Way, way past time to simplify insurance

Liberty Mutual Insurance has some neat commercials. Particularly enjoy the cute gal talking about her car “Brad”. They have another ad that hits home on one of the biggest problems in the industry – at least for its customers. That is the lack of a simplified, cogent explanation of what your policy covers and what it does not. It should be a page or less and in 14 point or larger type (slightly larger than newspaper type). And it should be legally required of all companies, all policies on at least a state, but preferably federal level. But to do that, legislators would have to jump out of insurance lobbies pockets. It’s hard to see that happening without a less than gentle nudge from us, the electorate.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Now that the national political conventions are over, is there any chance that one or, hopefully, both of the presidential candidates will start acting presidential instead of like a bully and a harpy?

2. On the eve of the Democratic convention, all the national media is ablaze with stories of the DNC’s attempts to rig the primary. Locally, it ranks page 15 in our remaining newspaper – the front page consisting of essentially an unpaid three-quarter page ad for the Clinton campaign. In the old days, you burned the books; now you just buy out the dissenting competition.

3. In an associated item, aren’t we Floridians proud of the fact we can claim Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as one of our own? Actually she’s a New York transplant – who would have guessed that?

4. A follow up to our lead item of last week on Charter’s shortcomings. Despite outages, broken promises and a general we don’t care attitude, Charter (the former Bright House) Communication’s saving grace is Frontier Communications whose massive troubles make Charter look passable. Kind of like a D making a C- appear good.

5. 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 new store will add only about an extra one thousand square feet to the current footprint. The average Publix is a third again as large. For your HB (Humble Blogger), the closing is a mixed bag – we will miss the convenience but will be better off without the easy access to a late night treat (read ice cream).

6. All these summer holidays and weekends, you can only imagine how much beer is consumed each weekend. We asked a team member at Great Bay Distributors about the biggest day or weekend for beer sales. To our surprise, it is not a summer holiday weekend, but the day before Thanksgiving.

7. In a related historical note, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when admission (and beer) at Busch Gardens were free. Needless to say, it was a favorite stop for students of nearby USF.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

8. Chicago White Sox pitcher Chris Sale was over the top with his cutting up of some so-called throwback uniforms and his suspension justified. But he makes a good point – only the most naïve believe those uniforms are tributes to teams past. They are simply another sales item and players look and feel ridiculous in them.

9. It’s hard to get excited about the trading deadline when your favorite team is over 20 games below .500 (as are five teams including our Rays). You have to be a baseball super geek to get charged up about some A-ball stud pitcher you received for your best pitcher or hitter.

10. By the way, the actress in that “Brad” commercial mentioned above is New Jersey native Midori Francis, who has done quite a bit of stage work in the New York area.

A new approach to post season baseball

We have ranted beyond most folks tolerances about the idiocy of having an All-Star exhibition game determine the home field advantage for the World Series. There are two solutions, neither of which is the old system of rotating between the AL and NL each year. The first which involves some possible logistics issues is having regular season records determine home field advantage. Major hurdle there is you might not know until a few days before the World Series who that is. But, it’s not much different than the current system from a logistics standpoint. The perhaps more radical approach is more of an NFL system where cities bid years in advance for the series. Then all seven games are played there with the team with the best record getting games one and seven as the home team. A variation to that theme would be selecting an AL and NL park in advance for each year’s series again with the best regular season record getting games one and seven. Perhaps there are other solutions but almost anything would be better than the current farce.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – YOU WANT TO BELIEVE IT’S THE CUBS’ YEAR BUT…

 Lousy cable service – we can’t say we weren’t warned

We doubt it’s just us – eight or ten calls for assistance in the past six - eight weeks. Two telephone outages in the last 24 hours as this is written. Bright House since its acquisition by Charter Communications has gone from a serviceable system to a bloody disaster. We were told service levels would remain the same, we beg to differ. We were told rates would not go up. They have – approximately 15 per cent in our case. Charter, at the time of the acquisition, was ranked as the second worst cable company nationwide in terms of customer satisfaction. That was well-publicized, and they have lived up to that reputation. And saddest of all, for many parts of the bay area, there is no alternative and Charter knows that. The good news, long term, is these things have a way of working themselves out and some aspiring group will recognize how awful the service is and move in and take advantage.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In the aftermath of the Republican Convention, not surprisingly, you wondered if the same event was being covered depending on which media outlet you viewed or read. So much time devoted to the Mrs. Trump – Mrs. Obama nonsense – particularly on left-leaning NBC. If you’re going to steal quotes, you’re going to steal them from Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, or Helen Keller – not Michele Obama, for goodness sake.

2. Speaking of NBC, the rumble you heard in the background of their convention coverage was award-winning convention commentators David Brinkley, Chet Huntley and John Chancellor rolling over in their graves.

3. We admire the guy and candidly we think he would have made a great president, but it was extreme bad form for Governor John Kasich not to attend his party’s convention in his own state. It puts him in the same category with pouty Jeb Bush and self-serving Ted Cruz.

4. Perhaps you read the piece recently saying legalized medical pot would be a boom to the Florida economy. We have no doubt the biggest growth industry will be in the legal field with accident victims looking for reparations and another branch of the law trying to keep stoned drivers out of jail.

5. Germaine to our concluding piece, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Tampa’s post season Cigar Bowl (1947-54) – the first ever bowl game for the FSU Seminoles in 1950.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. While we would love to have a major league baseball game as close as the Kenyon or Dick Norris sites in Clearwater, having a Rays park there would make an even larger Frankenstein out of U.S. 19. Put us down for the Derby Lane site – a location many locals wanted 25 years ago before political deal making came up with the illogical Trop venue.

7. We bid so long to Jonathon Goldsmith, the actor who portrayed the “most interesting man in the world” for Dos Equis beer for the past decade. The character is being phased out as the company bows to differing tastes of millennials who, we guess, drink a lot of beer.

8. It continues to amaze us that only one top level women’s tennis player has been penalized for juicing.

9.The website Cheat Sheet lists their top six catchers of all time. In six through one order, Mike Piazza, Carlton Fisk, Bill Dickey, Pudge Rodriguez, Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench. It’s hard to argue with any of the six although few of us saw Dickey play. Five of the six are in the Hall of Fame and Pudge will be a first round pick when he is eligible next year.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (now comprised of four old, cranky people) were polled about their all-time favorite song. Their list – A House is not a Home, California Girls, Little Darlin’ and Misty. Not a bad foursome.

The watering down of American sports

First, forget about the good old days of two eight-team baseball leagues, six hockey franchises and the Syracuse Nationals basketball team. Those days are gone, but we continue to water down sports. The latest sign of the Apocalypse is the NCAA announcement that before any 5-7 football teams are considered, all 6-6 teams must be issued a bowl invite. How ridiculous. There was a day when teams finishing 7-3 would turn down a bowl bid judging themselves unworthy for such an honor. But that, of course, was when there were the Cotton, Gator, Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls and maybe one or two others. Other exhibits include the NHL expanding to Las Vegas and the MLB flirting with expansion when several of their franchises including our Rays are on life support. But as long as we sports fans are willing to pay for mediocre performances, the bowls and major sports leagues will gladly accept our money.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – MAKING INSURANCE COVERAGE UNDERSTANDABLE

Too many dots connect in Clinton case

To review: FBI director James Comey takes Hillary Clinton to the woodshed over her email practices while Secretary of State. Fresh off a private meeting with Bill Clinton, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, no doubt hoping for a few more years in the post, says the Justice Department will not pursue anything further against Ms. Clinton. On the same day as the FBI’s findings were revealed to the rest of us, President Obama chooses to make his first campaign appearance with the apparent Democratic nominee. Do you think he’s making that appearance if he doesn’t know what the findings against Clinton are going to be? No one is that stupid. Three day old fish smells better than the above chain of events.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Could Donald Trump have picked a more vanilla candidate than Gov. Mike Pence? Exactly what does he bring to the GOP ticket? It is said that Trump wanted someone with both executive and legislative experience. A better choice stood one state to the east of Indiana but we’ve blown that horn before.

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. 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?

4. The city of Lakeland is looking at valet parking in its downtown. One of the questions being posed to visitors to downtown is “How much would you be willing to pay for such a service?” Frankly, a lot of people exposed to valet parking would be willing to pay more not to resort to valet parking.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the city was a two-bank town – First National Bank at Cleveland and Osceola and Bank of Clearwater at Cleveland and Garden Avenue. Now you can find more banks than that on some corners.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Breaking news: Albany cancels its fall basketball game against Duke over North Carolina’s common sense gender appropriate restroom law. There is no telling how far this will set the Duke basketball program back.

7. Baseball fans will want to remember the name Josh Bell. Pirates fans (and Cub fans who witnessed his major league debut) already know him. This Pirate first baseman of the future looks like an emerging superstar.

8. As mentioned in the May 29 RANTS, Bartolo Colon is the only remaining member of the Montreal Expos still in major league ball. The oldest surviving member of the Expos is 88-year-old ace reliever Elroy Face who made his mark with three saves in the 1960 World Series with the Pirates and over a two-year span in 1958-59 won 22 straight games.

9. A few weeks ago (RANTS – June 19) we noted the once very hot Gap Stores were facing hard times. According to the Wall Street Journal, another American fashion icon in trouble is Ralph Lauren – so much so that its namesake founder and CEO has turned over the reins to an outsider who hopefully can turn the high end line around.

10. A guy named Craig Pittman has authored a book entitled Oh, Florida! How the America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country. Apparently Mr. Pittman was absent from American History class on the days they discussed the admissions of Colorado and California into the union.

Some takeaways from the All-Star game

It’s pretty gimmicky to have the American League as the home team in the National League park. Rotate the leagues evenly when choosing sites rather than playing blackmail with cities that refuse to cave and replace 15-year-old parks with new ones/// We respectively disagree with naming the MLB batting titles after Rod Carew and Tony Gwynn. Both Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner won more titles and frankly there were dozens of better overall hitters – Williams, Mays and Musial come to mind/// While Hall of Fame announcer Dick Enberg had a part in pre-game stuff, it would have been great to have him in the booth with Buck and Smoltz in his hometown/// It’s good to have the casual baseball fan get a look at smaller market superstars like Salvador Perez, Jose Fernandez and Jose Altuve – got to be one and maybe as many as three future Hall of Famers in that group///Lastly, stop us if you’re heard this before, determining the home field advantage in the World Series based on this game is ridiculous - more on that in a future blog.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – LOUSY CABLE SERVICE; CAN’T SAY WE WEREN’T WARNED

Is the 2016 election more about the Supremes than the President?

Right out of the box, let us explain we are talking about the slang term for Supreme Court Justices and not the Diana Ross-led super group of the sixties. It is quite likely the next President will appoint as many as four Supreme Court Justices – obviously a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a Reagan appointee and perhaps the most conservative member of the high court. Two justices will hit their eighties during the next President’s term; a third is already there. Clinton appointee Ruth Ginsburg, unquestionably the most far left member of the court, is already 83. Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee and pretty much a disappointment to the nation’s conservatives, is 79. And Justice Stephen Breyer, another Clinton appointee, is 77. That’s two liberals, a so-called moderate and a rock solid conservative to potentially be replaced. This is perhaps the most compelling argument for conservatives to swallow hard, turn out and pull the Trump lever in November.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Quote of the week: “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented”. The late Elie Wiesel, humanitarian and visiting professor at St. Petersburg’s Eckerd College.

2. Boosters of legalized “medical pot” assure us that all will be well if the ill-advised constitutional amendment should pass this fall. Medical pot cannot be dispensed in drugstores but we can be comforted by the fact the up to 2000 pot shops to be set up around the state will be “state regulated”. Kind of like the many “regulated” pill mills around the state and we know how well that’s worked out. More on this in a future RANT.

3. A recent and very unscientific poll of the “fan experience” at major league parks had our Florida franchises ranked dead last (Marlins) and next to last (Rays). Having attended more than a few games at both venues, can’t disagree. Number one in fan experience, as you might guess, is Wrigley Field.

4. It’s gratifying to know many of the day to day items associated with The Tampa Tribune will be preserved at the Tampa Bay History Center on Old Water Street in downtown Tampa. Some of the items will hark back to the days of hand-set type and Linotype machines. The paper itself harks back to when journalism was journalism - not whatever we call today’s left and right wing advocacy organizations.

5. Guys, you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you got your hair cut for something like 65 cents at Howard the Traders on Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. Your Mom would give you six bits with instructions to give the extra dime to the barber. Sometimes he actually got it.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Earlier this year (RANTS – Feb. 21) we did a piece on long-living character actors now in their middle nineties. Sadly, one of those folks, Noel Neill, has passed away at age 95. She was the original Lois Lane, first in the movies and then on the 50s TV series. Now only the relatively young Phyllis Coates, age 89, is left from the original Superman cast. She played Lois the first year of the TV series but left for another opportunity with Neill resuming the role.

7. A simple piece of wisdom from Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton: “When a pitcher throws a strike, four things can happen – three of them good”.

8. We know it creates slights of more deserving ball players, but we still like the rule that says each major league team must be represented on the All Star roster. It gives every one of us fans someone to pull for.

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. Seriously, a Treasury Secretary stays and a President and war hero is removed?

10. Factoid: An eclectic mix of songs that closed out the first four decades of the rock era at the #1 spot. 1959 – Why – Frankie Avalon; 1969 – Someday We’ll Be Together – Supremes; 1979 – Escape (The Pina Colada Song) - Rupert Holmes and 1989 – Another Day in Paradise – Phil Collins.

At the All Star break, our all-time baseball team

This team is nowhere near the best ever although there are five Hall of Famers (plus a sixth as manager) on the squad. These are simply guys we loved to watch play because, to a man, they loved playing the game. No “why do I need to be out here making a million dollars”, no hot dogs flipping bats after a home run or pointing to the sky after a strikeout, simply guys who were fun to watch. We’ll start at catcher and our favorite Yankee – Yogi Berra, he played the game to the max and never stopped talking behind home plate; 1b – Julio Franco, who could also qualify at second, in his middle forties he was still lining drives into the right center gap and loving every minute; 2b – Mark Lemke, the man they called “Dirt” – diving after every ball, making incredible plays, getting the most out of very average talent; SS – Ernie Banks – “let’s play two” says it all; 3b – Richie Hebner, just loved to hit and you loved watching him hit, always grabbing at the back of his shirt like it didn’t fit him; OF – Hunter Pence who plays every game, no every inning, with such great enthusiasm; another terrific Giants outfielder, the “Say Hey Kid” – Willie Mays plus Roberto Clemente who simply did everything right and, like Mays, at full speed, on the field; Pitcher – Mark Fidrych in a close battle with Fernando Valenzuela - both guys were so much fun to watch on the mound and you knew they loved what they were doing; Relief Pitcher (hey, he had 154 saves) John Smoltz who had that uber-competitive streak in everything he did. DH – you’re kidding, right? Oh and a manager - hard to find anybody who was (and is) a bigger cheerleader for the game than Tommy Lasorda.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – CLINTON CASE: TOO MANY CONNECTING PIECES

 Florida needs to get with it regarding texting and driving

Worlds are colliding. A few weeks back, we caught ourselves nodding our head vigorously in agreement with a Times editorial. The subject was making texting while driving in Florida a primary offense – that is a driver need not be committing another violation to be pulled over for texting. Alarming statistics show that fatal crashes caused by distractions (read texting) have increased by over a third in the past four years. Granted, distractions can be caused by things other than texting but count the number of days you have not been on the road for any significant amount of time when you have not observed drivers around you texting while they should have their eyes on the road. Three-quarters of our states have laws making texting while driving a primary offense. It is a no brainer for our legislature to enact a similar law in their next session.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Betty Perkins was an incredible woman. Widowed three times by three very prominent men, Betty was herself prominence personified. An event wasn’t an event unless Betty was there. For many years, the same could be said for flying events as she was an outstanding pilot. She lived her 98 years to the fullest and our community was better for it.

2. A combined total of six Pinellas County commissioners and constitutional officers were elected last week without opposition. That is way too many. Names like Ken Burke, Deborah Clark and Karen Seel have strong track records attached. Others here in Pinellas and neighboring counties not so much, including one Pinellas County constitutional officer elected with absolutely no track record – a result of not so much qualifications as slick politics.

3. It apparently will not be now, but sooner or later the Rays are going to have to admit Kevin Cash was a bad hire and move on.

4. Sick dogs on Craig’s List; unlicensed contractors/con men on Craig’s List; people getting mugged after answering ads on Craig’s List. Seems there’s a lesson here.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you bought furniture at Ethan Allen or later at Heritage House –now just a part of our county’s history.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Fifty years ago this week, “Old Blue Eyes” hit the number one spot on the charts for the first time in over ten years with Strangers in the Night. It would be his last solo number one hit although he went back to the top a year later with daughter Nancy Sinatra with their duet Something Stupid.

7. From Tim Kurkjian’s extremely interesting new book I’m Fascinated by Sacrifice Flies this nugget: more hitters struck out 100 times in 2014 than in 1900-1963 combined. We will do a review /synopsis of the book in a future RANTS.

8. Best player to never make an All-Star team? By far, it’s Kirk Gibson who has an MVP trophy at home.

9. Another thought “borrowed” from the almost always correct 5:05 Newsletter: “The welcome sign on I-10 as you enter the State of California notifies visitors that You Are Now Entering a Work-Free Drug Place”.

10. Factoid: With another summer holiday with plenty of grilling and plenty of soda – here are the five most popular sodas in America: the first two belong to Coke – Coca Cola and Diet Coke; then two Pepsi products Pepsi and Mountain Dew and number five is Dr. Pepper narrowly edging out Sprite.

Now we understand why we started this blog

We’ve always credited the chutzpah of Alex Sink (failed Hillsborough turned Pinellas congressional candidate) as the inspiration for this blog. But a recent piece from a United Healthcare newsletter makes as much sense –“Learning new things can be revitalizing — and help keep your brain and memory sharp. Maybe that's building furniture, starting a blog, studying a new language or taking up salsa dancing”. Well, when you’re not handy, still scarred from Florence Gilbert’s Latin I & II classes and - have you ever seen us dance? The blog seemed a very logical choice.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – 2016 ELECTION: ALL ABOUT THE “SUPREMES”

The Philadelphia Story

We’re not talking about the 1940 movie which won Jimmy Stewart an Oscar. We’re talking about the ridiculous measure in Philadelphia to add a “sin tax” to the cost of a soda (whether containing sugar or not) purchased in the City of Brotherly Love - something like a penny and a half an ounce. The political machinations surrounding the legislation were brilliant with the mayor and his minions earmarking the tax money for things like playgrounds, Pre-K education and other motherhood and apple pie items. Of course what almost always happens is the money that would have normally been budgeted for these items finds its way to less noble government endeavors (see Florida Lottery/Education). One can only imagine the Fast Eddies of Philadelphia already plotting how to bring in bootleg soda from Jersey. And somewhere out there is the making of a revival TV series: The Untouchables – Pepsi Generation.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton calls for an end to US companies moving outside the country to avoid taxes. Meanwhile the poster child for such shenanigans, Burger King, remains a contributor to her foundation - wink, wink.

2. Last week’s Supreme Court decision affirms to the Obama White House that there are, indeed, three branches of government, not one. It also underlines a major reason to deny Hillary Clinton the White House.

3. Why is it important for us, the general public, to know the contents of conversations between law enforcement and the terrorist killer of 49 people in Orlando?

4. It’s a good idea to co-locate the libraries of the Clearwater campus of St. Petersburg College and the East Branch of the Clearwater Library. Usable public space will be slightly more than the current library. The project scheduled to open in early 2018 has been a long time coming having first been discussed in the late 1990s.

5. Albertina, Cola III, Daisy Mae, Doolie Brook, Flo-Jo and Princess. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember these Clearwater-based charter boats from the 50s and 60s. The Daisy Mae still exists - now in its seventh generation. Bonus points if you remember their skippers – Paul Boggs, Eric Jansen, Jake Korte, Bob Bestle, Nick Lopez and Gene Spaulding.  

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The fan balloting for the All-Star game is a joke. As this is written, KC’s Omar Infante is third in the AL balloting at second base. He was designated for assignment two weeks ago. And while we’re at it, let’s please end the craziness of this exhibition game determining home field advantage in the World Series.

7. Last in a series of sports first names that need no second name attached, this time from the NFL – Bart, Brett, Deacon, Deion, Franco and Vince.

8. Liberal blogs are making a big thing of Indianapolis’ WIBC radio dropping Rush Limbaugh’s show. Why? On the Friday Limbaugh’s run on one of Indy’s better stations ends, you can be sure he will be on the air at a station across town the following Monday.

9. Canadian singer/writer Bobby Curtola passed away last week. He was 73. Curtola had a couple medium hits in the 60s – the biggest being Fortuneteller. But his largest contributions to pop culture in the 60s were some of the classic Coca Cola jingles including – “Things Go Better with Coke”.

10. Twists and Turns: Paul Anka and Annette Funicello were an “item” in the late 1950s. Anka wrote a bevy of songs for her which resulted in an album Annette Sings Anka. On that 1960 album was a song It’s Really Love. Two years later, the words were stripped away and the song became the very familiar theme song for the long running Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Ichiro a great hitter but not the “hit king”

Much was made of the fact that Ichiro Suzuki surpassed Pete Rose’s major league record of 4256 hits when you combine Ichiro’s numbers in America and Japan. Rose’s record is a little sturdier than say Hank Aaron’s 755 homers – later surpassed by Barry Bonds. Many traditionalists say Bonds was "chemically aided”. But at least Bonds hit all of his dingers in the major leagues. Most baseball experts consider the Japanese majors, as well as Mexico’s, as a sort of AAAA league. Both have improved over the years but still fall short of America’s major leagues – particularly in the pitching department where their hurlers tend to be finesse pitchers rather than Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson types. Ruling here – Pete continues to wear the somewhat tarnished crown.

Florida and Pinellas political wheels keep spinning

Charlie has a new opponent. Florida has a new Charlie. And there is hope for us in Pinellas County after all. Let’s take in order. U.S. Rep. David Jolly has dropped out of the U.S. Senate race. This is somewhat of a disappointment because we had come around to believing he could win it. Jolly will instead seek re-election to his current seat even though our state’s courts have gerrymandered the heck of what has been a Republican stronghold for half a century. Even with the odds stacked against him, Jolly has the incumbency and the fact his opponent is a “which way is the wind blowing today” Democrat (this week). Meanwhile Florida’s incumbent U.S. Senator appears ready to jump back in the race after his ill-fated presidential run – a move that seems all too Charlie-like.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Verbalized many times by people many times smarter than us – there is simply no need for anyone other than a member of the military or a law enforcement agency to possess weapons that spit out dozens of bullets in the space of seconds. The trick, of course, is making that happen. But it needs to happen.

2. In a related note, our esteemed president turns a cold shoulder to Governor Scott’s request for assistance in the wake of Orlando because Scott has justifiably been critical of Obama in the past. Come on, Mr. President, this isn’t Chicago ward politics but a nation you’re supposed to be running.

3. Two years ago this week (RANTS – June 15, 2014) we outlined some parameters for a new city hall for the city of Clearwater. That was occasioned by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s since rejected plan to move downtown. But the city still needs a replacement for its 50-year headquarters in the near future and it’s time, no past time, to start planning.

4. Before we turn gyrocopter pilot Doug Hughes into too much of a folk hero, the truth is he violated the law – big time. By his own admission, he’s lucky Secret Service agents didn’t blow him out of the sky.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County for a long time if you remember the expansive Knowles Pottery Company on Clearwater Largo Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Breaking news: Toronto SS Troy Tulowitzki on the disabled list again. The veteran shortstop is very good when he plays but that has been less than half the season for five out of the last six years. (Update: as this week’s edition went on line, Tulo came off the disabled list).

7. With the baseball draft just completed, here are arguably the Top 5 Number One picks in the draft since its inception in 1966 (remember Rick Monday?). At least three are headed for the Hall, one is already there and the fifth would have been there had he played it straight. The top number one draft picks are LA’s Adrian Gonzalez, the Twins’ Joe Mauer and the Braves’ Chipper Jones. Ken Griffey, Jr. is already in the Hall and ARod would have been but for his various dalliances with PEDs. Barring career-threatening injuries, the Nat’s Strasburg and Harper will join that list in a few more seasons.

8. Here’s a follow up to last week’s baseball names – a half dozen basketball names that need no last name attached – Elgin, Kareem, Kobe, LeBron, Magic and Wilt. Stephen will soon join that list.

9. The once red hot retailer Gap has hit an iceberg and new leadership is bailing water as fast they can. Two bay area stores have closed within the last month.

10. New York Times headline – “Clinton, Trump accuse each other of being unfit for the presidency”. This time, we agree with both candidates.

In search of columnist Tom Jackson

Last week, we commented on the lack of change at the uber-liberal Times after their dismantling of the Tampa Tribune. Biggest negative in that awful occurrence was the loss of columnist Tom Jackson who should have been brought on board if the Times were truly interested in a more balanced journalistic approach. Good news is you can find Tom occasionally at SaintPetersBlog – a blog with a similar bent as this weekly offering.

SNEEK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT ANNETTE, PAUL ANKA AND JOHNNY CARSON HAVE IN COMMON

 Times: A month later – no change

Remember the Tuesday afternoon massacre a month ago when the St. Pete Times bought and immediately folded their cross the bay rival – The Tampa Tribune – at the cost of well over a hundred jobs? Bay area readers were promised a more balanced approach to reporting and opinions with the demise of the more conservative Tribune. Balanced – hardly – still the same front page coverage of a conservative politician’s perceived missteps while the gaffs of Hillary and her ilk get buried on Page 8 - if –printed at all. Perhaps the Times added a few more syndicated columnists who they may feel are conservative but not a single local columnist of any stature was added to their ranks. So it remains business as usual with Carlton, Romano and Ruth along with a few lefties from south Florida – again promise unfulfilled.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. The more you watch Donald Trump the more you tend to think he is a sleeper agent for the Democratic Party. His presumed opponent is a deeply flawed candidate yet Trump continues to do outlandish things that tend to make you forget what a bad fit Hillary Clinton would be for the oval office.

2. The Tampa Bay Rays have a new employee, Jeff Cogen, who is charged with putting more fans in the seats. Jeff, you’re new here, so we’ll repeat a couple of previous suggestions: maybe not have your front gate Nazis confiscate little Swiss Army knives from guys in their 70s (Rants – Aug. 31, 2014). We probably wouldn’t have a problem with the gatekeepers confiscating those bush league cowbells. But most of all, have your bosses get on the phone with the Marlins and offer them anything short of Archer or Longoria to switch to the vastly more popular (by about five million fans a year) National League (Rants – Dec. 27, 2015). Then when you’ve accomplished that, ask for a big raise.

3. Governor Scott in a T.S. Colin news conference last week mentioned that over a million Floridians have never experienced a serious storm. He’s right – almost two million people did not live in Florida during our last serious storms – and that’s simply the population increase not just new Floridians.

4. In a related note, we quote the Gassman Law Firm’s sign on Court Street almost as often as the 5:05 Club Newsletter. A gem from last week during T.S. Colin – Noah Reads Our Sign.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long while if you remember Florida State League teams – the St. Pete Saints (Yankees) and the Tampa Tarpons (Reds). Either name would have been a much better name for our MLB effort than Devil Rays.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Here are a half dozen baseball names where you don’t need to supply the last name – Babe, Chipper, Cy, Duke, Mickey and Yogi.

7. To show what a litigious society we live in, in the past several months we have been part of class actions because, we bought a dishwasher; bought a ticket from Ticketmaster and received a fax at a business we sold six years ago.

8. Quote of the week: “Never underestimate what a little free food and drink can buy you” – Anon.

9. Watch the current edition of Family Feud and ask yourself if anything seems odd about the show. Oh, while we’re on the subject, the ultra-smooth Richard Dawson was the best of their multiple hosts over the years.

10, It hurts to see two guys who were the faces of their franchise designated for assignment in the same week. Jimmy Rollins was the heart and soul of the Phillies as was Carl Crawford for our local nine.

He, indeed, was the greatest

Mohammed Ali passed away last week at the age of 74 – a victim of Parkinson’s disease. He burst on the scene in the early sixties with a convincing win over the seemingly invincible Sonny Liston and then repeated the feat less than a year later. He went on to beat all comers, but unlike another great heavyweight, the undefeated Rocky Marciano, stayed too long at the fair. It was sad to see a guy who was so great continue on when his skills had obviously diminished. There have been so many opinions that staying on too long helped bring on Parkinson’s or that perhaps the early onset of Parkinson’s is what eroded his abilities. Either way, you would have liked to see him retire undefeated because for many years, he, indeed, was the greatest.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT OUR LEGISLATURE MUST DO FOR SAFER ROADS

Maybe there is something to this email stuff

Shocking as it may seem, this blog has been wrong about a few things in the past – particularly predicting the future. Well over a year ago, we said the Hillary Clinton email issue would dry up and blow away. Now after a scathing State Department inspector general report, even some of her staunchest liberal supporters are calling her out – supporters like the New York Times and The Washington Post, the two most liberal newspapers north of St. Petersburg, Florida. Before you know it, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, Clinton’s personal apologist, will jump on the bandwagon. We still don’t think the email scandal will materially hurt Clinton’s election chances, but as we pointed out at the top, we’ve been wrong before.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Emails aside, Hillary Clinton is listed as a 1-2 favorite to win the election while Donald Trump is 7-4. If you are looking for a big score, go with the thought that Clinton will be indicted and lay your money on Joe Biden who is 33-1.

2. We wish the best to Seth Taylor who comes on board as the new head of Clearwater’s Community Redevelopment Agency. He brings a good resume to a big job. Clearwater, particularly its downtown, has foundered since the departure of redevelopment guru Bob Keller many moons ago.

3. The Dunedin-Toronto Blue Jays dance will only get more interesting as the year wears on. But two things stand out. The idea that the Blue Jays are not talking to other venues is hogwash. Jays’ executives would be guilty of malfeasance if they weren’t looking at other options. And second, Dunedin and the county and the state need to turn a deaf ear to so-called economists who say spring training is a lousy investment. If that were so, cities all over Florida and Arizona would be letting teams walk and that just ain’t happening.

4. Beach diners are going to have to do without a favorite spot for several months – Crabby Bill’s at the west end of the Marina. The old building is coming down to be replaced by an expanded version constructed by Alan Bomstein’s Creative Contractors.

5. Speaking of restaurants, if you haven’t visited the Beach Shanty for breakfast or lunch, it’s a nice, relatively inexpensive spot. Find it on Mandalay about six doors down from the Ron Jon Surf Shop. Good food, friendly wait staff.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Hiroshima quote - “We have a shared responsibility to look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again” – our current President. What we must do differently in the future might be to not provoke a war by a sneak attack on an American military installation. Obama promised no apology at Hiroshima but came as close as you can without issuing one - no surprise.

7. Kudos to Evan Longoria who graciously but firmly told Ray’s broadcaster Brian Anderson he is all wet about a lack of leadership in the team’s clubhouse. Anderson, a second tier former pitcher and second tier analyst, seems to think every clubhouse needs someone who shouts, throws things etc. Not true – each clubhouse is different and the Rays are actually doing quite well given their level of talent.

8. Break up the Rays West (the Padres). Last week San Diego traded away former Rays James Loney and at this writing, is on the verge of dealing James Shields. The Rays connection aside, it’s very difficult to understand what in the world the Padres have been trying to accomplish over the past two years.

9. We very often quote the long overdue for a Pulitzer Prize 5:05 Newsletter. This week, a thought a friend passed along that he swears did not come from that publication (if not, it should have), “If I had a dollar for every girl that found me unattractive, they'd eventually find me attractive”.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (now expanded to four old, cranky people) lists an eclectic quartet of now defunct things they miss – Howard Johnson’s Corn Toasties, the Ford Thunderbird, Farm Stores and Tampa’s Golden Gate Speedway.

Maybe there should be a Pop Hall of Fame

First off, for those of you from the Midwest, we’re not referring to Upper 10, or Squirt or Royal Crown – what we called pop is soda here in Florida. Every year we keep gnashing our teeth over the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s exclusion of early Top 40 giants like Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka and, until a few years ago, Neil Diamond. But recently we were looking over some vinyl we inherited from WTAN Radio legend Scott Dilworth (Scotty’s Swingshift). He marked what we called rock and roll played on his show as “pop” on the record labels. So perhaps that’s what is needed, a separate hall dedicated to early Top 40 acts like those above and even include some folks who are in the “other” hall like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Floyd Cramer and the Drifters – the Sex Pistols and AC/DC need not apply. And while we’re at it, let’s include some folks who influenced those early rock pioneers – the Four Freshmen, with their influence on the great harmonies of the Beach Boys, are the first to come to mind. And let’s do it soon while some of these legends are still with us.

SNEEK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – TIMES ONE MONTH LATER – NO CHANGE

So long PTI; you used to be so good

A few weeks back, we not so regretfully pulled ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption from our list of daily recordings (nobody watches anything live anymore, do they?) The reasons are numerous – first, it has become pretty much a basketball only show because that is where the co-hosts’ knowledge lies. The other three major sports do get passing mention IF – the team lies along the I-95 corridor or in co-host Michael Wilbon’s home town of Chicago – come on, just how much coverage is a 6-10 football team (the Bears) worth? They sure got more PTI exposure last year than a 6-10 team in Tampa Bay. Yet another issue, both Wilbon and his tag team partner, Tony Kornheiser, fancy themselves sociologists – they aren’t. Then there’s Wilbon’s blind hatred for any athletic team south of his home town – particularly Notre Dame, the Atlanta Braves and the Alabama Crimson Tide – three teams that have routinely vanquished his favorite teams over the years. PTI used to be so good, but then both co-hosts became more than a little full of themselves, so we say farewell. We’ll probably return briefly in the fall to see the reaction when Wilbon’s Chicago Cubs, to use a Kornheiser term, choke like dogs in the MLB playoffs – if they make it. 

Around Tampa Bay:

1. A thank you and best wishes to Janet Clark who will leave the Pinellas School Board after twelve years of service and return to the classroom. There have been higher profile school board members over the years but none were more devoted to our children and the folks who educate them.

2. Charter Communications has made several promises in regards to their acquisition of Bright House – faster speed, all digital systems but the promised change that will make most of their customers jump for joy is their pledge to bring all their overseas call centers back to the U.S.

3. With its biggest legal challenge out of the way, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium should be able to move ahead with its expansion plans on Island Estates. Is the heavily residential community the best place for such a facility? No, but the aquarium has been a good neighbor to our community and the plans will alleviate several existing neighborhood issues while improving the aquarium.

4. Speaking of the aquarium, perhaps it could channel other attractions here and elsewhere and offer some deeper discounts to locals during “off season”. It would likely be a win-win for both the aquarium and the local community.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a long time if you remember that 1977 was the first year that beer was served at the Phil’s original home – Jack Russell Stadium. And it’s a double treat if you’ve purchased a brew from Howard the Beer Man who works primarily behind home plate during the spring. He is a hoot.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Spelling Bee Notes: Is there no one named Johnson, Smith, Brown, Jones or Williams (our nation’s five most common surnames) who knows how to spell?

7. Why is it that every time you see the term “free trial”, you want to run fast in the opposite direction? Probably because you should.

8.. Factoid - In addition to being the oldest guy to ever launch his first career home run, Met’s pitcher Bartolo Colon is the only player left in the major leagues who played for the Montreal Expos.

9. Another thing about Colon, he has the most wins of any active major league pitcher with 221 at this writing. Durability is something that factors into what makes a great pitcher. For example, Jake Arrieta and Stephen Strasburg, both being hailed as the next coming of Cy Young, have a combined 121 wins over a combined 14 seasons – 20 less than Jared Weaver in three less seasons. Let’s not start engraving the Cooperstown plaques just yet.

10. On the advent of summer, here are five great “summer songs” – there are dozens more, Hot Fun in the Summertime, Theme from A Summer Place, See You in September, Surf City and All Summer Long (the concluding song in American Graffiti – one of the great summer movies).

Baseball is life:

A friend sent us a piece recently that compared baseball to everyday life. Both can be tedious. You can tune out for a while and then easily return. And baseball, unlike football or basketball, does not require you to be a 375 pound lineman or a 7-footer with a wing span similar to a B-52. A baseball player can look like your accountant (Greg Maddux comes to mind); a college professor (Carlton Fisk) or your next door neighbor (Yogi Berra, if you lived in an Italian neighborhood). But most of all, something that differentiates baseball from the other two major sports is no cheerleaders. Vive la difference!

SNEEK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A SUGGESTION TO HONOR SOME EARLY ROCK LEGENDS

The slippery slope of marijuana enforcement

We agree with Times’ columnist John Romano about once, maybe twice, a year. Very few guys successfully pull a Lewis Grizzard and transform from the sports department to being a good general news columnist and Romano isn’t one of them. But we digress. His argument that there should be at least a country-wide policy concerning penalties for pot possession makes sense. St. Pete wants to go their own way while even their top cop, Tony Holloway, suggests a county-wide approach. And since Tampa also seems hell-bent on making pot penalties less than a stop sign violation, why not have a region-wide policy?

Around Tampa Bay:

1. In a related note to our lead item, while bay area policy makers are moving towards virtually decriminalizing pot usage, nationwide occurrences of marijuana-related fatal vehicle accidents are jumping in our states from anywhere from 25 to 44 per cent, depending on the state. That fact is probably not reported in Marijuana Business Daily. Yes, there really is a daily publication devoted to the pot industry. Amazing.

2. Liberal spin doctors are criticizing U.S. Senate candidate Carlos Beruff because he has supported various political candidates on both sides of the aisle in the past which somehow makes him an “insider”. What it makes him is someone who cares about good government as opposed to a Pinellas political candidate a few years back who actually won an election after it was revealed that he had not even voted in the past several elections.

3. Does there come a time when the bill comes due in Pinellas School superintendent Mike Grego’s office for the underperformance of the county’s school system?

4. We know we whined and complained about road work being done on Court and Chestnut Streets during high season, but the final results are great. Traffic patterns on both streets make much more sense and avoid last minute merges.

5. You’ve lived in Tampa Bay for a long time if you remember when local artist Roger Bansemer’s hot air balloon was a familiar site in the Pinellas sky.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Speaking of flying, a guy who set a bunch of speed records flying the Convair B-58 bomber and is in the Air Force Hall of Fame, Col. Henry Deustschendorf, worried less about flying at supersonic speed as he did about his son John who spent all day doing nothing but playing the guitar. The son turned out all right, shortening the last name to Denver.

7. Fifty years ago this week, the newest album on record store shelves was the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds – one of the two or three most important albums of the sixties. It contained, among others, Caroline No, Sloop John B, God Only Knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice and one of the anthems of the sixties – I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.

8. If the National Observer had a funny bone, it would be called the 5:05 Newsletter. Another gem from this great publication: A new study suggests that a chemical released when a person is hungry can lead to poor decision-making. It is what Taco Bell calls “our entire business model.”

9. Fredi Gonzalez finally stopped swinging in the wind when the Braves fired him last Tuesday. Couple things – you had to question the timing – in the middle of a road trip; why not wait until the Braves returned home? Then there was the embarrassing email from an airline confirming his ticket home before he was informed of his dismissal. Finally, this is the first time in 26 years that MLB’s ultra-stable franchise has fired a manager – perhaps that’s why they butchered it.

10. It is kind of a “circle of life” thing. Your HB (humble blogger) and young wife spent their Sunday nights watching that new CBS show 60 Minutes. Years later, our thirty something kids watch it. There have been many fine journalists on the show over the years but the three faces of 60 Minutes were Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and the irascible Andy Rooney. With Morley’s passing all three have left us and heaven’s newsroom is a lot better for it.

Some potentially successful managers just need a chance

As this is written, if the season ended today, the Phillies would be in the playoffs. The Phillies! Many prognosticators predicted they would lose 100 games this year. There have been several glass slippers that have fallen their way, but a great deal of their success has to do with Manager Pete MacKanin - a solid baseball man who incredibly was passed over for a manager’s job more than once. Some guys don’t interview well, we guess, but they know the game in and out. Finally at age 63, Pete gets his chance and the results are gratifying. Here are three more guys who have lost out in interviews that should be in a major league dugout somewhere – Dave Martinez, Charlie Montoyo and Jose Oquendo. Eventually they will be – and, like Pete MacKanin, they will be good. And, in view of the item above, the Braves, if they are smart, will talk with all three.

SNEEK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A ONCE GREAT SPORTS SHOW THAT’S GONE SOUTH

 Loretta Lynch attempting to defend the indefensible

The state of North Carolina has enacted a common sense law that states people must use a gender appropriate restroom i.e. the restroom that corresponds to the gender listed on your birth certificate. The Obama administration and its legal mouthpiece, Loretta Lynch, are opposing the North Carolina law threatening a cutoff of funds to vital state services. Lynch has an arduous task convincing us that our wives, daughters or granddaughters should be in the same restroom with someone who was a male six weeks or six months ago. And to top it off, she decided to play the race card – comparing the law to segregationist laws of the middle 1900s. We should expect and demand much better from our Attorney General.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. If ever there was a time ripe for a legitimate third party presidential challenger it’s 2016 with the American public apparently doomed to choose between two circus acts.

2. Almost as sad as the loss of three teenagers when the car they were driving plunged into a pond in Pinellas County is the blame being thrown at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office by the very people who are ultimately responsible for the teen’s actions. We have become a community and nation that no longer believes in self-responsibility and continually wants to blame our shortcomings on someone else.

3. Heard from a Bright House installation tech: “We’ve never been busier since the Frontier Cable gaffs”. But beware, Charter Communications lurks around the corner and recently Bright House has been no hallmark of excellence either – your HB (humble blogger) has experienced four significant service outages in the past six weeks.

4. So, we learn that fluoride levels are below normal in Clearwater’s water supply. Geez, you’d think with the almost yearly increases in water bills, the city would be up to snuff. But the good news, we will be – in two years, maybe.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when it wasn’t St. Petersburg College, Clearwater Campus but “Drew U”.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The pride of Winston-Salem, NC, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, sold to a German company – oh the humanity! Krispy Kreme and its Boston-based rival Dunkin Donuts are like Ford and Chevy or Pepsi and Coke. It’s either one or the other. We’ll swallow hard (no pun intended) and ignore the fact that the better doughnut is now foreign-owned.

7. For his next birthday, give your son or grandson a baseball bat and glove. On opening day, fully 492 players on major league rosters were making one million dollars or more.

8. Fifty years ago this week, one of the two hottest new groups of 1966, the Mama and Papas surged to Number One on the charts with Monday, Monday. Their 1966 success was matched only by another L.A. group - the Monkees.

9. Borrowed from a friend’s Facebook Page. “Does it count as saving someone’s life if you just refrain from killing them?”

10. Factoid – Wally Pipp known universally as the guy who sat out with a headache in favor of a rookie named Gehrig (who played the next 2130 games) twice led the major leagues in home runs and once in triples.

The Bombers: still the greatest team in the history of the game

They rank right up there with the Yankees in baseball, the Celtics in basketball and the Patriots in football. The Clearwater Bombers put the city of Clearwater on the map. Only our world class beach rivals the Bombers for the national recognition the Bombers brought to Clearwater over the years. Dudley, Hunter, Haney, Whitlock, Tomlinson, Mason, Sprentall, Moore and Weathersby – the names go on and on. Ten times the Bombers were national champs – no small feat considering the competition from places like Aurora IL, Detroit, Stratford CN and Mountain View, CA to name a few. Soon, you’ll be able to relive the Bomber years at the museum being planned at the old South Ward School location. For those of us who packed the stands at Jack Russell Stadium on Saturday nights or for folks who only knew the Bombers by reputation, the new Bomber Museum will be something worth seeing.

Times’ takeover of Tribune – disappointing in so many ways

 It isn’t the fact that Florida’s most conservative major daily newspaper is gone. It’s the way it was handled – security people handing out boxes to people who had put in decades at the Trib; a Tribune beat writer for the Lightning being told to come home from New York – at his expense (Times management wisely rethought that one); and yeah, part of it is bay area readers are left with no option but a left wing mouthpiece. You Tribune readers are going to love Daniel Ruth, Elijah Pitts and Sue Carlton. Steve Otto and Tom Jackson, they are not. In one of our very first items in Tampa Rants and Raves over two years ago, we predicted that the bay area would be down to one or no daily newspapers within five years. Frankly, we hoped the survivor would be the Tribune and we thought it would be handled with a lot more class than the Times management exhibited.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Kudos to the city of Clearwater for their plan to purchase the wetlands adjacent to the campus of the now defunct Clearwater Christian College.

2. In a related note, can’t help thinking what a great business campus the remaining Clearwater Christian College property would make. There are some development challenges there, but what a terrific site.

