

8. An adjunct to the item above. Surprisingly, the team with the fewest wins in the 21^st century is the Kansas City Royals who have a World Championship and a near miss in just the last few years (the Ned Yost era).

9. This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of the early icons of both pop music and television, Dinah Shore, born March 1, 1917. See the USA in a Chevrolet.

10. Related to our lead article, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when WTOG, Channel 44 tried to swap its UHF channel for WEDU’s Channel 3. The FCC swatted that down. Now in the age of cable and streaming, it would make no difference.

MLB expansion or relocation, the next market will be…

The next city that will get a MLB baseball team is not necessarily the best spot for a team but the one that baseball seems hell-bent to accommodate - Montreal. Of all the cities being tossed around, Montreal is probably the second worst - next only to Mexico City – insert any Trump Wall joke here. But major league baseball seems to forgive and forget. Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle and Washington (twice) are just four cities where baseball first failed that were given a second chance. There is tremendous pressure (particularly in the media) to put a second team in Canada. If we were betting people, the odds would favor one of the Florida teams landing there. If so, to succeed the team needs to go into the American League setting up a natural rivalry with the Blue Jays. As we've said before, the best city without a team is San Antonio however unless there is a two team expansion, our money would be on Montreal - for all the wrong reasons.

WE CONCLUDE THIS WEEK WITH TWO OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: “PLAY BALL”

This week’s dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS) we are coming up on the time of year when seating gets a little tighter at our favorite restaurants. But the Farmer Boy Restaurant on Drew just east of Hercules always seems to have an open table or two. Very good breakfasts and lunches and if you’ve never sampled their incredible Greek salad dressing, buy a bottle and take it home.

Latvala for governor? Not so fast

At the outset, we acknowledge Jack Latvala has done a lot of good things for Pinellas County. Some critics would say too much as he is no stranger to political pork. Jack is a big man on campus in Tallahassee helming one of the Senate’s most powerful committees. But a large presence in Tallahassee doesn’t necessarily translate to statewide acceptance – even recognition by the average voter. Here at home, he has been on the wrong side of a few issues, notably, the ill-conceived Greenlight Pinellas initiative. And, as many will tell you, he is right up here with Trump as a bully. It’s sad to watch a veteran politician cast about for a new job when term limited out (a good reason to repeal term limits, but a subject for another column). We just don’t see a good match for Jack Latvala and the governor’s race. We hope he will take a step back and see that as well.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. So Charlie Crist’s millionaire wife was cut three or four checks totaling around $7,000 for her work in his congressional campaign? You’ve got to be kidding. Already some of his liberal supporters are starting to sour on the one month U.S. rep.

2. Why no comment on the latest downtown Clearwater study – price $400,000? Because we’ve seen this movie before and like Gone with the Wind, it always ends the same – and then is added to a shelf full of similar reports.

3. The Sunset Point 19 Shopping Center is a hot mess right now – virtually impossible to get into. Several empty storefronts. But the good news is Bed, Bath and Beyond is not going away. It will actually expand in the space formerly occupied by Publix. And it will be joined by their sister store, World Market along with another new store to Clearwater – Five Below.

4. Some self-righteous Pinellas County mom was all over the news a couple weeks ago blasting Amazon because her six-year-old saw some graphic images while searching on line for some innocuous item. This is so symptomatic of today’s society blaming someone else for your lack of parenting skills i.e. letting a six-year-old go on the internet without parental supervision.

5 It’s one of the most wonderful times of year – Girl Scout cookie time. Pass the Thin Mints, please.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Quote of the week: 'We expect to be playing games in October,’ - Ray’s manager Kevin Cash. Frankly, unless there is marked improvement, many folks expect Kevin Cash to be seeking other employment in October.

7. Interesting landing spot for Bubba the Love Sponge – 820 AM. While the station has 50,000 watts, it has a very directional signal making it hard to hear in certain parts of the bay area. After dark (and before sunrise) it drops its power to 1000 watts. Some toasters have more wattage.

8. Moonlighting, Morning and We’re in this Love Together – just three great songs of many from jazz-oriented vocalist Al Jarreau who died last week at age 76.

9. Looking at today’s tattered jeans a lot of young people wear and paid for in that condition would make P.T. Barnum wish he had been a clothier rather than a circus impresario.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you shopped at department stores bearing the names Gayfers, Iveys or JByrons.

A no-brainer for the City of Clearwater

If the city of Clearwater gets nothing else from the downtown study mentioned above, they need to pay attention to a line from the report regarding the parcel of downtown land controlled by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium: "redevelopment uses meet the community's vision and productively contribute to downtown”. It’s no secret that the Church of Scientology is also eyeing the property and anything the church would do with the property does not meet the criteria set out by the study’s authors. It’s time for the city that seems to have enough money for a $200,000 rebranding campaign or $700 to spend on clerk’s desk chairs to step up and buy this property before it slips away. The future usage can be sorted out later, but the property needs to revert to city hands. Keep your eye on this one.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: GOODBYE TO CHANNEL 16

Prior to this week’s dining recommendation, a correction to our comments about the Ozona Pig a few weeks back. Their go-to irresistible dessert is not peach cobbler but another southern delicacy – banana pudding as we were reminded during a recent visit. Now, this week’s dining suggestion: (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS) our kids’ favorite special occasion place – Outback. It’s hard to beat a good steak and, of course, a bloomin’ onion.

The art of selective reporting

First, to our knowledge, we have never met the director of the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board, Rod Fisher. And all the local newspaper has written about him and his organization might, emphasis might, be true. But here's the rub. What is attributed to the board headed by Fisher can be found in numerous other county and city organizations across the bay area - supervisors playing favorites with certain employees, office romances and much more. But it goes unreported. It's kind of selective reporting - for what reason we don't know. It could be old scores to settle or "maybe we can get some sort of award" for this particular story. There can be numerous reasons why some things like this get coverage and others don't. We're just not sure the reasons are always honorable.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Taxi companies want TIA to change the way they charge the cabbies fees. As it now stands, they are charged a modest amount for every passenger who lands at TIA. Cab companies want to base it on actual fares carried out of the airport. There’s a reason the fees are set the way they are. The alternative would make it way too easy to “cook the books”.

2. Suffice to say that this blog and U.S. Rep. Kathy (still trading on Mom’s name) Castor and U.S. Senator Bill (empty suit) Nelson seldom agree on anything. But we appreciate their reaching across the aisle with Republicans in an effort to stop the ridiculous government proposals that would crush the Tampa cigar industry and put hundreds out of work.

3. Quote of the week from ultra liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren: I will not be silent while the Republicans rubber stamp an AG who will never stand up to the@POTUS when he breaks thelaw. True, unless POTUS happened to be a Democrat. Warren was notably silent on our most recent AG’s airport meeting with Bill Clinton. Now she is being portrayed as some sort of martyr by left wing pundits like Gail Collins and others.

4. Just once on Fox News Sunday, Meet the Press or 60 Minutes, when the host says “welcome to (fill in the show)”, wouldn’t you like to see the guest be honest and say “I really don’t want to be here”.

5. Ah, fan day at the Tampa Bay Rays. You could get an autograph from a Rays player if you are a season ticket holder. But you don’t have be a season ticket holder to buy one of their new $40 spring training caps. And we wonder why the Rays are the weakest draw in baseball.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Add us to the long list of people who at 28-3 said “the heck with this, I’m going to get some shuteye”.

7. Word floating around major league baseball is that the Marlins have been sold for approximately $1.6 billion. There are two big howevers – (1) most reputable sources value the team at just slightly more than half that amount and (2) the purported purchaser is a little light in liquid assets -something that major league baseball looks at very closely.

8. Some push back on last week’s (RANTS – Feb. 5) list of five managers we would hire in that there was no mention of former Ray - Joe Madden, World Series winner. First, you or I could have managed the Cubs roster last year and won. And Joe is just a little too kooky for this baseball traditionalist. And perhaps we should have given some recognition to the Yank’s Joe Girardi who does a very good job under a huge microscope.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group, comprised of four old, cranky people, made a recommendation over a year ago that a trap door spring open when a counting-challenged grocery patron tried to have the 11^th item rung up in the ten-item aisle. They now have another astute idea - a trap door that swallows up the entire car of someone who brings a transaction requiring more than three minutes to the drive-in teller.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever dined at the Careless Navigator on Treasure Island – a first class restaurant.

This Bud is not for us

We guess Budweiser thinks they are off the hook for their commercial that continued to fan the fires of the immigration issue during the Super Bowl. Their explanation is the commercial was conceived long before the controversy over illegal immigrants. That is like saying we were already in the North Atlantic when we spotted the iceberg, so we did nothing. The company that used to warm our hearts with Clydesdales and spotted dogs should have put the brakes on the controversial commercial and perhaps substituted the ads America looked forward to each year. We are not beer drinkers but if we were, we would never touch a can of their sugar-laced alcohol again. This is what happens when an American company is gobbled up by foreign interests. And a coda to this story – thanks to Synovus, an American banking company based in Columbus, Ga., for including a Clydesdale in their commercial.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – GOVERNOR JACK - WILL FLORIDIANS SALUTE THAT FLAG?

We open this week with yet another dining suggestion (see back story in Jan. 1 RANTS). Journey to West Hillsborough and Lois in Tampa (the closest location) and treat yourself to a great Cobb Salad at Zaxby’s. Their cookie milkshake will help offset the good effect of eating a salad. Recent good news, there will finally be a Zaxby’s in Pinellas – on Ulmerton Road, we’re told.

Solid idea from the PSTA

We are quick to admit we are not the biggest booster of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA). Their ill-fated Greenlight campaign and its related misinformation schemes were beyond the pale. But now, PSTA is the father of an incredibly good (we might even say great) idea. Under the plan, already run on an experimental basis with good success, transit riders will be able to get a lift from the bus stop closest to their home for right around a dollar. The “final mile” will be provided by Lyft, Uber, a taxi company or, for the disabled, one of the county’s wheelchair transport companies. The plan eliminates a long walk for the elderly and disabled from their home to the bus stop – often a disincentive for potential riders. It seems to have promise. We’ll keep an eye on it.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. A recent snippet from that little wordsmith of cuteness, Daniel Ruth: “the Cold War between the Oval Office fabulists and the purveyors of facts will never thaw”. We assume by purveyor of facts he’s referring to his own paper along with The Washington Post and The New York Times. And we assume he wrote that with a straight face.

2. Quote of the Week: “A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge” – America’s next Supreme Court Justice, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

3. By the way, nice pick Mr. President, even the far left is searching for bullets to fire and can find none.

4. Two really good people passed away in the last ten days. First, we note the passing of longtime acquaintance Fred Brown at age 89. An area businessman for decades, Rotarian and traveler, Fred saw one of his fondest wishes come true last fall when his beloved Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series for the only time in his life. Second, Pinellas County lost a dedicated jurist and civic leader with the passing of Skip Schafer. Skip succumbed to cancer at age 69.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you purchased books at the original Sandy Book Store on Court Street at Osceola.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A few weeks back (RANTS – Jan. 15), we reported that most observers felt the Rays left money on the table in the Drew Smyly trade. Now, most of those same experts are saying the Rays got the best of the Dodgers in the Logan Forsythe trade which netted uber-prospect Jose De Leon.

7. Our first pre-season baseball predictions: a team that made the playoffs last year that won’t in ‘17 – Toronto Blue Jays who are losing a huge part of their lineup - and the team that missed the playoffs that won’t this year – the St. Louis Cards who have missed the playoffs two years in a row just once in this century – and have added a guy who wins wherever he plays – Dexter Fowler. Our official predictions will come at the end of spring training from the nearly world famous Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED).

8. The football situation in San Francisco is getting more and more bizarre. John Lynch is a great guy but a GM - probably not. And Kyle Shanahan seems to be taking the coaching post pretty much because he missed out on the job he really wanted – Denver. Wish he would have waited another year for a better opportunity than the crazy farm on the left coast.

9. ESPN’s dropping of The Sports Reporters is pretty much a mercy killing. It had grown old and tired – much like Pardon the Interruption which should be next on the chopping block.

10. Memo to Ashton Kutcher: Contact us when you find meaningful work.

Baseball – five guys we’d want to talk to if we owned a MLB franchise

So we cashed a really, really big lottery ticket and rather than invest it wisely, we decide to buy a major league baseball team. Here are five guys we would try to persuade to come manage our team. First call would be to Bruce Bochy, a future Hall of Famer who has done a lot with a little managing the Giants. Once Bruce turned us down, next call to Buck Showalter who wins everywhere he goes – again like Bochy, usually with less than overwhelming talent. Third call goes to Terry Francona, just a solid baseball man, who could just as easily be the first or second call. Then, hello KC is Ned Yost home? His run with the ordinary talent on the Royals has been impressive. Surely, one of those four would say yes; if not the next long distance call would also be to Missouri and the steady Mike Matheny of the Cards. Note that three of the five were major league catchers. Francona and Showalter were both first basemen/outfielders, but we will overlook that.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE ART OF SELECTIVE REPORTING

As is the custom this year (see back story in Jan. 1 Rants), we open with a dining suggestion – no, these are not paid plugs – not that we would be above that. This week, rather than a meal – a late night treat. It’s hard to beat the many flavors of Blizzards at DQ on Gulf to Bay Blvd, the north end of Clearwater Beach or other locales.

