We open with this week’s dining suggestion (see Jan.1 RANTS for back story). Lent begins this week and for our Catholic readers, a couple of Ash Wednesday and Lenten Fridays quick pick-up suggestions – the venerable Filet-O-Fish at McDonalds and the terrific tuna subs from Subway.

Mixed feelings over Channel 16 going dark

It was announced recently that the University of South Florida will be selling off WUSF-TV for slightly south of $20 million dollars. We are sad to see our alma mater sell their flagship media outlet, having uttered our first words on television on that facility nearly fifty years ago. It was black and white then. On the other hand, it has never made much sense to have two PBS outlets in the market and Channel 16 has always played second fiddle to its older cousin WEDU-TV Channel 3 and has been a losing financial proposition. Sad as it is to see Channel 16 go away, it makes just too much sense for the university.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

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

2. Mr. President, you’re doing a good job; now if you could just throttle down the rhetoric a bit.

3. We often lament the death of objective journalism but there are still a few guys and gals around who can write a piece without an ax to grind. One of these pros is the Times’ Tom Tobin who authors most of their Scientology coverage. Even the cult members would have to admit that Tobin presents a balanced report. There should be more like this veteran reporter.

4. Hope you didn’t need anything from Clearwater’s main library last week. For three days, its parking was taken up by some music concert – yet another reason it should have never been built on the bluff. Then on Monday came one of about three dozen “holidays” that close our libraries every year. And, for whatever reason, Tuesday afternoon parking at the facility was also non-existent.

5. We noted recently that Publix is scaling back on the “free slices” at the deli when you order some custom cuts of deli meats or chesses. Good for them; it will speed up the process and while they’re at it, perhaps scale back on their demonstration areas. Too many shoppers treat them like a free buffet while clogging up the aisles for the folks who just want to get their groceries and get out.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The long running Fox News show was Hannity and Colmes – a give and take between Sean Hannity on the right and a much too nice Alan Colmes on the left. Colmes, a liberal even the staunchest conservative admired, passed away last week at age 66.

7. With spring training underway, this factoid – the five winningest teams in this century are the Yankees (no surprise there), the Red Sox, Cards, Braves and the Angels (bit of a surprise there). Just missing the cut – the Athletics.

8. An adjunct to the item above. Surprisingly, the team with the fewest wins in the 21^st century is the Kansas City Royals who have a World Championship and a near miss in just the last few years (the Ned Yost era).

9. This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of the early icons of both pop music and television, Dinah Shore, born March 1, 1917. See the USA in a Chevrolet.

10. Related to our lead article, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when WTOG, Channel 44 tried to swap its UHF channel for WEDU’s Channel 3. The FCC swatted that down. Now in the age of cable and streaming, it would make no difference.

MLB expansion or relocation, the next market will be…

The next city that will get a MLB baseball team is not necessarily the best spot for a team but the one that baseball seems hell-bent to accommodate - Montreal. Of all the cities being tossed around, Montreal is probably the second worst - next only to Mexico City – insert any Trump Wall joke here. But major league baseball seems to forgive and forget. Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle and Washington (twice) are just four cities where baseball first failed that were given a second chance. There is tremendous pressure (particularly in the media) to put a second team in Canada. If we were betting people, the odds would favor one of the Florida teams landing there. If so, to succeed the team needs to go into the American League setting up a natural rivalry with the Blue Jays. As we've said before, the best city without a team is San Antonio however unless there is a two team expansion, our money would be on Montreal - for all the wrong reasons.

WE CONCLUDE THIS WEEK WITH TWO OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: “PLAY BALL”