3. It might have been nice to see Hillsborough County voters at least get a chance to have a voice in whether to tax themselves for transportation improvements. At the same time, we’re pretty sure of the outcome. We continue our love affair with the automobile.

4. A sidebar to our lead item, in the light of all of last Wednesday’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.

5. Also related to our lead item, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when you had the choice of five daily newspapers – The St. Petersburg Times, unfortunately the sole survivor; The Clearwater Sun which provided great coverage of Upper Pinellas County; The St. Pete Independent and their famous sunshine guarantee; The Tampa Times which offered superb local sports reporting and, of course, the now defunct Tampa Tribune. We hoist a toast to great people like Mike Pride, Mike O’Keefe, Earl Emmons, Tom McEwen, Archie Blount, Ed Haver, Tom Jackson, Steve Otto and hundreds more who entertained and informed us with their prose in the afore mentioned papers.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Luis Aparicio, Harmon Killebrew, Bill Mazeroski, Phil Rizzuto and Hoyt Wilhelm – five players from the so-called modern era of baseball who most experts agree should not be in baseball’s Hall of Fame. But since they are, two-time MVPs and more deserving players, Roger Maris and Dale Murphy, belong there too.

7. When both teams got off to an 0-9 start, hopeful Braves and Twins fans were wishing that next year will be a repeat of the 1991 “worst to first” classic World Series. Don’t think so.

8. Another item “borrowed” from that literary gem the 5:05 Newsletter: "If I had known 'cuties' were little oranges when my wife asked me to 'bring a few home' I could have avoided all these awkward introductions."

9. Idle observation: good accountants, attorneys, doctors and realtors are worth every darn penny you pay them.

10. Continuing our series of instant success on the record charts, here are another five music acts that hit Number One with their first chart record. They are Sam Cooke, Tommy Edwards, The Four Seasons, Bobbie Gentry and, no surprise here, the super group of the sixties – the Beatles. The songs were You Send Me, It’s All in the Game, Sherry, Ode to Billie Joe and I Want to Hold Your Hand. The Four Seasons would visit the top spot another two times and Beatles an incredible 18 more times.

A somber 20^th anniversary

Twenty years ago this week, ValuJet Flight 592 crashed in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 people on board. The recognized cause of the crash was improperly stowed oxygen generators which started a ferocious blaze which incapacitated the plane’s control systems. The canisters were stowed by a ValuJet vendor – SabreTech. The company was later charged with murder although, for reasons not all that apparent, the charges were later dropped. The underlying cause was very loose maintenance standards by ValuJet which later morphed into AirTran and later was absorbed into Southwest. Now, twenty years later, many aviation experts are drawing comparisons of ValuJet to Allegiant Airlines which flies out of St. Pete-Clearwater Airport and serves 114 airports – mostly smaller ones. The airline, which operates one of the oldest fleets of any carrier as did ValuJet, has been plagued with incidents and has come under heavy scrutiny from the FAA.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE TEAM THAT PUT CLEARWATER ON THE MAP

The mess in the Clearwater Fire Department – this isn’t new

 When did the Clearwater Fire Department start to go south? Some point to the Dolphin Cove fire in 2002, others to the disgrace Chief Jamie Greer brought to the department but the fact is dysfunction in the department spans more than two decades. It was in the mid-1990s that it was discovered that firemen pensioned on disabilities were, in fact, healthy enough to tote furniture and accept employment with payment under the table. Even before that, there was a constant war between administration and the labor union representing firefighters. The low ebb came when some renegade firefighters hung City Manager Bill Horne in effigy. So where do we go from here? The short term answer is to bring in an outsider who has dealt with similar problems in a like-sized department. The long term answer for the good of the city and the entire county is to establish a countywide firefighting system.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Marina update: Clearwater’s Marina no longer has parking rates higher than that of Disney World. The short lived increases of over 300 per cent were adjusted to a significant but reasonable hike thanks in large measure to the intervention of City Manager Bill Horne.

2. David Jolly is going to be a pariah in the U.S. House for his bill to reduce campaign contributions. It certainly won’t be the first time in the last 2000 years someone becomes a pariah for doing the right thing.

3. Speaking of Jolly, a couple folks say he should give up his Senate bid, where he leads most polls, and try to retain his seat in a now decidedly Democratic district. We are hoping he listens to other voices rather than a liberal political columnist and the mayor of Clearwater.

4. Pardon us if we’re skeptical about MOSI’s plans to move to downtown Tampa. It seems like we’re trying to pack a whole lot of venues into a very constricted space.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember these new products from 50 years ago – Apple Jacks cereal, Bounty Paper Towels, Mace, the game Operation and the Shelby Mustang.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Number of the week – 107. That’s how many years it’s been since the Cubs won the World Series. Their overrated pitching will help make it 108 – unless they pick up a true 1 or 2 rotation guy at the trading deadline.

7. Division leader after 20 or so games most likely not to be there at season’s end. We think we’ll take all three AL division leaders as of 4/26 – Baltimore, Chicago and Seattle.

8. New company – Whoopi & Maya features pot-laced “health” products for women. Why are we not surprised?

9. 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.

10. The creators of the Tampa Bay Rants and Raves wish to announce that at this time, we have not settled on a running mate for November.

Finding a team to root for in 2016 and possibly ‘17

Last year, your HB (Humble Blogger’s) family had T-Shirts made up that read “2015-2016; Taking Two Seasons Off; Atlanta Braves” along with a baseball diamond logo. The phrasing is in response to the Braves admitting they were trying to build a team to be competitive when they open their new stadium in 2017 and punting 2015-16. Even 2017 might be unrealistic for the Braves to be competitive again. It occurred to us if your favorite team can take a couple years off, maybe you can too. Perhaps we can find another team to root for this year and possibly next. The logical choice would be the Rays – except they play in the American League with the designated hitter, plastic turf and slightly less strategy than Chutes and Ladders. Can’t root for an NL East team – hate them all except the Phils, who, currently, are almost as bad as the Braves. Being a native Pittsburgher, we loved the Pirates for many years until they dumped our favorite manager, Chuck Tanner, who came to the Braves who had this superstation and, well, that’s how the infatuation with the Braves began. The Pirates have a scrappy manager in Clint Hurdle and one of the most dynamic players in baseball in Andrew McCutchen and they are perennial underdogs. What’s not to love? Go Buccos! At least this year.

A SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A SOMBER ANNIVERSARY

Tax chief Nelson to retire; probably time for a fresh outlook

Pinellas Tax Collector Diane Nelson has announced she will retire this year. This did not create quite the stir as when Pam Dubov announced she was leaving as Property Appraiser. The difference being Nelson took over a system that was running fairly well and, frankly, hasn’t done much to make it any better. Dubov, on the other hand, assumed the leadership of an office rife with corruption and turned it around. There’s another stark contrast - Nelson, like so many politicians, wants to anoint her successor which often doesn’t serve the public interest (see Sheriff, Pinellas County). Dubov, anything but the stereotypical politician, did not openly endorse someone from within her office. Fortunately, someone has emerged from the outside who appears to be an adequate replacement for the Property Appraiser. It would probably serve the tax payers of Pinellas for a set of fresh eyes from the outside the tax collector’s office emerging to improve a system that, while not broken, isn’t exactly a paragon of excellence.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. It’s official – as of April 22^nd, it now costs more to park in the Clearwater Marina for a day than it does to park at Walt Disney World. More on the unbelievable mess that is our city marina in a future edition.

2. With the spring training agreement between the Blue Jays and Dunedin a little over a year away from expiring, do you seriously think the Toronto Blue Jays aren’t trolling both Florida and Arizona for a new spring training site? Dunedin’s mayor and the Blue Jay’s president are both blowing smoke about “productive talks”.

3. Eric Lynn is a decided underdog to Charlie Crist in the Democratic primary for District 13’s Congressional seat – which, thanks to judicial meddling, is tantamount to election. But Lynn shouldn’t despair. Charlie will spend about two years in Washington before he seeks some other office.

4. The overallgoals of FAST (Faith and Action for Strength Together) are noble. But the group too often expects simplistic solutions to what are very complex problems.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you dined at Tampa’s Hawaiian Village Restaurant on North Dale Mabry in the 1960s.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It was hard not to see a little bit of your own mother (particularly if you grew up Catholic) in Doris Roberts’ portrayal of Ray Romano’s mom in Everybody Loves Raymond. The multi-Emmy award winning actress died last week at age 90.

7. You no doubt heard – Fed Ex guy falls asleep in the cargo bin of a jet in Memphis and winds up in Texas. So the next time you need something from Amazon or EBay quick, just have them slip it in his pocket and give him a Melatonin.

8. Looking at the Buc’s weak pre-season schedule, you can’t help but wish those games would count. Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Cleveland and Washington are not exactly Super Bowl contenders.

9. Factoid: The man first offered the role of Rob Petrie was not Dick Van Dyke but a comic who was hosting a New York-based game show Who Do You Trust – Johnny Carson. From an interesting Carson biography Here’s Johnny by his life-long second banana – Ed McMahon.

10. 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.

Message from Schilling firing: “Just shut up”

ESPN terminated baseball analyst Curt Schilling after another offensive remark involving the former star pitcher and the gay community. No argument here. Like so many, many others, we are happy for Curt Schilling’s success on the mound, but we don’t give a damn about his political or social views. The same holds true for every other athlete, actor/actress or recording star. We simply don’t care about your views on candidates, social issues or anything else – and more importantly, exactly what qualifies you to tell us how to vote or think?

SNEAK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK – THE HOT MESS THAT IS CLEARWATER’S FIRE DEPARTMENT

Marco: Please don’t become another Charlie

Marco Rubio is, in many ways, a bright young guy. We don’t think he exhibited the greatest wisdom in launching his ill-fated Presidential campaign after just a few years in the U.S. Senate. But success can be intoxicating and Rubio’s career was flush with success before the reality of 2016. The worst thing Rubio can do now is to become this decade’s Charlie Crist – running for every available office in Florida. A little reflection is needed before he resumes his political career which we imagine he wants to do. And keep in mind Marco that folks like JFK, Reagan and FDR fell short in their first try for the Presidency. Your time may yet come.

Around Tampa Bay

1. St. Pete’s Rick Baker has decided not to challenge for District 13’s Congressional seat which the courts took away from David Jolly without one vote being counted. Baker was probably the GOP’s only realistic option for the voting public to tell the courts to let the ballot box decide who represents us. On the other hand, it’s well documented that Baker does not play well with others and a collaborative post like a Congressional seat probably wasn’t his cup of tea.

2. Related to the two top items this week, wouldn’t it be a hoot to have Marco Rubio rent a condo in downtown St. Pete thereby establishing residency and run for Jolly’s Congressional seat? Nah, no one would buy that. Oh wait…

3. The city of Clearwater lost another long-time civic leader last week with the passing of Dan Carlisle who for many years led Carlisle Lincoln-Mercury on Gulf to Bay Boulevard. Dan was very active in the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Clearwater and various automotive and safety organizations over the years. His and wife Nadine’s philanthropic efforts made Clearwater a better place to live.

4. Last week, we did a short item on Record Store Day. Just days later, we read a piece about a local on-line record dealer down on his luck. He was getting help through GoFundMe as is our niece whose home in Pennsylvania burned to the ground a few months back. Thing is, you can help a good bit more by sending the funds direct to the person you want to help as GoFundMe takes just south of ten percent off the top of every contribution.

5. You can get pretty good pancakes at Perkins, Farmer Boys on Drew Street and Olga’s on Belcher Road, but none compare with the great cakes served up for years at the three Robby’s Pancake Houses along the Suncoast. The good news - you can still buy the Robby’s pancake mix on line or at Wilson-Sonoma.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Much critical acclaim for Ken Burns’ latest effort – Jackie Robinson. Jackie was a heroic trailblazer, a very good, if not great, ballplayer but he was still out at the plate in the 1952 World Series.

7. Megyn Kelly meets Al Sharpton (as they did on Fox News last week). There has to be some Grade B sci-fi thriller in that meeting.

8. Disappointing falls short of our reaction to MLB Commission Rob Manfred’s condoning, no, almost encouraging, punks like Bautista and Harper and their bat flips. We can’t wait to see his reaction when a few of those showboats get the Sal Maglie/Bob Gibson treatment and are drilled.

9. Kobe Bryant is hanging up his sneakers. Let’s hope the Bryant–inspired offensive push off is retired with him.

10. Factoid: the longest running characters in TV history at 20 years each are James Arness as Matt Dillion on Gunsmoke and Kelsey Grammer as Frasier Crane spread out over eleven years of Cheers and nine of Frasier.

Let’s hear it for the Paducah Middle Class White Guys!

As we mentioned here before, we enjoy the Times’ Tom Jones. But like most of us, he jumps the tracks occasionally. A week or so ago, he was emoting about some third tier ESPN guy who wore a shirt on Mike and Mike emblazoned Caucasians. The inference being that we would hate to see an athletic team named Caucasians, or Rednecks or Effete Snobs. Not really. The vast majority of us are not overly sensitive and also realize there are greater issues such as large unemployment in Cleveland (Indians); horrendous traffic in Atlanta (Braves); and in Washington (Redskins) – where do you begin? As addressed here (RANTS – December 20, 2015) a few months back, solve these real problems, then get back to us about thin skinned people and team nicknames.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – A PINELLAS UNIT IN NEED OF A SET OF FRESH EYES

Man being mentioned as possible VP candidate should be President

Super Tuesday and the Florida primary are well behind us and Trump has a commanding lead. Should the once unthinkable happen and he receives the GOP nomination, many policy wonks say an ideal running mate would be Ohio’s John Kasich. Which reminds us of an old story where one brother went hiking in a rugged forest and the other became Vice President and neither were ever heard from again. There’s another more factual story about the last Vice-Presidential candidate to be on a losing ticket and later become President. It was almost 100 years ago (FDR – 1920). And a third tale about the St. Louis Cards being most everybody’s second favorite team – because they do things right - much the same with John Kasich. For our nation’s sake, we would hope he would swallow hard and take second place on the ticket, if offered, even though he is more qualified than any other person who will get the top spot on either ticket. For his sake, we hope he remains the Governor of Ohio.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Let’s try to understand this. Hillsborough County is talking about lessening the penalty for pot possession for kids as well as adults? Should not it be the other way around? Kids are kids but adults should know better and more frequently operate cars and machinery. If anybody should be more strictly accountable, it’s adults – not kids.

2. A few weeks ago, your Humble Blogger was a guest at a beautiful home on the Withlacoochee River until recently owned by astronaut Bruce Melnick. Melnick is the only graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to fly in space. But he is one of two graduates of Clearwater High School (1967) to do so along with Nicole Stott (1980). Not bad for our little schoolhouse on Hercules Avenue!

3. Two things that dominated the Pinellas (and Tampa Bay) landscape for years that have become endangered species – bowling alleys and golf courses.

4. After a little over a year in operation, the Capitol Theater seems to be a success. Only one thing mysteriously missing – a tasteful marquee to highlight upcoming attractions.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you attended that “new” elementary school established in fast growing east Clearwater in 1952 – Skycrest Elementary.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. As we close in on April 15 (actually April 18^th or 19^th this year – it’s complicated), a thought from renowned humorist Will Rogers, “Income tax has made more liars out of Americans than golf”.

7. This week (April 16 to be exact), we celebrate Record Store Day – a bow to the resurgence of vinyl in the music industry. While there are several record stores in the bay area, it’s hard to top St. Pete’s Bananas – ranked one of the top ten such stores in the country. There are two locations, but we prefer the original at 2226 16^th Avenue North – a little hard to find, but when you do, a record collector will think they died and went to heaven.

8. More vinyl - a few weeks ago, we listed five acts from the rock era who hit Number One with their very first chart entry. Here are another five – Ruby and the Romantics, the Essex, Bread, Tommy James and the Shondells and Simon and Garfunkel. The songs were Our Day Will Come, Easier Said than Done, Make It with You, Hanky Panky and Sounds of Silence. Both Tommy James and Simon and Garfunkel would hit Number One again – Simon and Garfunkel twice and all the others would enjoy additional hits on the Top 40 chart.

9. Related to above, perhaps an asterisk has to be added to Simon and Garfunkel as the boys, recording as Tom and Jerry, did have a record (Hey Schoolgirl - 1957) chart nine years before they starting using their real names and hitting the charts 17 times in the sixties and seventies.

10. As the NHL playoffs get started, this is only the second time in history (1970) that no Canadian team is in the post season. In 1970, however, there were only two Canadian teams as opposed to seven today.

Paul Boller’s companion for the election season

Paul Boller’s Presidential Campaigns takes you from George Washington, which was more like a coronation, through the emergence of Ronald Reagan in 1980. As nasty as 2016 has been, Boller’s book reveals there have been worse. There are tons of “inside baseball” in the 400 pages of the book and virtually all of it extremely interesting. You only wish there was some sort of addendum to the book covering the Bush-Clinton contest and the controversial Bush-Gore election. But he had to stop somewhere to be able to write the book – and a good one it is, a perfect companion for this time of year.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – ADVICE FOR A FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

 Protecting Clearwater’s image as a world class destination

There was a time when tourists would be “arrested” on U.S. 19 southbound and charged with bypassing Clearwater. Their sentence: a free weekend stay at a beach hotel, free dinners and fishing and sightseeing trips – all of which was heavily publicized in their home towns. A lot has changed since the innocent 1960s. Now we have scam artists, probably offshore, offering non-existent stays at the Sand Pearl and other destinations. Our city, to our embarrassment, made NBC News last week. Unfortunately, the spokesperson for the Sand Pearl came off as uncaring even though they have nothing to do with the scam. Attorney General Pam Bondi promised action on the matter – we need to hold her to it. Another thought – perhaps our city needs an ad hoc task force to again “arrest” innocent people caught up in such scams and at least give them a couple meals and maybe a place to stay until they can rearrange their shattered vacation.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Could it be that Dunedin is on its way to becoming as dysfunctional as Largo was a few years ago (or as Kenneth City is all the time)? In no special order, there’s dumping their city manager; people already sighting in on the Mayor’s chair; and now an investigation of Sunshine Law violations. This from an entity that just awhile back was a model of a well-run city.

2. Two colossal flops on April Fool’s Day – the switch from Verizon to Frontier Communications which left many bay area customers without phone, internet or cable service and the switch to “valet” parking at the Clearwater Marina which the city likes to term a “work in progress” rather than a very poorly executed plan to appease some restaurant owner whose restaurant is yet to open, at the expense of businesses that have been in the marina upwards of 50 years.

3. Before anybody gets too jacked up about a possible Derek Jeter ownership stake in the Rays, know this – the rumors are just as strong in New York about Jeter putting together a syndicate to buy the Yankees. Both have about the same odds as Goldwater in ’64.

4. Gosh, it’s been almost six months since the Church of Scientology has done something stupid enough to warrant local press coverage. That has to be some sort of record for them. Or maybe it’s just our Presidential campaigns filling up news pages with stupidity.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Tick Tock Lounge, also known as the Clearwater Sun annex.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. 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.

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. Had a rare chance to view the Today Show recently. Based on what we saw, Dave Garroway must to be spinning in his grave.

9. With basketball season drawing to a close, this USF grad still misses Seth Greenberg patrolling the sidelines for the Bulls. But if we can’t have him as a coach, we are glad he’s where he is – as one of the better basketball commentators on the air.

10. It was gratifying to see the Phillies extend Pete Mackanin’s contract another two years. He is a solid baseball man and, while spring training seldom relates to the regular season, the Phils looked like a winning baseball team this spring.

Closest race in NL this year might be Rookie of the Year

With the MLB season now under way, the National League is loaded with rookie talent for 2016. Dodger shortstop Corey Seager sure looks like the real deal although some folks think his future might be in the outfield or third base, Atlanta left fielder Hector Olivera has a sweet swing reminiscent of Clemente and, lest we forget, lefthander Steven Matz of the Mets is still a rookie despite his impressive end of the season last year. Just three of a very talented rookie crop this year. And in the American League, keep an eye on a couple corner infielders - Twins first baseman Byung-ho Park and Bosox third baseman Travis Shaw.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – THE MAN WHO SHOULD BE PRESIDENT

Saying no to the Braves and possibly so long to the Blue Jays

MLB reporter Mark Bowman, who primarily covers the Atlanta Braves, reported recently that major league baseball has told Pinellas County it should commit its revenues to keeping the Tampa Bay Rays in the region rather than a spring home for the Braves. That’s great if the Rays stay in Pinellas County, but why would Pinellas want to spend a thin dime if a new location is in Hillsborough County? After all, how much money has Hillsborough ponied up over the years while the Rays resided in St. Pete? Another factor in relocating the Braves to St. Pete could well be a shared facility with the Toronto Blue Jays who very likely will leave Dunedin when their contract is up next year – coincidentally the same year the Braves-Disney World pact ends. It makes too much sense to locate the two teams in Pinellas as it seems a foregone conclusion the Rays will be moving to Hillsborough. With the Braves now focusing on Sarasota County, Pinellas will be left out in the cold again - a shame for a city that was at the forefront of spring training in Florida.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Determined to outdo CSX who began the spring break season by closing down the two main arteries to and from the beach on successive weekends, the city of Clearwater chose Easter week to shut down 75 parking spots at one of the most intensely used parking lots on the beach. Who is making these ridiculous decisions and why do they still have a job?

2. With the regular season just days away, lots of baseball items including this one: something to file away as the MLB season goes on. Baseball Prospectus, which bases its predictions very heavily on sabermetrics, says the Rays will win the Eastern Division. Would like to believe that but….

3. Speaking of the Rays, we are long overdue in noting the passing of Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times – a longtime observer of sports in the bay area.

4. 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.

5. Related to our lead item, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when both the St. Louis Cards and the Yankees trained in St. Pete.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. He was one of the great ones. Joe Garagiola joined Bob Uecker in making the most of a middling career as a major league catcher. Baseball broadcaster, Today Show host and raconteur, Joe was always at the top of his game. His namesake Joe, Jr. was GM of the Diamondbacks and his daughter Gina Bridgeman, while not that well known in baseball circles, is a terrific inspirational writer. We join the nation and Joe’s family in grieving his passing at age 90.

7. Grandfathered, Fuller House, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and appearing with the Beach Boys a few weeks ago at Ruth Eckerd Hall; does actor/musician John Stamos ever sleep?

8. This Thursday evening a one hour season finale of Life in Pieces airs on CBS. In our mind, it is probably the best new comedy of the season although not everyone agrees and it is on the bubble for renewal. If you’ve not seen this gem, give it a look and if you like what you see, fill in the gaps with earlier episodes from on-demand.

9. One more Rays note – viewing a lot of broadcast teams on MLB TV during the spring training season makes you have a greater appreciation of the Rays’ Dewayne Staats.

10. Not so good news if you have a Kindle that you bought in 2012 or earlier. Unless you get an upgrade; you can no longer access the Internet or download books. How to do it? You need to ask someone more tech savvy than the morons who write this piece. More planned obsolescence.

Here’s the windup and the predictions:

Our sports soothsayer Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is riding high after predicting the winner of the 2015 World Series down to the game. Here are his thoughts on 2016. In the National League he likes the Mets, the Cards and the Giants as division winners with the Pirates and Cubs as wild card entries. Biggest turnaround could come from the Diamondbacks. In the America League, Achmed is putting his money on the Yankees, Royals and the Astros (still getting used to Houston being in the AL). Achmed predicts the Red Sox and Angels will be the Wild Cards but says don’t sleep on the Rangers who could surprise everybody.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: PINELLAS’ NEXT DYSFUNCTIONAL CITY

Rays to Cuba – why?

As you probably know, the Rays will be playing the Cuban National Team this week. Why – when the Miami metro area, home of the Marlins, has four times the Hispanic population of Tampa Bay? The Marlins would seem the more logical choice. Maybe they didn’t want to stick it to their spring training hosts costing them many, many room nights and other significant pieces of revenue while they’re away. Guess it would be kind of a hoot to visit Cuba and its’ 57 Chevys and see a game. Probably couldn’t afford it. But – we can afford to send seasoned baseball observers like Barack Obama, Kathy Castor and Rick Kriseman (we’re willing to bet at least one of the three knows that the Rays’ third baseman is Evan – not Eva Longoria). The Rays junket doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Good news for Clearwater in last week’s election. All the referendums on the Bayfront passed allowing the city some latitude in giving that area of town a much needed boost. Bit of a surprise in the one council race with Bob Cundiff’s stronger resume overcoming most of the big money that was behind incumbent Jay Polglaze.

2. As Marco leaves the arena, the pundits are, as usual, overthinking what sunk Rubio. It simply came down to the fact that when the field got down to six or so, Rubio, a 44-year-old freshmen Senator, was the least qualified and experienced of the bunch to lead America.

3. We don’t think it’s our imagination - the bay area is becoming a shooting gallery. When innocent three year-olds get wounded in senseless shootings, it’s time for a reassessment by our area law enforcement agencies.

4. Remember the whiney Tampa matron that sooo wanted her privacy? Word on the street is that Jill Kelley is writing a book. Move over, Monica.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Young’s BBQ on Gulf to Bay Blvd. operated first by Warren Young and later the Pappas family. There’s still a restaurant there but not nearly the same.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. Our sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) views the no dominant team NCAA tournament and sees a Final Four of two previous visitors: North Carolina (18 times – the most of any school) and Virginia (twice) along with two teams that have never been to the Final Four in school history – Miami and Texas A & M.

7. Nice start to the season by the Chicago White Sox with the Adam LaRoche mess. Maybe the kid doesn’t belong in the clubhouse but the Sox contractually promised that to LaRoche and the players don’t seem to mind him being around. Somehow, just like all the lousy trades the Padres’ front office made last year, this will end up being the manager’s fault.

8. Music Factoid: The man who had the most chart records in the first five years of the sixties was not Elvis Presley as you might imagine but the jolly piano player from New Orleans - Fats Domino with 42 charted records. Elvis was tied for second with Ray Charles (40 each) and they were followed by two very successful female stars – Brenda Lee (39) and Connie Francis (38).

9. It’s telling that Lovie Smith, Greg Schiano and Raheem Morris, the last three Bucs head coaches have not been interviewed for a single NFL head coaching job since being dismissed by the Bucs. Lovie, at least, got a gig at Illinois – a university where coaching careers go to die.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people and all Seinfeld freaks) have chosen their three all-time episodes – “The Hamptons” where George had “pool issues” and Kramer poached some lobster traps; “The Voice” where Jerry made fun of his girlfriend’s rumbling stomach and Kramer’s Kramerica Corporation got a college intern (brilliantly played by Jarrad Paul) and their consensus best episode – “The Soup Nazi” (again an incredible character portrayal by Larry Thomas).

Don’t take good service for granted

There is a young lady who works at the Dunkin Doughnuts on East Bay Drive in Largo who deserves a special place in Heaven for absorbing the abuse a nasty old lady heaped on her recently. So out of line was the verbal dressing down that another customer even offered to pay for the woman’s purchase if she would just leave and stop verbally abusing the young woman. If you’ve ever been a server or had one in your family, you no doubt have a warm feeling in your heart for these folks. They put up with so much – cranky customers, lousy tippers and usually long hours on their feet. To the Kelly’s (Acropal – Largo), Jessica’s (Largo Family Restaurant) and Evan’s (Cracker Barrel – Oldsmar), we say thanks and we let their bosses know how much we appreciate them. Hope you will too.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: OPENING PITCH – OUR BASEBALL PREDICTIONS & OTHER STUFF

(Editor’s note: this week’s lead piece was written before we learned of the passing of 94-year-old J.B. Johnson on March 7. To those who served with J.B., he was the moral compass of the City Commission in the late 1990s - a man of strong convictions and uncompromising integrity. The city of Clearwater is a better place because of him).

Some shining Clearwater city officials

It’s Election Week in Clearwater. As we mentioned last week, there is not a lot to be excited about this time around. But the election got us thinking about some outstanding city officials we have been blessed with in our fair city over the past, say, quarter century. Some names that come to mind – J.B. Johnson and Dick Fitzgerald – both steady hands in times when there was just a bit of turmoil in city government. Then there was John Doran, who transformed from city watchdog to city official and did both extremely well. The analytical Bill Jonson has been a fiscally conservative voice for many years. Ed Hooper and Karen Seel (you may have forgotten she once was a city commissioner) brought a period of solid growth to Clearwater on many fronts. And two mayors stand out - both with very differing styles but both very effective in what they did for their city – Rita Garvey and Frank Hibbard. While many of us are quick to criticize city hall, we also need to be thankful for these eight (and probably a few others we’ve overlooked) for their outstanding service to their city.

Around Tampa Bay

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. Alternate quote of the week: Clearwater parking manager Eric Wilson on trying to fix the parking mess at the Clearwater Marina (RANTS – March 6, 2016). “Right now, it’s like trying to please 10 wives with one husband.” Huh?

3. The Tampa Tribune’s Steve Otto recently asked the question of what notable Floridian should stand in the Hall of Statuary in the Capitol alongside John Gorrie who was instrumental in developing air conditioning thus making our state habitable. Hard to think of any public figure present or past for the honor but we like one name Otto came up with even though he is not a native of Florida or even lived here much but like Gorrie sure had a dramatic impact on the state – Walt Disney.

4. Two of our local bridges, the Gandy and the Sunshine Skyway are on a list of the 20 Scariest Bridges in the world. Not sure why. Scariest bridge we ever encountered was the old, creaky Grace Bridge connecting Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, S.C. It was replaced by a new span about ten years ago.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the Sportatorium on North Albany in Tampa which was recently auctioned off. For many years, it was home to Championship Wrestling from Florida featuring names like the Great Malenko, Eddie Graham, Haystack Calhoun, the masked Assassins and many others including Gordon Solie who did a masterful job playing straight man to all those characters.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. Our nation bids a tearful farewell to Nancy Reagan, part of one of America’s true love stories.

7. The late Bud Collins made pro tennis as interesting as it can be. He also was one of very few men who could pull off a bow tie. Most men (including a couple local politicians) can’t. Collins’ flair on and off camera will be missed.

8. Yet another gem from the 5:05 newsletter: Reverend Al Sharpton said he might leave the country if Donald Trump is elected president in November. Minutes later Las Vegas listed Trump at even money to carry all fifty states.

9. The website Point After has a fascinating look at all 30 franchises and their “All Time” rosters. Take a look at your favorite team and see if you agree. A couple things caught our eye – Ryan Howard not the first baseman on the Phils all-time team. And neither Maddux, Glavine nor Smoltz could make the Braves all-time roster. A few guys make more than one team’s all-time roster – Ozzie Smith, ARod and Carlton Fisk to name three.

10. Speaking of Ryan Howard, saw him at a local restaurant a couple weeks ago. The guy looks to be in fantastic shape.

Another angle to the designated hitter controversy

Admittedly, it doesn’t make sense for the two major leagues to play under different rules. The DH or lack of, puts the NL at a disadvantage in AL parks and vice versa. There’s another interesting aspect to the DH. The rule is the reason that when Albert Pujols, Brian McCann and Miguel Cabrera left their original NL teams (Cards, Braves and Marlins) they all departed for the American League where they could get a day off but still have their bat utilized – particularly important for people like McCann who play the most demanding position in baseball. If and when they leave their original teams, you can bet Buster Posey, Jonathon Lucroy and Yadier Molina will all head to the American League increasing even more the talent imbalance between the two leagues. We’re playing devil’s advocate here – we still don’t like the DH and how it eliminates so much strategy from the game.

We are two – thanks to James, Robert and the “dirty half dozen”

Really stupid actions motivate us. Many years ago, a sitting Clearwater City Commission sold a perfectly fine building that had been acquired a year earlier to be used as a city hall – for a million dollar loss. That helped launch a very interesting six-year adventure in our life. Two years ago, a politician, with a huge sense of self-entitlement, decided to move from eastern Hillsborough County and bail out little Pinellas County by running for a Congressional seat in a District where she couldn’t name half the cities. That launched this weekly effort on March 9, 2014. It has been a joy because, as we often mention, it mostly writes itself. Now, as then, we are thankful to James Foster and Robert Brucker for their technical expertise to make this happen, a tight cadre who advises and helps out on the writing/editing side and the half dozen or so folks who actually read the first edition. Our sixth edition hit a thousand, actually two thousand, readers and we thank James, Robert, our “kitchen cabinet” and all of you for making this effort fun - now, on to year three.

Around Tampa Bay

1. The city of Clearwater is in a dither about what to do about parking at the Clearwater Marina. They have known for three years that a restaurant seating a couple hundred (if it ever opens) was coming. They did nothing. Now their solution is to throw marina employees under the bus and possibly charge clients of the various businesses in the marina more than you pay at Disney World for parking. Nice planning folks.

2. Just a reminder that down ballot on next Tuesday’s presidential preference primary, there is an election in Clearwater featuring an underwhelming incumbent against an unknown college professor. The other two council members up for reelection are unopposed. Yawn.

3. As for the referendum questions on the Clearwater ballot, only one raises our eyebrows – Number 4 allowing extremely long leases of “surplus property” for up to 65 years without a referendum. Not sure that much power should be taken out of the hands of the electorate. And a yes to Numbers 5 and 6 would make our waterfront truly a waterfront – like so many other communities have done with great success.

4. Speaking of Clearwater, the city could raise more than a few bucks by stationing a couple low level cops at say, the intersections of MLK and Court Street and Island Way and Causeway Boulevard during spring break and ticketing thoughtless morons who insist on blocking the intersections in epidemic proportions.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a long time if you remember the names Joe Devlin, Harnold Falconnier and “Captain” Frank Parker. They provided daily fishing news and information from the Clearwater Sun, WAZE and WTAN respectively.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. You have to wonder how objective Channel 8 News could be in covering the Erin Andrews trial. For example, at 6 p.m. last Monday night, of Channels 8, 9, 10, 13 and 28, only Channel 8 led with the trial story. Andrew’s father, of course, is a member of Channel 8’s news team.

7. If only the late Cecil Englebert were still around. The city of Dunedin is running out of time to keep the Blue Jays in the city with a lease running out next year. Former Mayor Englebert spearheaded the drive to bring the Blue Jays to Florida’s smallest spring training city. Right now, it doesn’t appear that anyone in Dunedin has the juice to keep them there.

8. Factoid as we rumble through this election year: two of America’s greatest Presidents weren’t close to being the overwhelming favorite of their parties first time around. It took Abraham Lincoln three ballots and FDR four to secure their party’s nomination in their first run for the presidency.

9. Dave Cameron of the website Fangraphs ranks the Tampa Bay Rays off season moves as the 7^th best in baseball while tempering his remarks with the fact that he is probably higher on shortstop Brad Miller than any other baseball observer out there. Time will tell – so much depends on Miller and the other acquisition with mixed reviews – Corey Dickerson.

10. 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.

A taste of Clearwater – apologies to the annual event

A blogger we read with some regularity was asked recently about the dining in his hometown of Minneapolis. He rattled off a neat list which got us thinking about what to tell someone who was coming to Clearwater for, say, spring training. Italian and atmosphere – Capogna’s on Gulf-to-Bay; seafood – any Frenchy’s but particularly the one on East Shore Drive; good food with an even better view – the Palm Pavilion, north Clearwater Beach; family restaurant - Largo Family Restaurant on Missouri; pizza – Post Corner, south Clearwater Beach; BBQ – Ozona Pig, off Tampa Road; finer dining – the Beachcomber; greasy spoon – Olga’s on Belcher at Nursery. And that doesn’t include some neat places involving a bit of travel – Keegan’s on Indian Rocks Beach; Sweet Sage on Redington Beach and Bern’s in Tampa. Sadly, it’s too late to enjoy Siple’s Garden Seat in Harbor Oaks and Butler’s BBQ in St. Pete.

Our fragile industry that is tourism

We’re on the cusp of March which means long lines to the beaches – a sure sign that all is well with our tourism industry. But it is a fragile industry that can head downward in a hurry. We’re not talking about hurricanes, red tide, another economic slump or what Cuba might pull away that can damage our local economy. We’re talking about things we can control like the ever increasing bed taxes, insane legislation to allow folks to strut around with firearms out in the open, less than friendly cops and assorted rental car rip-offs to name just four. Trust us, there are plenty of other places tourists can spend their dollars – and they will unless we all become more cognizant of just how precious those tourists are.

Around Tampa Bay

1. It’s finally here. Phils versus Blue Jays in Clearwater on Tuesday, the 1^st. Same teams in Dunedin on the 2^nd. Braves come to Clearwater on Friday. See you there!

2. On a related note, could not resist this one from a recent 5:05 Newsletter: Spring Training News: poachers and cashiers mistakenly report.

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.

4. Sometime back (RANTS – May 4, 2014), we named three positions that often turn a nobody into a Nazi. They were entertainment venue ticket takers, crosswalk guards and homeowner association board members. Based on a scene we observed recently, add local parking meter readers to that group.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever dined at the elegant Seaspire Restaurant on Island Estates.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. Quote of the Week: Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson in a recent piece on Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a strict Constitutionalist, “Progressive judges have an interest in making their private moral intuitions the law of land, without the inconvenience of having to persuade their fellow citizens.” Well said.

7. 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.

8. The new MLB rule that eliminates the so-called neighborhood play at second base will last just as long as it takes for the first middle infielder to go out with a leg or ankle injury. Then a quiet note will be circulated to the men in blue to call it as they have called for the last quarter century or more.

9. Here are a few music acts from the 50s, 60s and 70s: The Fleetwoods, The Marcels, Barry Manilow, Little Peggy March and the Marvelettes. Their common bond is their very first song on the record charts went to Number One. The songs were Come Softly to Me, Blue Moon, Mandy, I Will Follow Him and Please Mr. Postman. The Fleetwoods and Barry Manilow were not just “one hit wonders”. Both acts later returned to the top spot – Manilow twice. And all the acts charted more songs in the Top 40 after their original success.

 10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) upon first reading of a serious crime at a hookah bar thought hookah was just street talk for a similar word. When they found out what it really means, they found it no less disgusting.

The second plank in our winning national platform

Last year (RANTS – July 19, 2015), we suggested a winning stratagem for a candidate pursuing the White House. It was to pledge, with Congressional cooperation, to completely disassemble the Internal Revenue Service and its corruption and loopholes. We now offer a second plank for our winning platform – make Daylight Savings Time year round. Nothing does more to disrupt schedules and sleep patterns than the twice yearly ritual of falling back and springing ahead. This is not without precedent – several countries around the world already have DST year-round and the U.S. has used it during war time and other national crises. Anyone who promises to simplify our lives by eliminating the mumbo jumbo of the IRS and time changing will get a ton of votes. By the way, the date on which you start screwing up your sleep patterns this year is Sunday, March 13^th.

Florida’s liberals want their cake and eat it too

After having the state’s courts custom design legislative districts to accommodate liberals – and costing Pinellas County an extremely effective legislator in Washington, the whining has begun. In several districts, lines were drawn to all but assure a Democratic seat holder. But recently liberals are complaining that the correct Democrat might not emerge from primary elections to face only token or no GOP competition. Now come the plaintive cries that the anointed Samantha Jones might lose her primary to Sam Smith (names changed to protect the liberal). Geez, do we have to go back to the courts again and plead that the right Democrat might not win their party’s primary? Isn’t that what the electoral process is all about – that the person favored by the most people, not party hacks, wins the election?

Around Tampa Bay

1. We know there’s no good time to do road work on the major arteries to and from the beach, but two weeks into spring break? Maybe that’s the time to work on the railroad grade in Umatilla. We’ve had to deal with CSX in a previous life and frankly, they just don’t care.

2. It is heartening to see good use being made of Clearwater’s South Ward School with the Clearwater Historical Society and the Clearwater Bomber Museum. Now if some wise person could find an equally good use of the picturesque North Ward School, it would be terrific. A couple ideas are being floated.

3. Hard to pick a favorite in the ticket brokers versus pro sports teams because both sides are driven by nothing but greed. As we pointed out several months ago (RANTS – Oct. 4, 2014), the Lightning want to tell you who you can allow to use your purchased ticket – and grab part of the resale price. Meanwhile the brokers add ridiculous commissions and upcharges to the tickets they re-sell. This will supposedly be worked out by the Florida legislature – good luck with that.

4. The Beach Boys are coming to Ruth Eckerd Hall next Monday (29^th) with Fun, Fun, Fun, Surfin’ USA and other high-energy hits. They are still fronted by 74-year-old Mike Love, whose best line is “If we knew we were going to be doing this for this long a time, we would have recorded more ballads.”

5. You’ve lived here a long time if you attended the Beach Boy’s first visit to Clearwater at Jack Russell Stadium 51 years ago this year. Filling in for Brian Wilson at that concert was a premier studio guitarist named Glen Campbell who would hit the Top 40 for the first time two years later with By the Time I Get to Phoenix.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. Among the names reportedly on the Obama short list for a Supreme Court nominee – Loretta Lynch. He’s got to be kidding.

7. We always enjoy “Best Of” lists. A recent Buzzeranker piece rated the top 15 major league baseball players of all time. Top Five were Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, Aaron and Williams. That’s quite a quintet, but somewhere in that top five there has to be Ty Cobb. Replacing who? As a member of the military would say, that’s above our pay grade.

8. Best piece of “beach music” you’ve never heard – John Franklin’s Ocean Drive Sunday. You can find it on U Tube or ITunes or on the high rotation section of our IPod.

9. Allegations of match fixing; suspicions of juicing by both male and female players; maybe pro tennis won’t be so boring in the future.

10. From Jonathon Eig’s Get Capone, a so-so book but with a few interesting tidbits – the man who pronounced an 11-year sentence on Big Al was Federal Judge James Wilkerson of the Northern District of Illinois. The man he replaced was somewhat better known – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis who left the bench to become Commissioner of Baseball.

In their nineties, these character actors are still kickin’

Media notes on Barney Miller’s Abe Vigoda’s passing a few weeks ago at 94 mentioned that he often appeared on lists of people who were still alive but who most people thought had died. A few more veteran character actors now very much alive in their nineties: Nehemiah Persoff (Jake Guzik on The Untouchables) 96; Noel Neill (Superman’s Lois Lane) 95; Nanette Fabray (Sid Caesar’s sidekick and Shelly’s aunt) 94; Barbara Hale (Perry Mason’s Della Street) 93; William Schallert (Patty Duke’s TV Dad) 93; Bill Macy (Maude’s long suffering husband, Walter) 93 and, of course, the most active of the 90-year-olds, Betty White who is also 93.

Clearwater: let’s buy a post office!

The city of Clearwater is contemplating buying the downtown post office – at least 3 of 5 city council persons are. By a 3-2 vote, the city decided they need to purchase an 80-year-old building for 2.1 million dollars. There have to be some good reasons for this – darned if we can figure out what they are. Just a couple reasons this is not a good idea. If the government decides to sell and not replace the downtown post office, the most western full service post office in Clearwater will be on Hercules Avenue – bad news for downtown residents and merchants not to mention the beach which lost their post office several years ago. Next, we can’t begin to imagine what maintenance issues are entailed in caring for this 80-year-old building. And oh yeah, how does the city plan to utilize the structure that was designed as a post office and nothing else? Again, we tip our cap to Mayor Cretekos and Councilman Jonson for declining this rush to spend a couple million. By the way, one of the yes votes was an employee of the postal service – a vote where he clearly should have recused himself.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Congratulations to the Palm Pavilion’s Ken Hamilton, 2016’s Mr. Clearwater. Ken was recognized for his outstanding community work with Ruth Eckerd Hall and many other civic organizations over the years. Your fellow “Tree House” members are busting their buttons with pride, Ken!

2. Perhaps we should move the Florida State Fair to April – one of the driest months of the year in the Sunshine State – a month when we always need rain. Because as we all know, if the Florida State Fair is underway, it’s going to rain!

3. We seldom agree with Florida’s far left newspapers like the Herald and the Times, but we’re holding hands with them on the subject of open carry laws in Florida. This is a tourism driven state for heaven’s sake. The last thing we need to do is turn Florida into Six Gun Territory.

4. CBS has ordered production of Four Stars, a drama loosely based on activity at MacDill AFB. We can only assume it will be subtitled Kardashians: West Coast Florida.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the breakfast suggestions served up every morning by Tom McEwen at the top of his sports column in the Tampa Tribune.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. The entertainment industry took a double hit last week with the passing of Maurice White, the guiding light of Earth Wind and Fire – about as unique a band as there was in the rock era. And long before there were shows like the Q Morning Zoo in this market and similar radio “teams” in other markets, there was the highbrow humor of Bob and Ray who made their mark in both radio and TV. Bob Elliot, the surviving member of the celebrated duo died last week at age 92.