Another large slice of Americana gone

For a family on Florida’s Suncoast, it went like this: Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Day and a few days later, on to the Bayfront Center for the Ringling Brothers circus. The Bayfront Center has been gone for over ten years, but the circus lived on until the startling news recently that it was closing down in just a few months. Changing attitudes, a lengthy suit by animal rights advocates (in which the circus prevailed) and escalating costs have robbed our next generation of something so integral to growing up in America.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related to our lead story, one of the animal activists seemed rather pleased to take credit for her organization putting about 500 people out of work. May your household be visited by the same plague, madam.

2. Liberal editorialists bemoaned the fact that Donald Trump’s inaugural speech didn’t sound like that of his predecessors. Hello! The electorate spoke loudly that they didn’t want a clone of Trump’s predecessors.

3. A lot of folks seemed impressed by the number of people who showed up for Washington’s women’s march. Much more impressive is the number of women (and men) who could not choose whether to show up because their lives were ended prematurely by abortionists.

4. In a related note, it’s estimated that at least 20 percent of we the electorate based our presidential vote on the current (and coming) vacancies at the Supreme Court. This week comes the moment of truth as President Trump announces his nominee. The individual needs to be conservative and able to be confirmed by the Senate – a tall order.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you woke up in the morning to guys like Paul Hayes (WSUN), Scott Farrell (WFLA), Rick Morgan (WDAE), Harry Lytle (WTAN) or Jim Stanley (WLCY).

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. She was the consummate girl next door – America’s sweetheart. With a shadow of a tear, we say goodbye to Mary Tyler Moore, age 80.

7. In addition to our dismay at Lee Smith again being rejected by Hall of Fame (RANTS – last week) voters, we were stunned that Yankee catcher Jorge Posada did not generate the required five per cent to stay on the ballot. The six time All-Star was one of the two or three best catchers of his era and while not a sure thing in our eyes, drawing less than five percent is an out and out insult to a fine career.

8. We were slow getting around to this book (it was a best seller in 2015), but if you are a 20^th century history enthusiast, get a copy of Erik Larsen’s Dead Wake. It’s an outstanding account of the sinking of the Lusitania which proceeded the U.S. entry into World War I and one of a dozen or so most outstanding history books we’ve encountered.

9. As our dear, sweet daughter would remind you, a significant day is just two weeks away – February 14. In her mind, it has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day. It’s the day pitchers and catchers report – proving she was raised well.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four, old, cranky people) have selected their most annoying words or phrases in the English language. They are “you know”, “whatever”, “it is what it is” and “quick question” (they’re never quick and they are never singular).

USF’s Antiqua gone; is Harlan next?

A little less than three years ago (RANTS – May 4, 2014), we welcomed Mark Harlan as USF’s new athletic director. Most of us looked the other way when he stumbled badly on his first major hire – basketball coach Steve Masiello who, unfortunately, did not have a college degree despite a resume that indicated otherwise. The subsequent hire, Orlando Antiqua, was excused from his duties earlier this month. Now it would seem USF has made a good hire in Charlie Strong to helm the football program. Strong had better pan out and the basketball hire also needs to be good or the next vacancy in the athletic department may be the AD position.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE PSTA’S SOLID IDEA

Continuing our dining suggestions (back story in Jan. 1 Rants) we open this week with a BBQ suggestion at one of the best such joints south of eastern Carolina. The Ozona Pig off Alternate 19 is a little hard to find but well worth the search. Good pork and a way too tempting peach cobbler. Closed on Sundays.

The devil’s in the details regarding medical pot

“It is incumbent on the qualified ordering physician to follow the law when diagnosing patients and determining if medical marijuana is an appropriate treatment”. That pronouncement came from the Florida Department of Health. Pretty much the same language exists for other narcotics, and we all know how well that has worked out over the years in the Sunshine State with folks flowing across state borders to see their friendly physician, some in downtown Clearwater, for their drug of choice. Florida’s oversight better be pretty specific and pretty strict with offending physicians otherwise, it will be Alice’s Restaurant.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Here’s a thought regarding the anticipated pot-related epidemic in Florida. In exchange for the privilege of using medical marijuana, you forfeit your driving privileges thereby protecting the rest of us on the road. Hey, if you’re that “sick”, you probably should not be behind the wheel of a car anyway.

2. Post inaugural factoid: U.S. Rep John Lewis of Georgia made a big thing of skipping the inauguration of Donald Trump along with several other left wing legislators. It isn’t the first time for the congressman who has skipped others. This seems to be less principled than just being a sore loser when things don’t go your way. By the way, only two of the boycotters are from Florida – Rep. Alcee Hastings who is somewhat to the left of the Castro brothers and freshman Rep. Darren Soto, who may still be trying to find his seat rather than actually boycotting the event.

3. In a related note, it has been asked more than once over the past week: “What would have been the media reaction if an equal amount of GOP legislators had boycotted the original Obama inauguration”? As one pundit correctly opined, “Their heads would have blown off”.

4. Congratulations to former Pinellas County commissioner Steve Seibert selected as executive director of the Florida Humanities Council – the latest step in his life of service to this county and this state.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you owned a Blue Boy power mower made by P & E Machinery in Largo. They were virtually indestructible.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A tip of our baseball cap to Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Ivan Rodriguez on their election to Cooperstown. All three were on our very unofficial ballot a couple weeks back (RANTS – Jan. 8). We still can’t understand the voters’ reluctance on Lee Smith, one of the four or five most dominant closers in history. This ballot was Smith’s 15^th and final appearance – a shame.

7. Spring training news – Braves to move from Disney World to North Port. It could have been St. Pete – thanks, Rays.

8. Every year Tampa Bay’s most successful coach, Jon Gruden, is the subject of a coaching rumor. This year it was the Indianapolis Colts. The rumor went nowhere – good for Jon and good for us the viewers.

9. This just in from the 5:05 Newsletter: Note: To all the foreign countries that contributed to the Clinton Foundation: There will not be a rebate.

10. Just what is the point of Fox Network’s Red Eye? For a network that does a good job of counterbalancing outlets like NBC and CNN, the show is an embarrassment.

Sports voices we’ll never forget

There was a piece in the news the first of the month about 88-year-old Keith Jackson. First, we were shocked that Jackson was 88 and then self-persuaded to write this piece about the five voices in sports that will remain with us always. Jackson was the preeminent college football announcer. It wasn’t a Saturday afternoon without his voice booming into your living room. Prior to Jackson, there was Lindsey Nelson – every bit as identifiable as Keith. In football and baseball and probably six other sports, there was Curt Gowdy. In the sixties and seventies, a sport wasn’t worth watching unless Gowdy had a role in it – such a pro and so versatile. Last fall (RANTS – Oct. 9, 2016), we did a piece on the gold standard of baseball broadcasters – Vin Scully. You didn’t have to be a Dodger fan to love Vin Scully. I guess you did have to be a Braves’ fan to enjoy Skip Caray; his acerbic way and repartee with fellow announcers Don Sutton, Pete van Wieran and Joe Simpson made watching the often awful Braves a pure joy. We can still hear and cherish all five of those voices.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A SLICE OF AMERICANA GONE

We continue our 2017 dining suggestions (back story in Jan. 1 Rants) with a question – how long has it been since you have been to the granddaddy of finer restaurants in Clearwater – Bob Heilman’s Beachcomber on Mandalay on Clearwater Beach? Their famous fried chicken, hot brown and incredible grouper are just three favorites off a great menu.

After eight years of Obama, the best we can say: we survived

For approximately fifty percent of the American population, there will be a collective sigh of relief this Friday when the Obama administration comes to an inglorious end. A corrupt Justice Department, sanctuary cities, mass pardons of felons, incredible foreign policy failings and, of course, the fatally flawed Obamacare. This is the legacy America’s 44^th President leaves behind. Donald Trump is admittedly an unknown quantity but if he delivers on about 25 percent of his promises, America should recover nicely over the next four years.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Sanctuary cities mentioned above are in the crosshairs of the Trump administration with the cutoff of federal funds looming for those municipalities that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. But it is a little known fact that several Florida counties serve as sanctuaries including Pinellas and Hillsborough.

2. A cold front last weekend threw a bit of a damper on beach activities for those attending the national championship. But Clearwater and the bay area had a great run during the months of December and early January.

3. The temporary four-way stop at Ft. Harrison and Drew last week reminded us of a thought expressed by one of Clearwater’s city council people – that there is absolutely no need for a traffic light a block west at Drew and Osceola.

4. We are embarrassingly late in noting the December passing of Bronson Thayer, a major player in banking and other businesses on both sides of Tampa Bay. Thayer’s biggest role on the Pinellas side was oversight of the venerable Bank of Clearwater. He was 77.

5. Guys, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you bought a shirt or pair of slacks at Fremacs.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Congratulations to Meryl Streep on her lifetime achievement award from the Golden Globes. Madam, you are a very skilled actress but nobody outside of Hollywood gives a damn about your political views.

7. Yet another “borrow” from the always informative 5:05 Newsletter: Carrot Top First Headliner to Agree to Perform at Trump Inauguration. There was no word in the newsletter about Gallagher’s availability.

8. Consensus around major league baseball is the Rays did not get nearly enough for lefty Drew Smyly.

9. With the Chargers relocation, a lot of noise is also being made about the Oakland Raiders possibly relocating to Las Vegas. It seems like a match made in heaven, renegade team in a renegade city.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) wonders why Gen X and Millennials never carry a single dime with them and go into full panic mode when they encounter a situation where they can’t use plastic.

MLB, NFL, NASCAR, NCAA: 5 things we would to like to see in 2017

First, we’d like to see the newest, longest World Series drought end and the Indians win the Series. Second, a healthy return to auto racing by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Third, it’d be nice to see the Rays and Braves become competitive again. Fourth, we’d wish the same for a once proud football franchise – the Cleveland Browns. And just for kicks, we’d like to see a sixth or seventh seed win the NCAA Basketball Championship.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – CURT, KEITH, LINDSEY, SKIP AND VIN – FIVE MEMORABLE VOICES

Continuing our opening dining suggestions for 2017 (see the back story in last week’s RANTS), we stay in a breakfast mode this week with Clearwater’s Wildflower Café on Fort Harrison Avenue– a bit on the pricey side but with some not so mundane breakfast specialties including a couple daily quiches and occasional offering of fried green tomatoes.

Kiran Patel: Clearwater could use another six like him

Health care magnate Kiran Patel is obviously a disciple of urban planner Daniel Burnham who famously proclaimed “make no small plans”. Patel, like Burnham, does not think small. His Wyndham Hotel on Clearwater Beach (Presidential Suites at 4K per night we’re told) is about to open for business. Now moving on from that not so small project, Patel plans to convert the former Clearwater Christian College site into a center for osteopathic learning. We like so many Clearwater residents, hated to see the college close its doors but Patel’s proposal could create a world class draw to the magnificent site on Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. What a mini-season for the bay area! In addition to the traditional holiday visits to families, we’ve had the St. Pete and Outback Bowls and, this week, the national championship game - tourism on steroids.

2. You need to tip your cap to the crew at Raymond James Stadium. Three major games within ten days – quite an accomplishment.

3. Word on the street is a new buyer for the old 1100 Building at MLK and Cleveland is waiting in the wings to be the building’s savior. Pardon us if we remain skeptical.

4. There are only a few minor elections in 2017, but some big contests coming up in 2018 – governor and U.S. senator among others. The governor’s race promises to be crowded but the best thing the Republican Party can do is to focus on ridding the state of the empty suit we’ve been saddled with in the senate for the past 16 years.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if that big mahogany cabinet in your living room with the small black and white picture bore names like Motorola, Philco, RCA, Westinghouse or Zenith.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Hall of Fame announces their new entrants next week. If we had a ballot (and we, of course, don’t), it would include Jeff Bagwell, Vlad Guerrero, Mike Mussina, Tim Raines, Pudge Rodriguez and Lee Smith.

7. In a related note, the next three HOF ballots each include a slam dunk first ballot guy – Chipper Jones (2018), Mo Rivera (2019) and Derek Jeter (2020).

8. Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers were the lead actors in M*A*S*H but the show featured an extremely strong supporting cast, among them Jamie Farr (Klinger), Edward Winter (Col. Flagg) and Father Mulcahy portrayed so well by William Christopher. One of TV’s most famous priests died last week at age 84..

9. Upon further review: a few weeks back (RANTS – Dec. 11, 2016), we mentioned that former USF and now Oregon head coach Willie Taggart would not have cupcakes like Cincinnati and UConn on his schedule. It appears that Southern Utah and Wyoming will take that role next year – but both teams were .500 or better albeit in weaker conferences. Sandwiched in between the two “should wins” is Big Ten power Nebraska fresh off a nine-win season.

10. You would think Charter Communications could have come up with a better name to replace Bright House than Spectrum – which sounds like a nefarious organization in a James Bond flick. That being said, they have a couple tech guys named Dennis and Jim who should win some sort of Nobel Prize for their expertise and patience with low tech folks like most of us baby boomers.

