Home

WEEK OF APRIL 20, 2025

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

First thing on our mind:

Prayers for Florida State University

Leading off: The one source story

A few weeks back, we read a story about Clearwater entrepreneur Neil Kiefer’s attempt to restore some of the original glory to the Hooters chain. Kiefer has successfully operated several Hooters both here in the bay area and in the Chicago market. His stores have consistently outperformed other franchised Hooters across the nation. The problem with the story is what is often the problem with many journalistic efforts – reliance on only one source. In this case, a “food expert” who offered up some negative thoughts which other “experts” disagree with. Sometimes it’s laziness on the part of the reporter and sometimes it’s a source with an axe to grind. We, the reader, are asked to rely on the veracity of the single source. And there is a great deal of peril in that.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

You gotta give it to Maine’s governor, Janet Mills. She sticks to her guns and her stupidity.

March numbers: eggs were up, but overall inflation was down.

Business news we hate to read: The sports radio station in South Carolina’s capital, Columbia, has gone dark. It’s another sad chapter in a once thriving industry.

Our friend TL reminds us it wasn’t all that long ago when people dressed up when they flew on an airplane.

Recent headline: “Climate change is keeping space junk in dangerous orbit.” No, willy-nilly firing stuff into space with dubious goals is what is keeping space junk in dangerous orbits.

Breaking international news from the 5:05 Newsletter: President Trump has agreed to France’s request to return the Statue of Liberty, asking only in return for all of the land in France that America liberated in World War II.

This week in 1970 (April 22), the first Earth Day is celebrated.

Sports, media and other notes:

Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was Elton John’s Philadelphia Freedom. Twenty years earlier, when we were all wearing coonskin hats, it was Bill Hayes’ The Ballad of Davy Crockett.

Sports Number of the Week: 19 – the drafting position of the Bucs in the upcoming draft.

We know this is very unlikely to happen, but what if either the Rays or A’s advance to the World Series? At least two or as many as four World Series games would be played in front of crowds less than 15,000.

Factoid: the lowest World Series attendance in history was 1908’s Game 5 between the Cubs and Tigers in Detroit – 6210 people.

Quote of the week from 66-year-old Terry Francona returning to the Reds’ dugout after a one day illness. “Just don’t say I’m 100 percent. I haven’t been 100 percent since 1988.”

While we focus on non-fiction books like Becoming Trader Joe (see TBRR 4/13/25), our Saintly Wife opts for fiction and says James Patterson’s latest, The Writer, is a must read.

One last thing: So, who are these people?

Our eclectic TBRR Focus Group began very shortly after TBRR’s founding 11 years ago. The original group was five. Two of those remain along with six additions. Sadly, one of the originals passed way, but her son, a retired law enforcement administrator, has filled in admirably. Two stepped away of their own accord and we filled their slots with a real live Clearwater native with a background in the medical field; another member also has close ties to the medical field and is the daughter of a retired pastor. One is a librarian who actually played Marian the Librarian in The Music Man as well as being our most youthful member. One of our original members is a retired educator/administrator. The other original comes from the broadcast profession and later got a real job as a business owner. What would a distinguished group be without an Eagle Scout? We have one of those, a lifelong employee of a large Florida corporation. And finally, you have got to keep all this legal, right? So we have one of the nicest attorneys you’ll ever know to keep us honest. They are a terrific and talented group of people who will be back in two weeks.