7. We lost a bunch of first rate Tampa Bay area media folks to retirement last year – (RANTS – June 8, 2015) in Anne Dwyer, Yolanda Fernandez, Gayle Sierens and John Wilson. This past week, Chip Carter announced he’s stepping down as Channel 13’s sports director after thirty plus years. Another classy individual - we will miss him.

8. The holiday season and the Super Bowl with just a single Clydesdale sighting? A pox on Budweiser and the Lithuanian or wherever company that now owns the former king of beers. Instead of the graceful horses in all the Bud spots, we get some actress who most people have never heard of. And Bud sales are down from last year. Clydesdale lovers would call it karma.

9. Related to the above: What do Dial Soap, French’s Mustard, Lucky Strike Cigarettes and Popsicle have in common? The four long time pieces of Americana are all foreign owned.

10. Yet another gem from the unmatched 5:05 Newsletter: “The world has completely flipped in my lifetime. There was once a time when all the GM jobs were in Flint and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico.”

Denver’s convincing win

Well, we have the first “What we meant to say” entry for our year end edition of TBRR (Tampa Bay Rants and Raves). Denver proved that wit and guile along with a crushing defense (return of the Orange Crush?) can overcome what appeared, on paper, to be a better team. Two observations from a blog that heavily favored Carolina: while Von Miller was named the game’s MVP, the most valuable people associated with the game were Gary Kubiak and his defensive coordinator Wade Phillips who put together a game plan on both sides of the ball that propelled the Broncos to victory. Meanwhile, despite his many skills, we sometimes forget Cam Newton was playing in only his sixth postseason game (as opposed to 27 for Peyton Manning) and he looked very much the part.

We know this has been asked before: “Is this the best we can do?”

Let’s start with the GOP. They have an out of control billionaire who needs anger management more than the nomination. Then there’s the darling of the Tea Party who frightens mainstream Americans. Next you have a guy who can just now find his seat in the Senate. Our former governor is suffering from Bush fatigue and other maladies. Christie has a little too much baggage. You have a very qualified candidate from the Buckeye State, who inexplicably waited way too long to get in the race and is too far behind. Carson and the rest have no chance. On the Democratic side you have someone who should be lapping the field but, because of her many missteps, can’t pull away from an avowed socialist. It appears at this point whoever lands in the White House is going to be a compromise and a not very good one.

Around Tampa Bay

1. 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?

2. The most valuable brand in the world? It’s Apple. The most valuable in Florida? It’s Publix Supermarkets – the only Florida-based brand to crack the Top 500. A couple surprises in the Top 10 compiled by a British branding firm was one brand not there – Disney and one brand in the Top 10 – Wells Fargo which has not been without its issues – at least in Florida.

3. Surely the Christmas decorations on Clearwater’s Memorial Causeway will be down before St. Patrick’s Day.

4. Speaking of the causeway which is properly called Causeway Boulevard. Who is responsible for Clearwater’s neighbor to the north, Dunedin, having a connector to their barrier island with the same name? Plays hob with tourist’s GPS.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the name – H. David Werder. He’s the guy who sat on a flagpole at U.S. 19 and Gulf to Bay starting in late 1982 until January of 1984 – a total of 439 days which is still a record.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. The revolving door that has been ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball has taken another spin with Aaron Boone and Jessica Mendoza joining Dan Shulman in the booth replacing John Kruk and Curt Schilling. Hopefully Mendoza will add some spice to what promises to be a very milquetoast combination of Shulman and Boone. And you have to feel bad for Kruk who was an innocent and very competent bystander when ESPN decided to cut Schilling just as Jon Miller was when the network needed to jettison the toxic Joe Morgan six years ago.

7. She can often be outrageous and off the wall, but good for Sarah Palin for taking NBC to task, live and on the air, when they invited her on the Today Show to discuss Iowa and then tried to ambush her with questions about her son and his personal issues that have absolutely nothing to do with Iowa’s caucus.

8. Guys, do you want to feel really old? Honor Blackman, the James Bond babe in Goldfinger, will turn 91 this year. Oh, the humanity!

9. With all the comings and goings at One Buc Place and elsewhere in the NFL, it probably went unnoticed that the Lions retained their previously interim Offensive Coordinator Jim Bob Cooter – undoubtedly the all-time greatest name among NFL coaches.

10. Our recent piece on the new Royals-Yankees pitching dynamic (RANTS – January 17) got us to thinking of the way the Yankees played it back in the good old days – a pitching staff of Ford and a bunch of no names but with a wrecking crew of Berra, Howard, Mantle, Maris and Skowron along with a bunch of good singles hitters like Kubek and Richardson. Times have changed.

National League headed towards Armageddon

A couple weeks ago, we were shouted down in a Rants and Raves focus group meeting about the worst ideas of the past half-century. Our immediate answer was the designated hitter. The majority ruled our answer could not be a sports answer – which it always is. Much more disturbing to us is the fact that some front office people in the National League are reporting less resistance to baseball’s worst idea of all time. The major argument – it will cut down on pitcher’s injuries. In the words of M*A*S*H’s Colonel Sherman Potter – buffalo chips! Pitchers once were athletes – witness Bob Lemon, Babe Ruth, Ken Brett and Dick Hall – all of whom could have been or were position players as easily as pitchers. Today, our pitchers are all delicate flowers who can throw no more than six innings a game much less bat (and bunt). So let’s add the DH to the NL (adding another 15 jobs for fat, out of shape Dr. Strangegloves); then add aluminum bats and pretty soon we’ll have a slow pitch beer league where every game ends 25-23.

Ross Perot rides again?

Let’s forget Mayor “Boomberg” for the moment. Republicans remember only all too well how an egomaniacal billionaire handed the 1992 election to Bill Clinton over George H.W. Bush. Now, many GOP members fear that Donald Trump will become 2016’s version of Ross Perot if he doesn’t get his way (read Republican nomination). Despite poll numbers now, Trump will not get the nomination. The question simply remains will he be a man about it and accept defeat or will the immature boy in him come to the fore where he takes his ball, goes home and decides he will play with a third party? And what irony that another Clinton could be the beneficiary of all this bombast? Would like to think Trump’s ego won’t prevail, but willing to bet it will.

Around Tampa Bay

1. Dunedin’s recently resigned city manager, Rob DiSpirito, leaves after nine years – approximately two years longer than the average city manager’s stay. A major reason for the split between manager and commission is turnover – on the commission. Three commissioners have been in office a little over a year; one for three years and the mayor, while a part of the commission for almost ten years, is new to the center seat and its responsibilities – not a healthy recipe for a city manager.

2. Some time ago (RANTS – July 4, 2015) we advocated term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices – twenty years. Now, there is legislation making the rounds in Tallahassee that would do the same for Florida justices. While we agree in principle with the Florida legislation, the term limit of 12 years doesn’t seem long enough to attract first rate jurists.

3. 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?

4. As January winds down, lest we forget our periodic update on the Clearwater Marina and its upscale Taco Bell restaurant now over two and half years in the making. We feel confident in saying it will open sometime in the next 11 months.

5. With the State Fair just around the corner, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you attended the fair (and its sprint car races) at the downtown Tampa fairgrounds.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. It’s hard to tell who came off as the bigger buffoons this past week – Donald Trump for his pouty refusal to participate in the most recent GOP debate – or Fox News with their snarky twitters and whatever along with Megyn Kelly with her self-serving commentary. As we mentioned before (RANTS- August 30, 2015), Trump is the best thing that ever happened to Kelly – known only to her cult following before the blow up with the GOP front runner.

7. Our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) acknowledging that Denver (1) no longer has home field advantage (2) will not be playing a team forced to use their third string running back who made a crucial fumble inside the 30 and (3) not playing a team whose placekicker missed a PAT for the first time since George W. was President likes the Panthers by a whole lot over the Broncos.

8. Jake McGee for Corey Dickerson whose numbers at Coors Field and away are wildly disparate. Not so sure about that one.

9. Factoid as we lead up to Super Bowl Sunday: the winningest Super Bowl team (six rings) the Pittsburgh Steelers were originally named the Pittsburgh Pirates from their 1933 inception until 1941.

10. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) feel the three most overpaid women in the country are Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White, Channel 8’s Gayle Guyardo and anyone named Kardashian.

The best book yet about American icon Eliot Ness

First there was the autobiography penned by Eliot Ness and co-author Oscar Fraley, then came the early sixties TV show, The Untouchables, followed by a couple books that were badly crafted hatchet jobs. Plus, there was the ridiculous movie starring Kevin Costner that was pure fantasy. Last year (actually late 2014) along comes Eliot Ness, the Rise and Fall of an American Hero by Douglas Perry – an on the mark effort that focuses as much on the lawman’s efforts in Cleveland as the well-publicized Chicago days. This is a good thing because the work of Ness in Cleveland was far more significant than the Untouchables era. The book is a very objective look at Ness which no other effort, written, televised or filmed can claim – although based on this work, Robert Stack’s “no shades of gray” portrayal of Ness in the TV series seems the next closest – an opinion shared by Ness’ widow. A small nitpick – Perry doesn’t seem to like newspaper writers (including Fraley) too often referring to them as “hacks”. But this is a solid book to add to your 2016 non-fiction reading list.

 Attempting to make sense of the Iowa caucus

First, less than 50 per cent of non-incumbent winners in the Iowa caucus eventually win their party’s nomination. Second, who this side of Des Moines actually cares about the caucus? The Iowa caucus represents about one per cent of America’s voters. Most importantly, who outside (or inside) the state actually understands the process? But the lemmings that are presidential candidates pour time and money into this undertaking that makes the Electoral College seem easy to understand. By Super Tuesday on March 1, less than two in ten voters will recall who won Iowa.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Just a reminder as if the soon to be wall to wall coverage won’t remind you, Floridians vote their presidential preferences on Tuesday, March 15. Get those absentee ballots in early!

2. Yippee! The Rays can now look outside Pinellas County for a site to build their new stadium that surely will lift them out of the cellar in major league attendance (see disclaimer above). Trouble is, the dozen or so sites mentioned in Hillsborough all seem rather flawed. And would you like to bet on what percentage of Ray’s current Pinellas fans will drive across the bay any more than 3 or 4 times a year to see a very mediocre team?

3. In a related note, give us a drag off whatever the folks are smoking who think the Tropicana Field site offers “enormous redevelopment possibilities”. Have they actually seen that area – particularly coming in from the west?

4. Ever notice that every time the legislative branch of government even breathes the term “judicial reform”, there is a wailing and grinding of teeth? But it is perfectly fair for the courts to, in fact, tell us we can no longer have an effective legislator represent us in District 13? Geez, even the lefties have praised David Jolly’s work in Washington. Let’s hope he continues that work in the U.S. Senate despite our judiciary.

5. 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. 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.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Just thinking out loud, the five best college basketball programs in the history of the game are probably (in no particular order) Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA – okay that’s alphabetical order. Just missing the cut – Louisville.

7. Related Factoid: The University of Lousiville basketball program has had just four head coaches in the last 72 years!

8. Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers has always been rated a “good” coach but the job he did with his banged up team this season pushes him into the rarified atmosphere just below Belichick.

9. So the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the best record in the Eastern Division of the NBA, find it necessary to fire their head coach? Anyone who doesn’t see LeBron James’ fingerprints all over that is delusional. Tyronn Lue, who has absolutely no head coaching experience, had better win. Rick Carlisle of the Mavericks termed the firing of David Blatt “an embarrassment for our league.” Well said.

10. 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).

Time for world-class relievers to get their due

While it was encouraging to see Trevor Huffman do relatively well in his first appearance on the recent Hall of Fame ballot, it is still frustrating to see someone the caliber of Lee Smith being passed over year after year. The seven-time All Star and three-time Reliever of the Year got only 34 per cent of the vote in the most recent balloting – admitted steroid users got more votes. Sadly, next year is Smith’s last rodeo and the chances of him getting elected are slim. Also discouraging was the paltry 10.5 per cent vote given to history’s top left handed reliever Billy Wagner in his first year on the ballot. Guys like Hoffman, Smith and Wagner seldom threw a single pitch where the game was not on the line and their excellence under pressure needs to be recognized at Cooperstown. Perhaps when Mario Riviera is sent to the Hall on the first ballot in a few years, other premier relievers get their due. Unfortunately, that might be too late for Smith and Wagner – two of the game’s superstars.

One year to go in our national nightmare

One year from this week, one of history’s worst U.S. Presidents will leave office. He will leave behind an incredibly horrific record in international policy and, depending on your viewpoint, something not much better on the domestic front. Even his most liberal backers in the media have quietly stepped aside from this wounded executive when it comes to his mishandling of the Mid-East and world policy in general. As we move forward this year, the overriding question is who can we, the American electorate, turn to who will right the ship? Stay tuned.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Last September (RANTS – September 6) we reported that Las Vegas odds favored a Clinton-Bush presidential race. To show how far our former governor has fallen, he now is ranked below Bernie Sanders in the odds to make the White House.

2. The city of Tampa, another city with a left-leaning mayor, is going to join St. Pete in exploring all but decriminalizing marijuana possession. Tampa is looking at a $70 fine for pot possession – slightly less than a third of the fine for running a stop light.

3. Former Buc’s coach Jon Gruden (their last coach to leave with a winning record) reportedly has been mentioned for a couple NFL jobs including the Eagles - a marriage that makes no sense. If Coach Gruden wants to return to the sidelines, we wish him well but hope that he will stay in the broadcast booth where he is arguably the game’s best analyst.

4. Heard from more than a few Vietnam War vets when they learn they get a military discount at one of Clearwater Beach’s deep sea fishing operations, “I’m just happy not to get spit on”.

5. You’ve lived in Tampa Bay for a long time if you remember the Rockers beautiful Would I Still Be Loving You – one of few records to have the distinction of hitting number one on a radio station survey (WALT in 1961) but never cracking the Top 100 nationally. Even better for you if you own a decent copy of the record (Warwick 653) – worth about 50 to 100 bucks nowadays.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. In a related note to #5 above, the Rockers, based in Tampa, recorded the record under the name of The Tides as another group also recording on a national label was already using the name Rockers.

7. And related to our lead item, 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?

8. The Tampa Trib’s Martin Fennelly opines that in hiring Dirk Koetter the Bucs have made the final step in joining former defensive powerhouses like the Steelers in becoming mostly offensive minded. Fine, but you can’t always outscore the other team, so the folks at One Buc Place had best bring in a strong defensive coordinator (and they did just before “press time” in Mike Smith – excellent hire).

9. Don’t know why we haven’t recommended this site before, but if you are anything more than a casual baseball fan, MLB Rumors is a must read – particularly during the Winter Meetings, cut time in spring training and at the July 31 trade deadline.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) says just for the heck of it, let’s pass a law that declares that every 5^th person convicted of a white collar crime gets a minimum one year jail term with no appeals permitted. (Margin of error 50 per cent or so).

Yankees, Royals new trendsetters in pitching

The stunning trade of Aroldis Chapman to the New York Yankees a few weeks back continues a new paradigm in constructing a pitching staff – back to front rather than front to back. The Yankees like the Royals now have a shutdown bullpen from the seventh inning on with Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. The trio mirrors the World Champs’ Wade Davis, Greg Holland and Kelvin Herrara. The concept is not completely new – the 1979 World Champion Pirates had the three-headed monster of Al Jackson, Enrique Romo and Kent Tekulve and more recently the Braves made games six inning affairs with Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel. With starters producing fewer and fewer innings each year, the Yankee-Royals model seems to be the wave of the future.

Understanding Tampa Bay football (and we don’t)

So the Bucs have cashiered Lovie Smith? By telephone, no less – way to keep it classy, Glazers. The surprising, yet not surprising move was necessitated by several NFL clubs inquiring about the Buc’s presumed head coach-in-waiting Dirk Koetter. The offensive coordinator is a hot item right now and the Bucs don’t want to lose him. Simple enough? Not really. In canning Smith, defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier plus defensive assistants Mikal Smith (Lovie’s son) and Gill Byrd, all coaches of color, the Bucs have run afoul of all that is holy according to the Rooney Rule. That will have to be addressed. Another issue is whether the Bucs should have hired the senior Smith in the first place. Granted, their first choice Chip Kelly backed out on them but Smith’s hiring was met with lukewarm enthusiasm at best. Lastly, how come a guy who moves a team from 2-14 to 6-10 gets canned and a guy across town (USF’s Willie Taggart) who makes a similar four game improvement and is 14-23 over three seasons gets a contract extension? Tampa Bay football just defies understanding.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. It just keeps getting better at the Clearwater Marina with its still unfinished Mexican and coffee shop style restaurants. Now, construction workers at the site are suing for unpaid wages. Surely some heads will roll for this public embarrassment now two and a half years old.

2. This just in: newly elected St. Pete city council person Lisa Wheeler-Brown announces she will support the proposed St. Pete-Rays stadium deal before she’s even briefed on the deal. What a surprise!

3. So we want to go back to an elected head of the state’s education system? Our memories are short about the several messes that system caused including one Commissioner of Education who did prison time. The shortcomings of the current office holder don’t mean we need to change the system – otherwise this country would be appointing a President the next time around - more on that next week.

4. As the Bucs season ends, our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) was a little too pessimistic in predicting a 4-12 season after being burned last year with a two-win effort. But the Bucs won’t get much better until they learn simple execution on both sides of the ball particularly in avoiding really stupid penalties – and they won’t have quite as easy a schedule next year. (Note: This was written before the 1/6/16 dismissal of Lovie Smith and the last sentence probably was a major factor in that decision).

5. You’ve lived In Pinellas County a long time if you remember retailers throughout the county giving away S&H Green Stamps, Top Value Stamps and Plaid Stamps. The trading stamp craze ended in the late sixties and early seventies.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. Congratulations to Ken Griffey, Jr. on his election to the Hall of Fame – as close to a sure thing as there is. Also a tip of the cap to Mike Piazza elected to the Hall despite being linked to performance enhancing drugs during his career. And a “what were you thinking” award to a local baseball scribe whose Hall of Fame vote looked more like a PED Hall of Shame ballot with Bagwell, Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and Piazza on his ballot. What, no Rafael Palmeiro (actually, no longer eligible) or Sammy Sosa?

7. As we predicted here (RANTS – February 22, 2015), the merger of office supply giants Office Depot and Staples wouldn’t be as easy as running a black and white copy. Now the Feds have pushed back and when all is said and done, they may remain two separate companies. Stay tuned.

8. Factoid: The once proud Cleveland Browns will be hiring their 9^th head coach in the last 16 years. The rest of the teams in their division (Bengals, Ravens and Steelers) have had seven head coaches combined in the same time span. There is a whole generation that has never seen the Browns as the great football team they were in the days of Otto Graham, Lou Groza and Jim Brown - sad.

9. Sure, she had a famous last name but she made it on her own with incredible talent. The music world is not as good a place without Natalie Cole. Her own efforts like Inseparable, Pink Cadillac and Miss You Like Crazy were part of the 70s and 80s landscape, but her crowning moment was 1991’s poignant duet with her late father on Unforgettable.

10. As we mentioned a few months back (Rants – Sept. 27) for the first time since its last show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is back on TV. It’s on the Antenna Network – Channel 610 on Bright House systems.

Fox Sports gets it almost right

Nearly two years ago (RANTS – March 16, 2014 ), we suggested that Fox Sports was probably relegating their most talented baseball play by play team to second banana – that being John Smoltz and Matt Vasgersian. Their lead team consisted of Joe Buck, Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci. A week or two ago, Fox corrected part of the problem, removing Reynolds and Verducci from the lead team and replacing them with Smoltz. As for the play by play guy, Buck surely has the most famous name, but Vasgersian is lights years ahead in play by play skills and overall knowledge of the game and his style makes Smoltz better, but alas, his last name is not Buck.

Happy New Year!

A golden opportunity for Clearwater economic development

About twenty years ago, the Clearwater City Commission made a bold stroke and did a nationwide search for an executive to kick start the city’s moribund economic development efforts. The successful candidate, Bob Keller, did just that - turning an abandoned department store site into downtown’s most vibrant business campus, forming strong government-private sector alliances and spearheading recruitment and retention efforts that turned Clearwater around. 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?

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Given St. Pete’s left leaning administration, we shouldn’t be surprised that penalties for possession of pot in the city will now rank right up there with running a stop sign.

2. No one should be surprised by the city of Clearwater reducing reserve requirements for the maintenance of the Capitol Theater by Ruth Eckerd Hall. Nonprofits always make promises to the city that are never fulfilled. The building of the downtown library was another example when Friends of the Library wanted loans for embellishments not called for in the original plans. Council members then, as with the theater, reluctantly agreed knowing they’d never see the money.

3. Later this year dirt will start flying in the Morningside neighborhood for a new recreation center that was promised to residents well over a decade ago. It’s about time.

4. Some time back (RANTS – May 4, 2014), we mentioned how fortunate Pinellas County was to have a hospital at the level of Morton Plant. What we should have added is there are also some other local medical facilities that make you wonder how they keep their doors open.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time, if you remember chowing down at the King Pig on Gulf to Bay Blvd. Thanks to our sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) for reminding us of this Clearwater landmark.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Donald, Donald, if you’re going to run an efficient campaign, concentrate on your message and not on what that pimple on the butt of American opinion, Politifact, has to say.

7. Chip Kelly, let go by the Philadelphia Eagles last week, will be on the unemployment line for a month or less. But hopefully whoever hires him (probably an NFL team) will not give him personnel authority – a mistake made by the Eagles.

8. Neat feature by Channel 13 during the holidays on the 25 years plus of the heart warming Publix Christmas commercials including the classic that started it all – their train to houseboat commercial to the tune of Pat Matheny’s Last Train Home which played for several years and is still their best.

9. Factoid: 1 in 12 American men are color blind (only 1 in 200 women). With that in mind, why would the NFL permit or encourage ridiculous uniforms like the Bucs and Rams wore a few weeks back? It is virtually impossible for someone color blind to differentiate between the two teams.

10. Quote of the week from Willie Geist, co-anchor on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on the mean-spirited political cartoon featuring Ted Cruz’ children – “People look for moments of bias in the media. Here’s one right here. You can’t be selectively offended by cartoons. If that had been a Democrat, or God forbid the President of the United States, they would have lit the house on fire. There would have been wall-to-wall coverage on it.”

$100 million ain’t what it used to be

The Bucs (and we taxpayers) will be spending $100 million dollars to upgrade Raymond James Stadium and presumably put us in line for another Super Bowl. The price of poker has gone up. Here’s what $100 million used to buy you – all of pre-developed Island Estates, 10 times over; Dodger stadium – four of them; 15 Fenway Parks, 100 of the Packer’s Lambeau Field and, in the spirit of the holidays, this year’s price for the items in the 12 Days of Christmas nearly 3000 times over including the partridge in a pear tree.

 As 2015 draws to a close, a few of our favorite things:

This week, a bit of a departure for our now 21-month old blog, as we look back at some favorite entries from the year just passed – and a couple, “wish we hadn’t said that” moments. Plus we say a final goodbye to some incredibly good people and things. And a thanks to you for stopping by every week or so!

Our favorites from Around Tampa Bay:

1. Apparently we are not the only ones wondering why the heck CENTCOM has a Twitter account - to keep in touch with Tampa’s version of the Kardashians?

2. Factoid: For many years, the editorial page of “Florida’s Best Newspaper” carried a quote from its long time publisher Nelson Poynter. It read “The policy of our paper is simple – merely to tell the truth.” The quote was dropped several years ago.

3. More than one political pundit is forecasting a Rick Baker – Charlie Crist race for the District 13 Congressional seat being vacated by David Jolly. As polarizing as Baker and Crist are, “None of the above” could stand a very good chance in that race.

4. Tampa International Airport decided not to include a Bloomin’ Brands (Outback, Carrabba’s etc.) restaurant in their upcoming renovation saying the Tampa-based chain had grown so big they lost the local flavor the airport was seeking. So Carrabba’s is being replaced by a P.F. Chang’s – now there’s some local flavor!

5. From January 2015: Another touch of Clearwater history: 52 years ago this month, WTAN Radio celebrates its 15th year on the air by constructing one of the first FM stereo stations in the market – WTAN-FM. Young guy working a weekend gig at a St. Pete station decides to give this FM thing a brief try and sticks around for 20 years. Sorry, forgot the guy’s name.

6. You’ve lived in the Bay Area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember when pizza wasn’t delivered but milk was. Thanks to the brighter sibling in our family for this one.

7. Florida Senate passes a bill that makes it illegal for law enforcement agencies to set traffic ticket quotas. Good news for Florida and visiting motorists; bad news for Waldo, Lawtey, Inglis and Brooksville among others.

8. Thanks to the Gassman Law Firm on Court Street in Clearwater for always bringing a smile to our face with their catchy marquee. It is truly a Sign of the Times.

9. Does anything define sleaze better than the circus involving the lawyers who worked both sides of the Bubba – Todd Schnitt lawsuit?

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if the two businesses you patronized most on North Fort Harrison Ave. were Merz Record Shop and Pete’s Pizza.

11. Recent poll said 31 per cent of people living in Florida would like to live elsewhere. Let’s see, there’s I-75 on this coast and I-95 to the east. Safe travel!

12. Always remember that if someone uninitiated asks you what Clearwater is famous for, you don’t have to lower your head and mumble something about a cult. Instead, stand proud and declare we are the home of the very first Hooter’s Restaurant!

13. Several local policy wonks express great optimism in David Jolly’s Senate run. Wish we could join them. Jolly is a little too fresh out of the box to win statewide. Would love to see him prevail – particularly for what it would mean for the Bay Area, but as betting people, would have to put our money elsewhere.

14. A recent news item concerning a Confederate Stars and Bars flag flying over the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) building in Clearwater provoked two thoughts: (a) we’d wager that fifty per cent or more of the American population would not recognize the “nationality” of that flag and (b) it was mentioned that the UDC building was close to the new Clearwater monument which brought to mind that monument cost more than the entire UDC building and the grounds surrounding it.

15. Open primaries in Florida where left leaning independents could throw some crap in the game in a GOP primary or far right independent voters do the same in a Democratic primary – now what could possibly go wrong with that?

16. Do two 75-story residential towers fit the Tampa landscape? You’re right, they don’t. Any sort of review board that would rule otherwise has to be looked at with suspicion.

17. It is way past time for the Florida legislature to pass some fair to all concerned legislation regarding Lyft and Uber service. Otherwise, you are going to have about three dozen Florida counties doing their own thing creating total confusion for the public that relies on such transportation.

18. Again, proof that this blog writes itself – a proposal by Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection that hunting be allowed in state parks. Don’t think that’s what we mean by “environmental protection.”

19. A couple walks out of a Pinellas county movie after a man carries a duffel bag in making the wife very nervous. In Tampa, a guy’s gun falls out of its holster onto the floor prompting another theater patron to call police. Come on theaters, we can’t carry our own bottle of water into most movies, but guys are carrying duffel bags and revolvers in? And you wonder why attendance is down?

20. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed one of the incomparable Philly Hoagies at the Philly Hoagie shop across from what was then Cleveland Plaza. And if you know prominent Clearwater attorney Charlie Robinson, ask him about his favorite Philly Hoagie story.

Favs from the diamond, the media and elsewhere:

1. This first appeared in this space almost a year and a half ago (Rants – May 25, 2014) and we still believe it. The answer to the Ray’s attendance problems could best be solved not by a new glitzy stadium on either side of the bay, but moving the franchise to the National League which has many more followers in the bay area than the American League and nationwide by 4 million fans annually. Houston switched leagues, why not Tampa Bay?

2. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) reminds us that too often the inventions we take for granted are the most important. Case in point: It’s five o’clock, pouring rain and you are about to leave the office for your car located two football fields away. Which would you rather have –an Apple 18.5 smart phone or an umbrella? (Margin of error – 50 per cent or so).

3. This item appeared in the January 4 issue of Rants and Raves: As we frequently do, we “borrow” a classic from the local 5:05 newsletter regarding the passing of the founder of Topps baseball cards: “Sy Berger, the designer of the modern baseball card, has died. He will be laid to rest in a shoe box somewhere in an attic”. More than one person has suggested to us that there should be an addendum to the piece – “And after five years, your mother throws the shoe box away”.

4. You can probably understand a team that consistently wins nine games a year occasionally hitting up their ticket holders for more money or a bigger contribution. But USF that has won nine games in three years? (Full disclosure they did do better this year but 16 wins over four years doesn’t exactly make them the Crimson Tide).

5. Our Rants and Raves focus group (composed of three old, cranky people) wants to know what Hillary Clinton has to say that is worth $200,000. (Margin of error – plus or minus 50 per cent).

6. Don’t know about you, but there wasn’t a dry eye in your HB (Humble Blogger’s) home during Channel 8’s send off for Gayle Sierens. What a class act.

7. The Tampa Bay region is again pursuing a Super Bowl (2019 or 2020). We are up against some tough competition, but the area already has a plum – the 2017 national college championship game which, in many eyes, will become more prestigious than the Super Bowl as time goes on.

8. Remember how old you felt when there were no longer any major league ballplayers older than you? How about when there are no major league managers older than you?

9. From July of this year - Fifty years ago this week, riding the top of the charts in America was a song, which legend has it, was written at the pre-cult Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater – the Stone’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – the biggest hit of 1965.

10. Memo to baseball commissioner Rob Manfred: if you are truly concerned about the younger generation’s lack of passion for the game, start the marquee games (All-Star and World Series) more than an hour before their bedtime.

11. The NHL is “doing the dance” with Las Vegas (as well as Quebec City) regarding an expansion franchise. This brings up two questions – will a major (sort of) sport finally locate in Sin City and can you name a dozen NHL franchises if we spot you the original six?

12. From October: New York City’s first Chick-fil-A opened last week. As you would expect, there were animal rights, gay rights and pro-abortion protesters on hand – as well a few city dwellers telling the folks in the kitchen, “This is the way we do it up north.”

13. Give a little man/woman a job with the slightest hint of authority and they often become Nazis. A few examples – ticket takers at entertainment venues, crosswalk guards and the ultimate job sure to turn a nobody into a Nazi – a condo or HOA board.

14. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) suggests timers in the grocery store in front of items. You have twenty seconds to ponder an item and then either put it in your cart or move on.

15. Okay, we think we get it now. With PolicaFact, or whatever they call it, if a liberal says the sun rises in the east, it ranks “True”. The same statement from a conservative ranks “Half True”.

16. Just a guess, but we suspect the Tennessee Titans are happy with who they ended up with in the first round of the NFL draft.

17. We know he was polarizing and blatantly plain spoken (always loved that Auburn coloring books line), but Steve Spurrier will go down as one of the 5 or 10 best coaches in college history. Hard to think of many coaches who took three mediocre college programs and made them relevant. And yes, his timing was unfortunate.

18. Really? Five-win teams going to bowls? It’s time for the NCAA and some communities to bite the bullet and get rid of about half a dozen of these “nobody but alumni cares” bowls.A few suggestions – Bahamas Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (we’re not making that up), Camellia Bowl and the Miami Beach Bowl (and, yes, we know our alma mater is going there). Each of these bowls drew 20,000 or less last year. They cannot be making money.

19. Takeaways from the Miss Universe fiasco – it wouldn’t have happened on Donald Trump’s watch, just ask him. And Steve Harvey will be lucky to be asked to emcee the Miss Yeehaw Junction pageant.

20. Our Rants and Raves focus group (which consists of three old, cranky people) suggests a cash register that automatically shuts off at ten items for those in Publix’ ten item aisle who cannot seem to be able to count. One stronger suggestion from the group is a trap door that opens on the 11th item. Margin of error: 50 per cent or so.

And what we meant to say was….

1. This year, hope does not spring eternal for Tampa Bay area based spring training teams. The Phillies are in a rebuild mode; Toronto plays in the toughest division in baseball and the Yankees, in that same division, need everything, repeat everything, to go right for them to reach the post season. Seems like two of those three teams did pretty well.

2. The odds of David Jolly running for the U.S. Senate and the Rays advancing to the World Series this year are virtually the same. Again, we had at least one of them right.

3. It’s quite possible the Cubs will become the next Mets or Dodgers – spending millions with negligible results. Actually the Cubbies exceeded expectations. And the Dodgers and Mets not so bad either.

4. Focus is on six teams – two who are not as bad as they seem and will be back in the hunt before too long. That would be the Seattle Seahawks who had some early season turmoil and the Baltimore Ravens who are simply just too good to be at the bottom of the AFC North. The Seahawks picked it up quite a bit but the Ravens were bloody awful.

Our Last Song Together (apologies to Glenn Yarbrough)

Not all of these people made headlines when they passed this year but all left a very special mark on this community and, in some cases, this nation:

Former University of Florida coach and Clearwater resident Ray Graves.

Another Gator, Jack Russell Jr., Past President of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, long time Clearwater Rotarian and a man with a passion for sports cars.

David Rulison – the “Can Man” who recycled cans at the Clearwater Marina for over two decades.

Bobby Quinn, an artist on the mound for the 10-time World Champion Clearwater Bombers.

Ernie Banks, whose “Let’s play two” personified his love for the game.

Ben E. King, whose soulful stylings for the Drifters defined the late 50s and early 60s R&B music.

Dorothy Bowes-Nee, the smiling face at the front desk of Clearwater High School for so many years.

Gary Owens, whose rich voice made KFWB radio in LA a rock and roll giant in the 60s and 70s and whose quirky style set the tone for the hit comedy show Laugh In.

Windell Middlebrooks, who captured mainstream America with his portrayal of Miller High Life’s no nonsense delivery man who suffered no fools gladly.

Father Hugh Mullin, a plain spoken, devoted priest and servant of his country.

Jack Larson, multi-talented, but best known as the guy who played cub reporter Jimmy Olson in a childhood favorite – Superman.

Don Seaton, who operated the Sea Wake and Sea Stone resorts on Clearwater Beach – one of Clearwater’s tourism giants - and just a great guy.

Our boyhood baseball hero, Lawrence Peter Berra, who drove us to wear baseball uniforms two sizes too big or way too small just as long as they had an “8” on the back.

And a few things that were special to your humble blogger:

The Belleview Biltmore, the stately Queen of the Gulf, that played host to Kings, Presidents, Sultans of Swat and ordinary folks like you and me.

The Country Harvest, a family style restaurant on Missouri Avenue – a place where you met friends after church on Sunday, had great servers and just plain good food.

And who among us is not going to miss NBC’s Willard Scott? Darn, was hoping he’d stay around several more years until our 100^th birthday!

Merry Christmas to all …

Take care of these major sports issues, then worry about names

Topping the list of sports issues is pro athlete thugs beating kids; very closely followed by that same bunch of thugs (mostly from the NFL) doing worse to women; right behind that is the life threatening issue of concussions, again, primarily in the NFL. While on the subject of life threatening, auto racing, particularly NASCAR has to clean up its house in that area. Sadly, the technology is there but not being implemented. Then there is doping and what it does not only to the level of competition, but to the future health of our athletes. How about corruption in sports – the FIFA being the poster child in that arena? Next let’s focus on college basketball and football and decide if we want those sports to be what they have been for over a century – a venue for student-athletes or simply a farm system for the NBA and the NFL. Add to that the question of pay for college athletes. Isn’t a free four-year education enough? Then, of course, there is that hot mess at the University of Missouri. Okay, there are a half dozen or more major problems facing amateur and pro sports. Once we solve them and about a half dozen other pressing issues, maybe we can talk about whether we want our pro teams having names like Braves, Chiefs, Indians and Redskins.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Our official greeting appears above and below but to put it in another perspective (from the nearly world famous Gassman Law Firm sign on Court Street) – Happy Hollandaise!

2. An early Christmas present from the city of Clearwater to employees of businesses at the Clearwater Marina – an increase in the cost of parking their vehicles – a minimum of over $100 a year. Things just keep getting better at our city marina (see disclaimer above) and stand a good chance of getting worse.

3. Experts used to say the first sign of a failing shopping mall was the appearance of a video game room. Now you have to wonder about a mall that includes a tattoo parlor.

4. Lots of rumors circulating concerning a new Publix for Island Estates including one saying the new store will be multi-story. Multi-story yes, but apparently only one level of shopping (over parking) according to what most sources have revealed.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the brouhaha created by the staging of Angels in America at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Quote of the week: From The Tampa Tribune’s ace columnist Tom Jackson on Donald Trump’s blundering answer on America’s nuclear triad – “We’ve all heard more cogent answers to less important questions from finalists in Trump-sponsored beauty pageants”.

7. Our crack sports prognosticator, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) fresh off his bullseye  World Series pick - (Royals in 5), likes Bama to beat Michigan State and Clemson to prevail over Oklahoma with the Tide rolling in the national championship game.

8. 59 days until pitchers and catchers report! That is, if you are reading this the date of publication – even less if you’re reading it later on!

9. Yet another gem borrowed from that Mad Magazine of the digital age, the 5:05 Newsletter: "When a woman asks you to guess her age, it's like deciding whether to cut the blue, red, or green wire to diffuse a bomb."

10. NBC, MSNBC and NBC whatever else have announced a merged effort with Politifact – a marriage made in the far left corner of heaven.

And the countdown continues (with an apology to Casey Kasem)

We’re doing something a bit different next week, so this week we conclude with the top three songs of the week as we said goodbye to 1965 fifty years ago. They were The Dave Clark Five’s Over and Over – their only #1 record. Following the DC 5 were the Byrd’s Turn, Turn, Turn (just down from number one) and Simon and Garfunkel’s breakout hit – The Sounds of Silence (about to ascend to number one the first week of 1966).

… and to all a good night!

Editor’s note: An editing error lead to two versions of the blog on line last week – the unedited version and the final. We apologize for any confusion.

“Doing the dance” with satellite radio, cable and wireless companies

First as a former business owner/manager, let us acknowledge you cannot do business in 2015 at 2005 prices. But the practices of so many satellite radio, wireless and cable companies are ridiculous. You’re paying about $120 bucks a month for whatever service and suddenly you get a notice or worse, a bill for double that. Then, if you know how to play the game, you call up and ask to cancel and suddenly the bill is cut by 50 percent or more. We can all live with a rational increase in price, but why do we have to constantly play the game to get back to a 3-5 per cent increase? And even worse, what about the people who just shrug their shoulders and pay an outrageous price? This might be an area where federal regulation, which all of us detest, might be in order.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. In the latest dust up between Clearwater citizenry and the cult, citizen wins. But the disturbing thing about Alex Hageli being able to exercise his First Amendment rights is that a Clearwater cop did not know that sidewalks bordering city and county roads are not the property of the Church of Scientology.

2. Always thought riding the 400 foot Orlando Eye would be fun. But what will make it even more exhilarating is the addition of the Eye Glow Lounge at the base of the attraction enabling you to ride the giant Ferris Wheel with a bunch of drunks.

3. Two words that strike fear into the hearts of bay area tourism officials – red tide. It’s now in extreme south Pinellas County but experts will be keeping their eyes out. Two possible causes – unseasonably warm water temperatures in the gulf and the lack of a “stirring” effect that a tropical storm has on the gulf making our uneventful hurricane season a mixed blessing.

4. Now it’s more or less official. As we predicted in an earlier Rants (Nov. 15), the value of the Canadian dollar (75 cents) is going to have a major impact on visits to Florida from north of the border with tourism experts predicting an 8-10 percent drop.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember guys with names like Dick Stambaugh, Dave Archard, Rock Robbins and Beachcomber Bob. They were all “Swinging Gentleman” - disk jockeys on Tampa Bay’s legendary Top 40 station – WLCY back in the early sixties.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. USF head football coach Willie Taggart has gone from sitting on one of the hottest seats in the sport to getting a five year extension. What is wrong with that picture?

7. Really? Five-win teams going to bowls? It’s time for the NCAA and some communities to bite the bullet and get rid of about half a dozen of these “nobody but alumni cares” bowls.A few suggestions – Bahamas Bowl, Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (we’re not making that up), Camellia Bowl and the Miami Beach Bowl (and, yes, we know our alma mater is going there). Each of these bowls drew 20,000 or less last year. They cannot be making money.

8. Wow, the Bosox picking up David Price seems akin to the Third Reich signing George Patton.

9. Speaking of baseball, seeing the incredible haul the Atlanta Braves got from Arizona for stud pitcher Shelby Miller, the Rays have become somewhat delusional about what their starters would bring. Chris Archer probably could have commanded a similar package; any other Ray’s starter – not even close.

10. 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?

DOT: can’t have your cake and eat it too

Recently a group of U.S. 19 businesses tried (thus far) unsuccessfully to gain compensation for business losses occasioned by the highway’s construction. Seems state law does not allow for that. Fair enough, but as we continue our love affair with the car and the need for more lanes of traffic, we need much better execution by DOT and its ilk to keep from devastating business through bad planning. Otherwise, do enact legislation that compensates businesses for the diminished value of their property. You can’t have it both ways.

Why we love Politifact (see disclaimer above)

Figures don’t lie but… you know the rest. This recent Politifact item caught our attention and pegged our phony meter. The statement, “We have record numbers of people living in poverty” – Carly Fiorina. The merry crew at Politifact rates this half true because according to them while there are indeed more people than ever living in poverty in the U.S. there have been, in the past, larger percentages of the American public living in poverty. We are sure that to the more than 45 million Americans living in poverty knowing that they are a smaller percentage of the U.S. population than at other times in history gives them great comfort and Politifact even more credibility.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Factoid: It took one year and 45 days to build the Empire State Building. It has taken over twice that long to build a lousy Mexican restaurant on top of the Clearwater Marina – a restaurant still not open.

2. TIA is not waiting on the state legislature to act on easing rules on free parking by disabled vets. The cities of Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater should follow suit.

3. Most self-serving quote of the week: “There’s no place like home especially home with fair congressional districts (read Democratic-leaning) like the one we have now in Pinellas County” – perennial candidate Charlie Crist.

4. The website Athlon Sports and Life ranks the Rays’ logo the worst in baseball. Have they seen the Astros’ or the Padres’ logos? Top three are the Tigers’ iconic D, the Cubs and the Dodgers. All three are good, but somewhere at the top you have to have the time-tested Yankees’ top hat logo.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Val’s Meat Market on Drew Street and their incredible sizzlers. Thanks to one of the members of the august Morton Plant Treehouse group for reminding us of this bit of local history.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Has there ever been a more inept Secretary of State than John Kerry - probably so, but not in recent memory. Did the “Big O” appoint him just to make Hillary look good?

7. Doris Burke is one of the true gems in the ESPN stable. She provides steady analysis of NCAA basketball games coming off as a fan of the game without being over the top ala Dickie V.

8. Happy to see the foolishness concerning Les Miles’ job security at LSU come to an end. Miles is arguably one of the ten best coaches in the country. As Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops opined at the height of the rumors, “Be careful what you wish for.”

9. The CBS ensemble comedy Life in Pieces has been picked up for a full season’s run. The show is one of the brighter things in the 2015-16 television season.

10. Question: what do the popcorn machine, Juicy Fruit Gum, brownies, the dishwasher and the Ferris Wheel have in common? They all debuted at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and all five are still around 122 years later.

Presidential feet of clay:

Memory is not an accurate recording. This pretty much sums up a letter from a Rants and Raves reader concerning our canonization of JFK (RANTS – November 22). Our reader accurately points out Kennedy’s awful Bay of Pigs adventure, his unwise involvement in Vietnam and a very spotty civil rights record – paling in comparison to his successor – LBJ – a Southerner to boot. We tend to remember only the good things about former leaders – even the acknowledged best five – Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln and FDR all made serious missteps but those follies have been buried under various frontier expansions, new deals and wars won. And, of course, the closer historically, we are to a president, the worse he seems. In the end, our current leader (presently ranked 36th out of 43) may not go down in history as one of the worst despite opinion to the contrary now.

Marijuana petition scam in Florida

It works like this. A polite young person comes up and asks you to sign a petition to allow solar power to be resold in a free market. Sounds okay, put it on the ballot and then study the issue thoroughly to see if you want to vote yes or no. The petition is on white paper. Then the young person asks you to also sign a second sheet (yellow, like the second part of most forms). Mildly aggravated that they wouldn’t invest in a carbonless form, you begin to sign it and then you realize the second form is a petition to put pot back on the ballot. No mention of that from young petition gatherer. Come on Mr. Morgan and cronies; if this is such a noble cause, do you really have to stoop to tactics like that?

Around Tampa Bay:

1. The barrels and the barricades are up on Clearwater’s Court and Chestnut Streets, but do you ever see anyone out there performing any work?

2. This spring voters will elect a majority of the Clearwater city council and, sad to report, no shining lights are coming forward to offer their services as opposed to last election where we had, unfortunately, three really good people competing for two seats.

3. Your tax dollars in action - new sculpture to grace the entryway to the downtown library. Cost - just over fifty large. But that’s only half what the “artwork” at the new fire station cost – the artwork no one can see.

4. When is the last time you enjoyed a walk on Clearwater Beach? Most evenings this time of year are great opportunities to enjoy some of the splendor we too often take for granted.