NFL Notes:

We’re sorry to see Gary Kubiak, a solid NFL coach, leave the sidelines but given his health history over the past five years, it’s understandable although a big loss for the Broncos. As if their quarterback didn’t create enough drama this season, the 49ers are looking for their fifth coach in just over two years – firing Chip Kelly after just one season along with the GM to boot. In Chicago, the Bears apparently are sticking with John Fox to oversee their complete unraveling. The Bears are 9-23 in Fox’s two seasons in the Windy City. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots have had the same coach for 16 seasons and the Pittsburgh Steelers have had one less coach (three) than the above mentioned 49ers over the past 47 years!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: GETTING READY TO BREATH A SIGH OF RELIEF

A new feature for 2017 honoring and stealing from Tom McEwen

Tom McEwen was the finest sports columnist to ever appear in a Tampa Bay area newspaper. The Tampa Tribune scribe did so much to further the sports environment in the bay area. One of the charming things about Tom was the way he lead off his morning column with a breakfast suggestion. It went something like this: As you enjoy a pair of extra-large eggs, soft scrambled along with three crisp strips of bacon and a glass of 100 percent Florida orange juice – at which point he would launch into his column. During 2017, we are leading off the blog each week with a dining suggestion, some homemade, but most of the dine out or bring in variety as a tribute to one of our nation’s best and our own Tom McEwen. This week’s appears below; the rest will be just under the dateline each week. Enjoy.

As mentioned above, in an obvious steal from and bow to a great journalist – the Tribune’s Tom McEwen, we are beginning each of our 2017 blogs with a dining suggestion. To kick off the new year, knowing most of us overspent during the holidays, how about a low cost breakfast at McDonalds? We find their Egg McMuffin quite enjoyable if not all that healthy.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. As mentioned before, we agree with liberal columnist John Romano about once a year. Starting the year off right, we do concur with his opinion that Derby Lane would make the most sense for a new Rays’ stadium. Actually, it was the first choice of many in the late 80s until some backroom deals that would make a Chicago politician blush located it in south St. Pete.

2. Welcome home from Hawaii, Mr. President. Not sure why you needed a vacation when in just a couple weeks, you’ll have all the free time you want. Yippee!

3. A left wing legal think tank recently criticized Florida’s laws on felons voting. Their convoluted arguments made little sense but their report offered one scary fact – there are 1.6 million felons living in Florida – that’s one in twelve of our approximate 20 million population.

4. Did you see that commercial during the holidays with about a dozen out of work actors (man, does Loretta Swit look awful) urging electors to ignore we the people’s wishes and vote for Hollywood’s choice for President? Geez.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever dined at the Oyster Bar.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Our farewell to Wayne Rogers last week reminded us of our favorite M*A*S*H episode titled Adam’s Ribs. The show touched so many ex-GI’s who when stationed overseas, in addition to their loved ones, also pined for a certain taste of home – for us it was the legendary Italian hoagie from the Philly Hoagie Shop on Cleveland Street. The machinations of Trapper John (Rogers) and Hawkeye (Alan Alda) to get some precious Chicago ribs to Korea created one of the finest half hours in television history.

7. A thought from Dr. Don Ardell’s Ardell Wellness Report: Living a long life appeals to everyone; getting old? Not so much to anyone.

8. It’s the last week of the NFL regular season which means Black Monday is coming. One name that will be mentioned as a potential head coach after the dust has settled is Lion’s offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. He has turned the Lions around and what a joy it would be to have the NFL’s greatest name as a head coach.

9. Recent headline in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” – Allegiant shares ValuJet blueprint. Gosh, where have we heard that before? - here over six months ago (RANTS – May 8, 2016).

10. Those of you who think “fake news” is a new phenomenon obviously are not long time readers of the 5:05 Newsletter. Here’s one of their latest pieces of breaking news: Reports say former vice president Dan Quayle may be in line for a position in the Trump Administration. I’m thinking maybe, “Spelling Zar.”

Time to get running events off Clearwater Beach

The latest foot race on Clearwater Beach may have been the last straw. As usual, the race gummed up traffic on and off the beach during the busy holiday season. Worse, this time, December 17, a confusing pattern of traffic cones resulted in a head on collision on the race course. These races bring hardly any “bed nights” to the city and overall very little economic impact unless you count perhaps a post-race energy drink or cup of coffee. The resulting traffic mess plays hob with businesses on Clearwater Beach. We’ve spent millions of taxpayer dollars on various trails throughout the county. We need to use them and avoid the stress on the singular connector to Clearwater Beach.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – ONE ENCOURAGING CLEARWATER PROJECT – ONE NOT SO

As 2016 draws to a close, a few of our favorite things from this year

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In this election year, a thought from one of our greatest Presidents: When offered corporate positions at large salaries after leaving the Oval Office, he declined, stating, "You don't want me. You want the office of the President, and that doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it's not for sale" - Harry S. Truman – how we miss you, Harry.

2. Within a week, the FBI announces it has concluded its investigations of Hillary Clinton - and D.B. Cooper - so many punchlines, so little space.

3. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if your economics teachers were Emmett Lowery at Clearwater High and/or Scott McCuskey at St. Pete Junior College’s Drew Street campus. What a lot of people didn’t know about these two great men was that Lowery was the successful head basketball coach at the University of Tennessee before semi-retiring to Clearwater. And McCuskey was a World War II Naval ace with more kills than any other pilot at the Battle of Midway.

4. Florida Highway Patrol reports that crashes at the 22 intersections in Tampa monitored by red light cameras have risen 15 per cent since the camera’s installations. Folks, do we need any more proof that these things are nothing more than a Waldo-like revenue source?

5. A tip of our Rants and Raves cap to Gulfport – the latest bay area city to realize the folly of red light cameras. The only question is – why did a city of 12,000 people and about 12 streets need them in the first place?

6. (Prior to David Jolly returning to the House race) Wouldn’t it have been a hoot to have Marco Rubio rent a condo in downtown St. Pete thereby establishing residency and run for David Jolly’s Congressional seat? Nah, no one would buy that. Oh wait…

7. Two things that dominated the Pinellas (and Tampa Bay) landscape for years that have become endangered species – bowling alleys and golf courses.

8. We understand it doesn’t affect world peace or anything, but we’re dumbfounded that our Florida Legislature couldn’t come up with a “fair to all” piece of legislation regarding Lyft and Uber. We will continue to have a couple dozen jurisdictions enforcing a couple dozen dissimilar laws regarding the ride providers.

9. Quote of the week: “Never underestimate what a little free food and drink can buy you” – Anon.

10. Ultra-liberal Supreme Justice Ruth Ginsberg recently alluded to moving to New Zealand if Donald Trump were elected. Let’s say you set up GoFundMe account for her move – what would it take to raise the necessary funds – about a minute and a half?

11. Remember when you needed something done at work (vacation, leave etc.) you went to the personnel department? Now Pasco County’s school system has a Human Capital Partner. Who comes up with this stuff?

12. The new Crabby Bill’s at the Clearwater Marina is scheduled to open in March. That will be just short of ten months start to finish or about the same amount of time it took for the Mexican restaurant in the Marina to pick out window treatments.

13. We remember hearing several elected officials on the Metropolitan Planning Organization circa 2000 correctly predicting that making Ft. Harrison Avenue single lane would turn it into a parking lot. Their objections fell on deaf ears. It might be time to revisit that decision.

14. (From September) Just an idle thought: if Hillary Clinton is elected president, will the Clintons return the furniture they took from the White House when they left in 2001?

15. Ayn Rand quote worth pondering: “When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed”.

16. (From October): Oh yes, there’s a presidential election, too. Don’t know about you, but for the past twenty years or so, we’ve just pulled the lever for whomever Barbra Streisand thinks we should vote for (see disclaimer at top of blog).

17. (From November) - A not so outrageous prediction: whoever prevails in the presidential race this week will be our nation’s first one-term president in two decades.

18. Was anybody surprised by the recent findings that I-4 is the most dangerous interstate highway in the country?

19. From November: Unofficial election results show Donald Trump losing the District of Columbia by an astounding 93 to 4 percent. That speaks volumes of what this presidential race was all about.

20. (From September) Quote of the week (maybe the year): “I admire Hillary Clinton for her honesty” - Charlie Crist in his televised debate with Rep. David Jolly.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

1. In this, let’s say unusual, election year a thought from free thinker Robert Ingersoll circa 1892, “Each side would be glad to defeat the other if it could do it without electing its own candidate.”

2. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) when asked to come up with the worst ideas of the last half century listed social media, subprime loans and New Coke (margin of error 50 per cent or so).

3. Have a suspicion that some of these folks pounding the desk about privacy rights in the Apple debacle are the same folks we hear going blah, blah, blah on their cellphones on the sidewalks and in the aisles of the supermarket for everyone to hear.

4. Here’s something to put in the “futures” file. If all else fails and the Rays leave the bay area, we’d put our money not on Montreal or Charlotte or Mexico City but on San Antonio, Texas, a sports hotbed with 1.3 million people and lots of disposable income.

5. Idle observation: if you’ve shopped for a new bike recently you, no doubt, have noticed they cost more than your first car. And, of course, if you’ve shopped for a new car lately, you find they cost more than your first house.

6. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) feels the top three ideas of the past half-century are the cellphone , the IPod and, with many thanks to Al Gore, the internet.

7. Again, a piece of brilliance from the 20-year-old, but always fresh 5:05 Newsletter: “Cuba News: A lot of people are saying President Raul Castro disrespected President Obama by not greeting him at the airport. Seriously? Our countries have been enemies for 60 years. I can’t even get my best friend to pick me up at the airport”.

8. Should Hillary Clinton find herself in the White House, do you think there will be a spot in her administration for her de facto press secretary – NBC’s Andrea Mitchell?

9. Poor Andy Jackson – if they had written a blockbuster Broadway play about him, he wouldn’t lose his place on the twenty dollar bill. Really? A Treasury Secretary stays and a President and war hero is removed?

10. Playoff note - beyond cool: the only way to describe the Mets having Itzhak Perlman play the National Anthem prior to their play-in game with the Giants. Ain’t nobody taking a knee during that performance!

11. Our Rants and Raves focus group (made up of three old, cranky people) has two questions: (1) Have you ever asked a young person why they wear their baseball cap backwards? (2) Have you ever received an intelligent reply?

12. That tower of pop culture, the 5:05 Newsletter provides this gem: “Just when you thought 2016 could not get any worse, Yoko Ono announces a reissue project of her studio albums from 1968 to 1985”.

13. Sports factoid: Bartolo Colon made his major league debut the same day Atlanta’s Turner Field opened. The new Braves pitcher’s career has outlived a major league stadium!

14. Honest, we are not making this up. There is now an app that can lead you to a McDonald’s location that serves their McRib sandwich. Have you ever seen one of those – or worse, eaten one?

15. A thought from one of our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people): Smart phones seem to make people dumber.

16. The University of Louisville basketball program has had just four head coaches in the last 72 years!

17. In the light of all of this year’s coverage of the bay area’s newspaper shakeup, we jumped for joy when we saw the term RUTHLESS at the bottom of page one. Alas, it wasn’t what we thought it meant.

18. Guys, do you want to feel really old? Honor Blackman, the James Bond babe in Goldfinger, will turn 91 this year. Oh, the humanity!

19. (From March) With the regular season just days away, Baseball Prospectus, which bases its predictions very heavily on sabermetrics, says the Rays will win the Eastern Division. Would like to believe that but….

20. Columnist George Will on the 2016 presidential campaign: “It is easy to disregard or even disparage gentility — until confronted, as Americans now are, with its utter absence”.

And what we meant to say was…

1. Our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes the Panthers by a whole lot over the Broncos. Seems like that Phillips guy out in Denver really knows how to prepare a defense.

2. Now with the departure of a mediocre bureaucrat who headed what passed for economic development for the past many years, the city has an opportunity to bring in another major player to do the same. The economic climate is right; will the city council have the initiative to get Clearwater on the economic development fast track? Put this one down as we should know better. While other governmental units upgrade their economic development efforts, Clearwater remains in neutral.

3. Neil McMullen, who traces his roots back to Largo’s first Mayor, has entered the race for Largo city commission against incumbent Curtis Holmes. Not to take anything away from McMullen, but given Commissioner Holmes’ missteps (RANTS – Sept. 28, 2014), you could probably run Curly or Moe against him and win. But then again, never give too much credit to the electorate. St. Pete voters recently elected a candidate with a rap sheet. Second part was right – McMullen lost by less than 300 votes.

4. Finally: “Donald Trump’s poll numbers don’t match Hillary Clinton’s electoral map realities”. Clinton’s lies upon lies upon lies caught up with her. But wait, this wasn’t published here. This was front page St. Pete Times Labor Day by Adam Smith. But then who believes the St. Pete Spin Doctors any more than we believed Clinton?

Our Last Song Together (again, apologies to Glenn Yarbrough)

And sadly this year, the man whose song inspired this portion of our year- end blog is part of this segment. Yarbrough, one of the greatest voices of the folk/pop era, passed away this year at 86. We say goodbye to him and others who have touched us over the years.

On the last day of 2015, we lost both songstress Natalie Cole who had her own catalog of great songs but moved us most with her duet with father Nat on Unforgettable and renaissance man Wayne Rogers, best known as Trapper John on M*A*S*H, but also a force behind the camera plus a renown investments expert.

Maurice White, the genius behind the unique sound of Earth, Wind and Fire.

Bob Elliott of radio and TV’s celebrated humor team Bob and Ray.

Antonin Scalia, a rational conservative voice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bud Collins who made pro tennis as interesting as it can be.

Hubert Mizell, long time chronicler of sports for the St. Pete Times.

J.B. Johnson, a stalwart servant of the city of Clearwater – the moral compass of its City Commission in the late 1990s.

Nancy Reagan, who with her husband Ronald, comprised one of the most admired “first couples” in American history.

A man who made the most of a middling major league career, baseball announcer, Today Show host and raconteur Joe Garagiola.

Doris Roberts - it was hard not to see a little bit of your own mother (particularly if you are Catholic) in the Emmy winner’s portrayal of Ray Romano’s mom in Everybody Loves Raymond.

