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.