5. From the darker side, you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the United Churches of Florida.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It will be so much easier for the liberal media once the GOP Presidential field is winnowed down to a handful. As it is now, they have to scramble so hard to make sure they take cheap shots at every credible candidate.

7. Now that hurricane season is over, an idle thought. Why can’t they just resume with the unused names the following year? As it stands, 2015’s Rose, Teresa and Wanda will never get a shot at fame or infamy.

8. Cubs and former Ray’s bench coach Dave Martinez apparently doesn’t interview well as he lost out on the Ray’s top job and, more recently, the Dodger’s managerial post. One of these days, he will be thrust into the top spot by a firing, resignation or whatever and when that happens, he will make a couple clubs very unhappy they didn’t hire him.

9. We often praise the Times Tom Jones here – simply because he’s so doggone good. We particularly applaud his recent column on the sanctity of Friday night high school football. College has Saturday as well as Tuesday through Thursday, if they want it, but for heaven’s sake, leave Friday nights to the high schoolers.

10. Washington Redskins – nothing to report about the team. Just wanted to use the team name in print to offset the politically correct folks who think they should be renamed the Washington (insert non-offensive and irrelevant name here).

Let’s all trash the SEC

Last year Ohio State was the college national football champion – breaking a run of eight straight years teams from the SEC led the nation. So suddenly Big 10 or 12 or however many supporters think they rule the world. Of particular interest is PTI’s Michael Wilbon who has some sort of blind hatred for the SEC in general and Alabama in particular. He points out the three “cupcakes” the Tide has played this year while conveniently overlooking Ohio State’s schedule featuring powerhouses like Hawaii, Western Michigan and Northern Illinois (who they barely beat). Then, when the Buckeyes finally play a ranked team, they lose. Alabama, by the way, has already played three ranked schools. Let’s see how the rest of the season plays out before we crown the Big However Many the new coin of the realm.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Remember officers, we are a tourism–driven region

We dealt with the proliferation of foot races that gum up Clearwater Beach traffic last week (Rants – November 15). But even more troubling than these events that produce little if anything in tourism dollars is the reaction of Clearwater Police during the November 8 race to baffled drivers trying to reach destinations like the Clearwater Marina – telling them the marina parking was closed (it wasn’t); directing them to park at the Hilton (where they couldn’t) and berating them with things like “There have been signs up for two weeks” (they were not) – often speaking to tourists who had been here two days not two weeks. If our cops can’t be knowledgeable and courteous, then we need to get others who are – or better yet, get rid of these non-revenue producing races.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. We seldom agree with Mayor Rick (”Let’s Spend Some Money”) Kriseman but his stepping in and preventing the city of St. Pete from getting into the auto race business was the right move. Cities rarely run entrepreneurial things well. At the same time, the city council’s shot across the race promoter’s bow was not necessarily a bad thing. The race people need to remember they serve at the pleasure of the city – not the other way around.          

2. Again, proof that this blog writes itself – a proposal by Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection that hunting be allowed in state parks. Don’t think that’s what we mean by “environmental protection.”

3. So a theater patron, an ex-cop no less, felt threatened by a cell phone? The defense being put up by Curtis Reeves’ attorneys is going to be interesting to follow through the court system.

4. The proposal to allow PSTA buses to use the shoulders of major highways during gridlock is not as off the charts as it seems. Been done in other metro areas and is done every heavy traffic weekend on the causeway to Clearwater Beach by motorcyclists and some even dumber motorists.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember some of its downtown auto dealerships – Crown Chrysler-Plymouth, Kennedy-Strickland Ford, Stone Buick, Thayer Dodge and White Pontiac to name a few.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. At the beginning of the season, you would not have given a plug nickel for Lovie Smith or Willie Taggart’s chances of returning next season. Now the Bulls are going to a bowl and the Bucs have doubled their win total. Taggart will be back for sure and Smith better than even money barring a second half collapse.

7. Guess it will take more than a high-priced general manager, a high-priced manager and a bevy of young sluggers to make the Cubs anything but the Cubs.

8. Many baseball observers are comparing the Atlanta Braves trade of slick fielding shortstop Andrelton Simmons to the Padres’ ill-fated trade of Ozzie Smith to the Cards back in 1981.

9. Speaking of the Cards, they have been on the winning end of arguably the two most lopsided trades in the past half century – the above Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton trade and getting another Hall of Famer, Lou Brock, for pitcher Ernie Broglio.

10. When you give thanks this week, don’t forget a small thank you for the paradise we are lucky enough to call home.

How good or great would he have been?

It is hard to fathom that it’s been 52 years since our nation lost John F. Kennedy. The first few years of his administration had been promising – the pledge, later fulfilled, to reach the moon; the Peace Corps; staring down Khrushchev to name just three. If nothing else, it would have been great to have him see his most ambitious promise becoming fact on that magic night in July of 1969 – even though, again hard to imagine, he would have been out of office by then. Like Lincoln and McKinley before him, so much promise never to be fulfilled.

Making their mark on Clearwater tourism

The recent passing of Don Seaton reminded us of just how much he meant to Clearwater tourism and how he and three contemporaries took Clearwater tourism to a higher level over the decades. Along with Don, three other men come to mind who, in their own way, drove Clearwater tourism - and one still does. While Don was running the Sea Wake and Sea Stone resorts, Russ Kimball was, and still is, overseeing perhaps Clearwater’s pre-eminent hotel – the Sheraton Sand Key. Wallace Lee first made his mark in the halcyon days of the Jack Tar Fort Harrison Hotel and later oversaw things at the beautiful Clearwater Beach Hotel. And then there was Bob Jones probably as well known for his massive practical jokes (along with Jay Keyes of the Bank 1890s Restaurant) as he was for his skillful guidance of the original Holiday Inn (now the Hilton) on Clearwater Beach. Without these four men and a few others, Clearwater’s robust tourism would not be what it is today.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Hard to believe but in another week or so, you’ll be hearing the sound of the Salvation Army bell outside many retailers. They are always looking for volunteer bell ringers; give them a call (725-9777). And thanks to the many retailers who grant the Army space to raise funds for the great work they do.

2. New logo and “rebranding” for Clearwater? The city seemed to doing pretty good with the old branding – dynamite beach, great golf and fishing - and it doesn’t snow here in February.

3. On a related and more serious note, you have to wonder about the Canadian component of tourism and seasonal residency when the Canadian dollar is worth about six bits American.

4. Two folks whose phones ring a lot asking them to get back into the political arena are long time Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler and two-term Clearwater commissioner John Doran. Both cities are viewed as having a vacuum of leadership but our money is on Mischler and Doran remaining on the sidelines.

5. And a follow up to our lead item, you have lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed the sumptuous buffets at Jay Keyes’ Bank 1890s Restaurant located where the new Shephard’s now stands.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The answer to the lowly Chicago Cub’s woes involves neither pitching nor hitting according to long time Cub fan and sufferer George Will. What needs to happen is for someone to start World War III. As Will points out in his book “Bunts”, the Cubs have not won the pennant since 1945 – the year WWII ended.

7. Never too soon to forecast the 2016 season and here is our first 2016 baseball prediction: David Ortiz will morph into the next Ryan Howard, an overweight, aging slugger whose bat speed matches up with that of Hank Aguirre (younger readers, look him up).

8. The NFL is the only one of the four major sports leagues (MLB, NBA and NHL) where you don’t laugh uncontrollably when they talk about possible expansion.

9. Know they each have won a lot of games, but our money won’t be on the Bengals, Broncos or Panthers when January and early February come around.

10. From an honorary member of our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) comes this gem: “The biggest lie I tell myself is I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it”.

More beach shutdowns/slowdowns ahead

First, our apologies for not giving you advance warning of the November 8th traffic jamming run on Clearwater Beach. Hope you didn’t need to be anywhere promptly. Here’s a “cut and save” for the next few months for days it will be near impossible to get to the beach or get off in a timely fashion. Saturday, December 5 will see beach traffic slowed or stopped for The Color Run 5K. Sunday, January 17 - allow extra time to get off the beach or on the beach to church for the Clearwater Distance Classic – same thing applies to Sunday, April 10 for an Iron Girl event. Of course, there is Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot which only gums up part of the city and you can use alternate east-west and north-south routes as opposed to the beach where there is only one practical way on and off - something lost on race planners and the city officials who sign off on these events.

 Achmed nailed it – Royals in five

First, a tip of the cap to our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED). Before post season play began, in our October 4 Rants, Achmed correctly predicted the Royals would be World Champs in five games. The Royals are a team you might be able to beat for the first five innings but you better have a huge lead because they are going to come back at you in the last four – or sometimes seven. Their starting pitching is more than adequate and their bullpen is one of the best in recent years. Good to see a small market team win it all and particularly gratifying to see championship rings go to two truly nice guys, former Ray Ben Zobrist and his manager, Ned Yost.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Good for bay area law enforcement heads who came out four-square against a ridiculous open carry law being proposed by some panhandle legislators. Second Amendment rights are one thing but turning tourism-dependent Florida into the wild, wild West is something else again.

2. In baseball parlance (because isn’t that the only thing the election was about?) the St. Pete electorate went 2 for 3 in last week’s election – wisely returning incumbent commissioners Charlie Gerdes and Steve Kornell to office. But voters whiffed big time in electing Lisa Wheeler-Brown despite a spotty resume that includes two arrests. The arrests from a few years back you might (emphasis might) be willing to overlook if she had not made similar errors in judgment during her campaign. But it was all about finding another lap dog for the Tampa Bay Rays and the people have spoken, albeit not wisely.

3. Mayor Rick Kriseman may be the best argument in Florida against a strong mayor form of government. He constantly gets ahead of his city commission. In a city manager form of government, if that happens too often, you fire the manager. Strong mayor form makes the commission wait for the next election to have the mayor fired.

4. Highest minimum water bill in Pinellas County? This should not surprise you – it’s Clearwater and another increase of some four percent is on the way.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when there were Australian Pines and a trailer park just north of the main beach.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Shouldn’t NBC and CNBC’s flattering coverage of presumed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have some sort of “unpaid political advertisement” disclaimer attached?

7. They’ve beaten every team in their division but many remain skeptical of the Cincinnati Bengals – probably because of their ugly playoff record over the past years.

8. The baseball season has just concluded but one projection for 2016 (and beyond), the Mets are going to be scary good with that young pitching staff.

9. In a related note, the Washington Nationals tried to cheap out in their negotiations with Bud Black and wound up with bargain basement manager and thrice-fired Dusty Baker instead. They now have an older version of Matt Williams in their dugout. The one saving grace for the Nats was the hiring of highly regarded Mike Maddux as their new pitching coach which may prevent Baker from mangling the pitching staff which he has done in his previous stops.

10. When notified recently that Taylor Swift was coming to town, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) thought Taylor Swift was (a) a women’s clothing store; (b) the author of Captains and the Kings and (c) a running back for the Kansas City Chiefs. (Margin of error, in this case, 100 per cent).

So Nielsen is suing Bubba – should be the other way around.

First let us say what Bubba the Love Sponge, a well-known radio personality, did is by his own admission, inexcusable. Tampering with radio and TV diaries (to use a generic term) is an ultimate broadcasting no-no. But and this is a huge but, Nielsen and its predecessors have been screwing up ratings for years. Way too often some little old lady who lives with her 37 cats represents thousands of listeners because of their small sampling size. And while the ratings are a minor irritant to we the listeners and viewers in that our favorite series gets cancelled or the guy we listened to for years on the radio is no longer there; ratings when not accurate (and that is often) cost announcers, artists, programmers and general managers their livelihood. This is why astute broadcast companies wait at least two ratings periods before making any changes in programming because so often they find that little old lady with the 37 cats who represents thousands of people only listens to polka music – and all the ratings companies can say is whoops- sorry about that job you lost!

Homeowners associations and common sense

We hate to pick on our home state of Pennsylvania two weeks in a row (See RANTS October 25) but it appears they have taken over from Florida for doing the dumbest things. Seems there is a tiny neighborhood in Pennsylvania called Tarrytown where the powers that be have come down hard on a lady who has an 8 by 14 inch blue star banner in one of her bedroom windows. A blue star indicates a member of the family (in this case, her son) is serving his or her country in the military. Seems the small banner violates some guideline that all window treatments must be white or off white. So the Homeowners Association (HOA) Nazis have sprung into action saying the mother of the soldier must apply for a waiver. Don’t they understand that without people like the lady’s son, they would not have an HOA or the supposed right to meddle in other’s affairs?

Around Tampa Bay:

1. In case you missed it from last weekend – CHS 17 Largo 0 - first time that CHS grads have been able to brag for several, several years. While we’re at it, belated Happy 50^th anniversary to the CHS class of ’65 who held their reunion last weekend. Hopefully, a few of them made it to the game.

2. A tip of our cap to Blue Grace Logistics, a Riverview based company, whose employees, in an annual guys (dogs) versus gals (cats) competition garnered enough food to feed the real dogs and cats at the Tampa Humane Society for a full year. Well done dogs and cats. By the way, the gals (cats) were victorious this year.

3. Every 15 or 20 years, well-meaning Clearwater residents try to make something better out of Clearwater’s Bayfront. And every 15 to 20 years, not so well-meaning residents do their best to swat it down.

4. We are hesitant to plug businesses here, but when you find a really nice family restaurant like the Largo Family Restaurant on Missouri Avenue, you like to share it.

5. Speaking of restaurants, you’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you enjoyed Aunt Hattie’s and Uncle Ed’s restaurants – and the great things you could carry home from their commissary near the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Yet another gem “borrowed” from the incomparable 5:05 Newsletter: House Republicans gave Hillary Clinton a free eight-hour TV commercial last week. I sometimes think Republican strategists exist only to make the French Army feel better about their record.

7. Decent start by the Lightning. Will this be the year for the bay area’s second Stanley Cup?

8. Jason Whitlock is the latest in the mass exodus from ESPN. Like Keith Olbermann, the former fill-in host on Pardon the Interruption, kept pushing the envelope to see how much it would take to get him fired (for the second time). Eventually, he succeeded but landed on his feet at Fox.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) doesn’t understand T-Mobile’s commercial about being able to call anywhere in the U.S. plus Canada and Mexico. They cannot imagine wanting to call anyone in Canada or Mexico.

10. Approximately 50 years ago this month, boy has his heart broken by the love of his life. Today, boy hopes that worked out as well for the former love of his life as it did for him.

In baseball, not always the manager getting the short end of the deal

First there is Dan Jennings who played the good soldier and went down to the dugout from his General Manager’s post and actually did a good job of skippering the injury-plagued Marlins. His reward? Being terminated last week. On to Toronto where Alex Anthopoulos, the consensus executive of the year in MLB, is rewarded for his brilliant trading deadline moves by being usurped by newly appointed club president Mark Shapiro. He understandably stepped down. There are reasons these two franchises win so seldom and they were on display last week.

Gender discrimination and common sense

Augusta Country Club is no longer a men-only bastion. It was over thirty years ago that Sandra Day O’Connor, one of the last century’s best jurists, became the first woman on the Supreme Court. And it’s probably a 50-50 chance that our next president will be a woman. But still there are ridiculous things like the recent case in Washington, Pa. (south of Pittsburgh and just north of Claysville, my Dad’s birthplace). A high-end men only barbershop there has been fined for not cutting a woman’s hair. The shop offered suggestions to the woman on other shops – even offered to pay for her haircut. For their efforts, they were fined $750 by the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Just wondering what would happen if I tried to join Curves this week? Can’t men and women have a few retreats where big brother will just leave us alone?

Around Tampa Bay:

1. This first appeared in this space almost a year and a half ago (Rants – May 25, 2014) and we still believe it. The answer to the Ray’s attendance problems could best be solved not by a new glitzy stadium on either side of the bay, but moving the franchise to the National League which has many more followers in the bay area than the American League and nationwide by 4 million fans. Houston switched leagues, why not Tampa Bay?

2. Oh joy, oh joy! Charlie Officeseeker has decided he’s going to run for Pinellas County’s newly gerrymandered U.S. House seat. Almost makes you wish Alex Sink would move back over from eastern Hillsborough County.

3. Kudos to the folks responsible for the improved lighting at the pedestrian crosswalks along the beaches’ Gulf Boulevard. The enhanced lighting makes it so much safer crossing the busy thoroughfare.

4. Well, it’s official. Retirees have been informed there will be no hike in Social Security benefits because the cost of living has not increased. They learned this the same week that the city of Clearwater informed them that water, sewer, recycling, storm water and reclaimed water fees would all be increasing anywhere from 1.25 to 4.5 percent respectively. These increases are on top of a nearly four percent increase in solid waste fees in conjunction with a 50 per cent decrease in pick-ups.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember the Captain Mac kiddies show on WSUN-TV, Channel 38. Captain Mac was played by Burl McCarty who later became part of the strong CBS affiliate WDAE’s radio news team which included Ronald J. Ebben and News Director Dennis Crandall in his pre-WTAN days.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Two takeaways from Don Mattingly leaving the Dodgers. First, it just seems Bud Black would be a perfect fit in L.A. Second, we hope Mattingly is smart enough to spurn an expected offer from the Marlins for their dugout job. The Nats’ job would be no bed of roses but it sure beats the revolving door in Miami.

7. Wow, being a college head football coach these days seems to be akin to being a kamikaze pilot in WWII.

8. Earlier this year (Rants – April 12) we featured Daniel Norris, then a Blue Jay now with the Detroit Tigers, who takes a different approach to life than most 22-year-old major leaguers. Now we wish him nothing but the best as he faces surgery for thyroid cancer.

9. You’ve watched more baseball than us if you ever saw a crazier inning than the 7th inning of Game 5 between Texas and Toronto. That inning will be shown over and over on baseball retrospectives through the years – not because it was that great but because the play during that inning (not to mention Toronto fan behavior) was so lousy.

10. It can be argued that the three worst things to happen to baseball in the last half-century (taking the DH out of the conversation) are Marvin Miller, Donald Fehr and Scott Boras.

The Game Must Go On – good reading for MLB, WWII buffs

The Game Must Go On by John Klima isn’t for everybody. But if you have an interest in the history of our National Pastime or World War II, you probably would enjoy it. If you have an interest in both, you won’t put it down. Klima tracks the state of major league baseball from before the bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor through the 1945 World Series – which unfortunately is given short shrift particularly since it was the last fall classic for the Cubs. You get a better understanding of folks like Pete Gray, Hank Greenberg and the Southworth family. And you see which major leaguers, like Greenberg, gave their all to the war effort and which players phoned it in – we’ll leave that to your judgment. All in all, a tightly written book on a very important five years in American and baseball history.

The MLB playoffs: umpires, upsets, lack of class and broadcasters:

Baseball commentators have been unanimous in one area during the playoffs – the umpiring has been atrocious. This is because union contracts say umps must get a postseason assignment every so often no matter how awful they are. This is akin to letting Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Atlanta (baseball’s three worst 2015 teams) into the playoffs. Upsets have turned the playoffs topsy-turvy with the Cubs ousting the injury-riddled Cards and the favored Dodgers falling to the Mets. Then there was the complete lack of class displayed by beer can throwing Blue Jay fans. Lastly, the gulf between broadcast presentations: Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Fox outshines TBS as Fox does more in the regular season and has a better stable of announcers and analysts from which to draw. And TBS should probably follow the Fox example of having analysts who do not represent participating teams. Having the Met’s Ron Darling whine about every play that goes against his team greatly detracts from the game. Oh, by the way, our prognosticator Achmed Walled’s (pronounced wall-ED) quinela of the Royals and Cubs is still alive.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Not surprising that “Florida’s Best Newspaper” took a cheap shot at St. Pete City Council candidate over some tax liens he satisfied three years ago. Somewhat to their credit, they mentioned his opponent Lisa Wheeler-Brown’s playing games with campaign funds in the 11^th paragraph of the article. No mention of her previous arrests for retail theft and bad check charges. Not when she supports the Mayor’s open checkbook policy toward the Tampa Bay Rays.

2. Factoid: For many years, the editorial page of the above publication carried a quote from its long time publisher Nelson Poynter. It read “The policy of our paper is simple – merely to tell the truth.” The quote was dropped several years ago.

3. Read recently of the perils of locating virtually anything, but particularly a spring training site, on a landfill. Point noted. Anxious to see if the same fears are raised should the Tampa Bay Rays, rather than the Atlanta Braves and perhaps the Toronto Blue Jays, want to build a facility at Toytown.

4. We hear so much about this high tech company and that one and what they mean to Tampa Bay but a recent report shows that MacDill Air Force Base pours just shy of 3 billion dollars into the economy each year and supports 25,000 jobs – not bad for an institution we so often take for granted.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area for a long time if you remember when folks flocked to the Fort Homer Hesterly Armory to see the likes of Eddie Graham, Sam Steamboat, Haystack Calhoun and others every Tuesday night.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We know he was polarizing and blatantly plain spoken (always loved that Auburn books line), but Steve Spurrier will go down as one of the 5 or 10 best coaches in college history. Hard to think of many coaches who took three mediocre college programs and made them relevant. And yes, his timing was unfortunate.

7. Speaking of ball coaches, it’s hard to believe that Jon Gruden broadcast his 100^th Monday Night Football earlier this month since the Bucs unwisely dropped him as their head coach. Coincidentally, the Bucs have played 101 games since Gruden’s departure. They are 32-69 in those games.

8. Here’s a longshot candidate for the Marlins’ manager’s job – Ruben Amaro who is looking to return to the game as a field manager.

9. We’ve heard good things about the high tech Tesla vehicle but stopped short when we saw the gull wing doors on the car. The doors hark back to the DeLorean and we all know how well that went.

10. Thought for the week: One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors – Plato.

MLB expanding to Canada and Mexico?

Newly - minted MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has run the idea of expansion to Canada and Mexico up the flagpole. At face value, it may make sense; there are few choice U.S. markets left for major league teams and a couple existing markets don’t seem to be making it – particularly the two in Florida. Baseball has already failed in one Canadian city and attendance of the other is in the lower half of all MLB teams although it could improve when the final numbers are in for this year due to the Blue Jays resurgence in the second half of the season. Mexico is much more of a crapshoot – no track record at all and the constant political instability in that nation. All in all, 30 teams (or maybe even 28) seem like a good number and Manfred probably should work at buttressing up the weaker franchises like the A’s, Indians, Marlins and Rays before looking across borders.  

Time for St. Pete and Clearwater governments to develop a backbone

Who runs the cities of St. Pete and Clearwater? Is it duly elected and appointed officials or a group of auto race promoters, baseball executives and restauranteurs? In St. Pete, the promotors of the annual March road race willy-nilly change the dates of the race, St. Pete’s Dali Museum, the Mahaffey Theater and the city in general be damned. The Tampa Bay Rays keep posturing about where they want their new stadium that still won’t draw crickets no matter where it’s located or how fancy it is. The hard to swallow fact is the bay area is just not a good baseball market and never will be. Then in Clearwater, there is a restauranteur who has pretty much been given carte blanche over matters at the publicly owned Clearwater Marina to the detriment of businesses that have been there upwards of fifty years. The result there has been an embarrassment for two years. In all three cases, (and there are others) it’s time for policy makers to develop some backbone and tell all these parties something to the effect that it is they, not the entrepreneurs, who run the city. If they can’t, we need to find some new policy makers and elections in both cities are just around the corner.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Word on the street - if you enjoyed movies like Top Gun, Cocktail and Mission Impossible, you might want to look into buying a condo at the old First National Bank building in downtown Clearwater. You’d probably recognize one of your upstairs neighbors.

2. Well, Mr. Atwater, do you want to run for the U.S. Senate or not? Florida’s CFO’s dithering and his being compared to Charlie (Which party am I this week?) Crist do not inspire confidence.

3. Factoid: If you are celebrating your 100^th birthday this year, the population of the United States when you were born was 100 million – the same number of people who will visit Florida before the end of the year- astonishing.

4. It appears it will be the next decade before anything substantial is done about mass transit in the bay area as both Hillsborough and Pinellas County Transit Authorities continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

5. Related to above: you’ve lived in Clearwater for a long time if you rode on the 1950s era Clearwater bus system owned by the Wickman family. You boarded in front of McCrorys and Woolworths on the south side of Cleveland Street.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Item: Manager Bryan Price retained by Cincinnati Reds despite a last place finish. Both Hall of Famer Sparky Anderson and Sweet Lou Piniella were dumped by the Reds after finishing second. Just saying.

7. Yet another gem “borrowed” from the peerless 5:05 Newsletter: The Toronto Blue Jays have made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years; and nothing says “America's pastime” more than a bunch of guys from the Dominican Republic playing for a team in Canada.

8. New York City’s first Chick-fil-A opened last week. As you would expect, there were animal rights and gay rights protesters on hand – as well a few city dwellers telling the folks in the kitchen, “This is the way we do it up north.”

9. The last time a Washington-based team participated in a World Series was 1933 – a streak much longer than even the hapless Cubs who last appeared in 1945. Among the members of the ’33 Senators was Clearwater’s Jack Russell, Sr. who won a career-high 12 games that season.

10. As we were composing this week’s edition, we learned to our sorrow, that Jack Russell, Jr. passed away. Jack, like his father, was a community leader, a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Clearwater, a Past President of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce and a man with a passion for sports cars. He will be missed.

At the NFL’s quarter pole:

Focus is on six teams – two who are not as bad as they seem and will be back in the hunt before too long. That would be the Seattle Seahawks who had some early season turmoil and the Baltimore Ravens who are simply just too good to be at the bottom of the AFC North. Two teams that are every bit as bad as they seem reside in the same division – the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. The good news here is they play each other twice so one or both of them could pick up a win – even two but they are bad. Finally, two who are currently near the top who will come back to the pack - the Cincinnati Bengals who always find a way to lose crucial games and the Carolina Panthers, who after the Bucs, start playing some real football teams. And did anybody see the events in Miami coming?

The Braves bid for spring in St. Pete makes things interesting

First, full disclosure, we have lived and died with the Atlanta Braves for over thirty years. That being said, who saw this development coming? Certainly not St. Pete’s Mayor and City Council who seldom see the sun coming in the morning. We read and re-read the Journal Constitution and every Atlanta Braves blog there is, and there was no mention anywhere of this bombshell. County Commissioner Ken Welch summed up the situation best when he said bringing another spring training team (and perhaps retaining another) to the bay area and keeping the Rays are two separate issues – each to be weighed on its own merits (the part after dash our words not his). The Rays already are acting like the little boy who no longer wants a toy but darned if they want anyone else to have it. The Rays abandoned the bay area as their spring training home knowing full well it is a super attractive site for pre-season ball as the Blue Jays, Phils and Yanks would attest. The Braves are a draw – with the third highest spring attendance in Florida year in, year out - trailing only the Yanks and Red Sox. Putting together a deal with them (and not even considering the year-round tangent benefits) can only benefit the city of St. Pete and the county.

Around the bay:

1. Astonishing – the endorsement by “Florida’s Best Newspaper” of a candidate who played fast and loose with campaign funds and has a rap sheet on her resume– simply because that candidate is willing to join the three or four other Tampa Bay Rays lap dogs on the St. Pete city council. And Steve Kornell, a six-year incumbent, who committed the mortal sin of standing up to the Rays for the good of the city, gets thumbs down despite a stellar track record during his term in office. Talk about a lack of credibility.

2. The countdown is just days until Clearwater’s premiere annual event – Jazz Holiday now in its 36^th season. Lest we forget, a tip of the hat to the festival’s creator – Don Mains and the cadre of volunteers who have nurtured it over the years.

3. Nice that Mayor George Cretekos and City Manager Bill Horne are visiting our sister city Nagano, but do we have to foot the bill for 4/5ths of our city council to go? Again, it is the fiscally conservative Council member Bill Jonson who is choosing not to go.

4. The so-called “Friendship Bridge” is coming down after local officials refused to pour 20 million dollars into its renovation. Back in 1999 when the old Gandy Bridge was designated for the pedestrian bridge usage, many experts and policy makers warned then the bridge would have a limited life span and would be extremely costly to renovate or replace. Their concerns fell on deaf ears.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you were on split sessions at Clearwater Junior High while they were building the “new” Oak Grove Junior High School.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The Lightning continue to do inexplicable things off the ice. Now they want to limit the number of tickets a fan can sell during the season. It’s like this – fans buy season tickets so they can get good seats but they can’t get to every game, so they sell them to other fans or often give them away. This does not make them ticket brokers as the Lightning alleges. Having made the finals last year, the Lightning are feeling their oats, but things and standings have a way of changing. Lightning management will probably learn that the hard way.

7. It was nice to see former Tampa Bay Ray Quinton McCracken interviewed for the Red Sox General Manager’s job. We hope it wasn’t one of those “we must interview a person of color” interviews and that the personable and knowledgeable McCracken’s name will turn up again in conjunction with top management spots. He currently serves as the Director of Player Development for the resurgent Houston Astros.

8. We’re only about three months late on this, but congratulations to that paragon of satire, the 5:05 Newsletter on their 1000^th volume.

9. Just guessing that Jonathon Papelbon won’t be wearing a Washington National’s uniform next year.

10. Factoid: With the recent passing of Jack Larson (Jimmy Olson), the only two surviving members of the original Superman TV series are the two Lois Lanes – Phyllis Coates who co-starred in the first season and Noel Neill who appeared in the rest of the original episodes of the man of steel.

The Fall Classic - and the winner is ……

Man, there are some great story lines out there this October. The Royals who came so close last year back for another shot at the crown. The Mets with a young pitching staff that harks back to Seaver and Koosman; then there’s the Bronx Bombers who would love to win one for Yogi – and their hated rivals (at least back in the 50s) the Dodgers. Don’t forget the Blue Jays who came out of nowhere in the second half or how about the Cards who just know how to win or the Rangers? Our crack prognosticator, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) feels it will be the previously mentioned Royals and from the National League, a longshot – the Chicago Cubs for the first time since 1945. Wouldn’t that be a fun series! By the way, Achmed likes the Royals in five.

Clearwater’s moonwalk over red light cameras

The great city of Clearwater has modified its contract with red light camera vendor Redflex. Now, Clearwater’s own will review pictures of supposed red light violations rather than the vendor. Meanwhile, we learn that accidents at both intersections monitored by big brother have actually gone up since their installation. Clearwater’s police chief says there are other factors involved. To his credit, he was not the chief when council members were assured accidents would go down with the cameras - without any mention of “other factors”. But revenues from the cameras are closing in on seven figures – and that’s what it’s all about – the money. Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos is the only member of the city council who seems to see through the smoke and mirrors.

Around the bay:

1. Further to our lead item of the week. Nice job of vetting Redflex by the city. Their former CEO has pleaded guilty to a two million dollar bribe scheme to fetch business in (where else?) Chicago. The story has been all over the Chicago Tribune for years for anyone of authority in Clearwater who wanted to read it.

2. It’s hard to see Lisa Wheeler-Brown getting elected to the St. Pete city council after a serious misstep with campaign funds. That does not bode well for the faction that wants to hand over the city’s checkbook to the Tampa Bay Rays for their new stadium.

3. A couple walks out of a Pinellas county movie after a man carries a duffel bag in making the wife very nervous. In Tampa, a guy’s gun falls out of its holster onto the floor prompting another patron to call police. Come on theaters, we can’t carry our own bottle of water into most theaters, but guys are carrying duffel bags and revolvers into the movies. And you wonder why attendance is down?

4. More on movie theaters: two Pinellas multi-screen theaters are backing away from showing Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. This is in keeping with the American way of not offending anyone unless, of course, they happen to be WASPs.

5. Yet more movie stuff: you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time when going to the “new” theater meant the Carib in the 1100 block of Cleveland Street – built in the mid-fifties.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The local Rays beat writer uses up a barrel of printer’s ink explaining why the Rays have a good chance of finishing last in their division. It pretty much can be summed up in one sentence. A team with a lot of inexperienced players hired an even more inexperienced guy to manage them - this despite better alternatives being available – as close as their own dugout.

7. Great news for those of you who remember how great late night TV used to be. Antenna TV (610 on Bright House converters) will begin airing The Johnny Carson Show the first of the year.

8. As we often do, we “borrow” a gem from the world famous 5:05 Newsletter - Biden Update: Leading liberal newspapers are begging Joe Biden to run for president. It is amazing. Three months ago, he was a national joke and a nightly punch line, but then the Democrats got a good look at Hillary and Bernie and suddenly Joe Biden looks like the fifth face on Mt. Rushmore.

9. It’s not always that bad to be wrong (Rants – September 20). We’re happy the Phils retained Pete Mackanin, a solid baseball man. Meanwhile, you hope the Marlins will come up with a few better names than the first couple thrown around as Dan Jennings’ successor.

10. Factoid: Bryce Harper, the odds-on NL MVP, has hit exactly one home run against a pitcher younger than him during his career. Harper is a mere 22.

Yogi Berra: saying goodbye to my boyhood hero

It was almost 60 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. Our Little League team was in the Clearwater city championship. We were privileged to play that best 2 out of 3 series at Jack Russell Stadium. In the first inning, I reached down and scooped up a handful of dirt. He had stood, or rather squatted, at this same spot just a few months before. He was Lawrence Peter Berra – Yogi. Mr. Berra, like Mark Twain, probably said about a third of what is attributed to him - but my personal favorite, about a New York area restaurant, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.” Yogi and I were both left-handed hitting catchers and that’s where the comparison stops. He was one of the greatest clutch hitters the game ever saw. Ask Casey Stengel who he would rather have up with the game on the line, and it wasn’t Mantle or Maris, it was the five foot eight inch product of “the hill” in St. Louis. Possibly the most incredible statistic in Yogi’s career came in the 1950 season when he batted 656 times, hit 28 homeruns and drove in 124 and struck out 12 times. A lot of guys do that in a four game series. Incredibly, he did not win the MVP that year but did the next and was the first player to win it three times. Today there is a shadow of a tear as I look above my desk at the Yogi Berra Reach model 2441 catcher’s mitt given to me by my other boyhood hero, my Dad, when I made my first Little League team. Just like Dad, I’m going to miss you Yogi.  

Clearwater Marina continues to be an eyesore

We begin with an item from the June 14, 2014 Rants and Raves – “The folks who run the Island Way Grill, Rhumba and other Pinellas restaurants say their new Mexican-themed restaurant atop the Clearwater Marina will be open in September which prompted more than one wag to ask “of what year?” Well, it turns out it wasn’t last September, nor will it be this September. The latest projection is Christmas. Again, many ask “of what year”? A private party can take all the time they want to build a restaurant but when it keeps a public facility like the Clearwater Marina in disarray for over two years, city officials who are allowing this to happen need to answer some hard questions.

Around the bay:

1. In a related note to our lead item – the awful look of our city marina aside, all most folks want for the time being is the return of the Marina Diner, a fixture since the fifties, where you could get a reasonably priced breakfast or a burger before a day out on the Gulf. It should have never been closed until the out of control project upstairs was finished.

2. Further to the marina issues, in an amazing display of chutzpah, the city is picking this time to raise boat slip rentals by five per cent for what currently is the shabbiest marina in the state of Florida.

3. The fashionable Clearwater neighborhood of Harbor Oaks wants to return to brick streets and avenues in conjunction with upcoming utilities work. A majority of their residents are willing to be assessed for the additional cost. Like the undergrounding of utilities on Sand Key several years back, this seems to be a no-brainer.

4. Item: The state of Florida has dropped its plans to centralize driver’s license renewals. We’re probably missing something, but we’d rather do something by mail or on line rather than sit in the tax collector’s office waiting for our number to be called.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember “The Weather Chick” on WLCY Radio.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Just a guess, but we suspect the Tennessee Titans are happy with who they ended up with in the first round of the NFL draft.

7. Of the many things we dislike about today’s newspapers (every page being an editorial page; sloppy editing that would make C.C.J. Spink turn over in his grave and too many “jumps” from Page 1 to inside) nothing irritates us more than those stupid “half pages” that make it all but impossible to properly fold your paper. Either add more editorial copy or cut some but get rid of those fractional pages!

8. Factoid: May 11, 1977 - in his memorable (and only) game as manager of the Atlanta Braves, owner Ted Turner’s opposing manager was a man who would become his employee just a few years later – then Pirate manager Chuck Tanner. Turner’s Braves lost the game 2-1 and for the Pirates – it was their 11^th straight victory.

9. Speaking of the Braves – in case you missed it, one of baseball’s all-time good guys, Tim Hudson, who split his career just about evenly between the San Francisco Bay area and Atlanta announced his retirement at season’s end. Hudson retires with just over 220 wins.

10. Riding the top of the record charts 50 years ago this week was the Beatles’ Help! Five years before that, in 1960, The Twist by Chubby Checker was at #1 – one of only two songs that went to the top of the charts in separate years – it was #1 again during the twist craze of 1962.

Major league managers about to say goodbye

Next week, the end of baseball’s regular season, marks the time when major league managers pay the price for their underperforming teams. It’s been predicted that as many as ten skippers could walk the plank. In the for sure category: the National’s Matt Williams, the Red’s Bryan Price, Miami’s Dan Jennings (who will return to the front office), the Phil’s Pete Mackanin (although they won’t find anyone better) and Seattle’s Lloyd McClendon. In the maybe category you have Atlanta’s Fredi Gonzalez (but trending towards “for sure”), San Diego’s Pat Murphy, the Tiger’s Brad Ausmus (who would be on the unemployment line for as long as it takes another team’s GM to look up his number) and the Rockies’ Walt Weiss. A long shot to get a pink slip is the Bosox John Farrell. This last category originally included the A’s Bob Melvin but he was extended on September 9 – the A’s rightfully recognizing that talent (or lack of) was the reason for the A’s dismal season.

 We want to trust our bay area law enforcement agencies but…

Forget about Texas, Missouri, New York and other environs, here in the bay area several things have happened in the past few months that give us pause. In Tampa, bikers of color are being too frequently ticketed. A contractor caught working without a license is put in cuffs –a bit of an overreaction for a relatively minor infraction. Detainees in the Pinellas County jail being held longer than permitted. And, an off-duty Clearwater police officer smelling of alcohol is given a police escort (no handcuffs) to a local hospital after he plowed into a tree at 4 a.m. - no on-scene breath test. Our laws call for a level playing field for all – and that obviously is not happening on both sides of the bay.

Around the bay:

1. A Happy Retirement to long time Clearwater attorney Harry Cline – not only a top notch attorney but a stalwart for so many community causes over the years – just like his late father-in-law and law partner Tweed McMullen.

2. The prospective new owners of Tampa Electric are saying all the right things about local management, etc. But think back to the days of Florida Power in Pinellas County and how many levels of management the average person knew – usually quite a few, and how many they know today under the Duke Power regime – very few.

3. It is way past time for the Florida legislature to pass some fair to all concerned legislation regarding Lyft and Uber service. Otherwise, you are going to have about three dozen Florida counties doing their own thing creating total confusion for the public that relies on such transportation.

4. So Jim Norman is re-entering politics. That won’t make many lefties happy. He is a staunch conservative who wins elections.

5. Remember when the Pinellas County service station landscape was populated by names like Gulf, Phillips 66, Sinclair and Union 76?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6 Terrific major league debut for former Clearwater Central Catholic hurler Ryan Weber last week. Only two runs allowed over six innings usually makes you a winner unless you pitch for the inept Atlanta Braves.

7. We know we’ve said this before but the Times’ Tom Jones is one heck of a sports columnist - by far the best in the bay area and probably one of the best in the country. His Two Cent’s Worth and Shooting from the Lip columns are must reads.

8. The above being said, we respectively disagree with his contention that the Little League World Series (LLWS) should not be televised. It is highly entertaining and refreshing to see kids play for the pure love of the game. Yes, there is some pressure but pressure is relative – may this be the highest pressure situation the kids are ever in – rather than the pressure of a Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan.

9. Speaking of the LLWS, don’t you baby boomers wish you could have swung the bats the kids do today? The ball seems to travel a lot further off those alloy sticks than it did off the wooden Dee Fondy (first baseman for the Cubs in the 50s) model our little league team swung in Clearwater LL.

10. While not surprising, it was tough to see the Philadelphia/Clearwater Phils and Ruben Amaro part ways. There are few nicer young men in baseball – in fact it’s hard to realize he is 50 years old. Your humble blogger and his family had the privilege of sitting beside Ruben for a three game series in Atlanta several years back. Talk about a weekend of inside baseball with a true gentleman!

Seahawk and Pats fans book your hotel in Santa Clara. Buc’s fans, nah

The Super Bowl comes to the San Francisco Bay area for the first time in 30 years and our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced WALL-ed) foresees a re-match of last year’s Super Bowl featuring Seattle and the Patriots. He also forecasts that the Seahawks will employ very few passing plays from inside the opponent’s three yard line. Our peerless forecaster is shrugging off all the slings and arrows for last year’s prediction of a 7-9 season for the Bucs (actual record 2-14). This year, our soothsayer is predicting a 100% improvement for the 2015 edition – a 4-12 record for Lovie’s lads.

One of the most interesting men in Pinellas County - or anywhere else

His name is Don Ardell - a St. Petersburg resident who ran for mayor of Tampa in 2003 as the oldest, fittest, fastest and prettiest of the five candidates. He’s still older, fitter and faster than most people (maybe not prettier anymore); he's won more than a dozen national and seven world triathlon championships. He holds a Masters in Urban Planning and a Doctorate in Public Health. He’s also the founder of the REAL wellness concept - a philosophy based upon quality lifestyles focused on reason, exuberance, athleticism and liberty. He’s written 14 books, including High Level Wellness, which started the general wellness movement in 1977. His latest is kind of off-the-wall: Wellness Orgasms: The Fun Way to Live Well and Die Healthy. He recently designed (and patented) a breakthrough running shoe design for fast transitions in triathlon. Don is also a freethinker, entertaining speaker and favorite companion of Carol, his partner of nearly 20 years (the last ten as wife) and very popular (he likes to think) dad of his two children and“Popadom” to three mighty grandchildren.

Around the bay:

1. Hillsborough County has wisely decided to move their probation services in-house rather than hiring a for-profit organization with a spotty record. Better yet, they have decided,unlike Pinellas County, to keep the costs to a minimum and focus on rehabilitation rather than profit.

2. Do two 75-story residential towers fit the Tampa landscape? You’re right, they don’t. Any sort of review board that would rule otherwise has to be looked at with suspicion.

3. A good friend, great American and man whose genius is vastly underrated, suggests that henceforth hurricanes rather than be named should be corporately sponsored – the Home Depot, Rayovac Batteries and Zephyrhills Water hurricanes come to mind.

4. State-issued driver’s licenses instead of going to your local tax collector – why not? A lot of tax collectors are playing the “could take two weeks” card. It’s not about that. It’s about the six plus bucks they scoop up on every transaction. Try to get a passport in a day. Why should a driver’s license be any different? It’s called planning ahead.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you lived through the Buc’s first 0-14 season – almost 40 years ago! But John McKay’s light touch made it somewhat bearable. Example, “Every time I look up, it seems we’re punting”.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The recent Don Trump surge aside, Las Vegas still likes a Clinton-Bush race with Clinton prevailing. Clinton is at 11/10, Bush 4/1 while Trump is at 13/2 odds.

7. Speaking of presidential politics, the last person to serve as our nation’s chief executive who was not a former Governor, Senator or Vice-President was Dwight D. Eisenhower.

8. Poor William McKinley. He is about to lose his “naming rights” to the magnificent mountain in Alaska. More importantly, his premature passing probably prevented him from being recognized as one of America’s 10 best presidents. So many of the major reforms credited to Teddy Roosevelt actually had their birth in the McKinley administration.

9. So Buc’s coach Lovie Smith is turning it over in his head whether to try for two-point conversions after the Bucs put the ball in the end zone. Better he worry about how the Bucs are first going to put the ball in the end zone during the regular season.

10. Factoid: Winningest teams in major league history. No surprise in the American League – the Yanks and Red Sox are 1-2. In the National League, a bit of a surprise, the Giants and Cubs rank 1-2 ahead of the Cards and Dodgers. Most losses - by far it’s the Phils with over 10,600 losses.

Fire a client this week

A few weeks back, we ran a list of time wasters authored by local attorney Alan Gassman (RANTS – August 16). Number one on the list was “Clients who don’t pay their bills”. In an earlier life when your humble blogger commanded a small business, we made it a practice to fire a client or two a year. The client had to meet two criteria – they were overly-critical about the goods or services provided and, secondly, they were slow pay. You could get away with one of the two, but not both. The firing was always done in the nicest way possible (not you’re a no good #&@*!). Usually something in the manner of “We don’t think we can meet your criteria as a vendor”. Frequently there was begging to keep them on as clients. Wisely, we never did.