A great journalist and the last of the pioneering hosts of 60 Minutes, Morley Safer.

Abel Fernandez, amateur boxer and later actor, who played agent William Youngfellow on the Untouchables, at age 85. His passing leaves only Nick Georgiade (agent Rico Rossi) as a surviving member of the TV classic’s cast.

The man who for the better part of a decade was indeed “the greatest” – Mohammed Ali.

Auto dealer, civic leader and philanthropist, Dan Carlisle.

Dave Somerville, the lead singer of perhaps the greatest doo-wop group of the 50s – the Diamonds.

Prominent socialite and outstanding aviator Betty Perkins who lived her 98 years to the fullest.

Elie Wiesel, humanitarian and visiting professor at St. Petersburg’s Eckerd College.

Noel Neill, the original Lois Lane of the Superman franchise.

Garry Marshall, like Wayne Rogers above, a force both in front of and behind the camera – think Happy Days and Pretty Woman.

In the space of a week, we lost WQYK morning personality Dave McKay and ESPN’s incomparable John Saunders – two broadcast pros.

Monsignor Laurence Higgins – perhaps the most influential Catholic priest in the history of Tampa Bay.

One of the three most dominant golfers of the past half century – 87 year-old Arnold Palmer.

Jack Riley, whose portrayal of the super neurotic Elliott Carlin on the Bob Newhart Show was one of the masterpieces of that era. He also appeared in Seinfeld, MASH and a host of other comedies.

At way too young an age, Jose Fernandez without a doubt the best 24-year-old pitcher in baseball – arguably the best of any age pitcher.

From October: Jerry Coleman, a former Pinellas County Sheriff, nice guy and a lawman’s lawman, passed away last week at 76.

Also in October: His real name was Robert Veline. As Bobby Vee, he rode the King-Goffin Take Good Care of My Baby to the top of the charts in 1961 – just one of his half dozen top ten hits. Bobby Vee passed away last week at age 73.

Ralph Branca who gave up “the shot heard around the world” in the 1951 Giants –Dodgers playoff died on November 23 at age 90.

The Brady Bunch’s Florence Henderson, one of “America’s Moms” of the 60s and 70s, at age 82.

To some he was a hero, to most a despot; Cuban dictator Fidel Castro died at age 90.

David Stone, banker and major player at Clearwater’s Chamber of Commerce and Ruth Eckerd Hall to name just two of his many contributions - a terrific guy.

John Glenn, U.S. Senator and the last of America’s original 7 astronauts.

Zsa Zsa Gabor who preceded the Hiltons and Kardashians in being famous for being famous at age 99.

Finally, our greatest personal loss of 2016 occurred on November 12 when we said goodbye to our loving tuxedo cat Wally, age 13 – named after Yankee icon Wally Pipp – how he got his name is a long story.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: A TRIBUTE TO AND A RIP OFF FROM TOM McEWEN

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

Donald Trump begins every Sunday by reading this blog

By now you are probably familiar with the disclaimer at the top of our weekly offering. And President-Elect Trump does not read our blog – yet. He hasn’t had time with little things like assembling a cabinet, saving a thousand jobs at Carrier and, our favorite thus far, deciding that Boeing might be asking “just a little too much” for a new Air Force One fleet. As we said four months ago (RANTS – August 14) fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night. But sooner or later, the Don may get around to absorbing the superlative advice we offer up to our government leaders each week.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We mentioned Boeing above as our favorite Trump move so far. Close behind is his selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the EPA – an organization that has completely lost its way. No two Washington bureaucracies need a sharp refocusing or out and out elimination than the EPA and the IRS.

2. Other than the two above mentioned quagmires, no other agency we can think of needs to be euthanized more than Hillsborough County’s Public Transportation Commission (PTC). The agency, beholden to the taxi industry for four decades, has outlived its usefulness and now a bill in the Florida legislature would eliminate the body. All good and well but the legislature also needs to adopt statewide standards for Lyft and Uber to avoid conflicting county by county regulations regarding the transportation services.

3. As the new session of Congress gets ready to convene just after the new year, Pinellas voters will realize the consequences of their congressional vote last fall. Instead of a well-connected, majority party congressman, Pinellas now has a guy who will occupy an office and little else.

4. Remember when Bill Miller, Barry Goldwater’s running mate in the 1964 election, was featured in American Express’ “do you remember me?” ad campaign? We forecast a similar future for Tim Kaine.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you, your kids or grandkids enjoyed “Breakfast with Santa” at one of the Maas Bothers’ restaurants. Speaking of which, there is a cool short history of the beloved department store chain by Michael Lisicky which would make a great stocking stuffer.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A few folks are voicing their displeasure at USF’s rush in hiring a new head coach without vetting other possible candidates. But the chances are Charlie Strong is probably the best candidate they could have come up with whether they took a few days or weeks or months in the process.

7. Are we the only ones who cannot figure out why Lane Kiffin, the highest profile coordinator in college football, would take the job at Florida Atlantic? USF, maybe (don’t think he was considered), but a team that hasn’t had a winning season in almost a decade – and in a nothing conference to boot?

8. Our modern day Jimmy the Greek, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED), predicts the NCAA championship will shake out this way: Alabama over Washington and Ohio State taking Clemson with the Tide rolling in the title game in Tampa. There’s more on the playoff below.

9. Holiday note from the jolly elves at the 5:05 Newsletter: “And suddenly those annoying neighbors who leave their Christmas lights up all year long look like geniuses.”

10. Fifty years ago, as 1966 closed, the top three songs in America were an eclectic mix of the Monkees I’m A Believer and two novelty songs - Ocala’s Royal Guardsman’s Snoopy Versus the Red Baron and just down from number one – Winchester Cathedral by the New Vaudeville Band.

Tampa, here we come! The flawed NCAA football tournament

Okay, first let us be perfectly clear on two points. (1) Penn State got jobbed by the selection process. When you win what likely is this year’s toughest football conference and defeat one of the teams selected ahead of you, something simply isn’t right. (2) Despite Penn State being mistreated, there is no good reason to expand the post season to eight teams. There occasionally will be an injustice but that is not a rationale to water down the post season and stretch it out until the start of spring training (slight exaggeration). Let’s stay with four and thoroughly enjoy the economic benefits of having one the country’s biggest sporting events here in the bay area.

SNEAK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK – OUR ANNUAL RETROSPECTIVE

Day by day, we’re losing our greatest men and women

Last week’s somber memorial at Pearl Harbor reminds us that of the 16 million men and women who served the United States in World War II, only 620,000 remain. The vets are dying at the rate of 500 a day. They and their civilian counterparts were, as Tom Brokaw so correctly puts it, our greatest generation. Allow us to tell you the answer we got when we asked our Dad what he did in the war. He helped end it. Your HB (Humble Blogger’s) Dad was too old to serve in World War II but was part of the Manhattan Project which ended the war without the Allies having to invade Japan at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives. As a result, several younger brothers he had serving in the war, all came home safely. After the war, he was involved in another project that helped keep the peace – as a member of the nuclear propulsion team for our first atomic submarine – the U.S.S. Nautilus. Yes, we’re proud.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. More on a great generation: there were two Cs (Carpenter and Cooper), two Gs (Glenn and Grissom) and three with S as the first letter (Schirra, Shepherd and Slayton) – that’s how this middle schooler remembered the original 7 American astronauts. With the death of John Glenn last week, this great generation has left us.

2. Okay Donny, you’re President-Elect now despite Jill Klein’s machinations - time to start acting presidential. Step one – close down your damned Twitter account.

3. Ever wondered why two branches of the federal government (legislative and judiciary) don’t have term limits but the third does? We’ve often advocated for reasonable term limits for the Supreme Court (maybe 12-15 years) and the legislature maybe two – six year (Senate) or six two year (House) terms.

4. Over two and a half years ago (RANTS – May 18, 2014) we challenged the city of Clearwater to do something about the embarrassment at Cleveland and MLK formerly known as the 1100 Building. Today the structure is in the same or worse condition as 2014.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the paving on Drew Street ended just beyond its intersection with NE Coachman Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A recent check of EBay showed the recalled Newsweek “Madam President” edition selling for $125 and up. It no doubt will someday be as valuable a publication as the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” gaff of the Chicago Tribune – now worth between $400 and $800.

7. From “USA Today Fictionalized”, otherwise known as the 5:05 Newsletter this gem: Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to the theater to see the hit show “Hamilton” and ended up being lectured by the cast. Later the ghost of Abraham Lincoln appeared to Pence and said, “Could have been a lot worse bro.”

8. Little known fact: We know our premier forecaster of things baseball and other sports, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is 3 for 3 in World Series picks since our blog’s inception. But the rest of the story: although not a “policy wonk”, he is perfect in Presidential predictions for four decades. A few networks and newspapers might want to dial him up in 2020.

9. Kudos to Georgia State University for preserving a big chunk of Atlanta sports history. The university has purchased Turner Field and the site of Fulton County Stadium. Turner will be used for the GSU’s football stadium and a baseball stadium will be erected on the site where Hammerin’ Hank hit #715 and the Braves won their only World Series in the last 60 years.

10. If his health returns, Wilson Ramos, the new Ray’s catcher could be the biggest steal of the offseason. The guy can hit and calls a great game behind the plate.

Willie, we hardly knew ya

Alas, our alma mater, the University of South Florida is again in search of a head coach. This is the bane of second tier football programs; you will always be a farm system for the big five conferences. Truth be known, Willie Taggart would have been better served by staying a couple more years at USF and advancing to a really good job. And that would have happened if Temple’s Matt Rhule had not passed on the Oregon job to go to Baylor. We’re not quite sure that Taggart is ready for prime time. Despite a couple winning seasons at USF, he is a sub .500 coach for his career. We wish him well at Oregon where, happily for the wardrobe, the colors are almost the same as USF, but he will not see a lot of Cincinnati, SMU and UConn on his PAC-10 schedule.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: GUESS WHO READS THIS BLOG EVERY SUNDAY MORNING?

Nikki Haley: Is the U.N. a better place than S.C.?

First, full disclosure, just two weeks ago (RANTS – Nov. 20), we ventured a guess that the very bright Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, could someday become this nation’s first female President. Now, we wonder about her latest career move. She goes from Governor of a very vibrant state to a job where you can easily become invisible unless there is an international crisis of some sort. Only one U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. has ever become President – George H. W. Bush and he had a stack of other credentials. Then again, no South Carolina Governor has ever become President. But the dynamics of South Carolina have changed over the last many years in great part due to Haley. Will her U.N. job be a dead end for her political career? For her sake and our country’s, we hope not.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. With a couple phone calls, Donald Trump keeps Carrier Air Conditioning and over a thousand American jobs in Indiana rather than move to Mexico - this while the Obama administration was sitting on its hands. Sadly, the far left will look at saving over a thousand jobs as somehow a bad thing.

2. The new vision for Clearwater’s waterfront is promising, but the devil is in the details (read financing). Several years ago, Clearwater voters turned down a proposal where a major developer would pony up all the money. This time around, it’s going to have to be a mostly public funded project – there’s the rub.

3. Buoyed by his successful campaign to put medical marijuana in the state constitution, of all places, and the success of businessman Donald Trump on the national level, personal injury attorney John Morgan thinks he’d be a nifty governor for the Sunshine State. Don’t pick out furniture for the executive mansion just yet, John.

4. This year Clearwater has lost a lot of civic leaders who did much to shape our city over the last several decades. The latest – David Stone, banker and major player at Clearwater’s Chamber of Commerce and Ruth Eckerd Hall to name just two. A terrific guy.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you remember when Boot Ranch was a boot and little else.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We note that Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron is coming to St. Pete next week to commiserate with fellow lefties on how they were so wrong (not to mention unethical) in last month’s election - hardly a victory lap.

7. Sports factoid: Bartolo Colon made his major league debut the same day Atlanta’s Turner Field opened. The new Braves pitcher’s career has outlived a major league stadium!

8. Observation: Garrison Keillor used to be so refreshing. Now he has morphed into a mean-spirited old man.

9. Just a random thought, can you imagine George S. Patton coming back to earth and observing and reacting to what is going on at our coddled college campuses today? Oh, the humanity!

10. Holiday factoid: the Rockettes were founded in St. Louis not New York, but they have been dazzling audiences in the Big Apple since 1932.

Alert to Waldo and Lawtey: this can replace your speed trap dollars

The price of parking is getting out of hand: Madeira Beach is the latest community to up the ante on parking to $2.50 an hour - about the same you would pay to park for an eight hour day at Disney World. The rationale behind the increase is that other cities are raising their rates and Madeira Beach doesn’t want to be left behind. Parking now represents the second highest revenue source in the beach community - shades of Waldo and Lawtey with their former speed traps. There will soon come a time when tourists (and locals) will push back on these shakedowns. It has already happened on Clearwater Beach when parking officials increased (and later reversed) parking fees by over 300 per cent.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – USF’S WILLIE TAGGART NEEDS TO STAY PUT

Has the Electoral College outlived its usefulness?

