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.