The earliest days of rock and roll on Tampa Bay radio

In the late 1950s, long before there was 98 Rock, Q105 or the Power Pig, there was WALT and WTAN. Specifically, there was Ed Bray whose “Platter Party” greeted teens and pre-teens on the airwaves of WALT 1110 as they left school in the afternoon. Later, when Bray’s daytime only station shut down for the night, there was Scott Dilworth and “Scotty’s Swingshift” on WTAN 1340. Two guys who were not even close to being the stereotype “rock jock” started it all on a daytime only station (WALT) and a then-250 watt (WTAN) outlet. Both men pretty much hated the music they played, both were incredibly professional old-school announcers and both bolted from the music at the first opportunity, but each was a household name to the teens of the late 50s. Both coincidentally wound up at Clearwater’s WAZE (860) although Dilworth, at last, came back home to WTAN where he was a staple through the mid-seventies. Both WALT and WTAN’s rock efforts were diminished somewhat when Bray’s boss at WALT, Roy Nilson, moved to St. Pete’s WLCY and created one of the country’s legendary Top 40 operations – a story for another day. (Thanks to Hitchcock Media’s Ron Hitchcock, himself a WAZE alumnus, for valuable input).

Around the bay:

1. Kudos to Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos, the only dissenting vote on Clearwater’s ill-advised extension of its two intersection red light camera program. The mayor nailed it when he said there had been no appreciable upgrade in accident prevention with the program. It’s all about the money, folks.

2. So the city is going to have an additional 450 parking spaces north of the roundabout at Pelican Walk. That’s nice, but a much better and needed spot would be a parking garage in the Clearwater Marina.

3. Leto and Robinson High Schools are joining other bay area high schools in dropping home room this year. Think back to your high school days – what exactly did you accomplish in home room?

4. Okay, we think we get it now. With PolicaFact, or whatever they call it, if a liberal says the sun rises in the east, it ranks “True”. The same statement from a conservative ranks “ Mostly True”. Conversely, if a liberal reports the sun rises in the west, it ranks “Mostly False”. For a conservative, it gets “Pants on Fire”.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when Belcher Road South of Druid served as the city’s “unsanctioned” dragstrip.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. If by the time you read this, Cris Carter and Curt Schilling are still employed by ESPN, it will be a miracle. You just cannot say incredibly stupid things like those gentlemen did and continue to have credence with a national audience.

7. In other media news - so wild man Donald Trump should apologize to Megyn Kelly? Why? Outside of her hardcore viewers on Fox News, no one had ever heard of her until her dust up with Trump.

8. Everyone’s holding out hope that the Rays will jump over nearly half a dozen teams and get a wild card spot. But teams that are 2-10 in extra-inning games (as are the Rays) don’t make it to the playoffs.

9. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) suggests timers in the grocery store in front of items. You have twenty seconds to ponder an item and then either put it in your cart or move on.

10. Just an idle thought: in 2015 with 30 major league teams, when you think of elite outfielders only two names come to mind - Harper and Trout then you’re hard put to come up with a third name. In the fifties, with just 16 major league clubs, there were Aaron, Clemente, Mantle, Mays, Musial and Snider just to name six elite outfielders. And that doesn’t include Hall of Famers Al Kaline and Frank Robinson, perhaps just a half a step behind the previously mentioned six.

How many game outcomes are influenced by umpires?

Specifically, one should ask how many game’s outcomes are influenced by home plate umpires? The man in blue misses on a called third strike and on the next pitch, the batter doubles in the gap bringing in the tying or winning run from second base. Conversely, you see all too often a pitch four inches off the plate called a strike and the pitcher naturally goes right back to that area and gets a swing on a ball six inches off the plate. Baseball is now a game of specialization and just as we groom starting pitchers and relievers, perhaps we need to take only the elite and put them behind the plate and let the lesser lights ump the base paths. Way too many games each season have their outcomes influenced by less than stellar work behind the plate.    

Since leaving office, Carter has marched to a different drummer

Recent reports of former President Jimmy Carter’s health issues make you think of how his years after the Presidency have differed from virtually all others. First, he’s had time to do more; no President has lived longer after leaving office than Carter. More striking is how he’s spent his time since 1980 - not so many six-figure speaking engagements as time spent pounding nails for Habitat for Humanity. So many successive Presidents have called on him to moderate world disputes, to monitor elections in emerging countries and serve as an ambassador at large. Carter may not go down as one of our greatest Presidents, but his body of work since leaving the White House is unmatched.

Around the bay:

1. Open primaries in Florida where left leaning independents could throw some crap in the game in a GOP primary or far right independent voters do the same in a Democratic primary – now what could possibly go wrong with that?

2. More on politics, the sooner the gigantic field of presidential aspirants is pared down to three or four, the better. In the end, the GOP may be faced with choosing the person who has the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton or the most qualified candidate. We’re not sure that’s the same person.

3. Tampa’s Walter Corporation is bleeding red mainly because of the federal government finding their Green Tree mortgage arm guilty of illegal loan servicing and debt collection. Then there are the poor souls who were arbitrarily moved to Green Tree when GMAC and other mortgage companies went south. In terms of customer service, it was like being transferred to a third world country.

4. In between whines about all the rains we’ve had, you might want to check your hurricane preparedness kit – or start one. It’s been eerily quiet in the tropics this year. Can’t last.

5. Sad to hear of the passing of Clearwater Bomber great Bobby Quinn. The Bombers of the fifties through seventies had an embarrassment of riches on the mound with stalwarts like Herb Dudley, Weldon Haney, John Hunter, Eddie King and Quinn. Those arms (and a few others) carried them to ten national softball championships.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It’s troubling to see the once-proud Cleveland Indians franchise in such a deep funk. They are ahead of only the Rays in attendance. This was a team that sold out every game in the mid and late nineties and played in two World Series in that decade giving the Atlanta Braves all they could handle in ‘95 and coming within a couple outs (damn you, Jose Mesa!) of winning the ’97 classic. If you’re a baseball fan, you’d like to see a franchise with names like Feller, Lemon, Rosen, Thome and Doby in their pedigree turn things around.

7. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three, old cranky people) on certain forms: Employment application blanks always ask who is to be called in case of an emergency. I think you should write, 'an ambulance’. Okay, this wasn’t from our focus group but a longtime friend who is also old and cranky.

8. A related note to our lead item on Jimmy Carter. He is the only President your humble blogger has ever been in the same room with - happened at a dinner honoring the ’95 Atlanta Braves years ago. Have always been able to claim we had dinner with a former President and a deserved Nobel Peace Prize winner (Carter) and two Hall of Famers (Aaron and Niekro) in the same evening.

9. It sure looks like an I-70 World Series with the Royals and Cards clearly the class of their leagues. But strange things happen along the way to October.

10. Just an idle thought: Whose August advertising budget was larger – John Morgan or the new Kia guy?

Why can’t these managers win with minor league players?

Watching some of the AAA teams being fielded by four or five major league teams reminds us of how Chuck Tanner, a brilliant baseball man who won in both Oakland and Chicago, suddenly became stupid when he was handed Triple A teams to manage in both Pittsburgh (where he previously won a world championship) and Atlanta. The same fate awaits at least a trio of good baseball men at the end of this season. It’s easier to fire the manager than the entire front office.

Really Mr. Eakins, you didn’t know this?

As reported recently by the Tampa Tribune, the Hillsborough County school system dipped heavily into its reserves during the administration of much-heralded superintendent MaryEllen Elia to meet day to day obligations. First, shame on Ms. Elia for not being more forthcoming about this. But more so, shame on her successor Jeff Eakins for supposedly not knowing about it. We could understand Eakins being caught off guard if he were a hired gun coming from outside the county. But he was Elia’s chief assistant, for Pete’s sake. Given those circumstances, one can only assume that Eakins, as the number two man, wasn’t doing his job or that he is now showing an amazing lack of candor. Neither assumption should make the Hillsborough County school board, which has its own issues, very comfortable with Eakins.

Around the bay:

1. Our lead item reflects some issues that occur all too often in local government, when things go wrong everybody involved seems to develop a coat of silicon or a case of amnesia rather than fessing up to a mistake or lack of oversight.

2. More than one political pundit is forecasting a Rick Baker – Charlie Crist race for the District 13 Congressional seat being vacated by David Jolly. As polarizing as Baker and Crist are, “None of the above” could stand a very good chance in that race.

3. An actual property appraisal professional has entered the race to replace retiring Pinellas Property Appraiser Pam Dubov. Michael Twitty has announced his plans to join career politician Jim Frishe in the GOP primary. For those who remember the last time a career politician ran the Property Appraiser’s office, this should be an easy call.

4. It’s hard to hold much sympathy for Clearwater Espacio Development’s lawsuit against the city of Clearwater to prevent the demolition of what for many years was known as the 1100 Building in downtown Clearwater. The company has had years to make things right at the site at MLK and Cleveland Street and has not done so.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a really long time if you remember when the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Philadelphia Phils, trained in Clearwater and the Ebbets family, who owned the team, had a home in Harbor Oaks.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. So you are pro-life and outraged about the latest and worst ever missteps of Planned Parenthood. Before you go off boycotting some of their “contributors”, be aware they falsified some of those too – listing Coke, Ford and Xerox as benefactors, something vehemently denied by all three of those corporations.

7. Even if you hate the Red Sox (and we do), you have to wish nothing but the best for Manager John Farrell as he battles lymphoma.

8. To nobody’s surprise, the NBC News with Lester Holt continues to win the 6:30 Evening ratings war over ABC and CBS respectively.

9. Little did we know that ESPN stood for Everybody Soon Parting (the) Network.

10. It was 46 years ago this week that a really cute brunette your HB (Humble Blogger) met at St. Petersburg College unwisely said “I do” at St. Cecelia Catholic Church in Clearwater. She remains my hero and often the inspiration for some of the better things you see on this blog. Happy Anniversary, sweetie!

Alan Gassman’s Thursday Newsletter:

Since we mentioned his neat sign on Court Street a few months back (RANTS – May 10 ), we have been privileged to receive attorney Alan Gassman’s weekly newsletter. Something appeared a few weeks back that we’d like to share with you concerning time wasters:

Examples of time wasters include:

   Clients that don't pay their bills.

   Time wasted because of disorganization.

   Distractions.

   Time wasted because of others in the organization.

   Idle chatter.

   Going to lunch when there is no solid business or financial result.

   Time spent with people trying to sell you things.

Thanks, Alan.

 Hooray for Rob Rowen; thumbs down to Starbucks

Perhaps you saw the story on Bay News 9 or read Steve Otto’s column in the Tribune. Rob Rowen has been banned from a Dale Mabry Starbucks location because he confronted people who broke the law and parked illegally in a handicapped spot in front of the store. Starbucks calls this harassment; we call it a citizen doing the job that parking enforcement is supposed to do and seldom does. You see it all the time on Clearwater Beach, punks with Grandma’s handicapped sticker parking in a handicapped spot and then running off to the beach. We sincerely hope that Rob Rowen will find a replacement for his Starbucks fix – which is vastly overrated anyway. We also hope parking enforcement people will do a better job on both sides of the bay enforcing handicapped parking.

Around the bay:

1. A recent news item concerning a Confederate Stars and Bars flag flying over the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) building in Clearwater provoked two thoughts: (a) we’d wager that fifty per cent or more of the American population would not recognize the “nationality” of that flag and (b) it was mentioned that the UDC building was close to the new Clearwater monument which brought to mind that monument cost more than the entire UDC building and the grounds surrounding it.

2. Word on the street is that PSTA head Brad Miller is getting less than sterling performance reports from his board members. Word here is – what took them so long?

3. Someone in government, much wiser and smarter than me, told me years ago, you simply cannot build infrastructure to handle the once in every five years events like Tampa Bay’s incredible rains of the past two weeks. Actually, you can build such infrastructure at the expense of schools, public safety and other critical needs.

4. Item three reminds me of another person in government, again much wiser and smarter than me (which is a large data base), explained that the basic role of government is to bounce basketballs (leisure and arts), pick up garbage (public utilities) and catch bad guys (public safety). Hard to argue with that reasoning.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County for a long time if you remember the old fairgrounds and its county fairs in downtown Largo.  

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Interesting to watch Slate’s Mark Stern and others try to take the moral high ground on Planned Parenthood’s selling of fetal tissue. Sorry folks, there just isn’t any moral high ground where abortion is concerned.

7. In a related note to our lead item and “borrowed” from the world famous 5:05 Newsletter: “Report: El Chapo’s escape tunnel had two Starbucks”.

8. Our rant of last week (RANTS August 2) about the state of baseball got us to thinking about pre-free agency. Could you imagine Al Kaline playing for the Boston Red Sox; Roberto Clemente for the Milwaukee Braves or Mickey Mantle patrolling center field in Comiskey Park? Nor can we.

9. For his cult following, Jon Stewart’s leaving the Daily Show was sad news of epic proportions. For the vast majority of the nation, it rated a collective yawn.

10. The Detroit Tigers are well on their way to becoming the next Philadelphia Phillies – an aging club with some bad contracts that will be hard to peddle. Verlander is toast, David Price is gone, they unwisely let Max Scherzer get away and Cabrera, Martinez and company aren’t getting any younger and GM Dave Dombrowski paid the price for the Tigers woes last week.

Rene Rivera, four former Rays achieve “worst” list

Now that Keith Olbermann’s show and its “Worst Persons in the Sports World” segment are gone, there are still plenty of other “worst” lists. Most recently, the site Point After named the worst player on each major league franchise. On the local nine, it was (no surprise) Rene Rivera hitting a hearty .176 at this writing. The catcher was picked up in an off season trade basically for Ryan Hanigan who is putting up slightly better numbers for the Bosox than Rivera and was a serviceable catcher in his days for the Rays. Not to be outdone, four former Rays are also on the list of “worsts” for their teams – reliever Burke Badenhop, currently stinking up the Red’s bullpen, Milwaukee flop Matt Garza, Jonny Gomes hitting a B.J. Upton-like .197 for the Braves and Matt Joyce doing equally badly for the Angels. B.J. Upton, surprisingly, did not make the list despite his .218 batting average. The Padre’s worst honor went to the more highly overrated Matt Kemp.

The 70^th anniversary of the flight of the Enola Gay

Seventy years ago this week, Col. Paul Tibbets and a courageous crew of 11, flew the world’s first nuclear mission, dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was just over a year ago that the last of the heroic crew, Theodore “Dutch” Van Kirk passed away. Today, the Enola Gay, which also flew on the second nuclear mission to Nagasaki as a forward weather recon plane, sits in the Smithsonian Museum complete with somewhat apologetic signage calling President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb “controversial”. Doubt it seemed controversial to the 250,000 to 500,000 troops it was estimated would lose their lives if the Allies had to invade the Japanese homeland – not to mention an estimated one million Japanese deaths. Truman’s decision was just as courageous as the flight of those 11 airmen. A decision, we hasten to point out, that had to be made less than four months after HST assumed the presidency. One wonders how that decision would have been handled in today’s White House.

Around the bay:

1. In stories reported at virtually the same time last week, (a) two people killed in a crash on Courtney Campbell Causeway and (b) speed limit to increase on the Courtney Campbell. What’s wrong with this picture?

2. In a touching final tribute, about 50 family and long-time marina friends said goodbye to David Rulison, the “Can Man”, (see RANTS July 12^th) as his ashes were scattered over the Gulf of Mexico from the Double Eagle III last Wednesday evening. The marina and the environment have lost a good friend.

3. Speaking of the marina, an update on the new Mexican restaurant that we guess somebody wants to see and the old Marina diner that everyone wants back - there is no update.

4. More on restaurants - kids are about to go back to school, locals can reclaim their restaurants for a few months. One kind of hidden away place to check out if you have not, is Keegan’s on Indian Rocks Beach - hard to go wrong with anything on their menu.

5. And more - you’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Howard Johnson’s restaurant (later the Beach Diner) at the end of the Memorial Causeway.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Our Rants and raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) remembers when they could recite the starting eight of virtually every one of the 16 major league teams. Today, they’re not sure they could recite the names of MLB’s 30 teams.

7. In a related note, you are a long time baseball fan if you can remember when the “up the middle” of the Go-Go White Sox was Sherm Lollar, Nellie Fox, Luis Aparicio and Jim Landis. Or the miracle Pirates of the same era with Smoky Burgess, Bill Mazeroski, Dick Groat and Bill Virdon. (Footnote – Burgess’ given name was Forrest and he was part of a lopsided Reds-Pirate trade that brought himself, Harvey Haddix and Don Hoak, three anchors of the ’60 champs, in exchange for veteran outfielder Frank Thomas and little else).

8. Remember all the young Turks flashing on to the baseball scene the last ten years or so? There was Beane, Epstein and Freidman to name just three. Now teams seem to be going in the other direction with seasoned guys like John Hart (Braves) and Andy MacPhail (Phillies) being brought on board. The Hart experiment seems to have worked fairly well so far. MacPhail won’t officially be on board for the Phils till the end of the season – replacing another seasoned vet – Pat Gillick.

9. WNBA star alleging her same sex partner cheated on her with a man; all the confederate flag stuff and Donald Trump running for president. Don’t you wish the late, great Lewis Grizzard were still around to write about all this?

10. Best trade not made (but nearly made) at the deadline, the Mets backing off a trade to send Zack Wheeler, who has an upside to be one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball, to Milwaukee for outfielder Carlos Gomez, a toxic troublemaker, who recently was voted one of the three least liked players in the game (along with A-Rod and Bryce Harper). By the way, good luck Astros.

Our National Pastime is virtually indestructible

When you think of all the bullet wounds (mostly self-inflicted) the great game of baseball has suffered over the years, the game is the equivalent of a medical miracle.Just to name a half dozen near mortal wounds, there has been the Black Sox scandal, steroids, a couple strikes, the joke the All-Star game has become, free agency which strained any home town allegiances and the designated hitter (okay, it was good for about 15 old, fat guys who can’t run or field anymore). But even the heartiest of patients can only take so many setbacks. The commissionership of Rob Manfred may be the most critical in the history of the game since that of Judge Landis.

U.S. House race has potential to be truly bizarre

Potential Democratic challengers for U.S. Rep. David Jolly’s seat next year continue a trend of astonishing choices. In the first election, we had a carpetbagger from Hillsborough County; in the second - none after the Democrats organized a circular firing squad and this time, the potential challengers include yet another carpetbagger from Hillsborough (just not as well-known as the first) and a second recently arrived candidate who is still learning where Central Avenue is. A third potential candidate who has served in public office for what? – six months has backed off from a challenge for Jolly’s seat. One can only surmise, a few folks took her behind closed doors and explained what “no chance” means. Then there’s Charlie – never run an election without him. Charlie badly needs a win as he’s oh for his last three. Stay tuned, this should be fun.

Around the bay:

1. More on District 13: the only good thing that can come out of the courts juggling the district to make it more Democrat friendly is if they steal enough votes away from gerrymandered District 14 to put Rep. Kathy Castor on the unemployment line.

2. And also related, several local political wonks express great optimism in David Jolly’s Senate run. Wish we could join them. Jolly is a little too fresh out of the box to win statewide. Would love to see him prevail – particularly for what it would mean for the Bay Area, but as a betting man, would have to put my money elsewhere.

3. As the Hillsborough Public Transportation Commission, a child of decades ago smoke-filled backrooms and greased palms, continues to try to drive away Lyft and Uber as alternative transportation services, more and more influential people are saying the PTC is what ought to go away.

4. More transportation: Allegiant Air is about to make it easier for Bay Area residents to go walking in Memphis (apologies to Marc Cohn) adding two weekly non-stops to the city. But you wonder given the strains on the aging Allegiant fleet lately, is this a good time to be expanding routes?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a long time if you remember Bob Weatherly, WTAN’s morning announcer and Bomber play by play man who later became the Mayor of the “Sparkling City”.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Sorry to see Ohio Governor John Kasich enter the GOP presidential race so late in the game. It won’t give him enough time to raise money and to differentiate himself from the pack of 15. And that’s sad, because he’s head and shoulders above about 90 per cent of the pack.

7. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) cite Boy Scout leaders being brow beaten into accepting gay troop leaders, our military brass being forced to accept transgender recruits and our president pardoning over forty “non-violent” drug pushers as sure signs we are nearing utopia in our great nation. (See disclaimer above)

8. Fill in the blank: If I were king ____________. For us it would be that every potential office holder had to have made a payroll once in their life. But then if you or I were king, there would be no need for office holders.

9. The NHL is “doing the dance” with Las Vegas (as well as Quebec City) regarding an expansion franchise. This brings up two questions – will a major (sort of) sport finally locate in Sin City and can you name a dozen NHL franchises if we spot you the original six?

10. Factoid, four of the last six Managers of the Year in the National League are currently unemployed (Black, Gibson, Davey Johnson and Tracy). Conversely, only one of the last six Managers of the Year in AL has been given the gate (Rod Gardenhire).

Next on the MLB manager hit list – John Farrell?

As mentioned here a couple weeks ago (RANTS June 21) you could easily predict that Bud Black was going to be the fall guy for a badly constructed San Diego Padres team. John Farrell could easily be next on the list. Coincidentally, Farrell, like Black, is one of only three ex-pitchers managing in the majors, the other being the Red’s Bryan Price. Also coincidentally, the problem is the same with Farrell as with Black, he is shouldered with a team comprised of three or four designated hitters trying to play defense. The Sox need to dump a no longer effective David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval before they dump a manager who gave them a World Series just three years ago.

How to win the 2016 presidential election – our version

We sincerely believe that a qualified candidate of either party could win the 2016 presidential election with one simple promise. It goes “Within three years of my election, I, with the cooperation of Congress, will completely disassemble the Internal Revenue Service and replace it with a smaller agency overseeing a flat tax with virtually no deductions”. (We would allow deductions for perhaps medical expenses and charitable giving, but we’re not married to that). The IRS is so inefficient and so corrupt; there is no good solution but starting over from ground zero and eliminating the bureaucracy and tax loopholes.

Around the bay:

1. In conjunction with the lead item, our Rants and Raves focus group (made up of three old, cranky people) has decided that none of them will seek the Republican presidential nomination joining approximately nine other members of the GOP in America.

2. Tale of two counties: Hillsborough County wisely continues their moratorium on “pain management” clinics while Pinellas drops theirs. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the county is “virtually pill mill free”. Sheriff, we’ll give you the name, address and phone number of a pill mill operating in downtown Clearwater any time you want.

3. You can only have the greatest respect for Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa who has recused himself from the circus that is the Curtis Reeves murder trial.

4. Only in Clearwater – garbage collection to be pared down to once a week starting the first of the year, however rates will go up a dollar a month. Can yet another water rate increase be far behind?

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the editorials in the Clearwater Sun by “Colonel Clearwater” (Jim Beardsley) - or even if you remember the Clearwater Sun.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. We venture a guess that Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman will zoom to the top of the New York Times bestseller list as soon as the Times vets her political leanings.

7. Thanks to Keith Olbermann for his recent interview which reminded us of a fourth pitcher who should have been included in our reflection (RANTS – May 17) on pitchers whose potentially great careers were cut short. That fourth pitcher is Houston’s J. R. Richard whose brilliant career was ended by a stroke at age 30.

8. Speaking of Keith, one shouldn’t be surprised that KO has talked his way out of yet another job. He departs ESPN at the end of this month. He’s a talented guy, but sometimes, like many of us, doesn’t know when to shut up. He’ll land somewhere else (CBS, MLB?) but there aren’t too many more bridges left unburned.

9. Memo to baseball commissioner Rob Manfred: if you are truly concerned about the younger generation’s lack of passion for the game, start the marquee games (All-Star and World Series) more than an hour before their bedtime.

10. Count us as among the approximately seven people in America who doesn’t seem to be an authority on the Confederate flag.

MLB at the half way pole – a few surprises

Okay, everybody who thought Kansas City and Minnesota would be 1-2 in the American League Central Division and Houston would be leading the West at the All-Star break raise their hands. The Yankees leading a tight Eastern Division is no surprise nor is the Rays settling back to a sub-.500 pace. The National League is running pretty much as everyone predicted with the exception of the bizarre turn of events in Miami. Getting their superstar pitcher Jose Fernandez back is offset by the injury to offensive superstar Giancarlo (wasn’t Mike easier?) Stanton. Look for them to contend in ’16 if they decide to hire a real manager.

Clearwater loses one of its greatest characters – the Can Man

Every community has its share of good old fashioned characters (a term we use only in the most positive way). In Clearwater, Largo and environs, there have been people like the long time street preacher at the west edge of Cleveland Plaza; “Skater Dude” who entertains folks at the foot of the Memorial Causeway and elsewhere; and then there was the “Can Man”. Most people didn’t know David Rulison’s real name. He was either the “Can Man” or “Capt. Can”. David was a presence at the Clearwater Marina every night for a couple decades collecting aluminum cans from the fishing fleet when they returned from their day on the gulf and recycling them. He was very proud that his recycling had bought him several trucks over the years. David also had a day job – first with Morton Plant Hospital and more recently at the Sheraton Sand Key. But every night when he finished what was usually an eight hour day, he would head to the Marina for another two or three hours. David passed away last week at age 73, and Clearwater and the environment are a little worse off with his passing.

Around the bay:

1. Item: State of Florida to receive over three billion dollars from BP – the bay area well over thirty million. Spend it wisely.

2. “Florida’s best newspaper” recently took issue with Florida DOT’s heavy handed tactics that threaten to affect an area of Tampa Heights. Yet months earlier, they were strangely silent when the same heavy handedness threatened a job-creating shopping center in Pasco County (RANTS, 11/2/14). Regardless, the bureaucrats at DOT need much better oversight.

3. We mentioned the site “You know you grew up in old Clearwater” a few weeks ago prompting a couple inquiries. You apparently have to be on Facebook to access it – the only reason we’re on Facebook. But it’s a great site full of pictures and artifacts of the city in which many of us grew up. Ninety nine per cent of the posters are folks who, probably like you, cherish the memories of our city. The other one per cent, including the “Don’t post anything that offends me” lady, you can ignore.

4. A few weeks ago (RANTS, June 7) we tipped our cap to the Clearwater Gazette for their excellent articles on Clearwater’s birthday. Another publication, we would recommend is the Clearwater Beach Neighborhood News and their multi-part History of Clearwater. It’s now in its third installment and previous installments can be picked up on line.

5. Three more things we really miss: the Clearwater Beach Hotel, Aunt Hattie’s and the Philly Hoagie Shop.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Doesn’t seem like it, but it was 10 years ago this month that the last Ford Thunderbird rolled off the assembly line. The T-Bird was one of America’s truly iconic cars – particularly the 1955-57 and 2002-05 two-seaters.

7. A related note “borrowed” from a recent 5:05 newsletter: “BMW’s new Deluxe 7 Series will allow drivers to simply press a button on their key fob to make the car park itself. And because it's an expensive BMW, it will park itself across two spaces”.

8. Factoid: Bobby Bonilla just received a check for $1.19 million dollars from the New York Mets and will do so through 2035. He retired in 2001. Not to be outdone, Bruce Sutter just cashed his annual $1.12 million dollar check from the Atlanta Braves and will do so through 2021. Sutter retired in 1986!

9. A couple All-Star game thoughts. MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds has it right calling for a utility player much like former Ray, Ben Zobrist, to be named to each squad. And speaking of former Rays, how can you be fourth in hitting in your league, as is Yunel Escobar, and not get an All-Star spot?

10. Fifty years ago this week, riding the top of the charts in America was a song, which legend has it, was written at the pre-cult Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater – the Stone’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction – the biggest hit of 1965.

More I-95 sports nonsense

There is a kid named Matz who has pitched less than a half-dozen games for those darlings of I-95, the Mets. Already some commentators, with a straight face, are comparing him to Babe Ruth and the rotation he is part of to the 50’s Indians, the 70’s Athletics or the 90’s Braves. The Mets rotation, in fact, isn’t the best in baseball; isn’t the best in the National League or even the best in their division but they play in New York! The Cardinals, the A’s, the Pirates, our Rays, the Dodgers and the Cubs all have better rotations by every statistical measure but none reside along I-95. Oh, and as of this writing, the overhyped Mets are a game over .500 and have a ways to go to match up with their press clippings.

Celebrate and cherish America’s independence!

Florida politicos: in the immortal words of the Silhouettes, get a job

This is a radical idea that will never go anywhere but it’s fun to contemplate. We, the voters of Florida, say thank you for your service to our many public servants telling them they have 16 (we could live with 12) years to do whatever they want to do in the public arena. You can be a county commissioner for 16 years or perhaps a county commissioner for eight years and serve in the Florida House for eight but then, alas, you have to find a real job - a lobbyist perhaps? So many politicians, about six months into their first or second term, start looking around for their next political world to conquer. The names Rubio, Buckhorn and Putnam come to mind. Problem is the job they were elected to do gets ignored while they seek to move on up. Just for kicks, we will make an exception if some two-term Florida governor wants to seek the White House. We’ll call it the Jeb exemption. Does it put Florida at a bit of disadvantage as far as Congressional seniority is concerned? Yes, but think of some of the empty suits we’d be clearing out with our 16-year rule. And who knows, maybe some other states would follow our lead and also eliminate the career politician. Real jobs can be fun guys and gals.

Around the bay:

1. In the same vein as our lead item, we don’t agree that often with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, but his suggestion that there be term limits on U.S. Supreme Court justices makes all too much sense. Too often, we’ve seen justices stay into senility – right Ruthie? Give them long enough terms – say twenty years and stagger the terms so some president isn’t stacking the deck. But after twenty years, go write your memoirs.

2. Not all vetoes are bad. Governor Scott’s veto of $6 million to build a new 78-foot research vessel for the Florida Institute of Oceanography makes financial sense. Vessels that size can be built for less than half the number. The institute needs to come back to the state with a proposal to build a sensible research vessel – not a $6 million dollar floating Mercedes Benz.

3. Always remember that if someone uninitiated asks you what Clearwater is famous for, you don’t have to lower your head and mumble something about a cult. Instead, stand proud and declare we are the home of the very first Hooter’s Restaurant!

4. And on the same subject, Tampa International Airport decided not to include a Bloomin’ Brands (Outback, Carrabba’s etc.) restaurant in their upcoming renovation saying the Tampa-based chain had grown so big they lost the local flavor the airport was seeking. So Carrabba’s is being replaced by a P.F. Chang’s – now there’s some local flavor!

5. Three things we really miss – Siple’s Garden Seat, Maas Brothers and the Vinyl Museum. How about you? What three local things do you really miss?

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Should New York Governor Andrew Cuomo be doing a victory lap when two escaped convicts made over a thousand New York law enforcement officers look like the Keystone Kops and his prison system proved to be riddled with corruption and incompetence?

7. As fireworks stands sprung up all over the county, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) remembered when fireworks were shot off only on Independence Day - not on New Year’s, Thanksgiving and Groundhog Day.

8. The site Fan Sided Daily recently did a list of the 30 greatest starting pitchers of all time. From the era when we may have actually seen the pitchers (thereby eliminating Cy Young and Walter Johnson), the top five are, in order, Ryan, Maddux, Seaver, Carlton and Spahn. Hard to argue with the list, but we might lobby for Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax – but at the expense of which of the five?

9. After reading your HB’s (humble blogger’s) rant on the mass media from last week, my oldest friend from college days reminds me I really didn’t major in Mass Communications in college but rather pinball machines and pizza (along with him). The truth hurts.

10. Factoid: Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826. James Monroe died exactly five years later making July 4 the day when the most U.S. Presidents have died. March 8 (Fillmore and Taft) and December 26 (Ford and Truman) have also experienced multiple presidential deaths.

The made in USA top five:

This is the weekend when a lot of oldies radio stations around the country run a “made in the USA weekend” featuring America’s top groups like the Beach Boys, Four Seasons and the Supremes. Since most of those stations focus on the sixties, we thought we’d give you the Top Five made in USA songs from that decade (the top two songs from the sixties were from a British group – the Beatle’s Hey Jude and, surprisingly, a Canadian orchestra leader – Percy Faith’s beautiful Theme from a Summer Place). But the top five USA songs from the sixties will also surprise you a bit. In order they are 1. Bobby Lewis’ Tossin’ and Turnin’ 2. The Monkees’ I’m A Believer 3. Heard it Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye 4. Aquarius by the 5^th Dimension and 5. Elvis Presley’s Are You Lonesome Tonight? Now there is a list with which you could win a lot of bar bets!

I-95 sports franchises “just a bit” overrated

Contrary to what the Keith Olbermanns, Jeremy Schaaps and Tony Kornheisers of the world would have you think, I-95 is not the center of the sports universe. Some casual research will tell you that I-95 teams have a total of nine championships to their credit in the four major sports over the past ten years - in other words, nine championships over a cumulative forty professional seasons. Take away Boston and the numbers are even worse. There have been no NBA championships despite having the Knicks, Celtics, Wizards etc. shoved down our throats. Only one hockey championship – hmm, that backwater Tampa Bay has that many. Baseball and football do a little better but again one community, San Francisco, has just one fewer pennant than the I-95 core combined and the city of Pittsburgh has half as many Super Bowl wins as I-95 inclusive. Then, of course, there are Indianapolis, Green Bay, Seattle and all those other unimportant cities. The point the ESPN and other talking heads don’t get is the ’27 Yanks are dead, so is Red Auerbach and it’s rumored that Broadway Joe has retired. And there are about a couple dozen other states where they play the sport – and win.

Around the bay:

1. Lot of turmoil in Hillsborough County about privatizing misdemeanor probations – bad idea. Pinellas was just as misguided in pulling their program away from a non-profit (Salvation Army) and trying to turn it into a county profit center on the backs of people they are impoverishing. Not sure which is worst, but neither is even close to good.

2. Sometimes you wonder what the founding fathers of certain institutions would think if they saw their corporate children today. For instance, what would Walt Disney think about 2015’s Disney World? Or George Jenkins about today’s Publix? Or Henry Ford about the Focus, the Mustang and the Taurus - just wondering.

3. Item: former Tampa police chief Jane Castor has changed party affiliations from Republican to Democratic. Are we the only ones who were surprised Castor was not already a “D”?

4. Hard to realize that summer officially began last week. Seems like it started the day we filed our taxes.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you remember when they actually had packing houses in Largo – giving rise to its sport team’s nickname.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Hmm…just checking. Last we looked, Ray’s shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera was one point below the Mendoza line while the man he replaced, Yunel Escobar, was hitting a robust .316 for the Washington Nationals.

7. Remember how old you felt when there were no longer any major league ballplayers older than you? How about when there are no major league managers older than you?

8. David Ortiz recently pulled even with Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for career home runs. Difference is “The Man” and “Pops” were complete players patrolling the field virtually every day of their career as opposed to Ortiz’ four hacks then back to the clubhouse regimen.

9. Just thinking with the auto racing season at full throttle, has there ever been a greater race car driver than A. J. Foyt?

10. San Francisco is moving towards requiring some sort of warning on all print soda ads in the city - dangers of sugar, etc. They follow New York with its try at limiting the size of a soda you could buy in Gotham. Both these cities have far, far more pressing problems to deal with than sugary drinks.

When the media was a proud profession

Your humble blogger used to be proud of the fact that he held a degree in Mass Communications. As a young man, he looked up to people like David Brinkley and Vin Scully and Earl Nightingale. Today, you wonder what happened to that once proud profession. The airwaves are jammed with Rush Limbaugh, Rachel Maddow and Al Sharpton to name only three of the worst. On the print side, you have the spin doctors of St. Pete, the Washington Post and the once proud New York Times. Then there’s the laughable “PoliticaFact”, or whatever they call it, which only proves the old adage that figures don’t lie, but liars figure. So, for the rest of my life, let me just say I majored in junk bond manipulation in college. It seems a much nobler profession.

Re-directing the downtown library – good idea, just 15 years late

Clearwater city council member Doreen DiPolito recently floated a good idea – taking the structure that houses Clearwater’s downtown library and turning it into a combination of restaurants and retail. This made sense to a few city council members 15 years ago – at least the part of not putting a public building on one of the most valuable parcels in the city, but they could not overcome a vocal minority that insisted the library remain on the bluff even though other sites made more sense. We wish her well in her apparent one council member drive to put a referendum on the ballot to make this happen. But history has proven that many Clearwater residents, at least those who vote, resist the highest and best use of valuable tracts like the library site.

Around the bay:

1. Cooler heads prevailed last week and the Clearwater city council shut down any talk of a building moratorium along US 19. Good for them, but the question remains why did the council let staff get so far out in front of this issue when there was no support for such a move among our policy makers? Behind closed doors, certain city staffers should be reminded who makes policy for the city.

2. In another city note, it appears there are some options for the city and the Clearwater Historical Society to work out a costly storm water fee issue that threatens the group’s use of South Ward Elementary as a museum. Let’s hope so, as the marriage of the society and one of the city’s revered schools makes way too much sense.

3. Eric Seidel, who did a long stint as a consumer reporter at Channel 13, has entered politics. Media personalities tend to do well in politics but usually run for governing body-type seats. Seidel has chosen a rather crowded field for Hillsborough clerk of court – quite a challenge for a political newcomer.

4. Oh, about that new Mexican restaurant opening in the Clearwater Marina in May? Not quite, but we do have new signs out warning bikers and skateboarders to stay off the marina’s sidewalks. Oh, still no replacement for the popular Marina Diner which more people want than an upscale Taco Bell.

5. (Inspired by a recent post by George Miller, the keeper of the flame for “You know you grew up in old Clearwater” – a great site). You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ate at either of the Morrison’s Cafeteria locations in downtown Clearwater. Incredible egg custard pie!

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Quote of the week (sort of): “The gulf between employers and the employed is constantly widening and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful, while in another are the toiling poor”. From last week’s paper - not exactly, from Democratic President Grover Cleveland’s annual message to Congress in 1888.

7. Lester Holt will become the permanent chair on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams being offered some other job at the network. With Holt in command, the network continues to lead the network news race although ABC has won a few weeks (both before and after William’s departure) in the 25-54 demographic. For NBC it was a necessary move and it is, by no means, a downgrade.

8. Factoid: Last Sunday the Pittsburgh Pirates were 6½ games out of the Central Division lead in the NL, yet they would have been in first place in every division of the American League.

9. If we were a betting person, our money would be on one or two rogue employees, not very far up the food chain, in the St. Louis Cardinal front office being responsible for the Houston hacking.

10 Our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) hasn’t been to the payoff window too often lately – predicting no Triple Crown and a quick exit for the Lightning in the playoffs. But Achmed redeemed himself when his NBA playoff pick, the Warriors, took the checkers.

Bud Black’s firing: you could see it coming

At the first of the year (Rants, January 4), we commented on the very uncomfortable position San Diego Padre manager Bud Black was occupying. The team spent tons of money, unwisely, in the offseason bringing in three designated hitters to play a cavernous outfield in Kemp, Myers and Upton. They later added B.J. Upton who has hit .198 over the last two seasons but at least can catch the ball in the outfield along with baseball’s top reliever Craig Kimbrel – the price Atlanta had to pay to dump a terrible contract. Despite playing in a very pitcher-friendly park, they have only one starter with an ERA under four. They are, in a few words, a badly constructed team. And inevitably when that happens, it’s a good manager like Bud Black who takes the fall. Black will be back in a dugout if he so chooses. A.J. Preller, the Padres’ general manager, is enjoying a honeymoon – for now – but his maiden voyage as GM has been anything but smooth and he needs to right the ship quickly.

The city of Clearwater’s really, really bad idea

The economy is in relatively good shape, construction money is fairly easy to come by and there are willing developers out there. So what would make more sense than a building moratorium? Honest, the city of Clearwater wants to place a moratorium on construction for key parcels on U.S. 19 so they can fumble around (perhaps hire a consultant) and cobble together a new development plan for the city’s main commercial artery. U.S. 19 properties have already taken a huge hit from the ongoing overpass construction for more than a decade. The proposed moratorium would just be another nail in the coffin for several property owners along the highway. Lots of eyes will be (and should be) on city hall this week when both the council and the community development board take up this ill-advised strategy.

Around the bay:         

1. The Tampa Bay region is again pursuing a Super Bowl (2019 or 2020). We are up against some tough competition, but the area already has a plum – the 2017 national college championship game which, in many eyes, will become more prestigious than the Super Bowl as time goes on.

2. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) notes that Clearwater is considering an app that will allow you to load parking time on your meter with your smart phone. Before the focus group passes judgement on this, they need to know what is an app and what is a smart phone? (Margin of error – 50 percent more or less).

3. In a related note, Clearwater’s parking fees went up a year ago last month and what have we gained for these increased revenues - certainly not more beach parking.

4. A thank you again to the Gassman Law Group; this time for the “pub” on their marquee on Court Street. Our tiny blog is now nearly world famous thanks to you!

5. You’ve really lived in Pinellas County a long time if you (and probably your parents) visited Webb’s City.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. It is way past time for major league baseball to step up and do something about the flimsy bats its players use. If the players want to put themselves in harm’s way, that’s one thing. But the incident in Boston goes beyond the pale. A good starting point would be a bigger minimum diameter for bat handles.

7. As we close in on Father’s Day, we must revisit our prediction that two perennial NL East powers (Braves and Phillies) would be out of contention by Mother’s Day. One of them is playing better than expected with the Braves actually hanging around in the Wild Card race despite a terrible bullpen. What we didn’t see coming was the total meltdown in Miami.

8. Item: NCAA drops the shot clock to 30 seconds. Why – to make it more like the NBA – which Division 1 outdraws by six million a year?

9. What History Forgot is a show that will spice up your normally dull summer viewing season on cable. Hosted by history teacher Joe Moniaci, the show makes even the most hardcore history buff say, “Wow, I didn’t know that”!

10. Factoid: the song that has had the most versions to hit the charts over the years is Unchained Melody with nine different versions topped by…no, not the Righteous Brothers but the original version by Les Baxter that was number one 60 years ago this month.

Trying to figure out the puzzle that is the Rays

Doesn’t it sometimes seem like the Ray’s management has some sort of death wish? They refuse to show up for negotiations with the city of St. Pete – who clearly hold the upper hand in the stadium stand-off. They hold back prime tickets to their games until game day like they were drawing 30,000 a game instead of a week. And they hire a manager who most recently held a position just above bat boy in the Cleveland organization. Despite all this, they are in the middle of a pennant race at the one-third mark. That, however, is more a product of perhaps the weakest division in baseball rather than organizational wisdom. Both the Yankees and Red Sox and perhaps the Orioles will re-arm before the trade deadline and leave the local nine in the rearview mirror.

Some nice tributes to Clearwater’s 100^th birthday

It was nice to see the various retrospectives on Clearwater’s 100 years over the past few weeks. We would be remiss if we didn’t single out the Clearwater Gazette which ran a great feature on the Phillie-Clearwater 70-year love story; a neat profile of the venerable Clearwater County Club by Editor Jeff Berlinicke and another on the general sports history of Clearwater with a nod to the organization that first put us on the map – the Clearwater Bombers. If we were to nitpick, it would be with the general piece on the sparkling city that appeared on the opinion page noting some of Clearwater’s not so sparkling aspects – but not one mention of the “S” word which, let’s face it, is the biggest not so sparkling faction in the city. And a paragraph praising our water recreation had no mention of the west coast’s largest fishing fleet, the incredible Pier 60 and the many inlets and bayous that yield snook, trout and silver kings. In a footnote, we were told it was written by a writer with roots in the Northeast. Unfortunately, it read like it.

Around the bay:

1. To further celebrate our anniversary, we did a re-read of Mike Sanders’ Clearwater, a pictorial history – still the defining book on our city by its unofficial city historian.

2. In a related note, Mike’s book, along with several other excellent local history books, is being featured at Clearwater’s libraries this month - give one a read.

3. Warning, you have about another week to enjoy your favorite beach restaurant or other waterside activity until the summer visitors start coming in force – not entirely a bad thing particularly for our economy.

4. Unlike the Strand at Cleveland and MLK, the old First National Bank Building at Cleveland and Osceola does have some work going on – but little progress evident. A construction expert much brighter than us says it is folly to try to retrofit a building over fifty years old. Appears he’s quite right.

5. And, you’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Strand site formerly was the home of Crown Motors – the area’s Chrysler-Plymouth dealer- unrelated to today’s Crown Motor Cars.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. If not for the horse, which seems to be a sweet and gentle thoroughbred, you had to be rooting for Bob Baffert who came so close so many times before winning this year’s Triple Crown with American Pharoah.

7. It isn’t a presidential biography per se; Candice Millard’s Destiny of the Republic is quite more than just a biography of James Garfield. It deals with the life and death of our 20^th president plus a deranged assassin, an unwilling successor and the role of Alexander Graham Bell in the efforts to save Garfield’s life – just three of the subplots in this well written book.