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer has introduced legislation aimed at eliminating the Electoral College. The California Democrat was strangely silent on the subject in her career until the Democrats lost the electoral vote and the White House a couple weeks ago. Would the lack of the Electoral College spell victory for Hillary Clinton? Probably not, as the campaigning would have been dramatically different if the race was decided on popular vote. Donald Trump concentrated on the states that paved the way to an electoral victory. Had the rules been different, the concentration would have been only on populous states like Florida, Texas and other large, conservative states. Trump played by the existing rules, and you can’t change the rules when you’re trailing with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. A final thought, if you would enjoy California and New York determining who your President will be for the balance of your lifetime, by all means, abolish the Electoral College.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Unfortunately when Donald Trump takes office on January 20^th, a lot of his early efforts will be devoted to undoing some bad things Barack Obama cobbled together unilaterally. The good news is Trump can unilaterally undo them but it will be time consuming and will draw away from his efforts to move ahead on the breakthroughs he has promised the American people.

2. Vice-President Elect Mike Pence acted with distinction in response to the classless actions of some actor when Pence was attending Hamilton last week. During the presidential campaign, Pence consistently acted more presidential than any of the other three candidates on the major party tickets and continues to do so.

3. Technology: of which we know little. Trump administration is planning to crack down on international hackers. We would also like to see them get heavy handed with punks who spread viruses, etc. A dozen or so well publicized jail terms would probably get these miscreants’ attention. What they do is no different than a thug taking a hammer to an automobile.

4. Give Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn credit. As the city ponders razing its outdated downtown library, Buckhorn is advocating for a higher use of that precious property – rather than a library – a lesson lost on other bay area communities.

5. You’ve lived in Tampa Bay (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember NBC Radio’s Monitor – one of the great programs in radio history – a forerunner of what you hear on NPR today. It aired locally weekends on WFLA – then an NBC Radio affiliate.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Your HB (Humble Blogger) is a huge baseball fan but not a collector. We own only two autographed baseballs – one from the 1960 Pirates World Championship team and the other of Ralph Branca who gave up the “shot heard round the world” in the 1951 playoff between his Dodgers and Bobby Thomson’s Giants. Branca, who was also a very accomplished amateur golfer, passed away last week at age 90.

7. Another iconic loss this past week – The Brady Bunch’s Florence Henderson, who along with Barbara Billingsly, Donna Reed and Marion Ross, were the “American Moms” of the 60s and 70s, passed away at age 82.

“7 ½”. We would be remiss in not noting the passing of Fidel Castro at our deadline. There was little middle ground with Castro. Depending on your viewpoint, we was either a hero or a despot.

8. From the publication that can make even a Cleveland Browns fan smile, the 5:05 Newsletter: Rumors are that Sarah Palin may be appointed Secretary of the Interior and oversee the National Park Service. When they heard that, bears were like, “Well, we had a good run.”

9. Factoid – if you were born 100 years ago this year, the population of the United States was roughly 100 million – pretty much the same number of Americans who will be traveling this holiday season – amazing!

10. Speaking of the holiday season, it is the most wonderful time of the year for the late artists Bing Crosby, Vince Guaraldi, Bobby Helms and David Seville. Each of these artists’ biggest hits was a Christmas tune – White Christmas (the biggest selling single of all time), Linus and Lucy, Jingle Bell Rock and The Chipmunk Song respectively.

Your call is NOT important to us

Back in the dark ages when your HB (Humble Blogger) operated a business, one of his operating canons was “If I am unable to provide a human being to answer my customers’ calls and queries, I will close the doors”. Fortunately, that never transpired. Your HB, now semi-retired, has another canon – if I have a choice in providers or vendors and they cannot answer my call with a human being, I will go elsewhere. Unfortunately, in some areas such as medical specialists, power companies and government entities, you don’t have that choice. Those entities know it and treat you accordingly.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: IS THE U.N. THE BEST CAREER MOVE FOR NIKKI HALEY?

The Trump Administration: think of what you will have to do without

The first person who comes to mind is Loretta Lynch. We’re guessing Justice Ginsberg won’t live up to her oath to move to New Zealand if the Don were elected – pity. The EPA seems to be in Trump’s sights. As stated here before – (RANTS – Sept. 28, 2014), the EPA had noble beginnings but has become nothing but an instrument to shake down businesses. Obamacare may not entirely go away but hopefully will be radically modified. And although the President-Elect only briefly touched on it during his campaign, the IRS needs some major work – if not elimination.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It appears that Vice-President Pence will play a major role in a Trump administration – a refreshing change from the norm. We’ll spot you Biden, now name the last four vice-presidents In U.S. history. And for extra credit – the Vice-President who was an Army General, won the Nobel Peace Prize and wrote a number one song?

2. It’s not that many in our country aren’t ready for a woman President. They just weren’t ready for that woman President. If we were handicapping who would be the first, we think our chips would be on South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

3. Liberal’s heads are blowing off over President-Elect Trump’s selection of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. But when you compare him to his two predecessors in the Obama administration, he is a breath of fresh air. We don’t see him having covert airport meetings with folks like Bill Clinton or virtually putting our police forces on trial with broad brush accusations.

4. As the Obama administration now counts down in weeks to its conclusion, the question is where will this presidency rank among our nation’s leaders? Certainly in the bottom half – perhaps near the top of the bottom third based on opinions of various scholars who study the presidency.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember waiting until after 6 p.m. to make long distance calls to get the lower rate. Mention that to a millennial and note the blank stare.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A casualty with the end of the election cycle was the Fox program Special Report with Brit Hume. The veteran journalist agreed to step in after the sudden departure of Greta Van Susteren – but only through the election. The show’s ratings nearly doubled. Now, Tucker Carlson takes over the time slot. The first few editions have been promising.

7. Honest, we are not making this up. There is now an app that can lead you to a McDonald’s location that serves their McRib sandwich. Have you ever seen one of those – or worse, eaten one?

8. Starved baseball fans would enjoy two shows making the rounds on the MLB Network this offseason. They are one hour capsules of two legends of the broadcast booth – Harry Caray and Bob Uecker.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) couldn’t understand why so many people were getting worked up over Donald Trump’s stance on a former Georgia Tech football coach. They had forgotten his name was Bobby, not Frank, Dodd.

10. Tampa Bay fans only thought the Bucs were the most inept team in the NFC – then the Chicago Bears hit town.

The New York Times mea culpa

The New York Times says it has rededicated itself to honesty in reporting. We would like to believe that, but wonder if it would have been business as usual had the election result been different. To their credit, the Times at least admitted going overboard in their zeal to get Hillary Clinton elected – or Donald Trump not elected. No such utterances from other media outlets that were equally beyond the pale such as NBC, The Washington Post or CNN to name only a few of many.

(The four V-Ps prior to Biden were Cheney, Gore, Qualye and Bush the elder. The overachiever was Charles Dawes, V-P to Coolidge. The Nobel was for his post-World War I work in Europe and the number one song - Tommy Edwards’ 1958 hit It’s All in the Game.)

SNEEK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK – TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?

 Trump defeats NBC, Ellen DeGeneres, The New York Times and, oh yes, Hillary Clinton

And Donald defeats assorted other left wing wackos as well. It all came down to this: despite the spin efforts of several national networks, the St. Pete Times and every “celebrity” in California, the American public just was not going to trust the oval office to a serial liar and her ilk. Is Trump our dream choice? Heck no, but he resounds with folks who really believe the swamp, starting with Obamacare, virtually everybody in the Justice Department and the IRS, needs to be drained while jobs are being moved back onshore.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Not all was worth cheering last Tuesday. Pinellas County lost an effective voice in the U.S. House, David Jolly, largely due to judicial meddling in the electoral process. And Floridians unbelievably okayed a constitutional amendment expanding the use of medical pot despite warnings from folks who know better than us – like law enforcement leaders and state and national medical associations.

2. In a note related to the above item, as of press time, newly elected Charlie Crist had not announced what office he will seek in the next election cycle.

3. There were a couple local surprises where Dunedin Mayor Julie Bujalski was re-elected despite being considerably outspent by Commissioner Bruce Livingston. And Curtis Holmes held on to his commission seat in Largo (by less than 250 votes) despite his several ethical missteps over the past few years.

4. Political factoid: Unofficial election results show Donald Trump losing the District of Columbia by an astounding 93 to 4 percent. That speaks volumes of what this presidential race was all about.

5. Historical note, the very first Publix in Lakeland is now a bar; the second a thrift store. And what will fill the space that was the Publix at Sunset Point Road and U.S. 19? Rumors continue to fly but nothing solid.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We tip our cap to Google for their recognition of the 100^th anniversary of TV legend Walter Cronkite’s birth. Our favorite Cronkite reflection: “Press freedom is essential to our democracy, but the press must not abuse this license. We must be careful with our power."

7. A couple new sitcoms worth a view – Kevin Can Wait and Man with a Plan starring successful sitcom guys Kevin James and Matt LeBlanc.

8. The Diamondbacks have selected Torey Lovullo to be their manager. Lovullo is a media darling particularly in Boston where he was on the Red Sox staff, but his resume is rather thin. Phil Nevin who managed the Arizona Triple A team and knows the organization better would seem to have been a better choice. Arizona’s loss is San Francisco’s gain as Nevin wound up on the Giant’s coaching staff.

9. Over the last two years, only one small market team has advanced to the playoffs each year – Kansas City two years ago and Cleveland this past season – although both made the World Series. That’s a disturbing trend that MLB needs to look at rather than some of the other silly things they ponder.

10. Okay, we admit it, we took great joy in watching most of the media fall over themselves Tuesday night trying to explain why this all happened despite their smug assurances that their girl would lap the field. Several, including Clinton cheerleader Andrea Mitchell, were near tears, while other effete “journalists” sniffed about how gender and racial bias played into the Trump win.

He IS our President

Watching the collection of bozos carrying signs and destroying property after the Trump election victory brought us back to eight years ago when Barack Obama won the presidency. Folks who disagreed with that selection were not out rolling police cars and smashing the storefronts of businesses. Now, many of us (those low life, uneducated deplorables) get to have our President – a President who, among other things, values all forms of human life and will appoint Supreme Court Justices with similar values. It’s our turn to have our President – despite all the protesters who, in essence, are saying you don’t get a turn.

GOODBYE TO WALLY, OUR LOVING TUXEDO CAT. WE LOVE YOU AND WE WILL MISS YOU.

World Series: Achmed now 3 for 3!

When we established this blog a little over two and a half years ago, we added a little known, mysterious man from the east to prognosticate sports. He specializes in baseball. Since our inception, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is a perfect three for three in postseason predictions even picking the Cubs this year who never win anything. Granted, he and the Cubs should send Christmas cards to the entire Cleveland outfield whose Bad News Bears play in the last two games of the series handed the Chicago nine a gift they have not savored in over a century. And finally, no, Achmed is not comfortable in giving you six numbers between 1 and 53 for this Saturday night. We know, we asked.

Tampa Bay, politics and other stuff:

1. A not so outrageous prediction: whoever prevails in the presidential race this week will be our nation’s first one-term (or less, pending indictments) president in two decades.

2. Sad commentary: Social Security recipients who will be receiving a gigantic three tenths of one percent increase in their monthly payment will see that wiped out by an increase in their city of Clearwater water bill each month - so much for COLA adjustments.

3. Obamacare premiums going up an average of 25 percent – wow, who saw that coming?

4. While we are more than happy to see all the awful political attack ads leave, brace yourself, there is still a month to go with wall to wall Medicare enrollment ads.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for quite a while if you remember when there were no neighborhoods named Morningside, Countryside or Island Estates.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A second not so outrageous prediction: the Chicago Cubs could be the first team since 2000 to win back to back World Championships. The Yankees won their third in a row in 2000 – something no team had done since the Oakland As in 1972-74. But that’s us talking not the above mentioned Achmed, so don’t call Vegas just yet.

7. Have you ever seen an uglier football game than last week’s Bucs loss to the Oakland Raiders? Oakland completely dominated the Bucs but kept aiming their six-shooter directly at their foot – setting an NFL record for penalties along the way - an exciting, but awful game.

8. With the election soon behind us, what are Fox and MSNBC going to do for the next two and a half years – other than take potshots at each other?

9. A thought from one of our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people): Smart phones seem to make people dumber.

10. The premier publication of the 21^st century, the 5:05 Newsletter, recently featured this tidbit on another well-known publication: “Playboy Magazine’s circulation has risen thirty percent since it stopped running photos of nude young women six months ago. The magazine has adjusted to the sexual fantasies of a new generation of young male readers. This month’s issue features the iPhones of Australia”.

Argument grows stronger for “robo umpires”

Games 3, 4 and 6 of this year’s World Series made the strongest case yet for human ball and strike callers to be replaced by robotic umps in the future. John Hirschbeck’s work in Game 3 was universally panned – the strike zone was a moving target all night long in the 1-0 thriller. The next night, Marvin Hudson had a strike zone the size of a smallish cupcake – particularly on the outer half. In Game 6, while “Country Joe” West was consistent, he treated the outer half of the plate like it was in the next county. Lastly, you cannot mention postseason umpiring without a nod to the late Eric Gregg’s butchering of Game 5 of the 1997 National League Championship where the strike zone was slightly wider than an aircraft carrier. It’s going to take some time and experimentation, but too much is at stake in the World Series to allow human error or exhibitionism to decide the outcome.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – ABOUT THAT 2020 PRESIDENTIAL RACE….