8. Shouldn’t the Lightning chill out a bit about this prohibition of opposing team jerseys in certain arena sections and not selling tickets to “foreign” addresses? Things like this and the Ray’s cowbells really make the bay area look bush league.

9. Pinellas County’s intrepid sheriff is concerned that less than 25 per cent of barrier islands residents have taken advantage of his super terrific re-entry hang tag to be used after an evacuation. He paints a picture of people whizzing back on the island with their hang tag. Not so fast, sheriff. There’s a little fine print about having other ID (which is all you should need to get to your home). So apparently 75 percent of the affected residents figure “why bother”?

10. Issue: you have a relative in town who wants one of Frenchy’s legendary grouper sandwiches. Problem: it is Memorial Day weekend and traffic to the beach is bumper to bumper. Answer: you do an end run and go to Frenchy’s Outpost on the less-traveled Dunedin Causeway. Same good seafood – only problem, it is mostly outdoors – a little toasty for late spring and summer dining.

Pete Rose, Bobby Knight – one surprisingly in, one amazingly out

The Berlin Wall of baseball hasn’t come down yet, but there are cracks. The addition of Pete Rose to the Fox sports lineup could not have been facilitated without the tacit approval of major league baseball. It’s a coup for Fox – few men understand the intricacies of the game as well as Rose. You can only hope this is the first step to a rightful place in Cooperstown for the hit king. On the other hand, ESPN dumps the one man who probably understands basketball as well as Rose knows baseball – Bobby Knight. This while others, who sometimes don’t even know what players are on the court (see Rants and Raves March 29), live on. Hopefully some enterprising network will retain the services of basketball’s “General”.

Don’t blame Mike Cheezem for the demise of the Belleview Biltmore

We all lament the passing of the White Queen of the Gulf as the Belleview Biltmore was known. But if we are going to blame people for its demise, don’t blame developer Mike Cheezem and don’t blame the Belleair City Commission. They are not to blame. The downfall of the Belleview Biltmore began many years ago when it passed from the hands of Bernard Powell – a man who put his heart and soul into the hotel for decades. Sadly, the several owners who followed him mainly took from the hotel – cutting corners on maintenance, reducing staff and stiffing valued vendors – so much so that people the hotel depended on for goods and services would no longer deal with its owners - having been left with so many unpaid invoices. The demise of the cherished hotel did not happen overnight but rather over the last few decades at the hands of many – sad.

Around the bay:

1. Apparently the state of New York did not find former school superintendent Mary Ellen Elia’s skills as wanting as did the merry band in Hillsborough County. She was appointed Commissioner of Education for the state of New York. Good for them - and what a needless loss for the bay area.

2. Speaking of education, a generation of Clearwater High graduates were saddened to hear of the passing of Dorothy Bowes-Nee who was the smiling face at the front desk of the school for so many years. It seemed she knew every student who ever passed through CHS’s hallways – a truly sweet lady.

3. One more CHS note – congratulations to the very special gals and guys who comprised the Class of ’60 on their 55^th reunion this past weekend.

4. The city of Clearwater continues to dither with red light cameras while multiple Florida cities realize the error of their ways and dump the things. And eight states have enacted prohibitions against their use. Additionally, two states have had court decisions that could lead to a refund of all fines incurred by the cameras as well as court costs; however both are under appeal by the states and their camera vendors. But the future of the cameras does not look bright.  

5.In light of the disturbances on Clearwater Beach over Memorial Day weekend, you’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember back when the city commission debated banning “3” license plates (the then symbol for Hillsborough County) from Clearwater Beach.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Note to Reuben Amaro, a really nice guy. You don’t say “the fans don’t understand the game”. A lot of us do understand the game and even those who don’t would be offended by your comment.

7. We don’t expect major league umpires to look like tri-athletes but a few of them should be yanked off the field for their own good. One is Fielden Culbreth, a major league crew chief who is officially listed at 225 pounds but probably is more in the 275-300 range. You look at him and you can’t help think of John McSherry who died on Opening Day in 1996 while working a game in Cincinnati.

8. Upon polling our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three, old cranky people) about the FIFA crisis, we found they thought FIFA was (a) a girl’s grunge band; (b) an expensive perfume; (c) a poodle grooming salon. (Margin of error – this week 100 per cent).

9. Milwaukee Brewers reliever Will Smith, recently suspended for eight games for “modifying” the ball, needs to be a little less obvious about where he stashes his chemicals (on his forearm). He should take lessons from Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton – the masters of the art.

10. Oddity: This summer’s general convention of the Episcopal Church will be held in Salt Lake City – the worldwide headquarters of the Mormon Church.

Actually, our valued reader had a few other ideas…

(Editor’s note: the quartet of baseball improvement ideas that ran in this space the past few weeks could feasibly be adopted - these others – not so much).

1) Bring back the bullpen car… but make it a Ferrari. 2) If a player makes an error, he is removed from the field until the next out is recorded. This will create the equivalent of a hockey power play and increase scoring. 3) I don’t believe I’m going out on a limb in saying that nobody likes the infield fly rule. 4) When the bases are empty, the batter has the option of running toward first or third base after a batted ball. If he gets on safely, first and third base then are swapped for the rest of the half-inning, meaning the base paths will operate clockwise instead of counterclockwise. 5) Don’t let pitchers shake off more than one sign. 6) Invoke the “You got us into this mess, you’ll get us out of this mess” rule — no pitching changes in the middle of an inning.

Next week, we will feature his ideas for improving the game of rugby (see disclaimer above).

Memorial Day - lest we forget

Don’t you wish you had a job in baseball?

It happens only in baseball. Last weekend, the Atlanta Braves swept a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins who then fired their manager Mike Redmond and replaced him with GM Dan Jennings – a move that makes the Rays hiring of a bullpen coach to manage look like a stroke of genius. So now they are paying three managers - Jennings (although he may work for the same money), Redmond and Ozzie Guillen who they fired three years ago and still has a year on his contract. Meanwhile, the Braves, just ahead of the Marlins in the standings, are still paying the bumbling outfielder formerly known as B.J. (now Melvin) Upton now with the Padres and equally inept second baseman Dan Uggla who, ironically, hit a three run homer earlier this month to cap an eight run comeback against the Braves while playing for the Nationals. Both were signed to their awful deals by former Braves GM Frank Wren who also is still on the payroll of the Atlanta ball club.

Around the bay:

1. Some weeks, it’s harder to write this 800 word opus than others. The legislature won’t be in special session for another week or so; the city of Clearwater hasn’t purchased any extravagant pieces of “art” this week and Waldo, Inglis and the others are now cities without traffic ticket quotas thanks to our Tallahassee lawmakers.

2. That being said, isn’t it fun watching the rodents of the left scurrying about trying to decide who is the GOP candidate they most need to attack – Jeb? Marco? Carson? Walker?

3. Maybe, when you would be 86 years old when you began your next term, it might be time to think about retirement and the grandkids. But Democratic Hillsborough County Clerk Pat Frank insists she will run again in 2016.

4. Don’t know about you, but there wasn’t a dry eye in your HB (Humble Blogger’s) home during last week’s send off for Gayle Sierens. What a class act.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you did a lap or two around the REM go-cart track on Coachman Road.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Remember when the History Channel actually showed historical programs rather than shows about pawn shops and garage sale shoppers?

7. In a related note – one show we would like to see on one of the history or “oldies” channels would be Silent Service – a classic from the mid-fifties.

8. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) says “right on” to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s hint that the MLB schedule might be reduced back to 154 games. They also suggest MLB return to two, eight-team leagues. (Margin of error 50 per cent or so).

9. We were in error last week in reporting that the New Yankees are baseball’s number one road draw – at least this year. A Yankee telecast of last week reported their road attendance was among the lowest in the league – because of too many away games with the Rays – nice tribute to the local nine. And thanks to the brighter sibling in the family for correcting this misconception.

10. Our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) says American Pharaoh will tire out at Belmont – making it 37 years since a thoroughbred (Affirmed) captured the Triple Crown.

Speeding up and strengthening the game of baseball, final installment

(Editor’s note: in this series by one of our valued readers, we’ve explored a three pitcher limit per game; a home run derby to decide extra innings games and last week, a sort of flagrant foul situation involving pitchers deliberately throwing at hitters)

Baseball Standings Points

Make regular season series really count, with three-game and five-game series where teams that win the series are awarded points in the standings. This way regular season games become more meaningful with teams knowing each series something is at stake. Overall records will still count, but winning a three-game series is worth one point and a five-game series is worth two points. Most points in the standings at the end of the regular season determine division winners and wildcards.

 Bicycles – one set of laws should fit all

Recently there was quite a stir about persons of color being targeted for bicycle violations. That is as wrong as wrong can be. And it brings up another facet of bicycle law – if bikes are going to share the road with automobiles, they need to share the same responsibility as motorists i.e. stopping at stop signs, respecting yield signs and obeying red lights. Conversely to the targeting in low income areas, it seems the more expensive the bike, the more entitled bikers seem to be in regards to completely ignoring rules that others who share the road must obey. It’s long overdue for a task force throughout the bay area to crack down on bicyclists of all economic strata who consistently disobey the rules of the road.

Around the bay:

1. As you might imagine, the major league team that is the biggest draw on the road is the New York Yankees, yet the May 12^th Rays game against the Bronx Bombers drew just over 10,000 fans – 9,000 less than the next lowest attended game of that night in Cincinnati. Not good.

2. Does anything define sleaze better than the circus involving the lawyers who worked both sides of the Bubba – Todd Schnitt lawsuit?

3. The deal for Charter Communications to buy local cable provider Bright House Networks is apparently dead. Most cable experts say that is not necessarily bad news for bay area viewers.

4. Seems so long ago that the 1100 building was home to several law firms, the executive offices of a radio station and numerous social service agencies. Now, the kindest thing that could be done is to tear it down.

5. You’ve lived in the Tampa Bay area for quite a while if you remember when Gayle Sierens was a rookie sportscaster on Channel 8. Gayle concludes her distinguished career this week.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Mark Fydrich, Doc Gooden and Herb Score - there are three pitchers you would have loved to see have a full career to see just how good they would have been.

7. A lot of shuffling in the athletic department in Gainesville. Both of AD Jeremy Foley’s hires for the schools two biggest sports seem to be good ones. They better be or Foley will be the next guy with a ticket out of town.

8. In a related note, much was made out of new UF basketball coach Michael White’s Dunedin roots. Very little was said about his wife Kira who was an outstanding volleyball player here in Pinellas.

9. Item: The U.S. Postal Service reported a first quarter loss of $1.5 billion. They are asking Congress to allow them to stop Saturday deliveries to help stop the hemorrhaging. There are a lot of things we can do without and Saturday mail delivery is certainly one of them.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) recently gave sabermetrics a try. It made their head ache and their vision blur. (Margin of error – 50 percent or so).

Speeding up and strengthening the game of baseball Part III

(Editor’s note: In this continuing series authored by one of our valued readers, the latest suggestion was extra innings become a home run derby – at last a valid reason for an otherwise wasted shot at the All-Star game)

Hit by Pitch Three Bases

Unwritten rule or not, throwing 90 mph retaliation pitches at hitters is ridiculous. There's nothing like a team losing their star player for a few weeks because he took one to the wrist or breaks a rib because some other player looked at him wrong. And then the hit player is given a free base, no different than a base on balls! Just like fouls and flagrant fouls in basketball, if an umpire deems that a batter was hit intentionally after being warned, the umpire can give two or three bases based on the level of harm it inflicted on the player.

Goodbye, Gayle and thanks!

 The Baltimore aftermath

Seems like a lot of “homers” say the Rays were right in not offering to switch home dates with the Baltimore Orioles in light of the civil disorder in Charm City (no, really, that’s its nickname). The often heard excuse was what happened in Baltimore was not the Rays fault – it wasn’t the Oriole’s fault either. It just seemed like the right thing to do in the interest of fair play. There’s another angle to this whole Baltimore thing and that’s Pimlico’s Preakness less than a week away. There are probably shorter odds on Rev. Al and some of his ilk showing up than there will be on American Pharaoh. Of course, we could always move the Preakness to Tampa Bay Downs.

Around the bay:

1. Still trying to differentiate itself from cab services, Lyft will be appealing a hearing officer’s findings. The first stop is the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission where Lyft stands the same chance as the proverbial snowball on a Florida sidewalk in August. (See Rants, March 8).

2. Florida’s special legislative session has been set for June 1. It was Otto von Bismarck who said “To retain respect for laws and sausages, one must not watch them in the making.” We can only assume that goes double for special sessions dealing with the state’s budget.

3. Factoid – newly appointed Tampa police chief Eric Ward is the only police chief in the bay area’s three major cities who actually lives in the city he serves.

4. Thanks to the Gassman Law Firm on Court Street in Clearwater for always bringing a smile to our face with their catchy marquee. It is truly a Sign of the Times.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the highlight of the CHS Senior Assembly was the serenade to the class by Mr. Justice on his harmonica – priceless!

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) notes major league baseball has decreed that all entering their parks are subject to a metal detector. Our group has decided to just go to the airport instead. (Margin of error – fifty per cent or so).

7. There’s a business in Clearwater named Mensa Tax. Does this mean you have to have a 150 IQ for them to do your tax work?

8. Factoid: Powered flight (Wright Brothers, December 17, 1903) is 17 years older than commercial radio (KDKA, November 2, 1920). Interestingly, KDKA did not begin in a huge media market like New York, Chicago or L.A., but in Pittsburgh (Turtle Creek, Pa., actually) – home of its parent company – Westinghouse Electric and is still going strong at 1020 on the dial some 95 years later.

9. One of the surprises of the early baseball season is the Houston Astros. They are on a pace to make the playoffs for the first time since the days of the Killer Bs. And that would be a good thing as the casual baseball fan would get a look at Jose Altuve – one of the best kept secrets in baseball. The guy can play!

10. Our crack sports analyst Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) says the over/under of Billy Donavon remaining in Oklahoma City is one year.

Speeding up and strengthening the game of baseball, Part II

(Editor’s note – a series of suggestions from a valued reader began last week with a rule allowing only three pitchers a game – a common practice through the fifties although we can hear the howl of the player’s union on that one!)

Extra Innings, Home run Derby

Nine innings is a lot of baseball. Twelve, thirteen, fourteen innings and now we're talking a Ken Burns documentary. How about after 10 innings if the game is still tied, each team selects one batter each for a 3-out homerun derby, winner take all? If it's tied we keep going and each team sends up another hitter until one team wins.

Downtown Clearwater’s fate was sealed 40 years ago

“No finer place for sure, downtown.” When Petula Clark sang that in 1964 she well could have been describing downtown Clearwater. It was thriving with movie theaters, stores like Franks, Colony Shop, J.C. Penney and dozens more. It continued to do well until the mid-1970s. Then the twin specters of malls and Scientology started it in a death spiral from which it has not recovered. The latest blow was the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s announcement that they were not moving forward with their plans for a major, albeit financially shaky, plan to relocate downtown (more on the ramifications of that in a future Rants). Also a plan for a pedestrian mall downtown is being shot down by virtually everyone – with good reason. Probably the best two chances for revitalizing the downtown – a defeated late 90s plan by a developer to redevelop the area on his dime and then a wasted chance by the city to keep the beach route through downtown came and went. Now many of us seriously doubt we will see any sign of life in downtown during our lifetimes.

Around the bay:

1. Recent media coverage reported that an ethics charge filed against Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham resulted in a verdict of not guilty. That’s not quite correct. The official response to the flimsy charge filed by his unsuccessful challenger, Pat Kemp, was more on the order of “get out of town”.

2. There are some government officials who were just rock solid – Pinellas County’s Fred Marquis, Clearwater’s Ream Wilson and Dunedin’s John Lawrence come to mind. We lost one of those rock solid folks last week with the passing of former Pinellas County Emergency Operations director Guy Daines at the age of 78. He was a steady hand during the many emergencies that threatened Pinellas during his nearly twenty year career with the county.

3. Nothing more soothing for your mood than after a day at work, you pick up your three items for dinner only to get in the Publix 10-item aisle behind someone who obviously missed counting class in the first grade. Come on Publix, either enforce those aisles or get rid of them.

4. Clearwater Marina Update: There is no update. The place still looks like a war zone. But some day we will have a Mexican Restaurant – yippee!

5. You’ve really lived in the bay area for a while if you remember when the land where Big Top Flea Market sits was the home to of one of the country’s best short tracks – Golden Gate Speedway.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. By the author’s admission, it is not an objective book but 41 –the biography of George H. W. Bush written by his son, George W. Bush, is an interesting read. Lots of inside baseball on policy making and Texas politics bring a dimension no other volume on our 41^st president has done.

7. Our Rants and Raves focus group (composed of three old, cranky people) wants to know what Hillary Clinton has to say that is worth $200,000. (Margin of error – plus or minus 50 per cent).

8. His real name was Benjamin Nelson. His first chart record was a rock and roll classic – the innovative and haunting There Goes My Baby – on which he sang lead for the Drifters as well as wrote. Ben E. King passed away last week at age 76. He was a rock and roll legend.

9. We often borrow a gem from the great 5:05 Newsletter. This was from one of their most recent issues. “Pope Francis said that one of the things he misses most about ordinary life is the ability to go out and eat pizza without being recognized. I wouldn't worry. Nobody's going to believe the guy who works at the pizza place when he says, “Hey, do you know who came in today? The Pope.”

10. Best wishes to one of baseball’s true “gamers”, Kirk Gibson, as he battles Parkinson’s disease. Gibson was the NL’s 1988 MVP. He is also the only MVP in either league to never be named to an All Star team in his career – odd.

Speeding up and strengthening the game of baseball, part I:

(Editor’s note: one of our valued readers sent along some notes last week on accomplishing what Commissioner Rob Manfred is striving to do – speeding up and strengthening the game. The thoughts are too good to give short shrift and summarize, so we will feature a suggestion a week for the next several issues – and we invite your own commentaries on the national pastime as well.)

Three Pitchers per Game

Forget a bullpen full of arms and a revolving bullpen door matching up one pitcher for one batter, then another pitcher for another batter. This isn't speed dating. Instead, managers are given three pitchers per game, that's it. Use them wisely because once that third pitcher takes the mound, he's it.

Tampa Bay Bucs about to go 0 for 3

It started with the Bucs hiring a guy who may not have been the best choice to coach them out of the 28-52 hole that Raheem Morris and Greg Schiano dug. Then they hired a journeyman quarterback to facilitate the “turnaround”. Now, it appears they are about to take the third swing and a miss with a loose cannon college quarterback who doesn’t seem to be able to stay out of trouble – big trouble. We all know about Jameis Winston’s recent (and good) interviews with the Bucs and the NFL, but as wise old Ben Franklin once said “well done is better than well said.” Winston talks a good game; he’s just never shown that good game off the field. This one the Bucs must get right. We hope they do, but very much fear they won’t.

Around the bay:

1. The Saudi-9/11 connection has been refuted by everybody from the White House down through the FBI but former Senator Bob Graham keeps hammering away in what appears to be an attempt to somehow remain relevant.

2. The last time a career politician ran the Pinellas Property Appraiser’s office, it took several years of work by appraisal professional Pam Dubov and her staff to straighten things out. So who is the first individual to announce for the job Dubov will vacate next year – another career politician. Pinellas County deserves better.

3. Add New Port Richey to the growing list of central Florida cities who are dumping their red light cameras. And give them credit. They were very forthright in saying the reason they are dropping the camera is they are no longer making money for the city as opposed to other cities that ask us to drink the “safety issues” Kool Aid.

4. The proposed sale of the Tampa Tribune building in downtown Tampa should not be shocking news. Daily newspapers’ staffs (and revenues) are shrinking and they no longer need the buildings they constructed in the 70s and 80s. The St. Pete Times and other Florida dailies have also been shedding real estate in the past several years.

5. Guys, you’ve really lived in Pinellas County a while if you got your very Sunday best at Wolf Brothers or Shorts. Webb’s Men’s Wear was around too, but that’s where your Dad bought his Sunday best.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. In a related note to our lead piece, it’s hard to believe that not so long ago the Bucs employed two of the best coaches in the NFL back to back. But it now seems so long ago.

7. Turning to the college football scene, you can probably understand a team that consistently wins nine games a year occasionally hitting up their ticket holders for more money or a bigger contribution. But USF that has won nine games in three years? This USF alum hangs his head in shame.

8. Our apologies to a good friend for failing earlier this month to recognize the national holiday he holds dearest – April 7, 1933 – the repeal of prohibition.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three, old cranky people) opines that most folks who constantly rail for separation of church and state separated from church a long time ago. (Margin of error – 50 per cent or so).

10. Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was Herman’s Hermit’s Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter from that magical era when you didn’t have to be good, just British, to have a hit record.

A rare, good baseball book and how Clearwater dodged a bullet

It’s a good year if one or two good baseball books are published in twelve months. We’ve reviewed a few of these gems before – Behind the Mask and Where Nobody Knows Your Name. Add another to a must read list for baseball junkies – Paul Dickson’s Bill Veeck: baseball’s greatest maverick. The book examines the amazingly complex man who owned three different major league teams, one, the White Sox, twice. Dickson details Veeck’s must famous stunt, pinch hitting a midget (and the sad after story of Eddie Gaedel); his exploding scoreboard in Chicago and the infamous disco demolition. Veeck was also a pioneer in integrating baseball and a champion of civil rights in general. Finally, there is the story of how but for his failed attempt to buy a fourth team; the Phillies might have never landed in Clearwater. It’s a long read, four hundred some pages, and pretty small type but a positively captivating volume.

The barrier islands re-entry boondoggle just gets better

Twice before, we have railed against the insane idea of having to have some hang tag to prove you live on Clearwater Beach or wherever in order to re-enter after a dangerous storm. It seemed to us that a photo ID with your address, a voter’s card or any number of personal ID items would suffice, but no we are told, you must have one of these hangtags. We reluctantly caved and got one. The lack of necessity of this boondoggle is summed up by the last line on the front side. “Be prepared to show photo identification upon request.” So the purpose of this extra piece of bureaucracy is what? And displayed proudly on the back of the hangtag is the name of the genius behind this – Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. Brilliant!

Around the bay:

1. In a related note to our lead item. Many folks have inquired as to just who are the people who write the items you see here weekly. And as our lead item proves – it writes itself.

2. A lot of folks didn’t know that Florida Gator’s legend Ray Graves lived in Clearwater. The former Gator coach passed away at age 96 last week.

3. The odds of David Jolly running for the U.S. Senate and the Rays advancing to the World Series this year are virtually the same.

4. What’s up with a sudden flurry of “plumbing” problems at various Walmart stores around the country including one store in Valrico?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for quite a while if you remember the incredible Clearwater Bomber pitching tandem of Herb Dudley and Johnny Hunter.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Remember not everything here has to be probing and insightful. With baseball season underway, name the greatest player to ever wear the number 6. Our money is on either Musial or Kaline. (Sidebar to this item, you’ve been here awhile if you remember that Stan Musial and partners owned the original Hilton on south Clearwater Beach).

7. Factoid: last year, this blog along with the rest of the nation celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Beatlemania in 1964. But it was a full year before that when the first Beatle record charted on an American radio station – Please Please Me on March 8, 1963 on Chicago’s 50,000 watt radio station WLS.

8. The Atlanta Braves finally rid themselves of their second albatross contract – B. J. Upton but at great cost - giving up the best closer in baseball in Craig Kimbrel. The unwise signings of Upton and Dan Uggla are the reason Frank Wren is no longer their general manager. Ironically, the Braves are off to a surprisingly good start which means they could really miss Kimbrel if their 1991-style start continues.

9. Two things that tickled our funny bone recently. In baseball, Miami Marlin centerfielder Marcell Ozuna dives for a ball then lifts his glove up to show the catch. Problem was the ball was ten feet behind him and the batter was circling the bases. And in Zephyrhills, two gunmen try to rob a McDonald’s drive-up window. Problem: there was no cash register at that window. So they drive away in their BMW with Buc’s specialty tags. Not the best planned heist of the year.    

10. Our crack sports prognosticator, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) forecasts an NBA final of Atlanta Hawks versus the Golden State Warriors.

McDonalds and friends - stick to what you do best

A couple months ago, the Times Sean Daly wrote a piece on how McDonalds has stumbled over itself trying to not be a hamburger chain by offering salads, Starbuck-like coffee and a mind-blurring variety of chicken entrées on their menu. He was spot on. Here the KISS theory comes into play, Wendy’s has a winner in their Frosty, Checkers their Big Buford, McDonalds its Big Mac and fries and Burger King – well, we guess there is something there people like. Leave chicken to Chick-fil-A, roast beef to Arbys and subs to Subway. This goes for other industries as well. The old Florida Power Company nearly ruined themselves with their ill-fated ventures into the construction trades years ago. About the same time, a couple of local companies that knew nothing about the broadcasting business managed to bleed red with their radio station acquisitions. And the list goes on. McDonalds knows burgers; Starbucks coffee; Dunkin Donuts doughnuts. Stick with it and improve it!  

Why must politics and sports mix?

Remember the good old days when sports provided relief from the day to day grind? It was your own little fantasy world of batting averages, NCAA brackets and Hail Mary passes. Now everybody, but everybody, wants to link sports and policy making. Editorials call for the heads of city council members because they won’t cave in to the Rays; the mayor of Tampa thinks the NCAA should treat Indiana like a third world country and Keith Olbermann still pines for his old MSNBC days commenting on everything but sports. Even the normally level-headed Tom Jones has to opine on the state of affairs in Indiana. Please folks; just let us have our baseball season, our playoffs and our mock drafts. Sports is too much fun to mix with politics – which is rarely ever fun.

Around the bay:

1. David Jolly has an announced Democratic opponent for his congressional seat in 2016 – a gentleman by the name of Eric Lynn who moved into Pinellas County six months ago. But compared to Jolly’s first opponent, Alex Sink, Lynn’s six month residency seems like deep roots

2. It appears that Florida legislators are struggling to come up with an acceptable medical marijuana bill. Their failure could result in another push to make medical marijuana a constitutional amendment in 2016. It was a bad idea last year and will be no less so in 2016.

3. Bill Jonson, mentioned last week in connection with his thoughtful no vote on a $600,000 monument folly in Clearwater, has taken over as chair of the PSTA. Having a steadier hand on the throttle at the transportation authority should lead to some much needed reforms.

4. Florida Senate passes a bill that makes it illegal for law enforcement agencies to set traffic ticket quotas. Good news for Florida and visiting motorists; bad news for Waldo, Lawtey, Inglis and Brooksville among others.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember FAG night put on by the Rotary Club of Clearwater for graduating CHS seniors.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Duke University is again the NCAA national basketball champion. Tyus Jones was the most outstanding player of the tournament but the young man who won the championship game for them was known only to hardcore Duke fans – freshman Grayson Allen. He will not be quite as unknown in his sophomore year.

7. A great run by the Wisconsin Badgers, which included an upset of undefeated Kentucky in the Final Four, was diminished somewhat by the irrational pouting of their coach Bo Ryan after the championship loss to Duke.

8. The above referenced NCAA tournament bore witness to the fact that another rule violation, the Kobe Bryant-style offensive push-off, has joined the travel and double dribble as just another piece of basketball history.

9. “Breaking news” last week on ESPN, Tiger is going to play in the Masters. Yeah, and Mike Trout is going to play for the Angels, Aaron Rodgers will lead the Packers and Seth Curry will be in the NBA playoffs. Poor Tiger Woods is undoubtedly the most over covered sports figure in America.

10. Quote of the week from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, “I don’t think social media is helpful to any human being on the planet”.

Daniel Norris - the most captivating player since Mark Fydrich

His name is Daniel Norris. If you’re not a serious baseball fan, you’ve probably never heard of him. The Blue Jays gave the hard throwing lefty a two-million bonus to sign. Has success gone to his head? Not really. During spring training, he lived in his beloved 1978 VW Bus behind a Wal-Mart. Ate his meals there, stored his surfboard in the cramped quarters and oh, by the way, is averaging over a strikeout an inning for the Blue Jays. He is not a flake or Sidd Finch – just a very well-grounded young man who is on just about everybody’s Top Ten List of prospects. Keep your eye on this Tennessee native as he begins his first full year in the major leagues as part of the Blue Jay rotation.  

The Montreal Rays? Pardon us if we’re skeptical.

So the Rays decide they don’t like sites in either Tampa or St. Pete. Where do they go? Montreal seems to be the chic relocation spot right now. How did that work out when they had a dynamite team with Dawson, Walker and a bunch of other young stars? Plus there’s that tax thing. Las Vegas? There’s a reason there are no major sports teams in that city. Perhaps the least-worst relocation spot would be Charlotte, and folks aren’t sure that region could support another pro franchise. Tampa Bay is not a great baseball market but there aren’t many better options out there, and we suspect the Rays are smart enough to realize that.

Around the bay:

1. Nothing makes your jaw tighten more than “This is the way we do it in Michigan (or one of the other 46 contiguous states)”. So how is it different when the mayor of Tampa tells the state of Indiana how to conduct their affairs? Sorry Bob, but 99.9 percent of the Hoosier state have never heard of you.

2. The announcement of Ted Cruz that he will be the first to enter the presidential race reminds us of a great Clearwater political story. Incumbent city commissioner with a legacy of anti-business votes asks one of Clearwater’s leading businessmen for his support. His to the point answer –“Yes, until anyone else runs against you”.

3. If you are a resident of one of the other 23 cities in Pinellas (other than St. Pete) be very happy you don’t have to deal with the time and money consuming Pier issue.

4. Downtown Clearwater – approximately 6:15 a.m. – northbound on Ft. Harrison. You hit the red right at Chestnut Street. Get a green just in time to come up to the red light a block away at Court Street. Get a green to turn left onto Court Street just in time for the red light at Osceola. Come on – a 12 year old could coordinate those lights better.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if the two businesses you patronized most on North Fort Harrison Ave. were Merz Record Shop and Pete’s Pizza.

The diamond, the media & other stuff:

6. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) notes another sure sign of the end of civilization – the sale of the maker of American icon Louisville Slugger bats to a Finnish company. Oh the humanity! (Margin of error – 50 per cent more or less).

7. In a related note, what’s next, we move the manufacture of the Corvette from Bowling Green, Kentucky to a plant in Serbia?

8. Factoid: There are two major league ball players who won two MVPs a piece and are not in the Hall of Fame – Roger Maris and Dale Murphy. There are at least a dozen guys with lesser credentials in the Hall.

9. The chances we would ever vote for her are sub-zero, but isn’t this Hilary email business much ado about nothing?

10. According to Forbes, the New York Yankees, MLB’s most valuable team, is worth 3.2 billion dollars. But that’s small potatoes compared to other industries. For example, small but fast growing Tesla Motors is worth approximately seven times what the Yankees are worth – and don’t have any headaches like A-Rod.

Clearwater says: “Well, St. Pete did it, so it must be okay.”

There are a lot of things St. Pete does that other cities should not emulate – a noisy, disruptive auto race comes to mind. But the city of Clearwater has apparently decided that it will not be outdone by St. Pete in garish signs that mark the city limits. The Clearwater city council voted to spend a mere $600,000 to erect such a monument on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. The big difference between St. Pete and Clearwater is that private funding paid for the St. Pete sign while public money will finance the Clearwater sign – no actually it’s worse – it’s money from the city’s reserves (you know, that little fund that helps deal with natural disasters or helps pay salaries in the next economic downturn). Thank you to the fiscally conservative member of this merry band, Bill Jonson - the lone “no” vote on this extravagant expenditure.

Happy Easter!

Changes ahead for Florida spring training

While our northern neighbors are saying hooray as their favorite team heads north this week for opening day, it is always a bittersweet occasion here in Florida. Elsewhere, our crack prognosticator will make his predictions but here are a few thoughts on the state of the game and the state. Florida is holding its own with exactly half the teams training here. We’re going to see some shuffling with the Astros moving to Florida’s east coast and the Braves probably moving to southwest Florida, and who knows what is going to happen with Dunedin’s long standing relationship with the Blue Jays? If there has been any progress between the city and the team, it is not readily apparent. Dunedin needs to fast track a new agreement or the Blue Jays will be just a memory five years from now.

Around the bay:

1. As we near the end of the official spring break, it is more and more apparent what Clearwater’s marina needs is not another Mexican restaurant or real estate office (yes, it really has one) but a long overdue multi-story parking garage to handle the many venues at the marina.

2. Ferry update: Last Saturday at 1 p.m., the new mainland to beach ferry unloaded 14 passengers at the marina terminus - fourteen people and four crew members (perhaps some were trainees). It will take a higher crew to passenger ratio to make the ferry work, but it’s early.             

3. So St. Pete professionals are going to get a well-deserved 2.5 percent raise. This has some union organizers all in a tizzy because it comes before a planned, but unscheduled, union election. They got the raise. Who cares how they get it? Except, the union won’t be able to get their cut of that pay increase – advantage workers.

4. It was probably the safest pick – staying inside the organization and choosing Deputy Director Thomas Jewsbury to take over for retiring Director Noah Lagos at the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport. Let’s also hope it’s the best pick. Jewsbury needs to carry on the successful programs of Lagos but at the same time bring his own stamp to the well-run Pinellas County facility.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the corner occupied by Sam’s Club had a Bellas Hess store then later was home to Jersey Jim Towers, Studio 19, Peaches Record Store and the Jeans Giant. By the way, there are still a few existing Peaches Record Stores – New Orleans has one.

The diamond, the media & other stuff:

6. It’s quite possible the Cubs will become the next Mets or Dodgers – spending millions with negligible results.

7. Factoid – long time MLB base stealing champ Lou Brock stole 938 bases in his storied career but never stole home. Babe Ruth, on the other hand, swiped home ten times.

8. So you took the field versus Kentucky at the beginning of the dance? How do you like your chances at this juncture?

9. In all of professional sports no team needs to catch a break more than the #44 auto racing team of Travis Kvapil. This was the car that was stolen before the NASCAR race in Atlanta and not recovered until it was too late to qualify. Last week even though the car posted faster qualifying times than other cars, they missed the race because of antiquated rules regarding “owner points’’. You can’t help but pull for this underdog of underdogs.

10. Most embarrassing NCAA tourney moment: Analyst Charles Barkley commenting on the first half play of U of Kansas freshman forward Cliff Alexander. Problem was Alexander was not in the game – having been suspended by the Jayhawks. Barkley continues to try to bluff and bluster through pre, post and halftime shows without doing his homework. It just doesn’t play well.

How we see the 2015 baseball season:

You can’t let spring training end without predictions for the upcoming season. Our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (Pronounced wall-ED) likes the Nationals, Pirates and the Giants to win their divisions with the Dodgers and Cards joining them in the NL playoffs. In the junior circuit, he likes the Yanks in a wide-open Eastern Division along with Kansas City and the Angels. His wild card picks are the much improved White Sox and the Mariners. Teams that could surprise people are the Marlins in the NL and the Indians in the AL. Most overrated teams – the Padres and Red Sox.  

Minnie deserves to be in the Hall; Harvey too.

The recent passing of Minnie Minoso and the fact he is not in the Hall of Fame lead a lot of researchers to look at the leading players in the American League in the decade of the 50s. There is no doubt that Minoso should be in the Hall of Fame. But another name surfaces in most of the same categories of 50s players – top five in wins above replacement and slugging percentage to name a couple. The name is Harvey Kuenn, batting champ, rookie of the year, .303 career hitter. Frankly, we assumed he was there – bad assumption and just as wrong as the fact Minnie Minoso is not there. Both men have passed on and it’s a shame they did not live to see their names on a plaque. Both deserve to be there.  

Around the bay:

1. Hey, did you get your spiffy four-color postcard from the sheriff touting his latest boondoggle – a hang tag to prove what your driver’s license and a half dozen other pieces of ID can already prove - that you live on a barrier island?

2. So long to two more long-time Clearwater businesses – Diamond Cleaners, another victim of “downtown revitalization”, and the beloved Country Harvest restaurant on Missouri Avenue in what was the old Searstown - some of the best breakfasts and nicest servers in town.

3. The nonsense going on in South Pasadena is just another reason why the entire chain of gulf beaches should be consolidated as one (two at the most) government entity. Egos, of course, will never let that happen.

4. In a related note, unless you live there, do you really know where one gulf beach community ends and the next one begins? And do you really care?

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember its first rock and roll station – not Q105 or WLCY but Tampa’s 11-10 WALT.

The diamond, the media & other stuff:

6. A recent media rumor had Katie Couric returning to NBC. Couric, who will forever be remembered in Florida for referring to one of our sitting Supreme Court justices as “this guy”, is currently with Yahoo. Doesn’t the peacock network have enough troubles without that lightning rod?

7. We fell a little short last year in predicting that Detroit’s Nick Castellanos would be the breakout player of the year in MLB. Undaunted, we will pick another third baseman, the Cub’s Kris Bryant, as the best of the rookie crop in 2015. Our full set of predictions for the MLB season comes next week.

8. The two teams that have virtually ruled the NL East division for the past two decades, the Braves and Phils, could both be out of contention by Mother’s Day this year.

9. Comparing the last undefeated NCAA champs Indiana Hoosiers with Kentucky which has a chance to join Bobby Knight’s team, one thing stands out. It’s the composition of their starting five, Indiana started four seniors and a junior (Kent Benson). Kentucky routinely starts three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior – all of whom will be off to the NBA by next season.

10. For the Final Four, our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes Kentucky, Gonzaga, Wisconsin and Virginia. Of course, some of these squads may be out of the picture by the time you read this.

Apple has nothing on this Boston-based company

Much is made of the planned obsolescence promoted by the Apple brand with their new phones being spit out approximately every 12 months. But Apple is a raw rookie in the obsolescence business. The king of such machinations is a company founded by a man whose first name was King – as in King Gillette. With their Blue Blades, Fusions, Atras, Trac IIs, and various versions of Sensors, Gillette has made planned obsolescence an art form for more than 100 years. When Gillette was heavy into baseball sponsorship, it was a running joke that with each World Series came a new “must have” razor. We think they peaked with the Sensor Excel which is probably their best razor just as long as you can still get blades for it.

Clearwater Beach ferry – too late for 2015 spring break

We know it’s been tried before with little success. Proponents of the proposed ferry to Clearwater Beach point out the dynamics of beach traffic, and more importantly parking, have changed since the last attempt at such an operation in the early part of the century. This time, the focus is more on beach workers rather than strictly tourists so it might work – next year. The problem with the effort right now is it is about six weeks too late getting started. Easter comes early this year and spring breakers are already here and traffic and parking are a mess. Already, fishing boats at the Clearwater Marina have had to turn away afternoon customers because there just wasn’t any place left to park. There have been delays in the startup of the ferry which means it will take that much longer to catch on. By that time, peak season will be over and it might be hard to sustain the service through the summer and fall months. If the promoters of the ferry can hold on for this year, the ferry will be a boon for next year.

Around the bay:

1. Perhaps Tampa should join the majority of bay area cities and adopt a plurality system for their city council elections. If you think the March 3^rd turnout was light, wait until next week’s run-off. It will be extremely light but not inexpensive.

2. Few surprises in a rather thin Pinellas County election slate. As you would expect, Kenneth City managed to “out weird” the rest of the county with an Election Day display of pro-candidate pink flamingos which, in the words of an old police friend is “highly illegal”. Sad to note the election loss of Belleair commissioner Steve Fowler, a long time civic leader in both Belleair and Pinellas County in general. His level tone will be missed.

3. By a show of hands, how many of us are in the tourism business? The answer is we all are. Even if we do nothing more than smile at visitor, give directions to the Marine Aquarium or just bite your tongue when traffic comes to a dead stop.

4. In a related note, more hands in Clearwater government should go up when the above question is asked. Too many folks in the city just don’t get it.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you bought your first color TV at Gordon’s (Drew Street), Hart’s (Greenwood near CJHS) or Semlow’s (Gulf to Bay) – three of the city’s earliest TV stores.

The diamond, the media & other stuff:

6. 25 years ago this week, baseball ended a month-long lockout of its players. The labor peace would prove short-lived as just four years later, the players walked out causing the first cancellation of the World Series since 1904.

7. You may not know the name Windell Middlebrooks but you would know the face. For years, he was the face of Miller High Life beer – the plain talking delivery man who shunned the shallow for real people and real beer. He passed away last week at the young age of 36. Windell also appeared in Cougar Town, Body of Proof and Scrubs, but he won the hearts of America as the Miller High Life spokesman.

8. Food News I: Our regular item “you’ve lived in Clearwater, Pinellas, the bay area etc.” from last week (Philly Hoagie Shop) landed on Facebook and began a city-wide debate on the relative merits of hoagies. Your HB (humble blogger) only ate the Italian version which spoiled me for everything else (the food I missed most while on a “government paid vacation” in the early ‘70s) - closest thing today is probably the Italian at the Publix deli.

9. Food News II: Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) notes that John Sylvan, the guy who invented the K-Cup, says he now regrets it because the cost of the cups has spiraled out of control. Our group says that is unless you invest in one of those “as seen on TV” devices that allows you to pre-measure regular grind, thus saving money and allowing you to use whatever is your favorite brand - which may not be packaged in K-Cups. (margin of error – 50 percent or so).

10. Food News III: Cereal sales are at a 10-year low. Think about it – when was the last time you had a bowl of cereal? Most cereals are, to paraphrase leading nutritionists, nothing but a pile of sugar to which you add milk.

Florida needs to be wary of MLB-Cuba connection

It sounds innocuous enough. In the light of a thaw in U.S. – Cuba relations, maybe we play a few spring training exhibitions down there. First, what’s a few? Second what teams? Our guess is if you were able to vote in Cuba (no, really able to vote) the overwhelming choice would be the Yankees – spring-based in Tampa. So the Yanks go south for a few games. Who goes with them - another Florida-based team? Not so fast, Speedy Gonzales. Every time a Florida-based team travels elsewhere for an exhibition, you lose room nights, dinners being served and ballpark concessions - to mention a few things. So maybe, we schedule a few Reds games down there. After all, their top farm club was based in Havana in the pre-Castro ‘50s. Point is this: a few games –okay but we “share the wealth” with Arizona-based teams like the Reds and not have Florida take all the economic hit for any Cuba-based spring training games.  

Lyft, Uber – St. Pete has it right; Tampa not so

A tale of two cities: the city of St. Petersburg recently held a workshop on how it can deal with the new transportation systems that are Lyft and Uber. They are taking the same measured approach as Orlando and other rational governmental bodies across the country. Across the bay, Tampa and Hillsborough County are going to court rather than try to reach a “good for all” agreement with the two new transportation modes. A lot of the difference has to do with the history of cabs and politicians in Hillsborough. To say that palms have been greased down through the years would be an understatement. Tammany Hall went away as should the way too cozy relationship between politicians and the transportation industry in Hillsborough County. It’s time to join the 21^st century folks.

Around the bay:

1. Now that Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s “election campaign” is over, expect him to start positioning himself for a run for governor in 2018. Fine, but mayor, please remember what we are paying you to do in the interim. We will deal more with this “next seat” phenomena in next week’s Rants.

2. Quote of the week: Marco Rubio when asked if he had a comment on Rudy Giuliani’s inflammatory remarks. “Democrats aren’t asked to answer every time Joe Biden says something embarrassing, so I don’t know why I should answer every time a Republican does”.

3. There is a Dallas-based company named Service Insurance that provides a lot of flood insurance to bay area residents. Recently they decided to slap a $250 surcharge on your premium unless you sent them proof that you live where they send the bill and from where you pay the bill. Guess they’re just hoping you won’t notice about a 50-75% increase in your premium. See our rant from last year about insurance companies, a blindfold and a cigarette.

4. In the debate over the possible relocation of the Rays, we keep hearing about the re-development potential at the current Trop site. Really – have you taken a good look at that area?

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you enjoyed one of the incomparable Philly Hoagies at the Philly Hoagie shop across from what was then Cleveland Plaza. And if you know prominent Clearwater attorney Charlie Robinson, ask him about his favorite Philly Hoagie story.

The diamond, the media & other stuff

6. Item: Last year the Atlanta Braves hit 123 home runs while finishing next to last in the NL in runs scored. In the off season, they traded away half of those 123 homers. Hurry in and get those season tickets Braves fans!

7. You are really a hardcore (and old) baseball fan, if you remember who Frank Leja was – or Lou Limmer. For the uninitiated, Leja and Limmer were supposed first base phenoms of the Yankees and Athletics respectively back in the 50s. Together, they got into about 200 major league baseball games and hit right at the Mendoza line for their combined careers. More importantly to children of the 50s, they showed up in every darned pack of baseball cards instead of that hoped for Mickey Mantle card.

8. So Boston’s Big Popi is going to whine and pout about the MLB edict that you stay in the batter’s box between pitches. Deal with it, Mr. Ortiz! And memo to American League pitchers: work him up and in. He has a hole in his swing the size of Arizona up there.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) reminds us that too often the inventions we take for granted are the most important. Case in point: It’s five o’clock, pouring rain and you are about to leave the office for your car located two football fields away. Which would you rather have –an Apple 18.5 smart phone or an umbrella? (Margin of error – 50 per cent or so).

10. He’s too plain-spoken and probably not far enough to the right to get himself even nominated, but Republican Governor John Kasich of Ohio would make an excellent presidential candidate. It’s refreshing to hear a politician like him simply deal in plain, cold facts without all the political correctness and waffling you hear only too often from most politicians.

Channel 10 – grasping at straws

It’s an old, tired practice in the broadcasting industry that when you are getting your head handed to you by the competition – in this case Channels 8, 13 and Bay News 9, you need a gimmick. One of Channel 10’s is to show up on a restaurant’s doorstep, camera and microphone in hand. They then proceed to tell the dining public how they are protecting us from restaurants that store the bacon on the wrong shelf of the cooler and other unforgivable sins. It makes us want to call one of their crusading restaurant reporters and tell them we will be at their home in five minutes to inspect their kitchen.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

After the NFL having its “season in the sun” during the fall with Rice, Goodell and company, the spotlight this spring shines brightly on NASCAR. The organization has spent millions on creature comforts at aging Daytona International Speedway but fails to install basic safety devices that resulted in a serious injury to star driver Kyle Busch. Meanwhile, Kyle’s brother, Kurt, goes all Ray Rice on us and is understandably banned for the foreseeable future. But NASCAR plods along installing gimmicky things like its new qualifying procedures that resulted in several wrecked cars before a race was even run. The France family may have been the right stuff for auto racing in the sixties – not so sure about their leadership in our new century.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Well said: “Elections matter” - MaryEllen Elia’s comment during a toast to her by Hillsborough County leaders. Let’s hope the Hillsborough County electorate doesn’t forget that during the next couple election cycles.

2. Walmart employees in the bay area and elsewhere are scheduled for a modest pay raise soon. We scoff at the low wages America’s largest private employer pays, yet we flock there for seemingly low prices. It’s the same with those of us who scream “Buy American” but wear clothes made in Sri Lanka while we drive our Toyota down the road. You can’t have it both ways.

3. Item: Publix tumbles from atop the customer satisfaction pyramid of grocery stores. Based on visits to three different stores over the past couple weeks (total of six visits), can’t say as we’re surprised. Meanwhile, persistent rumors of Kroger entering the Florida market persist.

4. Unsuccessful Attorney General candidate George Sheldon has taken a job in Illinois. So, can we now say for sure this time he is not a resident of Florida?

5. You have lived in Clearwater a long while if you remember the jazz concerts in the pre-sci-ti Fort Harrison Hotel sponsored by WAZE radio and featuring legends like Woody Herman, Stan Kenton and the Four Freshmen. Those concerts were captured on tape by WAZE’s Ron Hitchcock, and you can still find them at www. hitchcock-media.com.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. News Flash from the Sports World: Former Ray B.J. Upton has informed everyone he wishes to be referred to as Melvin Upton, Jr. from now on. We’re sure the name change will help lift the .198 batting average he’s posted since leaving the Rays two years ago. But now he’s out for two months with a foot injury. Can you say Wally Pipp?

7. Factoid: 100 years ago, the tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

8. Another gem borrowed from the 5:05 newsletter: “Slow down Harper Lee! I’m only halfway through the first one”!

9. We criticized Bay News Nine awhile back for their scant weather coverage at the top and bottom of the hour. But we should also mention the very comfortable feeling you get when

Diane Kacmarik delivers the forecast. Most of the channel’s forecasters are good, but she is a pro who has consistently stood out during her 11 years with Bay News Nine.

10. Baseball lost one of its best last week when 32-year veteran umpire Tim McClelland retired. Best known for his role in the George Brett pine tar incident, McClelland was a steady presence on the diamond until back problems forced him to sit out last year and eventually retire. There should be a spot on the wall awaiting him in Cooperstown in the near future.

IN CLOSING:

It’s more than a year and counting and Clearwater’s Marina still looks like a war zone. With spring break here, folks will be greeted by scaffolds, stumps where palm trees used to be and even less parking than ever. Oh, did we mention no diner where visitors and residents have been able to enjoy a breakfast or burger since the 50s? This is just a mess and what do we get for our trouble? Another Mexican restaurant that will someday open; a diner moved from one end of the marina to the other that will someday open and one gift shop replacing another. And lest we forget, we lost the one unique shop in the marina – Capt. Bruce Littler’s nautical themed store and the beach’s only post office. This is progress? Hardly.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

Help us understand this. In order to re-enter our homes after a severe storm causing evacuation from the beaches, we need to obtain some sort of permit issued by the Sheriff’s office? Isn’t this why we have driver’s licenses with our current address printed on them, a voter’s registration, a current power bill or numerous other things that prove we live where we do? If you can’t produce one of those, fine; but adding yet another layer of bureaucracy is just … (pardon us while we think of a nicer way to say stupid). Granted, this will help employment keeping a trio or so of bureaucrats with a combined IQ of 150 employed handing out permits. Sheriff (and mayors), haven’t you got better things to do with your time? Folks who live on the beaches certainly do.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Who saw that coming? Jeb Bush has emerged as the leading candidate for the Republican nomination in 2016 and “Florida’s Best Newspaper” immediately cranks up its attack campaign on arguably Florida’s best governor in the past couple decades. Some things just never change.

2. In a related note, we’re sure that the above cited publication will do an in-depth analysis of Whitewater very soon. (See disclaimer above).

3. Give the PSTA credit. They have shied away from suggesting the second most regressive tax – a five cents a gallon gas tax hike to possibly an increased property tax which perhaps we the voters can live with – as long as they clean up their house. Brad Miller, Ken Welch and their merry band have some serious work to do first.

4. A thank you to the Florida University Board of Governors for opposing handguns on our college campuses. This proposal falls into the “what can possibly go wrong” category.

5. You’ve lived in the Bay Area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember when pizza wasn’t delivered but milk was. Thanks to the brighter sibling in our family for this one.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. This year, hope does not spring eternal for Tampa Bay area based spring training teams. The Phillies are in a rebuild mode; Toronto plays in the toughest division in baseball and the Yankees, in that same division, need everything, repeat everything, to go right for them to reach the post season.

7. It’s been awhile since the state of Florida college basketball was so ugly. At the end of last weekend, the Gators were at 12-13 and the Seminoles at 14-12. And then there’s the USF Bull’s train wreck of 7-19 and 1-12 in their conference. Wow!

8. Item: Reports indicate a worldwide shortage of chocolate. We can live with that – just as long as the situation is remedied by the end of Lent.

9. Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was one of the all-time great ballads You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by the Righteous Brothers.

10. Beleaguered Attorney General Eric Holder prepares to leave office saying his “single failure” was not getting additional gun legislation. Single failure? The attorney general flatters himself.

IN CLOSING:

Last week we concluded our blog with a lament of the closing of Apsco Appliances and their absorption by some faceless Hillsborough County company. We should have also noted the proposed merger of Office Depot and Staples with Staples being the surviving firm. We’re probably wrong in thinking this is all about pencils rather than our appliances, money and cars as we alluded to last week (see last week’s “In Closing”). Unlike the Famous Tate deal, the Feds will be looking at this one from an anti-trust aspect. Bet on an okay but the competition in this industry will become extremely limited. But then it’s only pencils – or is it?

TOP OF THE WEEK:

Happy Birthday Clearwater! 2015 marks the 100^th anniversary of the incorporation of our city. If you have lived here for more than half the city’s history as has your aged HB (Humble Blogger), there are a lot of memories – some of which we share each week in our blog. There has been lots of growth, lots of change – both for the good and not so good. We’d like you to use the comment button below and share with us your favorite, least favorite or most significant event(s) in Clearwater during your residency. Over the next several weeks, we will share some of yours as well as our reflections on our 100-year-old city. Thanks in advance for sharing.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Following up on our lead item, we will lead off with our most significant and least favorite events (they are the same) in our lifetime in Clearwater. That would be the back door entrance of the Church of Scientology (under the guise of United Churches of Florida) in the mid-seventies. Anyone who argues their presence in Clearwater hasn’t adversely affected the city is kidding themselves.

2. Brooksville has moved to drop their red light camera program later this year amid a flurry of protests by merchants and civic leaders of what it’s doing to the city’s image. The red lights and Waldo, Lawtey and Inglis’ speed limit changes every 100 feet do tend to tarnish a city’s reputation.

3. Hey, remember that new Mexican restaurant that was going to open in the city marina last September? Target date is now May. Meanwhile, the marina diner that dates back to the 50s is nowhere near re-opening. More on this wonderful metamorphosis of our city marina coming next week.

4. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) hopes it’s not your or their fire or medical emergency the new fire station location has to respond to during the height of spring break. Margin of error: fifty percent more or less.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a long time if you remember when Leslie “Buster” Narum was a three-sport star at Clearwater High – quarterback, point guard and star pitcher. Bonus points if you remember that he homered in his first MLB at bat with the Baltimore Orioles.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. New York had Murray the K, Cousin Brucie and Dan Ingram. One the west coast, it was Robert W. Morgan, Wolfman Jack and the incomparable Gary Owens who ruled the airwaves on KFWB. Then, of course, there was Laugh-In plus the voice of a hundred other characters down through the years. Gary, who passed away last week at 80, was an American icon.

7. Don’t be so quick to write off NBC News with the six-month departure of Brian Williams. The guy filling the chair, Lester Holt, is no slouch. Nicknamed “Iron Pants” because of the many chairs he fills at NBC due to his versatility, Lester will do just fine, thank you.

8. Related Item: Rod Carter replaced as anchor on Channel 8 morning news. Big mistake, the folks who needed replacing in the morning are those three giggling idiots with their phony smiles with whom Carter was forced to work.

9. Believe it or not, you actually get a result when you Google Mel Famey. If you don’t know the saga of pitcher Mel Famey, it’s worth a look. But none of the results tell the story quite as well as local raconteur Joe Burdette.

10. At last! Pitcher and catchers report this week.

IN CLOSING:

All of us are quick to shout about receiving what we perceive as lousy service – not so quick to trumpet people who have consistently delivered good service over the years. For us, if we had to pick three organizations in the latter category right at the top would be Dick Norris Buick/GMC where we’ve bought about a dozen cars; Regions Bank – knowing full well it is chic to complain about banks but over the course of two decades (and a few name changes) they have delivered for us. A third would be Apsco Appliances which is why we were saddened to learn of their bankruptcy and subsequent buyout by Famous Tate who have no track record in Pinellas. Apsco went so above and beyond in sales and especially service, you didn’t even bother to shop anywhere else when the dishwasher or whatever needed replacing – much like Dick Norris and Regions. Time will tell if Famous Tate can fill their shoes. Forgive us if we’re skeptical.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

Memo to Bay News 9: It’s okay to give the predicted high for the next day during your top and bottom of the hour afternoon weather forecasts. This is not the Manhattan Project we’re talking about – no need to keep it a secret. That being said, Bay News 9 is becoming old, tired and predictable. We realize that a 24-hour news operation must repeat things but they need to change it up a bit with more meaningful features. Watched several similar services in various markets (all smaller) in the last few weeks and their overall look was far superior to what we get here. Another welcome change would be distancing themselves a bit from the ultra-liberal St. Pete Times. Oh, and did we mention the Soviets are probably not watching, so it’s okay to include the next day’s high temp?

AROUND THE BAY:

1. It didn’t take long for Pinellas sheriff Bob Gualtieri to moonwalk away from his support of Sen. Jeff Brandes’ medical pot bill. Funny, in doing so, he used the very phraseology that appeared here last week concerning medical pot – the devil is in the details. And again, stay tuned!

2. Weather item. The weekend of January 24-25, the west coast got blasted by rain, high winds - really nasty weather. Watching NBC News, you saw this blob of red and yellow off Tampa Bay but no mention of that. The story of course was that the weather system was headed for the I-95 corridor a few days later – oh the humanity!

3. Now the fun begins as Hillsborough County’s dysfunctional school board attempts to find a replacement for Florida’s superintendent of the year.

4. It was a relatively quiet year at Gasparilla with only about two dozen arrests reported as opposed to literally hundreds a few years back. Four of the arrests were for battery – on police officers. Dude, if you’re going to commit battery, pick your battles a little better.

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you remember the “name act” for the grand opening of J.M. Fields on Missouri Avenue was rock/country star Conway Twitty. For our younger readers, J. M. Fields was . . . oh forget it; we’d have to get into W.T. Grant, Woolco, JByron and a bunch of others.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. This question isn’t original – saw it somewhere on the web. Nonetheless, your three favorite movie themes are? Put us down for The Magnificent Seven along with The Sand Pebbles (And We Were Lovers) and Hawaii (I Am Hawaii). And yours?

7. Sorry, we can’t help ourselves in following up this week’s lead article with the great George Carlin’s Cold War era bit “The Hippy Dippy Weatherman” where he pronounced “Radar is showing a band of showers, however it is also showing a fleet of Russian ICBMs heading our way, so I wouldn’t sweat the showers”. Classic!

8. Factoid: As Saturday Night Live closes in on forty years on the air, do you remember that the above quoted George Carlin was its first guest host?

9. Best college basketball game of the year had to be last week’s heavyweight battle between the Virginia Cavaliers and Duke Blue Devils. The games of the last two weeks indicate just how deep and balanced the talent is in the ACC this year. But can any of those teams beat Kentucky?

10. It took way too long, but it’s good to see Jerome “The Bus” Bettis and Tim Brown getting an invite to Canton. Tony Dungy should be there too. His time is coming.

IN CLOSING:

So is he the greatest quarterback of all time? With four Super Bowl rings and six total appearances, it’s hard to argue against Tom Brady. There are a couple pre-Super Bowl era QBs who might rate consideration – Otto Graham and Johnny Unitas both of whom seemed to win championships every year although the road to the championship didn’t involve as many grueling postseason games as this era. Then there are two other guys who have four rings should they care to wear them – Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. For some reason Montana seems to get more credit than Bradshaw – Pittsburgh’s killer defense might have something to do with that, but then ultimately, it was New England’s defense that won the day last weekend. The debate on who’s the greatest will continue to rage but there aren’t many arguments against Brady – love him or hate him.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

So the Church of Scientology is working stealth-like behind the scenes to oppose the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s plans for downtown Clearwater? This creates an interesting dichotomy for more than a few long time Clearwater residents who have issues with what they feel is an overly ambitious plan on the part of the CMA in that it puts them in bed with the Scientologists who, no doubt, have their own agenda for opposing the move rather than fiscal responsibility. Or, if you really want to channel Oliver Stone, you could say CMA supporters are fanning the flames of the Scientology opposition to bring less than supportive Clearwater residents into their camp. Stay tuned.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Florida bumps the minimum wage for tipped personnel from $4.91 to $5.03 an hour – how ridiculous. And oh yes, for those of you from north of the border, it is customary to tip for good service.

2. A person close to the issue and a lot smarter than us says it could take two more years for the Belleview Biltmore’s new owners to fight off legal challenges and begin construction. Good grief!

3. One of the early tests of new county manager Mark Woodward’s career will be replacing the highly successful Noah Lagos who retires from the St. Pete-Clearwater Airport later this year. To continue the airport’s upswing of the last few years, this is a hire Woodward has to get right.

4. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says he will support a proposed bill (by Sen. Jeff Brandes) to legalize medical pot. The positive side is this would be a law rather than a constitutional amendment. But there is still the slippery slope of what the few law enforcement officials who have come out in support call a “tightly managed” law. The devil is in the details. Stay tuned.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you went to high school (or junior high school) at the corner of Laura Street and Greenwood Avenue.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. Remember only a few years back when the Phillies were selling out a half dozen or more spring training games each season? Bad news for Stub Hub and other scalpers, tickets will be plentiful this year – as they were last.

7. In a related note, Ruben Amaro, Jr. is a terrific young man, but he appears to be next in line to get the Frank Wren award for general managers.

8. When was the last time you remember a non-incumbent being quite the shoo-in for their party’s nomination as Hilary Clinton?

9. Coach K’s 1000^th win leads you to reflect on the best in his field. He certainly deserves a spot among the top three with the others being his mentor, Bobby Knight and the “Wizard of Westwood”, John Wooden. There is a fourth name that deserves a mention – a man who directly or indirectly influenced all three above – Clair Bee. He was a two-time national champion at tiny Long Island University as well as a football and baseball coach and athletic director in the college ranks, an innovator (zone defense and the three second rule) and later a successful author.

10. Just a thought: if it weren’t for the Lightning and UCF’s football program, there wouldn’t be a winning major sports team on the entire I-4 corridor.

IN CLOSING:

We seldom agree with Robert Trigaux of the Times. We don’t think he likes business and pretty sure he’s never been in business, but that’s for another blog. Must nod our head in agreement with his column on Hillsborough County’s Fearsome Foursome who ousted one of the best school superintendents in the nation mainly because she wouldn’t do lunch with them. These meddlers, as Trigaux suggests, have to go. Level-headed people of Hillsborough County need to mirror what voters in Clearwater did in the mid-nineties and start lining up highly qualified candidates to blow the four of them out one by one.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

There’s the old belief that just about anybody can do a better job of running a hotel, managing a big league baseball team or patterning traffic than the person currently doing it. But nowhere is this mindset more prevalent than in public (or private) education. Forget the fact that teachers, administrators and superintendents have spent years of study and work honing their skills in the area of education. Well-meaning (mostly) parents and school board members always know what course of action is better for our kids. The recent fiasco in Hillsborough County makes you wonder whether we even need school boards. Do they, indeed, do more harm than good? In Hillsborough County, the 1.1 million dollar answer is obvious.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. In a related note, the understatement of the still young year was a headline in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” – Elia drama may scare off others. Gee, do you think so?

2. The Pinellas County Commission is talking about raising the minimum wage of their employees to 12.50 an hour. As taxpayers, guess we’re okay with that. Very troubling though, is a corollary proposal to ask their vendors to establish a similar minimum. And just how many of this seven person body has ever had to make a weekly payroll?

3. Speaking of business, in the bay area DBA no longer only defines “Doing Business As”; it also will denote Doctor of Business Administration a degree program now offered by USF. There are only a dozen or so such programs in the country – another feather in the cap of the Tampa university.

4. Congratulations to Clearwater’s St. Cecelia Interparochial School on becoming the county’s and the St. Petersburg Diocese’s newest International Baccalaureate (IB) school.

5. You’ve really lived in Pinellas County a long time if you remember when there was a Publix on Main Street in downtown Dunedin.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA & OTHER STUFF:

6. CNN shined in their coverage of the Paris tragedy. Fox News seemed confused most of the time and MSNBC was, well, MSNBC.

7. This item appeared in the January 4 issue of Rants and Raves: As we frequently do, we “borrow” a classic from the local 5:05 newsletter regarding the passing of the founder of Topps baseball cards: “Sy Berger, the designer of the modern baseball card, has died. He will be laid to rest in a shoe box somewhere in an attic”. More than one person has suggested to us that there should an addendum to the piece – “And after five years, your mother throws the shoe box away”.

8. It has been reported that in A-Rod’s pre-season workouts, he’s being assisted by (wait for it) . . . Barry Bonds. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario?

9. Was there anyone who might not have played for your favorite team whom you respected more than Ernie Banks? They are “playing two” in baseball heaven this week.

10. Our crack sports prognosticator, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes Seattle over New England in the Super Bowl.

IN CLOSING:

Over the years, old technology fades away as something newer and better comes long – think cassette tape player and IPod or mimeograph and Xerox. Now some bright guys have come up with a more efficient way to move individuals and small groups from one place to another such as Lyft and Uber. Boy, are the transportation regulatory agencies in Tampa and elsewhere upset. They claim public safety, consumer protection and all matter of things are being compromised. Is it that or certain palms which are not being greased like they have been by taxi companies over the decades in Hillsborough and other environs? If you’re betting, bet on Lyft and Uber to ultimately prevail.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

As we come upon the 42^nd anniversary of Roe versus Wade, there is still much to lament but not to despair. The Pro-Life movement continues to gain ground. But you’ve got to give the pro-abortion bunch credit for their ability to sustain their secular viewpoint and to turn a phrase. Pro-lifers are not really pro-lifers, they are anti-abortionists. Makes sense for the abortion bunch to spin it that way, because if you identify folks who believe in the sanctity of life as Pro-Life, that would make the other side anti-life - sounds messy. Likewise, a women’s right to determine what she wants to do with her own body comes off a whole lot better than a woman’s right to end the life of an unborn child. Pro-Lifers get frustrated by all the pro-abortion spin doctors. But on this anniversary, they need to take solace in who makes the final call on such matters.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Apparently we are not the only ones wondering why the heck CENTCOM has a Twitter account. To keep in touch with Tampa’s version of the Kardashians?

2. Largo News: Commissioner Holmes, have you ever heard the expression, let sleeping dogs lie?

3. Item: Group sues to block sale of the “White Queen of the Gulf”. Are you kidding? It, like the Bush-Gore Election and the 100-Years War, is over folks.

4. AirTran flew its last flight into Tampa earlier this month. Their planes will now carry the Southwest Airlines livery – a good thing. Even with their name change years ago, AirTran was most closely associated with the tragic Everglades crash in 1996 when they were known as ValuJet – a crash that was marked by incompetence and what most airline experts called criminal negligence on the part of ValuJet officials and ground crew.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when they had tokens (and tolls) for the Clearwater Pass Bridge.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. Apparently somebody or bodies told the Time’s Sue Carlton and John Romano they were funny. Their respective year-end columns proved that to not be the case.

7. Curt Shilling thinks that being a Republican kept him out of the Hall of Fame then proceeds to take off on John Smoltz’ election. Check the records, Curt, Smoltz is, like you, a registered Republican not to mention a better pitcher.

8. Yes, the Rays will miss multi-dimensional Ben Zobrist. More than they want to admit, they will also miss stylistic shortstop Yunel Escobar. The Cuban-born Escobar shows better than average range at shortstop and a reliable bat (.276 lifetime batting average versus Zobrist’s .264). He also played with a flair on a team that is often dull. He’ll be missed.

9. We have three words for the Tampa Bay Bucs – PASS, PASS and PASS. We’re not talking about their new offensive coordinator here; we’re talking what their words should be when Jameis Winston’s agent comes calling. Lovie Smith’s squad has enough issues without the drama surrounding the radioactive QB from FSU.

10. A quote from the July 6, 2014 edition of Raves and Rants regarding Denver Coach John Fox: This time next year, he well could be without one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks, and he will instantly become a 6-10 coach and then a coordinator of a 4-12 team. Maybe like Pete Carroll, with a third try, Fox will win a Super Bowl but strongly doubt it. The over/under on Fox getting a copy of the home game from the Broncos is eighteen months. Turned out it was under for the guy who can’t seem to win the big ones. Surprisingly, the Chicago Bears, who still run a single wing offense, hired him within a week.

IN CLOSING:

Some folks call them “legacy seats” – seats in political leaderships or legislative bodies that pass from parent to child – such as the Daleys in Chicago. Here in Florida, we are seeing more and more of it and not always for the better. Bill Young, II was unable to cash in on his late father’s name in November; on the other coast, State Rep Karen Castor Dentel was able to ride her mother’s name to a first term but not a second; Chris Latvala and Gwen Graham were able to parlay their last names into elective office. It remains to be seen how well young Latvala, who at least has some legislative experience working with Rep. Ed Hooper, and Graham, who pretty much has a famous last name, will do. Based on history, one would have thought Pinellas and Pasco County voters, certainly, would be aware of the need for caution when voting for the same last name - perhaps not.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

As we mentioned here several weeks back, the Hall of Fame is getting a terrific front three of a rotation this year – Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz. Johnson, a towering, glowering presence on the mound, was one of the best clutch pitchers of all time. Same for Martinez, who looks diminutive next to the Big Unit, but had one of the biggest hearts in baseball. Then there’s Smoltz who excelled both as a starter and reliever and may have been the best big game pitcher of the bunch – trailing only Andy Pettitte in post season wins. What a threesome!

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Item: State Rep. Darryl Rouson’s son gets into more than a little trouble and it gets a multi-paragraph article in “Florida’s Best Newspaper”. Granted, an alleged stolen weapon and pointing the thing at a motorist is serious but it gets a paragraph or two at best unless it’s the son of a state representative – just another reason why so many well-qualified people shy away from public office.

2. There comes a time when you put the last election cycle behind you and move forward – a lesson lost on Florida Democratic chief Allison Tant. While folks from both sides of the aisle were talking cooperation at Tuesday’s inaugural, Tant continued pouting and predicting doom for Florida during Governor Scott’s second term. Allison, time to put on the big girl pants.

3. Read an interesting letter to the editor over the holidays by a Darryl David from St. Pete. He welcomes new residents to the state with a lengthy list of all that’s wrong with Florida. Having just toured the eastern seaboard, it seems other states have a few warts – the washboards they call roads in South Carolina come to mind. But the really great thing for David and other malcontents is that I-75 and I-95 run north as well as south.

4. You have really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the Clearwater Airpark opened for business 75 years ago this year (1939).

5. In a related note, we were saddened to learn recently of the passing of Rick Emshoff who had a great impact on the growth of the Airpark in the 90s.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. Craig Biggio, the Hall’s fourth inductee this year, is a deserving candidate although many of his credentials are more longevity-related than dominating like the three pitchers. And his Gold Gloves, frankly, were more a product of the tendency to give the award to good hitters who are better than average fielders rather than .250 hitters who could really turn it at second base.

7. Our rants and raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) notes that further layoffs will probably be necessary at the IRS this year. They ask why not everyone? (Margin of error 50 per cent more or less). A reminder we make once a year to those of you who are new to Rants and Raves, the 50% percent margin of error depends on how many of the focus group remembered their meds on that particular day.

8. So Bubba the Sponge is back on the radio. For a small cult, that’s great news. For a larger segment, it’s just another thing to hate about over-the-air radio. And for the vast majority of us, a collective yawn.

9. Baltimore and Carolina enjoyed charmed lives in the last weeks of the NFL; both sneaking in on the last week of the regular season, then playing severely crippled teams in Arizona and Pittsburgh in the first round. The clock stuck midnight Saturday.

10. Factoid: gas station attendant, boxer, coal miner, drugstore clerk, mill hand and blackjack dealer. These were the professions of a guy before he combined a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other and a really smooth voice to become Dean Martin.

IN CLOSING:

There is no middle ground with Bill O’Reilly. You either love the guy or hate him. But a commentary that concluded his initial broadcast for 2015 resounded with your HB (Humble Blogger) and perhaps it will with you. “In 2015, be honest with yourself. Step back and look at your behavior and your thought process. We rationalize our behavior, we are often in denial. Step back; be honest with yourself and your life will improve dramatically.” Well said.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

We lead with an apology for this “late edition”. Have just returned from the frozen tundra that is the Finger Lakes region of New York.

The ramifications of the cyber terrorism that hit Sony go far beyond movies not being released, executives being embarrassed and #44’s movie preferences being known to the free world. Everybody but about three people in the world know the country of origin for this cyber-attack. The question is what does the U.S. do about it? Name calling at the U.N. is not nearly strong enough. An example needs to be made here. The question is – does the administration have the backbone to do so? Stay tuned.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. Last month we pointed out that many power bills for December were lower than city of Clearwater water bills (excluding solid waste). Further investigation shows a December 2014 water bill for a 3-bedroom condo occupied by two people was $135.94 – just over double the December 2009 bill for the same two people, same property (67.71). Double the price in five years - and we complain about Duke Power?

2. Mark March 10th on your calendar. It’s the next election cycle for Pinellas County cities. Although none of the larger cities (St. Pete, Clearwater, Largo or Dunedin) have elections, there will be a few interesting cities to watch. Both Oldsmar and Safety Harbor will be electing council majorities. Also, three are up for election in Belleair and dysfunctional Kenneth City will be electing a circular firing squad of four.

3. Five people and/or things that are bay area institutions – Gayle Sierens and Jack Harris from the media; two great restaurants – the Columbia and the Beachcomber along with the Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks. Others? Use the comment button below.

4. From USA Today’s whimsical 2015 “I Resolves” – I resolve to use antiperspirant instead of fans in 2015 – former Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

5. Another touch of Clearwater history: 52 years ago this month, WTAN Radio celebrates its 15^th year on the air by constructing one of the first FM stereo stations in the market – WTAN-FM. Young guy working a weekend gig at a St. Pete station decides to give this FM thing a brief try and sticks around for 20 years. Sorry, forgot the guy’s name.

THE DIAMOND, THE MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. We feel it necessary to mention this each year. The inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced a few weeks back. Again, no congratulatory calls for Paul Anka or Neil Sedaka. All these gentlemen have between them are a half dozen number one songs and 37 top 20 songs. Not to mention hits written for other artists like Sinatra, the Fifth Dimension, Captain and Tennille and oh yes, the Tonight Show Theme (Anka). Green Tree and Lou Reed are okay but can’t hold a candle to Anka and Sedaka. Without these two and a couple others, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame remains a joke.

7. Padre’s manager Bud Black has to be feeling a little pressure after the team’s front office went all in with a new outfield and other pricey additions during the off season. Problem is the new outfielders, Myer, Upton and Kemp collectively can’t catch a cold – a bad thing in the spacious Petco Field. If the Padres fail to perform, blame it on the front office not Bud Black.

8. As we frequently do, we “borrow” a classic from the local 5:05 newsletter regarding the passing of the founder of Topps baseball cards: “Sy Berger, the designer of the modern baseball card, has died. He will be laid to rest in a shoe box somewhere in an attic”.

9. Factoid: fifty-five years ago the decade of the 60s began with Marty Robbins topping the charts with El Paso – the first number one song of the decade. In December 1969, the decade drew to a close with Diana Ross and the Supremes at number one with Someday We’ll be Together Again – their last song before Ross embarked on a solo career.

10. And the all-time biggest selling single record is (by 17 million over its closest competitor)? Answer below.

IN CLOSING:

A few months back, we mentioned that both Derek Jeter’s and Paul Konerko’s numbers (2 & 14 respectively) were being retired. Konerko’s number joining Cub legend Ernie Banks’ 14; so no Chicago player would ever wear that number again. But the number most retired? It’s 20 – retired by nine of MLB’s 30 teams. Frank Robinson by both the Reds and Orioles, Arizona’s Luis Gonzalez; the Giant’s Monte Irvin; Lou Brock (Cards); Pie Traynor (Pirates); the Phil’s Michael Jack Schmidt; Don Sutton (Dodgers) and the Royal’s Frank White. Suppose you were some superstar player who wanted a number all his own to retire? The lowest number not retired by any team is 38.

Answer to #10 above – a song you no doubt listened to several times over the last month – Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. Oh, and the closest single to it in terms of sales is Elton John’s Candle in the Wind.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

What to do about downtown Clearwater? The most recent hired guns suggest creating a master plan for the downtown. That has possibilities. The master plan, Beach by Design, was an unqualified success for Clearwater Beach. There are, of course some significant differences. The beach had people coming – always has. Downtown, save for some uniformed personnel, is a ghost town. The issue at the beach was to control the growth. Downtown needs growth. And Beach by Design was fostered by a stronger leadership group than now exists both on the staff and elected sides of the city. But if done right by the right people, there could be hope for downtown Clearwater.

AROUND THE BAY:

1. It is gratifying, when ringing the bell for the Salvation Army, to hear the stories of help rendered from the persons or relatives of persons who received it. Particularly touching are the testimonies from veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the more recent wars.

2. The 2016 presidential election is almost two years away, but it’s not too soon for “Florida’s Best Newspaper” to begin its kamikaze attacks on Jeb Bush.

3. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) wonders why with some 50 miles of Pinellas Trail in the county, our roads have to be choked with races and/or biking events every other weekend. (Margin of error 50 per cent or so).

4. A huge tip of the cap to the police officers of New York and Tarpon Springs who showed great restraint in commenting on the murders of three of their brethren - a lesson to be learned by the pro athletes of the world.

5. You’ve lived in the Bay Area a good while if you remember when the University of Tampa used to field a football team and sent some pretty good players to the NFL like Freddie Solomon and John Matuszak.

THE DIAMOND, MEDIA AND OTHER STUFF:

6. Factoid: George Diller, the long-time voice of the NASA space program, began his illustrious career as a weekend announcer at Clearwater’s WTAN.

7. There are so many deserving broadcasters not in the baseball Hall of Fame, but it is impossible to argue with this year’s selection – the Padre’s Dick Enberg. We can just imagine him getting the call saying he was selected and replying with his signature “Oh my”!

8. The Dodgers are this decade’s New York Yankees - trying to buy and trade their way to a championship. It may work for a season but as model franchises like the Cards, the Giants and the Braves have proven over the long haul, you win consistently by building a strong farm system then adding a piece here and there.

9. The rumored move of USF to the Big 12? For so many reasons, ain’t gonna happen.

10. As we ended the year 50 years ago (1964), the top three songs in the nation were an eclectic mix of Bobby Vinton’s Mr. Lonely (3); Come See about Me by the Supremes (2); and appropriately, in a year dominated by the Beatles, I Feel Fine at the top of the charts.

IN CLOSING:

If a book store gift certificate was in your Christmas stocking and you’re a music buff, you might consider Carole King’s autobiography A Natural Woman. It’s a compelling look at a very complex, yet in some ways, simple woman. The focus is on her musical journey from a teenage writing phenom along with first husband, the late Gerry Goffin, through her incredibly successful Tapestry album to her later efforts with stalwarts like Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan and, of course, James Taylor. Wish we could have had just a little more of the early days with Goffin but there was a lot of ground, husbands (four) and music to cover in the some 450 pages. A must read if you grew up with the music of the 60s, 70s or 80s.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

As Tom Jackson, that golden-penned scribe of the Tampa Tribune, pointed out a few months back, you can be one of two things – a tweeter, blogger or whatever like us or an elected official, which we are not, although we used to play one on TV. But you can’t be both. Jackson used runaway politician Mike Fasano as an example. Same holds true for civic activist/ journalist - a role a mean-spirited, old person in Clearwater has been unsuccessfully trying to play for several decades. You just can’t have it both ways and maintain credibility as Fasano and the mean-spirited, old Clearwater person have proven time and again.

Around the Bay:

1. Apparently former St. Petersburg mayor and Times whipping boy Bill Foster is not the only person who refuses to bow at the altar of the mighty Rays. St. Petersburg City Council members wisely voted down the corporate giveaway negotiated by current mayor Rick Kriseman. Their idea of work shopping possible stadium locations is a good one. Meanwhile, there are no cities lining up at the door to offer the Rays a new home – advantage St. Pete, not the Rays.

2. In the immortal words of Lawrence Peter Berra, it isn’t over until it’s over. But for the handful of folks who still think the Belleview Biltmore can live on in its current configuration, it’s over. Demolition will begin in early spring.

3. The head of the DMV, Julie Jones, has been appointed to head up the troubled Florida Department of Corrections (DOC). That is akin to a headline announcing that Capt. Smith of the Titanic has been appointed captain of the Queen Elizabeth. Shouldn’t she get the DMV straightened out before she takes on a new challenge?

4. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when all directions of traffic stopped at the same time at Cleveland and Ft. Harrison so pedestrians could walk in any direction – even diagonally.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

5. Some supposed hot prospects are headed the Rays way in the recent Wil Myers trade. Two things - we’re so not sure Rene Rivera is an upgrade or even a wash for defensive minded Ryan Hanigan. Rivera has never caught 100 games in a season in his career. He is, however, three years younger (31). Second, there have been whispers that the young Myers is not the most coachable player in the game – something the Rays can do without.

6. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) says the latest sign of the end of civilization, as we know it, is legalized pot dealers in Colorado promoting bags of grass as stocking stuffers. What could possibly go wrong with that idea? (Margin of error 50 percent more or less).

7. The recent John Winter Memorial Teddy Bear Drive by Channel 8 reminds us how much we miss that guy - Chris Thomas too. They were two of the best.

8. In a related note, the announcement that Jennifer Leigh would step into the very large shoes of Gayle Sierens on Channel 8’s 11 p.m. newscast was no surprise. Leigh has distinguished herself anchoring Channel 8’s 7 p.m. newscast. She, like Gayle, brings just the right touch of serious professionalism along with the occasional light touch. Leigh should do well.

9. Both coordinators out the door at USF and unless things significantly improve in 2015, head football coach Willie Taggart will be receiving some lovely parting gifts this time next year.

10. Turns out the Wall Street Journal article regarding a change in direction for Budweiser advertising was misinterpreted as meaning they would scale back their use of the famous Clydesdales in their Christmas and Super Bowl campaigns. Not true – nor was the rumor that Bud’s sales dropped 50 per cent within a day of the misinterpreted article. Some things, certainly the beloved Clydesdales, are sacred.

IN CLOSING:

Okay, we’re approaching the first of the year and your annual lose weight, get in shape exercise (pun intended). Instead of trying the same old thing, do yourself a favor and make a resolution to read three books in the first quarter of the year – and, of course, follow the advice. They are local author Dr. Don Ardell’s 14 Days to a Wellness Lifestyle; William Duffy’s Sugar Blues and the product of four New Orleans authors – Sugar Busters. Read one or more of the three previously? Then add Robert Atkins’ New Diet Revolution – a somewhat controversial book but a program that works for weight loss and health improvement. All the new-fangled books on the shelves are, in one fashion or the other, copies of these four groundbreakers. Here’s to a new you in 2015!

Merry Christmas!

TOP OF THE WEEK –

COLUMNIST WANTED: “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio”? Or more to the point where have you gone Steve Otto and Howard Troxler and people of your caliber? The Bay Area’s two major papers now have pretty tepid versions of Troxler, Otto and the folks who preceded them. A couple ex sports writers who don’t resonate like that ex sports writer turned columnist Lewis Grizzard (few ever did). You also have the clown who now shows up not only on the editorial page but in revered space in the local Times edition previously occupied by Bob Henderson and Diane Steinle. Plus the strident liberal from south Florida who never lets facts get in the way of the point he’s trying drive home. Tom Jackson, of the Tribune, is usually a hoot but all in all, “Our nation (or region) turns its lonely eyes to you” – Steve and Howard and Bob and Diane.

Around the Bay –

1. Pinellas County’s David Jolly has been appointed to the prestigious House Appropriations Committee which can only bode well for his district – and yet another reason why he was so much a better choice than Alex Sink given the Republican control of the House (and now the Senate).

2. Do you notice that during this season of relatively low energy usage that your city water bill (exclusive of solid waste) is as much or more than your power bill? The cost of water, at least in Clearwater, has gotten ridiculously high and customers don’t even have a weak-kneed PSC to address the issue.

3. Tale of Two Cities: Dunedin is struggling with where to park all the folks who come to visit their charming downtown while Clearwater continues to struggle to get anybody in their downtown.

4. Didn’t you love it when you mentioned Duke you were talking about one of the model basketball, and now, football programs in the country and not the power company that doesn’t believe in energy conservation?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when the south end of Clearwater Beach was not a canyon surrounded by high rises but a spot for the weekend viewing of the “submarine races”.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. We’re going to channel Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis and apologize for a remark we’ve made – ahead of time. We apologize to all the other morons in the world when we justifiably label Lewis a moron for his incredibly insensitive remarks regarding Brown’s quarterback Johnny Manziel.

7. FSU quarterback Jameis Winston’s “advisor” David Cornwell lists among his clients Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun and Ben Roethlisberger. Wow, with a quartet like that, how do you look yourself in the mirror?

8. Yo, Keith, holler at us when you start commenting on sports again, and we may tune back in.

9. Didn’t you think you would eventually wake up from your bad dream where the Rays would say, “We’ve make a horrible mistake. We’re going to tear this up and start our managerial search process all over.” By the way, nice job on vetting Raul Ibanez’ desire to manage.

10. It appears the Big 12 got jobbed in the first year of a committee picking four finalists for the college football championship. This is what happens when conferences have more than one strong team like the SEC and the Big 12. It’s probably safe to say there are about a half dozen teams or more that would give Alabama a better game than Ohio State will – two of them in the Big 12 and at least a couple in the SEC. But it’s hard to disagree with the committee’s one and two seeds. Oregon and the Tide will be playing for all the marbles in January.

IN CLOSING –

We very much admire Tom Jones of the Times but his statement that Joe Maddon is arguably the best manager in baseball can’t go uncontested. Maddon wasn’t even the best manager in his division - Joe Girardi, World Championship; John Farrell, World Championship; Buck Showalter has won in all three cities he’s managed. We’ll concede that Maddon is better than John Gibbons in Toronto. But the best manager in baseball, hardly - the kookiest perhaps, but not the best.

TOP OF THE WEEK –

Very good hire – that seems to be the consensus among the Gator Nation and sports observers in general on the Gator – Jim McElwain marriage. A little inexperienced – yes, but you most likely won’t find this guy available three years from now. He will have to grow into the job, but more than one analyst believes he will. Granted, Colorado State is not LSU and the Mountain West is not the SEC. But another guy came to Florida from that conference and did pretty well – gent by the name of Urban Meyer. Hey, Gators, you could be Nebraska who just fired a nine win coach so they could hire a guy who won five this year. We predict two years from now, Gator fans will be a lot happier than the Cornhusker faithful.

Around the Bay –

1. There’s a progression of bad things happening at PSTA – federal money being returned; the email fiascos and now apparent sabotage. They all add up to a hot mess and the blindingly obvious conclusion that changes need to be made at the agency.

2. The Seminole City Council is wise beyond their years. They were one of the few Pinellas governmental bodies to see through the smoke and mirrors that was Greenlight Pinellas. More recently, they are balking at a developer’s attempted shake down of several million tax dollars so said developer can build a new Seminole Mall complete with dozens if not hundreds of minimum wage jobs. That is not economic development.

3. Just a little to the north, expect good things from Woody Brown, the new Mayor of Largo. Brown is a bright, energetic guy and should do the office proud. But then over the past several years, the bar in that position has not been set too high.

4. Medical pot on the 2016 ballot? Perhaps its backers feel that they stand a better shot in a presidential year. But many folks have grown weary of the issue and then there’s the opposition from both the law enforcement and medical communities. Also, that problem with putting something in the Florida constitution that has no business being there.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater quite a while if you remember the Gay Way Skating Rink on South Missouri Avenue – a couple blocks south of another gone but not forgotten icon – Sunshine Mall.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Managers in waiting tend to be high level minor league managers, third base coaches or bench coaches. Anyone of those three positions in the Rays organization would have made an excellent manager as the Rays move forward. Bullpen coaches like newly appointed manager Kevin Cash tend to be old teammates of the manager who needed a job. It could be argued that Cash was the best of the three finalists – but that’s like saying he beat out Curley and Mo.

7. The departure of highly respected, eight year veteran coach Neil Allen from the Rays minor league system is a harbinger of things to come brought on by the shabby way long-term employees Dave Martinez and, to a lesser degree, Charlie Montoyo were treated. Loyalty, the Rays must learn, is a two-way street.

8. Gary Shelton’s final column on his years writing about sports and its characters got us thinking about our three favorite Tampa Bay sports personalities over the years – for us all three of them coaches. They are Seth Greenberg, Jon Gruden and John McKay. And yours?

9. Factoid: The 1979 TV series Benson, a spin-off from Soap, had a cast member who was dumped after just four appearances. This apparent failure was a young comedian named Seinfeld. We hear he went on to bigger things.

10. Our crack sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) says despite their undefeated season, if FSU plays anyone tougher than Dry Gulch A&M, they will be one and done in the college football playoffs.

IN CLOSING:

It was enlightening, while horrifying, watching the coverage of Ferguson, Missouri after the grand jury decision was handed down. MSNBC spent all night spouting rhetoric while ignoring the lawlessness on the streets. Fox focused solely on the lawlessness while ignoring the judicial and social ramifications. And CNN cut a nice down the middle approach – clearly the winner of the troubled evening.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

Rick Crandall is a cool and interesting guy. He has the sort of booming voice that would allow him to play God in any movie. Rick has spent just short of a half-century in the broadcasting business working locally at legendary stations like WLCY and WFLA. As a newsman at Clearwater’s WTAN, he was one of the first reporters on the scene at the Sunshine Skyway tragedy. He also was one of the pioneers in so-called pirate radio – ships that broadcast rock and roll off the British coast back in the sixties when “needle drop” policies restricted the amount of rock and roll that could be played on the BBC. Now he is a different sort of radio pioneer with the soon to be start-up of what is known as a LPFM (low power FM radio station). Based in St. Pete and operating at 96.7 on the dial, Rick’s station will feature original local music not heard anywhere else on bay area air waves. We’ll keep you posted on the launch date.