The sad state of Tampa Bay print journalism

A family member visiting Atlanta brought us a copy of the Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC). It was a Sunday edition with 18 pages of sports (as compared to 10 locally), a larger national section and a slightly larger and more comprehensive local section. This despite the fact AJC’s circulation is a bit less (about 9000) than our local daily. For what it’s worth, the usual Sunday puff pieces were about the same. The real difference was the balance of the news reporting in the Atlanta paper. A whole lot more facts with a whole lot less opinion on the news pages. When you go to the op/ed pages, you see perhaps a slight lean to the left, but not a lot. All in all just a great example of what a newspaper should be – much in the vein of what used to be The Tampa Tribune in its heyday. Seeing the AJC makes us lament just how far print journalism has fallen in the bay area.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff

1. Addendum to our lead article: if you think what passes here as journalism is the same all over the country, go on line and sample a few other metro papers – perhaps starting in San Diego and working eastward, along with a few national publications like the Wall Street Journal.

2. Our two favorite local political commercials - first, the Crist ad where our chief executive describes three-party Charlie as “a public servant who has always put the people first”. And Mr. Obama can still look himself in the mirror? The other is the Democratic Congressional Committee’s really bad photo shop job appearing to make David Jolly look like he’s shaking hands with Donald Trump. And we’re expected to trust these folks?

3. There is a great deal of angst over Amendment One. Anti-forces tell us it is a total sellout to utility companies despite its positive wording. That is a bit of a stretch, but the amendment sure won’t be harmful to our powerful utility companies and probably deserves a “no” vote.

4. Was anybody surprised by the recent finding that I-4 is the most dangerous interstate highway in the country?

5. Forty years ago this month, Pinellas County Administrator Merritt Stierheim resigned to take a similar position with Dade County. He had previously served as Clearwater’s City Manager. He’s still in government in south Florida.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. As the election cycle runs down, the media is getting a bit thin skinned about justifiable complaints regarding their attacks on office seekers. Apparently it is okay for them, to criticize but not themselves to be criticized. The ultimate piece of nonsense was a column penned by a Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times who claimed the media feels threatened. Give us a break!

7. In their coverage of Amendment Two, Bay News Nine simply did a rundown of why John Morgan thinks widespread medical pot is a good idea – no mention of the implications of putting something like that in our state constitution. We’re quite sure the coverage’s slant had nothing to do with the fact that Morgan spends thousands of dollars each month in ads with the news outlet.

8. His real name was Robert Veline. As Bobby Vee, he rode the King-Goffin Take Good Care of My Baby to the top of the charts in 1961 – just one of his half dozen top ten hits. Bobby Vee passed away last week at age 73.

9. Idle observation: during the final week of the baseball season, in a commercial break of a Blue Jays – Red Sox game, there were back to back promos for shows entitled Real Housewives of Southern California and Dance Moms. First, why run these during what is a heavy male – oriented event and, more importantly, do people really watch those two shows?

10. Speaking of commercials this factoid: Mike Rowe, the ruggedly handsome guy you see on the Wagner brake commercials as well as numerous Ford spots, has a background as an opera singer.

Terry Francona – one of the best

The last two or three postseasons have opened the eyes of the causal baseball fan to a couple of managers who are incredibly underrated. The reason could be their teams play in relatively small markets. But those small market teams consistently overachieve. The teams (and managers) are Kansas City’s Ned Yost and Cleveland’s Terry Francona. Yost’s record speaks for itself – one World Championship and a couple bad hops or bad calls away from a second over the past three years. Francona has taken a patchwork pitching staff all the way to the World Series with brilliant strategy and bullpen management. We saw what he could do in Boston but that team was loaded with Schilling, Martinez, Ortiz, Pedroia and Ramirez. Name five players on the Indians unless you are a diehard fan of the Tribe. We might achieve eight names, but we sure know the manager’s name and he has done a heck of a job in 2016.

What President-Elect Trump’s first actions need to be

Given the latest unbelievable leaks from the Clinton campaign, it’s obvious our Justice and State Departments need a thorough housecleaning. You so wanted to believe FBI Director Comey’s actions in the email scandal were honorable. As more information comes out, it’s becoming painfully obvious we misjudged the man. He, along with other decision makers at the Justice Department including the Attorney General, should not be required to write the ceremonial resignation letter – why waste paper. The same applies to the State Department. Kerry would go just on merit or lack of. But career bureaucrats who are desperately praying for a Clinton victory should not renew any leases should Trump prevail. And even if Clinton wins, to retain what little credibility she has with the American public (less than a third trust her), the czarina needs to get rid of the miscreants in both departments.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Ayn Rand quote worth pondering: “When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed”.

2. There’s another county-wide election that we did not review last week – the county commission where incumbent Charlie Justice faces off against businessman Mike Mikurak. Both have impressive resumes but Justice has received nothing but government paychecks his entire adult life while Mikurak has written paychecks most of his. It seems a businessman like him usually has a higher value of a buck – our bucks.

3. If you ever had any doubt about how the major networks lean in this election cycle, read The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel’s (10/13) detailed analysis of Clinton/Trump coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC.

4. Jerry Coleman, a former Pinellas County Sheriff, terrific guy and a lawman’s lawman, passed away last week at 76.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when there was a Waffle House in downtown – at the same site of today’s Mr. Submarine on Cleveland Street.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Sports quote of the week: Toronto’s Jose Bautista on rookie Indians pitcher Ryan Merritt: "With our experience in our lineup, I'm pretty sure he's going to be shaking in his boots more than we are." Remind us how that worked out, Jose.

7. Do you think in the 50 plus years of the franchise the Buffalo Bills ever had more of America rooting for them when they played the 49ers last Sunday? And this week, our Bucs will be America’s favorite team.

8. So female comedian Amy Schumer has trashed the Bay Area during a New York performance. Will we ever recover?

9. That tower of pop culture, the 5:05 Newsletter provides this scary thought: “Just when you thought 2016 could not get any worse, Yoko Ono announces a reissue project of her studio albums from 1968 to 1985”.

10. We conclude this year’s running series of music acts that saw their very first charted song go to number one (and like the artists a few weeks back, never hit the charts again) – The Silhouettes, Eric Weissberg, Marvin Hamlisch, Jan Hammer and Bobby McFerrin. The songs were Get a Job, Dueling Banjos, The Entertainer (from The Sting), Theme from Miami Vice and Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

A note on our music notes:

As we’ve mentioned before, your HB (Humble Blogger) spent his high school senior year, college years and several beyond as a broadcaster spinning the hits on two local stations as well as brief stints in Panama City and Armed Forces Radio before being kicked upstairs into management. As such, we have compiled a fairly significant record collection and some knowledge of the history behind the recordings – occasionally offered up here. But we are still in our sophomore year compared to some guys who have made a career of knowing stuff about the music we grew up with. Specifically, we need to mention Lou Simon whose 60s Satellite Survey weekly on Sirius/XM is a fountain of information; Jerry Osborne’s excellent weekly internet column Mr. Music probes deeply into pop music history; finally there is a terrific reference book - Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles. These three men are well worth a read or listen if you are into pop music. Before we conclude, we need to mention one other guy responsible for our music education – the late Jim Quinn of Tampa Bay’s U-92 who was an encyclopedia of pop and rock history.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT A FIRST CLASS NEWSPAPER LOOKS LIKE

David Jolly – part of some clear cut choices this election season

Absentee ballots are out and it’s time to mark them – sometimes while swallowing hard. Let’s start with an easy one - David Jolly. He continued the strong representation that Bill Young provided Pinellas for years in Washington. He’s not headed back up there to seek his next job – or party. If it weren’t for our court system bleeding over into the legislative process, this wouldn’t even be close. Like the presidential race, you have to swallow hard when you pull the lever, but Marco Rubio is worlds ahead of Patrick Murphy and his rather, shall we say, shaky resume. Two other notes: did you even know Pinellas County’s sheriff was up for re-election? And don’t forget to flip over the ballot to the other side where there are several significant general items including the onerous Item 2 to legalize medical pot in Florida through “regulated centers” across the state. What could possibly go wrong?

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. One further note on Item 2 on this year’s ballot. The overriding reason to defeat it is that something like this simply doesn’t belong in a state constitution where you have to move heaven and earth to remove or modify it. If you really believe we need more access to medical marijuana than already exists, contact your state legislator and urge them to do it the right way – through a law – not a constitutional amendment.

2. Would have laughed if the reasoning wasn’t so pathetic in some local endorsements by the St. Pete spin doctors. First there were 12 reasons to favor Murphy over Rubio. You only need one reason to reverse the argument – Murphy is consistently dishonest – channeling the top of the Democratic ticket. Then there was the line about Blowing in the Wind Charlie being “forced” out of the GOP. What “forced” him out of his NPA status? Maybe it’s his incurable quest to do what’s best for Charlie at the moment.  

3. Oh yes, there’s a presidential election, too. Don’t know about you, but for the past twenty years or so, we’ve just pulled the lever for whomever Barbra Streisand thinks we should vote for (see disclaimer at top of blog).

4. In Dunedin, there is an interesting mayoral race between incumbent Julie Bujalski and council member Bruce Livingston. They seem to agree on more things than they disagree – two good people in a city government with a lot of good people who lately just don’t seem to get along.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Channel 8 anchor Arch Deal’s near fatal parachute jump over forty years ago. Deal was back to work in three months.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We trumpeted the elevation of Lester Holt to the anchor’s chair at NBC after Brian Williams’ fall from grace. Regretfully, since Holt’s ascension, NBC Nightly News has tilted even further to the left.

7. Does LSU really think they’re going to have the cream of the coaching crop dialing them up to replace Les Miles who did a whole lot with a just above average program? And while we’re on the subject of LSU, their fans and fellow crackpots need to understand emergency response to a dangerous storm overrides football every time – even in the SEC.

8. There’s a reason you don’t use closers in non-save situations. Both the Mets’ Jeurys Familia and Dodgers’ Kenley Jansen illustrated that in the first week of the playoffs.

9. With a parting of the ways between the White Sox and Robin Ventura inevitable, the South Siders made a good move in promoting Rick Renteria to the top spot. Renteria, you may remember, was pretty much hosed by the Cubs a couple years ago so they could hand over the team that Renteria had prepared to contend to Joe Madden.

10. I need an ID to drive; to get insurance coverage; to use the gym; to check out a book at the library. What is so suppressive about me needing an ID to vote?

A major fire and Fred McGriff

The small office where this weekly drivel is produced is lined with baseball photos and artwork. Best of the bunch is not some heroic homerun or catch, but a photo of two of our favorite screwballs, Mark Lemke and Jeff Blauser, grinning on the playing field with an inferno in the press box of Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium in the background – a gift from our dearest Braves fans – our wife and daughter. The blaze coincided with a Braves hot (pun intended) streak that allowed them to run down the San Francisco Giants for the third of their 14 consecutive division titles – a major league record. It was also the first night in a Braves uniform for Tampa native Fred McGriff who played a major role in turning the season around and propelling them to a World Championship two years later.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT PRESIDENT ELECT TRUMP'S FIRST ACTIONS SHOULD BE

Vin Scully: The gold standard of baseball broadcasters

In his misspent youth, your HB (Humble Blogger) was a broadcaster. As such, there were folks in our profession whom we held in great admiration – local guys such as early mentors Scott Dilworth, Harry Lytle and Roy Nilson along with a competitor for several years – Jack Harris. On the national front, NBC’s giants, Huntley and Brinkley along with syndicated radio commentators Earl Nightingale and Bruce Williams were much admired. But the man who stood above all others was a gentleman who combined our two youthful loves, baseball and broadcasting, into a symphony – Vin Scully. The Dodger great retired at the end of the season and the game will never again be quite the same.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Message for Hillary, in light of Bill’s comments on Obamacare perhaps you want to send the hubby off on a fact finding mission to Angola or somewhere until the election is over.

2. Local Democrats who usually want a voter registration for anything that is breathing go crazy over Pinellas’ plan to register voters at local Chick-fil- A restaurants. Seems the chain is too pro-life and (in an unpardonable sin) not open on Sundays. Do they think potential voters will be brainwashed?

3. Wednesday, October 5^th was Walk/Bike to School Day. The idea is noble but unfortunately unrealistic in this day and age. We can remember pedaling our bike from our parent’s home in Skycrest to the Clearwater Marina without our folks worrying. Today with ridiculous traffic and bad people, it simply isn’t safe for our kids and grandkids – unless, of course, you walk or pedal with them.

4. Memo to Donald: if you get elected and start bringing jobs back onshore as you promised, make call centers the first priority so all of us can understand the person on the other end when we call the cable company or make a hotel reservation. And why is it that these companies give folks who obviously live thousands of miles away from the USA Americanized names like Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice? Do they think they are fooling us?

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember all the excitement about the possibility of the San Francisco Giants (or the Twins or the White Sox) moving to the area.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A follow up to the historical note above, a guy who never got nearly enough credit for the bay area finally having baseball is former St. Pete assistant city manager Rick Dodge.

7. Buck Showalter takes a ton of heat for not using his ace reliever in a non-save situation in the wild card loss to the Jays. After all, look how well that worked out for the Mets.

8. Playoff note - beyond cool: the only way to describe the Mets having Itzhak Perlman play the National Anthem prior to their play-in game with the Giants. Ain’t nobody taking a knee during that performance!

9. Sadly, lost in all the well-deserved plaudits for Vin Scully was the retirement of another incredibly good broadcaster – the Padres’ Dick Enberg. One last time – “Oh my!”

10. Newsweek may be gone, but we still have the indestructible 5:05 Newsletter which provides this offering: “Donald Trump cancelled a rally scheduled for Portland, Oregon. This was devastating news for Portland’s conservative community…a guy named Steve”.

Some sports heroes for old guys

We’ve mentioned this before, you really feel old when there is no longer a player in a major sport older than you. For this dyed in the wool baseball fan, it was Pete Rose who hung them up at age 45. But you have to love guys like Rose who still performed at a high level into their forties and beyond. Guys like Harry Gant who won at NASCAR’s highest level at age 52; George Blanda who played in the NFL until age 45; basketball’s Robert Parish, who was still battling under the boards at age 43 and this era’s ancient phenom, Bartolo Colon, who at age 43, wants to come back and pitch for the Mets next season You like the guy even more if the athlete, like Colon, appears to be as far out of shape as you. Rock on, Bartolo!

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – SOME CLEAR CHOICES IN THE 2016 ELECTION SEASON

A huge loss

This space was supposed to be filled with a fond farewell to Dodger’s broadcaster Vin Scully. It will appear next week. We think the broadcasting legend would understand. On just so many levels, the loss of Miami ace pitcher Jose Fernandez is one of the greatest losses the game has ever endured. Tampa Bay area graduate, Cuban refugee, face of the Miami franchise and the one pitcher who the other 29 general managers in baseball, given the chance to build a rotation, would take above every other pitcher in the major leagues – just 24 years old and already a dominant force. What a tragedy – harking back to the loss of Indians’ pitchers Tim Crews and Steve Olin in a similar boating accident during spring training 23 years ago. A third pitcher, Bobby Ojeda, was seriously injured but survived. In both cases, there is tragic irony. Twenty-three years ago, the Indians had a chance to play an impromptu game with the Dodgers but Manager Mike Hargrove had promised his guys a day off and nixed the game – thus the ill-fated fishing trip. Fernandez was scheduled to pitch against the Braves on Sunday, but the Marlins pushed him back a day to go against the Mets. Had Fernandez pitched Sunday, there’s no way he’s out on a boat the night before. A huge, huge loss.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Normally notes like this one go in the section below. But Arnold Palmer was a sports figure who transcended sports. When you think of the game of golf, three names stand out above all others – Woods, Nicklaus and Palmer. And now Arnie’s Army no longer has its general.

2. Seldom has the sports world suffered two such great losses within 24 hours. Somewhat lost in all that was a very classy move by Boston’s David Ortiz to request a day honoring his last appearance at the Trop be cancelled in honor of Jose Fernandez.

3. Dunedin plans to spend $81 million to bring its spring training facilities up to speed. Two requests from an occasional visitor: (1) bring the audio and video systems up to something above the current Little League level and (2) Please – replace those horrendous seats. Thanks.

4. In a combined article, The New York Times and Washington Post declare Hillary Clinton the winner of last Monday’s debate. Due to deadline constraints, the article was written the previous Saturday – see disclaimer above.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever dined at the Garden Gate Restaurant in Sunshine Mall across from Jim Stewart Shoes.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. So Time Magazine put Colin Kaepernick on its cover a few weeks ago. It’s not the first instance when Time has put someone who doesn’t particularly like America on its cover. Just look at their 1938, 1939 and 1979 men of the year.

7. The Baltimore Ravens who couldn’t get out of their own way with a 5-11 record last year are off to a 3-0 start this year however (and it’s a big however) their opponents thus far are a combined 1-8. There be stormy waters ahead.

8. Despite protests from virtually all corners, Slate is moving ahead with plans to forecast voting results before the polls close in several states including Florida. The idea is fraught with problems including the possibility of “cooking the books” as Slate is hardly viewed as a neutral source of information.

9. Jane Pauley becomes the first person not named Charles to host CBS’ extremely popular Sunday Morning magazine-style show. While a credible host and journalist, she has some very large shoes to fill following in the footsteps of the “Charlies” – Osgood and Kuralt.

10. During 2016, we have been occasionally spotlighting musical acts that achieved immediate success with their first charted song going all the way to Number One. Here are five more: The Elegants, Zager and Evans, The Singing Nun, The Hollywood Argyles and Laurie London. The songs were Little Star, In the Year 2525, Dominique, Alley -Oop and He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands. These five acts share something else in common – they never had another song hit the charts at any position!

Can our sports prognosticator Achmed make it two in a row?

After predicting last year’s World Series down to the number of games prior to the playoffs, Rants and Raves’ crack predictor of things sports, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) this year likes the Twins over the Braves in 7 – no wait, that was 1991. Achmed sometimes forgets his meds and gets confused. After proper dosage, he sees two teams who have not been to the Fall Classic for a while (one in 2011, the other 1945) doing battle. Achmed likes the Chicago Cubs over the Texas Rangers in six games. Ah, that toddling town.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – SAYING GOODBYE TO VIN

Celebrating a giant in Clearwater politics

Ten years ago this week, former Clearwater Mayor Gabe Cazares passed away. The man knew everybody in town; was a champion for the Hispanic community; but most of all, is remembered for his valiant fight against the Church of Scientology. It was Cazares who, along with a few others, sniffed out what the “United Churches of Florida” was up to. It was Cazares alone who withstood vicious harassment by the Church of Scientology involving what federal investigators found to be a smear campaign against the Clearwater Mayor. Gabe later served on the Pinellas County Commission, but it was as the crusading mayor of Clearwater where he made his indelible mark.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1 Quote of the week (maybe the year): “I admire Hillary Clinton for her honesty.” - Charlie Crist in his televised debate with Rep. David Jolly.

2. A parting gift from the Obama administration - a proposed petroleum tax that will add just short of a quarter to your gas pump price.

3. Several state legislators are echoing this blog in calling for a statewide set of regulations for Lyft and Uber. Great idea, but do it! Tallahassee has had this on their plate for the past three sessions and each time punted.

4. One of the many great things about Pinellas County is its countywide library cooperative which allows any city’s card holder to use other libraries or better yet to just sit at your computer and order a book in a not so near library delivered to your home library - and happy 100^th birthday to the Clearwater Public Library.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember 1963 when Clearwater’s first McDonald’s (across from CHS) offered its first non-hamburger sandwich – the Filet o’ Fish. It cost 29 cents. We predict it will catch on.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Bucs came back to earth in rather convincing fashion in Week 2. After a relative cupcake in Week 3, they face last year’s Super Bowl contestants back to back. They will need the bye week that follows Denver and Carolina.

7. Commentator George Will, who is so quotable this time of year, wishes that the American electorate would spend as much time on selecting a president as they do selecting a new car.

8. We frequently comment on commercials (including today’s concluding note). One that recently caught our attention was the guy who makes shirts in America taking Donald Trump to task. Small nitpick - while the guy makes shirts in America, he makes them on machines made in China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

9. Fox News Network’s 7 p.m. slot has nearly doubled its audience since Brit Hume took over from Greta Van Susteren. This is not a slam at Van Susteren but a tribute to the respect Hume commands. The semi-retired commentator will stay on through the election season.

10. A huge tip of our cap to Doctors Richard Abdo and Tim Kelly who collectively ended three months of pain and incredible ridicule from “friends” as we hobbled around on a walker for several weeks. As stated here before, good accountants, attorneys, doctors and Realtors are worth their weight in gold.

How many commercials does it take?

Watching a car dealer on TV last week spouting about his decades of “integrity” got us wondering just how many commercials does it take to overcome a factual story told over and over by a former customer? Guy’s car is damaged while in for service. Dealer tells service man to call customer telling him the service man will be docked for the repair unless the customer agrees to pay the $300 or so bill. The customer reluctantly pays it while encouraging service man to go work for a more reputable dealership, and has probably told the story over several dozen times – now one more. Pretty short sighted – not to mention a complete lack of “integrity”.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE VOICE OF THE GAME HANGS THEM UP

What will the cabinets look like?

So far, we have had more of a peek into what a Clinton cabinet will look like as opposed to that of Donald Trump. Clinton has emphatically stated that fifty per cent of her cabinet will be comprised of women – qualifications be damned. You can be pretty sure given the fractious tenor of the campaign, there will be no Republicans and probably very few moderates. Trump, a business man, will probably draw from the business community which tends to tilt conservative. Doubt there will be any Silicon Valley types – probably more eastern and midwestern folks. Unlike Clinton, gender will probably not play as big a role as qualifications. We would not be surprised if Carly Fiorina is part of a Trump administration as well as Dr. Ben Carson. Advantage Trump.

The bay area, politics and stuff:

1. So, Mr. Obama, do we the American taxpayers get our money back for the days you take off to campaign for Hillary Clinton rather than doing the job we pay you to do albeit badly?

2. We don’t often agree with Tampa mayor Bob Buckhorn, but his one word characterization of the Hillsborough Public Transportation Commission (dinosaur) is spot on. The TPC is a throwback to the days when palms were greased for taxi licenses and airport access. It needs to go away.

3. Just an idle thought: if Hillary Clinton is elected president, will the Clintons return the furniture they took from the White House when they left in 2001?

4. Clearwater Beach and Island Estates residents are somewhat bummed by the sign surrounding the Publix rebuild forecasting a reopening a full year from now.

5. As gas hovers above two dollars a gallon, you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the “gas wars” of the late fifties and early sixties that often saw gas under twenty cents a gallon.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. From the world-wide leader in satire, the 5:05 Newsletter, this gem: A ballot measure in November will allow Californians to vote on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana. Californians will have the option to vote “Yes” or “Hell Yes.”

7. Just like Colin Kaepernick, we’re not sure what soccer player Megan Rapinoe accomplished by taking a knee recently during the playing of the National Anthem – except that now perhaps more than 100 Americans know who the heck she is.

8. In a related note, it was heartwarming to see the Little League champs from Endwell, NY standing by their fellow ballplayers, the New York Yankees, during the Anthem at the Stadium on the eve of 9/11. Nary a pro or little leaguer took a knee.

9. Another Yankee note: they have called up rookie outfielder Mason Williams which, no doubt, will have every ballpark he visits scrambling around for a copy of Classical Gas to play when he steps up to the plate.

10. We apologize for being about three weeks late in noting the passing of one of the great character actors of the 70s and 80s. Jack Riley’s portrayal of the super neurotic Elliot Carlin on the Bob Newhart Show was one of the masterpieces of that era. He also appeared in Seinfeld, MASH, Saturday Night Live and a host of other comedies.

A somewhat misguided vet        

In a recent op/ed piece, a veteran of some recent conflicts made a pitch to those of us from the Vietnam era to reject Donald Trump’s candidacy. In the piece he suggests that many, if not most, of us have yet to forgive the traitorous actions of Jane Fonda during that war. He is right. That same support and comfort she gave to our enemy at the expense of American soldiers is now being lavished on Hillary Clinton by Ms. Fonda. Need we say more?

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – CELEBRATING A GIANT OF CLEARWATER POLITICS

 Third party candidate? Run, don’t walk.

So many Americans look at the two major party candidates in this year’s presidential election and feel impending doom – with good reason. Many, as many as ten per cent according to some polls, are flirting with the idea of a third party candidate. The major third party candidate is Libertarian Gary Johnson. We only ask you listen to him in an interview before deciding. He is pro-abortion, pro legalization of pot, doesn’t seem to see much need for a national defense. And last week, NBC (Network Backing Clinton) made a great deal of Johnson not knowing what Aleppo was – which the network never explained is a battle torn city in Syria. Need to know more? Again, watch an interview. He is a former governor of New Mexico, one step up from Mayor of Taos, who comes off as just a bit wacko. His official photo bears a bit of a resemblance to David Miscavige. Other than that, he’d make a heck of a president – for a third world country.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. There are the conspiracy theorists who claim FDR knew about Pearl Harbor in advance; then there are the multiple JFK assassination scenarios; now we have Bob Graham still beating the drum over his 9/11 conjectures. Give it up, Bob.

2. Clearwater’s purchasing manager Alyce Benge probably didn’t endear herself to fellow city employees who handle big construction projects when she discovered the city’s bidding process on projects over 2 million dollars has been handled incorrectly for two decades. Revamping it might slow projects down a few months, but Benge did the right thing for Clearwater taxpayers.

3. In total fairness to Gary Johnson (lead article), there is another third (or fourth) party candidate – the Green Party’s Jill Stein. Again, watch an interview or visit Disney’s Fantasy Land. The result is about the same.

4. Both of our sitting U.S Senators as well as the Democratic challenger for a Senate seat have chosen to politicize the Zika virus in one way or another. We should be proud.

5. A follow up to last week’s historical note: You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the fires that destroyed Clearwater Beach’s two most prominent restaurants – the Beachcomber in 1959 and the Pelican in 1974. Both were rebuilt. Your HB (Humble Blogger) dined at the Beachcomber the night before their early morning fire but swears he had nothing to do with the inferno.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We were informed on last week’s edition of The Sports Reporters that the National Anthem is neither necessary nor relevant at the beginning of sporting events (more on that below). Wasn’t it great when sports (and sports shows) were a relief valve from all the other garbage in the world?

7. As we dry out this week, we would still like to see the Hurricane Center pick up with the first unused hurricane name from the year before so that every Tanya, Teresa, Ted and Thomas of the world could get some pub or notoriety.

8. Greta Van Susteren’s sudden departure from Fox News came as a bit of a surprise but hardly a life-threatening blow to the network. While Van Susteren was solid, she did not have the star power of the trio that follows her – O’Reilly, Kelly and Hannity. A Scientologist, Van Susteren is an occasional visitor to Clearwater.

9. In the wake of the new Apple 7 phone (which we assume will still provide privacy to terrorists) and the Samsung fires, our Raves and Rants focus group is happy to report their flip phones are performing just fine with no fires.