Around the Bay –

1. Know what’s really fun and rewarding this time of year? - volunteering to ring a Salvation Army bell outside a retail location. A lot of folks think you have to be a member of the Army or one of the civic clubs like Rotary that volunteers on the weekends. But anybody can do it – and once you do it, your holiday will seem empty if you don’t repeat the process each year. Even if you don’t ring a bell, pop something in the Army’s kettle. Few organizations stretch a dollar further in their good works than the Salvation Army.

2. Is it our imagination or did the Florida “snowbirds” head south earlier this winter? The restaurants are busier than usual, same with the attractions and fishing boats.

3. It will be interesting in the year ahead to see what medical pot backers and Greenlight supporters do. The medical pot people probably have an easier hill to climb. The proposed amendment was badly crafted and probably would be acceptable to many outside the constitution and with proper and rigid safeguards. Greenlight has longer to go and a lot of rebuilding trust to do before they can advance.

4. Maybe #44 will be able to get the five million new Democratic voters he’s trying to create to the polls in future elections – something he was unable to do earlier this month.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater awhile if you remember the days of the one dollar fish dinners at the Bay Drive Inn at the foot of Cleveland Street.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. The sixties were the time of the instrumental hit in the rock era. No other decade came close. And the biggest three instrumental hits from that decade were? (Answer below)

7. Sports factoid: Dan Rooney, the chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was an excellent high school quarterback - in fact second team All Pittsburgh his senior year. The first team QB that year was a guy named Unitas.

8. Decent spring schedule for the Phils this March with the Tigers, Rays (three times), Yanks (twice), Bosox and Braves among others, but alas, no night games. Blue Jays have all of the above plus three with the division champ Orioles. No night games in Dunedin either.

9. Our Rants and Raves crack sports analyst Achmed Walled (pronounced Wall-ED) says the Lightning will continue their early success through the regular season but be an early casualty in the playoffs.

10. Congratulations to John Timberlake, general manager of the Clearwater Threshers, who was named to the 2014 Class in the Florida State League Hall of Fame. John has nearly three decades in the Threshers organization and has been a contributor in so many ways to the community. Well-deserved John, and perhaps someday that aspiring nephew of yours will be in some sort of Hall of Fame like his uncle!

IN CLOSING –

We finally got around to reading Gary Shelton’s farewell column on the sports pages of the Times. The cheap shot at Jon Gruden aside (Dude, the guy gave us our only Super Bowl), it was an interesting cruise through a quarter century of Tampa Bay sports and some of its characters. Shelton never was our favorite - that spot is now a virtual tie between Tom Jones and the late Tom McEwen, but his column did call to mind the growth of pro sports in the bay area over the past 25 years.

Answer to #6 above - Wonderland by Night by Bert Kaempfert (1961); Paul Mauriat’s Love is Blue (1968) and Theme from a Summer Place by Percy Faith (1960) which was the second biggest hit of the entire 60s decade trailing only Hey Jude.

TOP OF THE WEEK

Before we get too excited about the fact that St. Pete is going to take the chains off the Tampa Bay Rays franchise and let them look elsewhere (read Tampa) for a new stadium site – some sobering thoughts. The Rays were dead last in attendance in the major leagues last year. Sure, they outdrew Cleveland by a few thousand, but the Indians played three less home games and actually outdrew the Rays on a per game basis. But the team we need to focus on finished three spots above the Rays in attendance – the Miami Marlins. The Marlins averaged less than 3,500 more fans than the Rays –in a league that traditionally outdraws the American League by five to seven million fans a year – in other words, a push. The Marlins achieved this mighty feat despite having a new, state of the art stadium and an exciting young ball club. At some point, locals and MLB are going to have to face the fact that some markets are simply lousy baseball markets, and no new baseball palace on either side of the bay is going to cure that long term.

Around the Bay –

1. Bob Blackhorn for governor in 2018? Perhaps, but you have to remember that while most folks in the bay area know and respect the mayor, the majority of voters in Palm Beach and Leon counties have never heard of the guy.

2. The city of Clearwater is toying with the idea of trying to put events into Crest Lake Park. They have some work to do. Crest Lake has become a refuge for the homeless so much so that most folks no longer walk the three-quarter mile sidewalk around the park for exercise or use the other exercise facilities in the park. This is definitely a chicken and egg situation. They have to solve the homeless chicken problem before they can have the egg - things like arts festivals and holiday events.

3. When is Pinellas County going to bite the bullet and consolidate its firefighting services?

4. Breaking news: Governor Rick Scott actually won re-election. To read “Florida’s Best Newspaper” comparing his vote totals to medical pot, Pam Bondi and the ’32 Roosevelt landslide among others, one would think not.

5. You’ve really lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when Clearwater got its second radio station – WAZE 860 – 55 years ago this year. The station was founded by WTAN ex-patriots Chuck Adams and Gene Allen Robinson.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Can’t see any scenario where the new “playoff committee” is going to recognize that three of the four best college football teams in the country are in the SEC. The conference will be lucky to get two teams in the final four.

7. Are we the only ones who think that NASCAR’s new playoff system is gimmicky?

8. What you do think – is a guy who appears in roughly one-fifth of his team’s games a Most Valuable Player?

9. Amid the pink slips handed out for fledgling TV series, one survivor is Madam Secretary which got the go ahead from CBS to do 22 episodes despite so-so ratings. Prediction: once the Sunday night NFL season ends, this gem will capture a more sizable audience.

10. Many disappointing seasons later, do you think the Bucs regret firing Jon Gruden? Perhaps, but it’s for sure that ESPN and football viewers in general are happy they did.

IN CLOSING –

We lead with the Rays, we close with the Rays. This is some sort of cruel joke, right? Don Wakamatsu, who was a bust with the Mariners; Kevin Cash, who is a bullpen coach (a job usually given to an old buddy of the manager) and Raul Ibanez, who was an active player two months ago. These are the finalists for the Ray’s job? Is Naimoli running the outfit again? Just because the Rays plucked long shot Joe Maddon out of the air last time and got lucky doesn’t mean lightning will strike twice. And what a slap in the face to the loyal soldier that is Dave Martinez, who incidentally has more credentials than the three finalists combined. Good grief, why didn’t they just pick a successful Little League coach? If you thought the Rays stunk this year, just wait until next season.

TOP OF THE WEEK –

The search for the Ray’s next manager should be over by now. It’s Dave Martinez in a landslide. The guy knows the players, the league and the team culture. Number three is the most important. Look at two of the three managers inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. They are there in great part because of the organizations for which they worked. Cox and Torre, while good managers, were in the right place at the right time – the salad days of the Braves and Yankees. The same can be said for Joe Maddon. His success was as much or more a product of the organization than anything he did in the dugout. Martinez can keep that wave of success going better than any other candidate. And it sure wouldn’t hurt to add Durham’s Charlie Montoyo as his bench coach – another guy who knows the Ray’s way.

Around the Bay –

1. Item: City of Clearwater contemplating spending a quarter million to mollify condo owners in Station Square because train whistles are disturbing them. Folks, the place is named Station Square – do you know how it got that name? Hint – it dates back over 100 years. This is reminiscent of the folks who buy a place near the Clearwater Airpark which has existed since 1939 and then complain about the plane noise.

2. Heard on the street regarding the Pinellas County Commission election: “They’ve replaced a whack job on one end of the political spectrum with a whack job on the other end.”

3. It was a close race, but Hillsborough County voters wisely returned Al Higginbotham to the county commission. The veteran policy maker now represents the county at large rather than his former seat comprising mostly the Plant City region of the county. Al’s life is a story of courage – told quite well in his book By Faith, I’m Still Standing.

4. Want a good example of how not to do a rehab project? Visit the Clearwater Marina. About half a dozen seemingly uncoordinated projects going on at once - for close to two months, you couldn’t even get a cup of coffee there; dirt everywhere. All of this so we could move the diner from one end of the marina to the other and replace a perfectly good gift shop with a new one? Not to mention the loss of Capt. Bruce Littler’s unique nautical themed shop and the beach’s only post office. The whole project smells.    

5. You’ve really lived in the bay area for a long time if you remember what Jay Black, Guy Bagli, Andy Hardy and Milt Spencer did for a living. They were all sportscasters on local network TV affiliates. And all pretty darn good at their trade.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. It’s not too early for the University of Florida to begin its Christmas shopping – as in shopping for a new head football coach.

7. In our lead piece, we intentionally didn’t group Tony LaRussa with his fellow inductees. He’s a special case – having won with three different organizations. He is, arguably, the best manager any of us have seen in our lifetimes.

8. Quick - the three living folks who would join you at the dinner table for a no holds barred discussion. From the music biz – Burt Bacharach; from the political arena – Dick Cheney and from sports probably the smartest man to ever toe the rubber – Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. And your dinner table?

9. Why don’t we give Two and a Half Men a decent burial…like right now?

10. Only 89 days until pitchers and catchers report, but who’s counting?

IN CLOSING-

With three losses on his political resume, have we heard the last of Charlie Crist? The smart money says no. The governor’s mansion is probably out of his reach, but you could see him targeting David Jolly in two years or making a run for the Democratic nomination for the Senate – particularly if Bill Nelson decides to retire (trading one empty suit for another). Most observers don’t see him spending the rest of his still young life working “for the people”.

TOP OF THE WEEK:

The recently concluded elections continue to show the declining influence of the print media on election outcomes. To witness: “Florida’s Best Newspaper” recommends 15^th party candidate Charlie Crist on its editorial page and every other page outside the classifieds. Fan Boy loses. Sheldon over Bondi – are you kidding? And on issues, the track record is also not so good. How did that Greenlight thing turn out? Granted, they (along with this blog) did make the right call on the odorous Amendment 2. But Gomer Pyle could have read the tea leaves on that one. In the no-brainers like Senator Jack Latvala and the state cabinet posts (other than Bondi), they really had no logical alternative. But all in all, The Times was pretty much out of step with the electorate.

Around the Bay –

1. Perhaps we are wrong to be surprised by the large margin of victory for the No Tax for Tracks movement. The Greenlight folks brought out a lot of heavy hitters but it was Joe Lunchbucket who said no to the highest sales tax in the state; the fact that the proposed tax would have the biggest effect on those who could afford it least; and, lastly after all the pre-election machinations, folks simply didn’t trust the people at the PSTA - both appointed and elected.

2. Biggest surprises in addition to margin of victory for No Tax for Tracks were the defeat of long time public servant Ed Hooper and the margin of victory for Julie Bujalski in Dunedin in what many observers thought would be a toss-up with Julie Scales. The loss of Scales and Hooper as public servants is a blow to Pinellas County.

3. Hopefully, the 2018 governor’s race will be more about who you’d like to see in the governor’s mansion rather than who you would not like to see there. Prediction: a name to be reckoned with in ’18 will be Adam Putnam.  

4. Well, another Sunday morning, another race to clog up traffic to and from Clearwater Beach. When is the city going to realize these events do nothing for the economy except louse things up on the beach?

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater for a while if you remember when the ultra-modern bowling alley opened on Northeast Coachman Road replacing the old “pin boy” operation just west of the Gulf station near Clearwater’s bay front. The opening kicked off an upsurge in bowling in upper Pinellas with Largo Lanes, Dunedin Lanes, Tarpon Lanes, Hi-Lan Lanes and Shore Lanes opening within the next decade. Sadly, of the six, only Dunedin Lanes remains today.

The Diamond, the Media and other Stuff –

6. Note to Cooperstown: It’s probably safe to start designing that Bochy plaque.

7. Suddenly Skip Holtz and Greg Schiano aren’t looking all that bad. Will Lovie Smith get fired after one year? Probably not, but you have to think the guy in Pittsburgh who let this awful team beat his Steelers (at home) better keep winning if he wants to be around next year.

8. There’s an old saying “Welcome to the NFL”. For Joe Maddon, it’s “Welcome to the NL”. Maddon’s interleague and post season record against NL teams is less than spectacular. Prediction: the Cubs and their bright boys in the front office will regret tossing Rick Renteria over the side of the boat and spending big bucks on a guy who has never coached or managed in the National League. For the sake of a dear 88-year-old friend who, in his lifetime, has never seen his Cubs win it all, we hope we’re wrong.

9. Pre-season college basketball poll has Kentucky listed number one. Why don’t we just put Kentucky in the NBA? Their starting five (and perhaps more) are always there a year after “enrolling” at UK.

10. Again, as in September, Bay News Nine came up short on covering local races. If you wanted to know how county and city races were going, you had much better luck with the trailers on Channels 8 and 10 than on what is supposed to be a local news channel. And what’s up with that Halloween costume one of their “expert commentators” was wearing?

IN CLOSING:

During the seemingly endless debate on legalized medical pot here in Florida, it was pointed out that no state in the South has legalized pot in any form. Is that surprising? No more surprising than the fact that only two states in the Midwest have any sort of legalized pot. It’s simply a matter of values. Legalized pot is strong in the Far West and the Northeast. Does that make one of those sections right and the other wrong? No, it simply reflects differing values in different parts of the country. Vive la difference!

Editor’s Note: Sorry we went missing for a while on the net this past week. Our IT people tell us it was due to a major internet outage. Hmm… five days before the election, conservative website cannot be accessed for over 24 hours. The Oliver Stone in us questions the outage.

TOP OF THE WEEK: (VOTE ON TUESDAY!)

Here we are – the end of Daylight Savings Time – meaning it gets dark earlier. How appropriate, because things could get a lot darker for Florida and Pinellas County if incredibly dumb things like medical pot, Greenlight (for more taxes) Pinellas and the Republican, turned Independent, turned Democrat prevail Tuesday. We predict one of the three will. We fervently pray for the good of our state and county that not all three are successful.

Around the Bay –

1. Some additional thoughts on Tuesday’s election. Our county commission will be best served with the election of Dave Eggers and Ed Hooper – both with resumes that far outstrip their opponents. Dunedin’s mayoral race looks too close to call. Dunedin probably would be okay with either Julie but likely a little more okay with Julie Scales.

2. Good friend who follows Florida politics even closer than your HB (Humble Blogger) predicts a 52.5% yes vote for medical pot – which means the measure fails to become part of the state constitution. There’s a lunch bet made quite some time ago riding on the outcome – sure hope we lose the bet.

3. Channel 8 ran a story last week with tips on how not to become a victim in answering an ad on Craig’s List. Are we slow learners? The answer is the same as how to avoid getting your hand burned when sticking it in a fire. Don’t do it!

4. Quote of the week: Kris Carson of the DOT in responding to a struggling Westport Plaza’s request to not shut down one of the entry points into the plaza in Pasco County. “We are not changing this decision.” - typical response from a bureaucrat who has no clue what it takes to make a payroll every week – certainly not further limiting access to the businesses in the plaza. Makes you wish the DOT would reduce their payroll by one.  

5. Was there ever a better milkshake than those served at Brown Brothers on Cleveland Street in downtown Clearwater?

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Farewell and best wishes to three of our favorite Times writers/editors – Diane Steinle, Joe Childs and Jeff Klingenberg – all of whom opted for early retirement as the paper continues to downsize. We were fortunate to know Diane and Joe personally and to read Jeff’s articles and books over the years – a large loss for local readers.

7. With more of its star players spinning out of control, perhaps it’s time for FSU to do the same thing with its football program that its neighbor FAMU did with its band and shut it down until it can get things under control. And then there’s UNC….

8. Baseball fans can fill up part of their long, cold winter with John Feinstein’s Where Nobody Knows Your Name. It’s an extremely interesting look at the high minors - of guys on their way up and, more compellingly, on their way down by the man who crafted A Season on the Brink and A Good Walk Spoiled.

9. Here’s another assignment for the new MLB commissioner when he replaces Bud Light next year. Treat umpires like players – if they perform poorly, send them to the minors or release them. Guys like C.B. Bucknor, Joe West and Laz Diaz are an embarrassment to the game.

10. In a related note, first call to be overturned in the World Series by instant replay? Eric Cooper, who as we mentioned a few months back, always seems to blow one in important situations. Although watching that play about three dozen times, we’re still not sure he blew it.

IN CLOSING:

When major league baseball got down to its “final four”, three of the four managers were considered to be some of the brightest minds in the game – Bruce Bochy, Mike Matheny and Buck Showalter – and, oh yes, that bumpkin Ned Yost. Ned was criticized throughout the playoffs for his strategies despite the fact his Royals lost all of four games in the entire post season (the best record of any post season team and just one or two breaks and bad calls from winning it all). It’s a mistake to underestimate Yost who grew up in the Brewers organization as a player in the 80s then polished his coaching skills during the halcyon days of the Braves dynasty. He has a ring from their 1995 World Championship and with the concept he has developed in KC will be back in the fall classic sooner rather than later.

TOP OF THE WEEK – (Only one more week and we’ll see more of that cute girl in the A T & T ads and a whole lot less of Rick and Charlie!)

Florida Blue, the Medicare supplement arm of Blue Cross, is hitting their PPO members with a $433 increase in 2015 in addition to whatever Medicare itself tacks on for ‘15. Previously PPO members paid nothing additional to their Medicare assessment. United Healthcare’s add-on is somewhat less, but they raised the out of pocket for hospital stays a hundred bucks a day. It’s probably just a coincidence that for the first time in history, Medicare supplement clients have to pay fees on top of the Medicare assessment - and has nothing to with Obamacare being introduced last year with the assurance that “your Medicare plans will be unaffected”.

Around the Bay –

1. If you believe “Florida’s Best Newspaper” (and we seldom do), if there is ever an outbreak of Ebola in the state, it will entirely be Governor Scott’s fault. Good thing for the incumbent governor that the Sunshine State did not have any bad tropical storms or tornadoes this year which the spin doctors of St. Petersburg could blame on him.

2. In a related note to our lead item, we seldom plug a business. But in this case, we strongly believe the individual can help persons on Medicare who read this column navigate the increasingly complex system. Call a gentleman named Tim Ramik (727-417-6692). Tim knows Medicare inside and out. He is, in short, the most knowledgeable health insurance man we’ve ever met.

3. Another victim (other than low income folks’ pocketbooks) if Greenlight Pinellas passes could well be Penny for Pinellas. The infrastructure tax that has been renewed each decade by county voters, could take a hit next time if the total tax rate goes to eight cents. Tea party members and others could join forces to bring it down despite generally good stewardship over the years of Penny funds by local governments.

4. A clarification on our lead element of a few weeks back concerning four three-letter agencies that do more harm than good to our locale and our country. The local agency is called the Suncoast Safety Council not the National Safety Council. We cannot presume that NSC offices in Chicago, Atlanta or elsewhere are run as poorly as the local agency in Clearwater.

5. Belated Happy 50^th Reunion to the Largo High Class of ’64 who held their celebration on Clearwater Beach last weekend.

6. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long while if you remember when there were no auto dealerships on U.S. 19. Now only two remain west of 19 – Dayton Andrews (formerly Massey-Andrews) and the former Carlisle Lincoln-Mercury.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

7. We occasionally “borrow” a gem from that Thursday staple, the 5:05 Club Review such as the following: “Ben Bradlee, Dead at 93 - He was preceded in death by journalism”.

8. It remains to be seen how Dave Stewart will do as the general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. But one thing is for sure – there was not a more under-rated pitcher in the past fifty years of baseball than the hard throwing Stewart. That he never won a Cy Young Award is amazing.

9. Don’t you get the feeling that there might be a reprise of the Catholics versus Criminals game before the end of the college football season?

10. By the way, the cute girl in the A T & T commercials is Milana Vayntrub, an actress/ comedian born in Uzbekistan. She’s had bit roles in ER and a few other shows but really shines in the phone commercials. She’s been described as the anti-Flo. How true.

IN CLOSING:

Joe Maddon’s departure from the Rays is not the end of the world for the franchise. A good manager, yes. A great manager, no. Plus, the Rays don’t have to look far for a replacement. He’s already in the dugout – bench coach Dave Martinez. If Martinez is not their cup of tea, they still don’t have to go that far for a new manager. They could do a whole lot worse than Charlie Montoya, their longtime manager at AAA Durham. But the perfect trifecta would be any combination of Martinez, Montoya and Tim Foley as manager/bench coach/third base coach – a combo that could take the Rays to the next level.

TOP OF THE WEEK: (Two weeks to go – down the stretch will either Charlie or Rick shock us with a positive ad?)

With apologies to the late Andy Williams, it’s the second most wonderful time of the year. Our national pastime’s World Series. Three memorable World Series stick out in the mind of your HB (Humble Blogger) – all upsets and all involving New York teams: the first one we ever watched - the ’54 fall classic when the Giants shocked the Cleveland Indians in four straight. The ’54 Indians won a record 111 games behind a pitching staff that should have had Cooperstown instead of Cleveland stitched on the front of their uniforms. Four of the 1954 Cleveland staff are in the Hall of Fame. The second great World Series was in 1960 when the Yankees outscored the Pittsburgh Pirates 55-27 over the seven games but lost the series in a freakish 10-9 Game 7 – a game in which neither side recorded a strikeout. And a bright young lady from Columbus, Ohio won a quarter on her first ever sports bet. Lastly was the 1996 World Series in which the Braves lost to the Yankees after routing them two straight games at Yankee Stadium only to lose the next four straight – three at home in Atlanta. Again, this was a team with four Hall of Famers – two inducted this year (Glavine and Maddux) and two more who will be first ballot choices when eligible (Chipper Jones and John Smoltz). Big upset again this year? Let’s settle back, as Vin Scully would say, and see what the 111th edition brings us.

Around the Bay –

1. Maybe Floridians would like to see you sweat a bit, Charlie.

2. Quote of the Week: Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos on the former city employee who would not sell her property adjacent to the new fire station. “She cost us a lot of money because we had to redesign the entire station around her property”. Sorry Mayor, but your staff cost you a lot of money by not making sure they assembled everything before plowing ahead with a questionable location for a fire station. And by the way, Commissar, excuse us… Mayor, there’s a little thing called private property rights.

3. Glad we could have U.S. Rep. Cathy Castor weigh in on Greenlight Pinellas. Through an incredible feat of gerrymandering, she actually represents a few thousand Pinellas residents from her office in Hillsborough County.

4. In a related note, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) suggests that in exchange for Pasco County passing a resolution supporting Greenlight Pinellas, our county commission ought to turn its attention to Pasco – perhaps with a resolution that it be annexed into Hernando County. (Margin of error – 50 percent or so).

5. Our Man of the Week: Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald who hands out his cellphone number to veterans he meets. So many more of our bureau and departmental heads should set such an example to their staff members.

6. How could a restaurant possibly survive with a menu of only four entrees? The Kapok Tree Inn on McMullen Booth Road did just that for decades offering shrimp, steak, ham and fried chicken to thousands of diners weekly.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

7. Our Rants and Raves sports prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) likes the Giants over the Royals in the fall classic.

8. The post season is not yet over, but watch out for dramatic changes in the National League East next year. The Marlins and Mets, with their stables of young stud pitchers, could both overtake the traditional leaders in the division – the Nats and the Braves.

9. Doesn’t the whole Jameis Winston mess seem familiar? Just substitute Auburn and Cam Newton and you have the same thing –“Let’s sweep it under the rug until we get our trophy”.

10. In the early going of the new TV season, our personal favorite is Madam Secretary. If you haven’t watched it, pick it up with the first episode. Lighter fare but promising are A to Z and Manhattan Love Story.

IN CLOSING:

Although overshadowed by Derek Jeter’s retirement, another classy career came to an end on the final day of baseball’s regular season. White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko left for a defensive replacement to a standing ovation at U.S. Cellular Park. The ovation of the fans and teammates was joined by the full dugout of the Kansas City Royals as well. Although he modeled Dodger and Red uniforms early in his career, he made his mark with Sox leading them to their first World Series victory in decades in 2005. Konerko’s number 14 will be retired by the team meaning that number 14 will never be worn again by a Chicago player on either side of the city. Ernie Bank’s number 14 was retired years ago by the Cubs.

TOP OF THE WEEK: (3 more weeks until we’ll just hear ads about meds with more dangerous side effects than what they purport to cure)

Shocked - the only word to describe our reaction to “Florida’s Best Newspaper’s” position on Florida’s Amendment Two. In case you did not feel the earth move, the most liberal newspaper south of the Washington Post, recommended a NO vote on the medical pot amendment – and for all the right seasons. In particular, the paper takes issue with the qualifications (or lack of) of caregivers who would “dispense” the pot. And they walk hand in hand with this blog (doesn’t happen often) in the conclusion that Florida’s constitution is not the place for this sort of item – much like America’s folly with the 18^th Amendment in the last century.

Around the Bay –

1. On the other hand, the Times gave a predictable okay to Greenlight Pinellas - like other supporters of the initiative glossing over the regressive nature of the extra penny sales tax. Sure, it might be a push for you and me as homeowners – less property tax - more sales tax. But what of the individuals who do not own homes; who are squeaking by on ten bucks an hour or less? Clean up the proposal and bring it back where you tax us an extra fifty bucks a year or whatever and maybe we go for it – but not on the backs of the county’s low income residents.

2. Quote of the week from Clearwater City Council member Doreen Hock-DiPolito in referring to a $100,000 piece of “art” in Clearwater’s new fire station that virtually no one will see – “For people that (sic) don’t understand art, it’s pretty exciting”. Ignoring the sentence structure, even we, of the unwashed masses, understand spending a hundred grand on something few will see makes no sense. Kudos to council members George Cretekos and Bill Jonson for voting against this folly.

3. To the surprise of nearly everyone, the weak-kneed Public Service Commission ordered Duke Power to refund $54 million for equipment never purchased but nonetheless paid for by their customers. They will start repaying it sometime next year at the rate of less than four bucks a month. We’re sure it will be okay with Duke if you withhold your utility payment until mid-2015.

4. Our Rants and Raves focus group (composed of three old, cranky people) wonders if they will live to see Osceola Avenue north of Court Street open again? Interstate highways were built faster. But then Ike was president. (Margin of error – 60 years)

5. You’ve really lived in Pinellas County a long time if you danced to people like Brian Hyland, Mitch Ryder or Gene Pitney at the WLCY Star Spectaculars at Clearwater’s bay front auditorium. You’ve lived here even longer if you remember when WTAN Radio’s studios were in that same auditorium.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. In the waning weeks of the major league baseball’s regular season, there were two 1-0 nine inning games that lasted three hours and thirty minutes. Good grief, 15 years ago Greg Maddux throws a 1-0 shutout and is on the fifth hole at the country club three hours and thirty minutes after he throws the first pitch.

7. The early exit of the Washington Nationals from the playoffs highlights something many baseball observers have known all year – their bullpen is vastly overrated.

8. Now the FCC wants to weigh in on the Washington Redskins name. The same FCC that had one of their commissioners leave for a high level Comcast job just months after approving their merger with NBC. The same FCC that has a staff full of former broadcast company attorneys and the same FCC that, like its cousin the IRS, tends to lose documents on important pending cases. Perhaps a little cleaning in their own kitchen should come before any Redskins debate.

9. We’ve made several references to Keith Olbermann’s show in this space. The show hit a new high last week as Keith flashed back to a photo of the legendary Salty Sol Fleischman on Channel 13 as an example of perhaps the only sportscaster on TV outside of Anchorman to wear a hat on TV.

10. Let’s be candid. Before we praise UF too much about their quick action on another wayward quarterback, make him a potential Heisman Trophy winner on a potential national championship team instead of a guy who isn’t even a starter, and see if the reaction by UF officials had been quite so quick.

IN CLOSING:

It’s a question of credibility. Or lack of. We mentioned “Florida’s Best Newspaper” and their positions on a couple key issues above. Though we disagree on one, we respect their opinion. But when they endorse a candidate with very limited credentials over a man who has served both the city of Clearwater and the State Legislature with distinction simply because of the letter behind their names, they go beyond the pale. To suggest that Ed Hooper is not the hands down better candidate for the Pinellas County Commission over the mayor of Largo defies logic – not to mention credibility.

TOP OF THE WEEK: (Only 4 more weeks of hearing why you should punch “none of the above”)

More than once this blog has praised Sen. Jack Latvala for his work in Tallahassee and here in Pinellas. But we couldn’t disagree more with his reasons for supporting the ill-conceived Greenlight Pinellas proposal. Latvala feels the elderly won’t be harmed by the additional sales tax the proposal levies since they “only buy drugs and food” which are non-taxable. Hogwash - ask an elderly person about their expenses. But it’s the younger, low income people who really are going to take a hit on this – the people who buy clothes, diapers and other taxable items. It is simply an extremely regressive tax. And his comment about us being a major league county – a reference we suppose to having mass transit to get to Rays games doesn’t wash. First, the PSTA was asked to run shuttles to Ray’s games at their inception and punted. And knowledgeable people would be willing to bet serious money that by the time light rail ever was a reality, the Rays will be long gone from south Pinellas and perhaps Tampa Bay.

Around the Bay –

1. Perhaps to speed up bus service, we could convert the PSTA buses into combination food truck/buses – just in case the driver gets hungry. PSTA blames the lack of breaks for their drivers on lack of financing – or perhaps is it just lousy management?

2. In a related note, after all the gaffes at PSTA over the past year, do you think CEO Brad Miller’s job security might change after the Greenlight election – especially if it fails?

3. Remember the “Your Medicare plans will be unaffected” assurance with advent of Obamacare? Not exactly! Have you looked at your Medicare changes documents? More on that next week.

4. In the grand scheme of FSU’s budget, $160,000 is not all that much. But to spend that much money on a presidential search when the fix was in from the first day? Just short of criminal.

5. As we pointed out above, we still have four weeks’ worth of annoying political ads. But it will be hard to top the Charlie Crist “flipping” ad – a classic.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Yes, we know you are not supposed to lose your job on the playing field just because of an injury, but come on! Mike Glennon engineers a Bucs victory on the home turf of one of the toughest teams in the NFL, and Lovie Smith is non-committal on who runs the offense going forward?

7. We hit approximately .500 in our pre-season baseball predictions. We missed in predicting the Yanks would go deep into the playoffs; that the Nats would crumble (great job by Matt Williams) and Yasiel Puig would bottom out. He did but only occasionally. We had hits on the demise of the Phils and Bosox; that the Cards would return to postseason and the resurgence of the Marlins. We were a push on Tiger third baseman Nick Castellanos – nice first year but we expected even better.

8. Three little facts about the Green Bay Packers. They have sold out every game since 1960 – think about that - 54 years! They have season ticket holders in all 50 states and at least three foreign countries. Their season ticket waiting list tops 100,000. And never have they held a gun to their home city for a new stadium. Talk about a model franchise - which is totally community owned.

9. The Bucs, on the other hand, usually sell out a Green Bay game but few others. They may have season ticket holders in 50 cities but no foreign countries unless, of course, you consider Hernando County a foreign country.

10. Never get tired of that Vince Lombardi clip “What the hell’s going on out here”? There was a football coach!

IN CLOSING:

Not since Ted William’s last career swing homer has there been a more dramatic final home performance than that of Derek Jeter. It was classy of him to resist the temptation to end his career right there (and stick it to the Bosox one more time) by playing out the season at Fenway.

TOP OF THE WEEK – (With only five weeks of televised and printed lies left)

Here are 12 letters that are no longer needed or need to be severely modified – not to mention their being downright harmful to Floridians and Americans in general. The letters are EPAIRSNSCPSC. The 12 letters are four acronyms in order – the EPA which had noble beginnings but now is more of an instrument for the federal government to shake down businesses than anything else – particularly small business that don’t have the finances or time to fight back. Next you have the IRS which is just a train wreck. Someday we’ll actually get true tax reform and simplification but will it be in our lifetimes? The next, NSC – National Safety Council see the EPA above. It, too, had noble beginnings but now is just an instrument to pick the pockets of drivers who have the misfortune to get sent there by the court system. Lastly, perhaps the biggest joke of all –the PSC, Public Service Commission which is nothing but a lap dog for the utility industry. All four could go away tomorrow and America and Florida would be a better place.

Around the Bay –

1. One tends to look with cynicism at the large number of judges who once on the bench seldom have opposition for a new term. That is until you get a look at how they run their courtrooms. Such was the case recently with unopposed incumbent Jack St. Arnold who runs an efficient and extremely fair courtroom. May all our judges be so competent.

2. You’ve got to love Pasco school superintendent Kurt Browning. When he perceives a need, he dives in – sometimes getting his head handed to him as with the idea to eliminate valedictorians in favor of traditional college recognitions of excellence. More recently, he agreed with a teacher’s email that maybe they deserved a better chair for their classrooms than the $82 plastic variety and acted on it immediately.

3. The fallout from the Commissioner Curtis Holmes iPad fiasco includes a proposal that moving forward a sitting commissioner in Largo suffer the same consequences as a city employee for such an indiscretion – termination. Wow, holding a governing body to the same standards as the employees they govern – what a concept!

4. Bay area readers just learned of the passing of one of the area’s broadcast legends – Marshall Cleaver at age 91. Cleaver hosted the Open Mike talk program from 10 to midnight on WLCY radio to the dismay of the station’s teen listeners who in the sixties had nowhere else to go for rock and roll except the distant signals of WLS, WLAC or KAAY. Marshall later was one of the original anchors at Channel 10 (then WLCY-TV).

5. What does Clearwater know that St. Pete doesn’t or vice versa? St. Pete is dumping the controversial red light cameras while Clearwater is talking about adding more despite no real hard data that says they have been effective.

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Funny how the brouhaha over the Redskins’ name has faded into the background as real issues crop up in the NFL.

7. Our Raves and Rants focus group (comprised of three, old cranky people) notes that Apple has released its Apple 6 or whatever phone at the price of just $649 which is more than three times what they have paid for all the mobile phones they’ve ever owned. Granted their phones are quite deficient – all they do is allow members of the group to reach people on the phone while they are away from home. (Margin of error - $649)

8. The new TV season will be phasing in over the next few weeks. What will be this season’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine – a little heralded series that captures both the public and critics? One gem has already aired – Ken Burn’s The Roosevelt’s – An Intimate Portrait. If you missed this series, pick it up on the rebroadcasts on PBS.

9. September marks the 60^th wedding anniversary of comedic duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Both are among the early alumni of Second City – not to mention the parents of Ben and Amy Stiller. Serenity now!

10. The firing of Braves GM Frank Wren this past week had some definite Florida connections. Wren, a graduate of Northeast High, sealed his fate with two terrible signings involving players from Florida’s MLB teams. First, Dan Uggla acquired from the then Florida Marlins was a $60 million bust and released earlier this year. A bigger disappointment was BJ Upton, the former Tampa Bay Ray, who is still owed $45 million despite hitting .197 over his two years with the Braves while earning $30 million.

IN CLOSING:

Beware the hold harmless clause of the medical pot amendment. Legal scholars say that is an open invitation for a less than ethical medical practitioner (see pill mill operator) to legally open a medical pot stand on Clearwater Beach – something that would no doubt enhance its image as a family beach.

TOP OF THE WEEK – (Cheer up, only six more weeks of Charlie and Rick ads!)

It’s not surprising that proponents of the Greenlight Pinellas initiative don’t mention how regressive the new additional penny sales tax would be for low income families. But we’re amazed the somewhat disorganized opposition isn’t pointing that out. Perhaps they figure most low income people don’t vote and, sadly, that’s true. You would think with how many ways the PSTA and other supporters of this initiative have shot themselves in the foot, Greenlight would not have a chance of passage, but polls indicate a close vote. It’s going to take a consistent effort down the stretch to defeat this ill-conceived plan.

Around the Bay –

1. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if “Florida’s Best Newspaper” in giving their inevitable recommendation for Charlie Crist as governor (they have never in their history endorsed a Republican for Governor or President) would simply write a one sentence recommendation saying, “He’s still the same guy we refused to endorse before but now he has a “D” after his name.”

2. In a related note, our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) was asked the following question, “Which will come first - the Times endorsing a Republican gubernatorial candidate or Florida being returned to the sea due to climate change”? Their answer was the latter. (Margin of error, 50 per cent or so).

3. Isn’t it fun to watch Kenneth City’s attempts at governing? Unless, of course, you happen to live in Kenneth City.

4. Pasco County’s recent decision to raise gas taxes by five cents a gallon prompts two thoughts. First, we didn’t think anyone could come up with a more regressive tax than Greenlight, but Pasco did. Second, it recalls an interview a political candidate gave years ago where he stated he drove to Pasco County from mid-Pinellas to fill up and benefit from their then lower gas tax. Really, Mr. Candidate, did ya do the math? Fortunately, he was not elected.

5. Al Lang must be rolling over in his grave. His namesake stadium is in danger of becoming a soccer field – all to avoid a lawsuit by one of the town bullies. Oh, the humanity! To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, “Mayor Kriseman, you are no Al Lang.”

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. A choice morsel from a recent edition of the weekly 5:05 Club newsletter: “A 13-year-old girl became the youngest female to climb Mount Everest. She didn’t mean to, she was just texting with a friend and the next thing she knew she was at the top of Mount Everest”.

7. One veteran major league player has come up with a worthwhile solution to the problem of PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) in the game. A player caught using them not only gets the prescribed suspension but is limited to one-year contracts for the remainder of his career thus eliminating the temptation to use PEDs for that one big contract like ARod, Melky Cabrera and others.

8. After watching a few weeks of the Bucs, our sports analyst Achmed Walled’s (pronounced wall-ED) 7-9 prediction might have been incredibly generous.

9. Sadly, some things that have outlasted their usefulness should be allowed to die – as in the case of Radio Shack again teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.

10. Quote of the week: “You can’t wear a sock with the wrong logo in the NFL without the fire alarm going off in Roger Goodell’s office.” – Keith Olbermann in his relentless pursuit of NFL executive office accountability for the recent rash of thug-like actions by its players.

IN CLOSING –

We recently passed the six month mark with this weekly communique of 800 words or so and our little family of readers continues to grow. For which, we humbly say thanks for letting us share a few thoughts each week. And please use the connection below to share yours with us and the rest of the Rants and Raves community.

TOP OF THE WEEK: (Only 7 weeks of annoying political ads left!)

First we had pill mills. We got rid of them but unfortunately in Clearwater and elsewhere, a few of them have weaseled their way back. We passed some laws directed at those drug pushers with a medical license but now the unforeseen consequences have reared their ugly head. Persons with legitimate prescriptions of controlled substances have been turned into gypsies forced to go from drug store to drug store in search of their needed medications. And no, you can’t search for the drug you need on line. In fact, a pharmacist from a chain store won’t even contact another store in their chain to see if that store might have it. So you plow on to the next store – to the neglect of your job, your family and gosh knows what else. Pharmacists like to paint themselves as the white knights in all of this – horseradish! What we need and need now is a task force at a minimum on the state level (the federal level would be better) to strike a reasonable balance between folks who legitimately require certain medications and drug pushers – those with and without a medical license.

Around the Bay –

1. It’s all about glass houses. When you sling the mud in a political race, you better have a clean kitchen yourself – a lesson apparently lost on the Mayor of Largo.

2. Duke Power won’t like it, but one of the better things to come out of the 2014 legislature was a tax holiday for energy efficient appliances. The holiday is just around the corner (Sept. 19-21) – a good time to replace a couple of gas guzzlers in the kitchen or utility room.

3. Let’s try to understand this. Garnett Stokes, an educator who knows the school and is the well-respected interim president of the university doesn’t make the cut for FSU president. Meanwhile, a state legislator with no educational experience is a finalist. This whole process smells worse than a bunch of stolen Publix seafood.

4. Clearwater’s signature event, Jazz Holiday, is just over a month away. In addition to some cool music and being a place to see and be seen, the event has also produced some of the best poster artwork over the years. Some thirty years of great posters grace offices and homes around the county and beyond.

5. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) points out that Waldo spelled backwards is odlaw. (Margin of error – an extra d)

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. The Astros dump solid baseball man Bo Porter for basically being honest about what a lousy job the organization as a whole has done. The problem with the Astros lays one step above the dugout and hopefully ownership will deal with that in the off season.

7. While we’re on this best hits of a decade jag: are you old enough to remember the fifties? If so, here are three pieces of that decade’s classic wax as they used to say on the radio. For us, it would be the Drifter’s soulful There Goes My Baby; add in the Diamond’s rollicking Little Darlin’ and Bobby Darin’s Dream Lover. Your fifties favorites?

8. Further notes to the above three fifties hits. All topped out at number two on the national charts – all blocked from the top spot by an Elvis Presley hit. And at two minutes thirty one seconds, Darin’s was the longest of the three – at a time when any record longer than three minutes simply didn’t get played on the radio. Things changed, all three could be played with almost two minutes left over in the time it took to play 1972’s mega hit American Pie.

9. Last week, we mentioned Keith Olbermann’s show moving to the 5 p.m. time slot on ESPN 2. This puts it in direct competition with Tony Reali’s Around the Horn on ESPN. Love Reali, but are we the only ones who don’t understand the premise of this show? And how will Reali’s departure from PTI change the chemistry on that show?

10. There are only two things wrong with MLB’s reviews of calls – they take too long and they still don’t get them right. Recent Mets game saw a call at second base missed so badly even the Mets announcers, whose team benefited from the play, were astounded.

IN CLOSING:

One can’t help of thinking of NFL legend Dandy Don Meredith’s oft sung refrain in conjunction with this Roger Goodell mess, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over”.

TOP OF THE WEEK – (As this issue “goes to press”, only eight weeks of annoying political ads remain.)

A recent article by conservative columnist George Will on campus sexual harassment created a fire storm until people actually read the article in full rather than the liberal excerpts. That aside, if you never read another thing by George Will, read his book Bunts. We could devote the entire week’s blog to this book but suffice to say, we guarantee no matter how long you have been a baseball fan, player, manager, umpire or whatever, you will learn something that you did not know about our national pastime. This is not a new book. We are sometimes slow getting around to really good books, but it is must reading for the baseball fan. One only hopes that Will, who crafted another fine book – Men at Work, will gift us with another one or two baseball books of this caliber.

Around the Bay –

1. Johnny, Johnny, such a potty mouth. Is that any way to the talk to “The People”?

2. Best wishes to Phillies CEO David Montgomery who has stepped aside temporarily while he battles cancer. Clearwater has few stronger boosters than Dave who was a joy to deal with when the city was in negotiations with the Phillies on a new spring training stadium - all the best Dave.

3. The Charlie Crist – Rothstein connection should be a lesson to all politicians – be careful who you pose with. There were a couple local post-election pictures that made you cringe and ask how could an aspiring office holder be photographed with a scumbag like that?

4. Do you think the real story of why Deputy Chief Sandra Wilson is leaving the Clearwater police department will ever come out? Wilson, a contender for the job that went to Dan Slaughter, left her post last Friday. Slaughter’s reign as chief is off to a rocky start with debate over where he lives (35 miles from Clearwater) and now the resignation of the force’s top female officer.

5. People in Florida always had a different answer to “where’s Waldo”? Floridian’s answer – it’s a speed trap on U.S. 301. Now police officers from the infamous Waldo admit they were given a quota of tickets to write each day. Boy, didn’t see that one coming!

The Diamond, the Media and Other Stuff –

6. Quote of the Week - no, Year: “We have not yet developed a strategy”. Do you think that would be the case if the presidential election had gone the other way in 2008? We can’t quite imagine John McCain ever saying, “We have not yet developed a strategy”.

7. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) says Burger King’s plan to move their headquarters to Canada will not affect their choice of burger places. In their pre-announcement poll comparing Burger King, Checkers and McDonalds, Burger King finished fourth behind stay at home. (Margin of error 50 per cent or so).

8. Speaking of food, add another reason not to attend Rays games (along with lousy stadium, lousy team and cow bells). Through no fault of their own, they are embroiled in the Centerplate fiasco. The vendor for their yummy ballpark food has one of their high ranking execs involved in an animal cruelty case that is leading to calls for boycotts of all Centerplate venues across the sports landscape.

9. Isn’t it great to wake up each morning and know you are not the CEO of Centerplate, or Burger King or Duke Power?

10. Last week’s “All Time Top Three” list of songs got us thinking about various decades of songs - like the eighties. Favorite songs of the eighties from your HB (humble blogger) would include an eclectic threesome of Jump by Van Halen; Kokomo by the Beach Boys and (damn, these are hard choices) Rita Coolidge’s All Time High edging out Don McLean’s Castles in the Air. And your hot eighties hits?

10.5 (this week only) Bubba the Love Sponge leaves 102.5 FM. For all but his cult followers, who cares?

IN CLOSING:

Several months back, we praised Keith Olbermann’s latest foray into cable television and suggested the show would be better served with a shorter format and a better time slot. Wish granted – Olbermann debuts Monday the 8^th at 5 p.m. on ESPN 2. This ends the frustration of folks with normal sleeping habits who would tape the show only to find out it had been pre-empted by some late running sports event. If you’ve not seen the new incarnation of Olbermann, it’s worth a look.