10. One of the best under the radar pick-ups just before the MLB trade deadline was Atlanta’s acquisition of Matt Kemp for a toxic player the Braves were about to release (and the Padres subsequently did). Since the installation of Kemp in the clean-up spot a month ago, the batting averages of the three players ahead of him have all increased a minimum of ten points each and, more importantly, the Braves have a winning record.

Our kind of hero

We guess a number of folks are labeling Colin Kaepernick as some sort of hero for his stand on alleged police brutality. Frankly, we don’t make the connection between the National Anthem and a few rogue cops but apparently he does. Our hero is a retired educator who weekly delivers food stuffs to people in need, other materials to a thrift shop that supports low income expectant mothers and collects both food and clothing for a migrant ministry in Hillsborough County. There are hundreds, if not thousands, just like her in the bay area. They all stand up for the playing of the Anthem but sadly don’t get the publicity of some second string quarterback.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT WOULD CLINTON AND TRUMP CABINETS LOOK LIKE?

Where do our tourists come from?

As we near the end of our traditional summer tourism season (and it was a good one), here’s a look at where our tourists come from. These are 2015 numbers: the top three feeder markets for our tourists are New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia, putting to rest a lot of our mindset that we draw primarily a mid-west crowd. Actually, the third largest feeder market is Orlando but very few of those folks are actual Orlando residents. Mickey, Universal and the rest help our tourism – the parks are great fun but none have a beach and its related activities like Clearwater.

Tampa Bay, politics and other stuff:

1. There was no surprise in either of the two U.S. Senate races in Florida with Marco Rubio and Patrick Murphy easy winners. The only surprise is that in a state of 20 million people, they are the best two candidates we could muster.

2. On the educational front, the Pinellas County School Board, already weakened by the departure of veteran Janet Clark, took another hit with the razor thin loss of Ken Peluso, a positive force on the board. In Hillsborough, memories proved short as Susan Valdes and Cindy Stuart, the ringleaders of the infamous “Gang of Four”, both were reelected although Valdes’ victory was by less than 300 votes.

3. A few last election notes: Pinellas voters showed their savvy in electing a professional appraiser and a sitting judge over two career politicians although the judicial race was closer than it should have been. And in Hillsborough, 86-year-old County Clerk Pat Frank was re-nominated on the Democratic ticket, but then Hillsborough once elected a dead guy back in the fifties.

4. A comment from political analyst George Will last week: “30 percent of Americans can name their two U.S. Senators”. He did not specify if that included Floridians like us who know who they are but ashamed to admit it.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at Henry Henriquez’ Pelican Restaurant on Clearwater Beach.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Our bay area television stations need to take a bow for their excellent coverage of Hurricane Hermine. Hard to single one out as all of them were at the top of their game.

7. Interesting baseball thought #1: Marlins color man Eduardo Perez thinks if the catcher is somehow able to catch a ball after it hits a batter, the batter should not be awarded first base. Huh? He wasn’t all that good, but bring back former color man Tommy Hutton.

8. Interesting baseball thought #2: Times beat writer takes future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy to task for allowing former Ray Matt Moore to throw 133 pitches in a quest for a no hitter for a contending team. Two days later, Ray’s pitcher David Archer throws just under 120 pitches in a meaningless 10-4 win over Houston.

9. For the casual Rays follower, it came as stunning news. The Rays released outfielder Desmond Jennings – another Ray’s prospect who never quite lived up to the hype.

10. Looking back: In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Achmed looks forward to the NFL season

Our savvy sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) has, after laborious statistical analysis, selected his Super Bowl teams and made his annual prediction on the fate of the Bucs in 2016 (spoiler alert - he doesn’t think they will be participating beyond their New Year’s Day season wrap-up with Carolina). Traditionalist that he is, Achmed likes two teams with extensive Super Bowl resumes, the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers to match up. As for our Buccaneers, the soothsayer from the east sees an improvement to 7-9 under new head coach Dirk Koetter and, almost as importantly, defensive coordinator Mike Smith.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THIRD PARTY? RUN, DON’T WALK.

Kudos to the 1st District Court of Appeal

That something upsets you is not enough reason for an appeals court to overturn a valid ruling by a lower court. That was the message loud and clear to the Florida Education Association on its suit against tax credit scholarships to private schools. The tax credit plan, formulated during the Jeb Bush administration, recognized that private schools, in large measure, deliver a better level of education but many potential students were excluded for financial reasons. The monies for the program come from corporate pockets in the form of tax credits rather than taxpayer dollars. We hope the FEA will now move on and focus on making our public schools better.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. We remember hearing several elected officials on the Metropolitan Planning Organization circa 2000 warning that making Ft. Harrison Avenue single lane would turn it into a parking lot. Their objections fell on deaf ears. It might be time to revisit that decision.

2. Proof that this blog pretty much writes itself. St. Pete City Council dominated by Democrats votes to spend taxpayer dollars on landscaping the party’s offices. The money was minimal, the action, later reversed, was moronic.

3. In case you forgot, Tuesday is primary election day with a few interesting races. In Pinellas, two of the easiest calls are judicial and property appraisal professionals being challenged by career politicians.

4. Factoid: the state of Florida has never had a Presidential or Vice- Presidential candidate on a major party ticket. It is the largest state with that “distinction”.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you remember the delightful Bath Club on North Redington Beach.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Wall Street Journal advanced an idea that makes way too much sense to ever be adopted. Instead of building (or half building) Olympic venues to service a few weeks of competition, build four or so permanent locations scattered about North America, Europe and Asia that would not go to waste after a single Olympics – saving bundles of money. One suggestion is to have perhaps two summer and two winter sites to rotate every four years.

7. Headline that needed drastic revision from “Florida’s Best Newspaper” - Walmart expands curbside pickup program in Tampa Bay –projecting an image of a giant garbage truck with a Walmart logo on its side. The story actually had to do with grocery pick-ups at selected stores.

8. They are still four games out in the Wild Card race as this is written but keep an eye on the Kansas City Royals down the stretch.

9. Sad to say, Josh Hamilton is going to be the subject of those “whatever happened to” columns in the near future.

10. The passing of Tampa’s Monsignor Laurence Higgins marks the end of an era. He was more influential in the Catholic and secular community than most bishops – as was Clearwater’s Monsignor Thomas Colreavy in the 1950s and 60s. Both men were larger than life.

Show off on the diamond, but you better be good

Showboats like Carlos Gomez and Yasiel Puig can get away with their acts – as long as they are productive. Gomez, known primarily for Cadillac-ing around the bases after he hits a home run, and Puig who seems to delight in throwing to the wrong base or completely airmailing a throw from the outfield have worn out their welcomes in Houston and LA respectively. Gomez was released by the Astros and Puig sent to the minors by the Dodgers. When their production went south so did the level of tolerance for their acts by their clubs. Same can be said for reliever Jonathan Papelbon, not a showboat but a cancer in the clubhouse. It shouldn’t be that way but more than a few clubs will tolerate all sorts of bush league stuff – as long as the guy produces.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – AN ARMCHAIR VIEW OF TUESDAY’S RESULTS

 The path to the Presidency

As we all know, Hillary Clinton is a former Secretary of State. Some other people holding that position have been elected President, but the last one was nearly 100 years ago – Herbert Hoover in 1921 and you probably know how well that turned out. She is also a former Senator – somehow representing New York. The last several Senators to reach the oval office were Obama, LBJ, Nixon and JFK – a range of pretty good to pretty bad - none Mount Rushmore material. The list of people like Donald Trump with absolutely no government service to gain the presidency is zero. How much weight does that carry? We’ll see in a few short months.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. A follow up to our lead piece: in our history, there have been only five paths to the Presidency – Vice President, member of Congress, Cabinet Member, Governor, or General of the US Army. As mentioned, Trump is none of those. So one way or another, we set a precedent this year – either our first female or first “non-traditional” President.

2. Carrying this week’s theme one step further, the ten men generally recognized as our best Presidents came from these backgrounds: Congress (Lincoln, Madison, Monroe and Truman); Governor (FDR and Wilson); Vice President (Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt) and General of the Army (Washington and Ike).

3. Remember when you needed something done at work (vacation, insurance etc.) you went to the personnel department? Now Pasco County’s school system has a Human Capital Partner. Who comes up with this stuff?

4. Two near tragedies averted on the water last weekend. Coast Guard boat picks up two divers whose boat drifted away – no one topside – a violation of rule number one in diving. Capt. Chris Wilke on the party boat Double Eagle II rescues five persons whose boat capsized 12 miles off shore – too long a distance for too small a boat in existing conditions with five inexperienced boaters. Think before you leave the docks, folks.

5. Speaking of docks, if you have lived (and fished) in Clearwater for a long time, you will recognize the names Bob Hylton, Joe Kratzer, Bill Meyer and Fred Price. They were the long time skippers of Clearwater’s original party fishing boats – Sea Hawk, Miss Elsie, Sea Fever and the Rainbow.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. In a natural corollary to last week’s focus group question, we asked our four old, cranky people, all baby boomers) to select the best President of their lifetimes. The results: Reagan (2), Clinton (1) and Nixon (1), making him the only President to make both the best and worst lists.

7. His voice was one of the greatest of the pop/folk era yet he was never really comfortable with his success. Glenn Yarbrough of the Limelighters, who also had a successful solo career, died last week at age 86.

8. We’re guessing it will be awhile before the International Olympic Committee again awards the games to a banana republic no matter how much money changes hands.

9. Bad idea of the week: We enjoy the Times Tom Jones but that doesn’t mean we always agree with him. His suggestion that Jeremy Schapp replace the late John Saunders on The Sports Reporters is really bad. The problem is Schapp just isn’t that good. He is part of a crew of later generation broadcasters named Buck, Caray and Schapp who, if not for their last names, would be doing weekends at TV stations in Helena, Montana. Jones’ other suggestion should fit the bill – Mike Lupica, who while opinionated, can also throttle it back when needed.

10. It’s way too early to declare the New York Yankees’ plan to rebuild a success but when two call-ups who figure in their future hit back to back homeruns in what was each player’s first major league at bat, that’s pretty impressive. Keep an eye on Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge.

About first at bat major league homers

No matter how long you watch baseball, there is still something you haven’t seen – like rookies Austin and Judge hitting back to back homers in their first MLB at bats – something that had never been accomplished. Some other interesting first homers – two Hall of Famers have done it – Cleveland center fielder Earl Averill and a guy not known for his bat – knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm (his only MLB homer). Some other names you may recognize who homered on their first at bat – Giants first baseman Bill White, later a broadcaster and MLB exec; another Giant first sacker Will Clark; Chuck Tanner, better known for his managerial abilities; and who could forget the first at bat homer by the pride of Clearwater, Florida – Buster Narum? Oh and one other – the only pro football and college football Hall of Famer to go deep on his first at bat – Duke University and NFL legend Ace Parker.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – KUDOS TO THE 1^ST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

Reading for the realist or perhaps the pessimist

To quote Bette Davis in All about Eve – “Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy night” (not ride as it is often misquoted). Whatever happens between now in November, it’s going to be a bumpy four (and hopefully no more than four) years. To prepare ourselves, we are reading biographies of the ten men generally recognized by historians as the worst presidents in U.S. history. They are Nixon, Hoover, Grant, Tyler, Fillmore, Coolidge, Pierce, Johnson the first, Harding and Buchanan. Some lists include our current president but we’ll give him the next six months to redeem himself. We’re about halfway through the list. Hope we’re wrong, but it’s quite possible whoever wins in November will become part of that list of ten in the future.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Now that the campaign for the White House has begun in earnest, raise your hand if you would rather have the choice of the two Vice-Presidential candidates to lead our country rather than the two freak shows at the top of the ticket.

2. Not a lot has been made of it, but as students get ready to return for the fall session, happy 60^th anniversary to our alma mater, the University of South Florida, founded in 1956.

3. Speaking of schools, the kids are back in session and it’s a quiet time here on the west coast. We can all get back to our favorite restaurants and attractions without the long waits that occur in the spring and summer. Enjoy!

4. While on the subject of spring, that’s when the new Crabby Bill’s at the Clearwater Marina is scheduled to open (March). That will be just short of ten months start to finish or about the same amount of time it took for the Mexican restaurant in the Marina to pick out window treatments.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the magnolia farms south of Gulf-to-Bay Blvd., bordering Belcher Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Two large losses in the media world this past week. Dave McKay, for twenty years the morning personality at WQYK, one of this country’s premier country radio stations. And John Saunders, who smoothly guided the enormous egos on The Sports Reporters making it one of the diamonds of the ESPN franchise. He was a versatile sportscaster but it was his work on The Sports Reporters that will live in our memory.

7. Five MLB teams have lost 10,000 games in their history. The loveable losers are, in order, the Phils, the Cubs, Braves, Pirates and Reds. No American League team has lost 10,000 simply because that league has not been in existence as long as the NL. On track to hit 10,000 first are the Orioles and the Twins (including their stays in St. Louis and Washington respectively).

8. Lost in the sad news of Prince Fielder’s career ending is the fact that Prince and his father, Cecil, both ended their careers with exactly 319 home runs – incredible.

9. Related to our lead item, if you’re not up to reading full blown biographies of 10 (or 44) Presidents, there is an excellent book by David Whitney The American Presidents that gives you a 10-15 page mini-biography of each of our chief executives. It’s now in its ninth edition.

10. In a further follow-up to our lead piece, we asked the Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people – and all baby boomers) who was the worst president in their lifetime? Their votes: Carter (1), Nixon (1) George W. Bush (2). Note: the focus group was not allowed to cast a ballot for “whoever wins this year’s election”.

Does Kevin Cash get a third year? Probably.