A weekly look at the Tampa Bay area and national politics from a conservative viewpoint – plus a helping of sports and lifestyle items. Warning: not everything printed here should be taken at face value.

The best person for the job

Recently, much was made of the fact that election results in Tampa will yield an all-male city council for the first time in over a decade. So what? It’s quite likely that the most qualified person for each seat was a male. No doubt, there will be some sort of backlash in the next election cycle. But we need to focus on who is best for the job, not some sort of politically correct quota system. It is extremely likely that next month the Tampa electorate will select a gay woman to be their mayor. Again, so what? She is the most qualified for the job and that, and only that, should be the determining factor in that race – and every race for elected office.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. USF’s next president will be Steven Currall from SMU. While we wish him well, we, and others, are left with the feeling that our alma mater should have been able to attract better candidates than the four finalists for the job.

2. Anybody out there want to be mayor of Port Richey?

3. At “press time”, the Democratic Party had 13 declared candidates for President. That’s one for each stripe on the U.S. Flag – how patriotic. It could well be one for each star on Old Glory before all is said and done.

4. What she did was dead wrong, but you have to admire the moxie of Kathryn Socash of Clearwater who, after waiting two hours to get out of a parking garage after a Rowdies game, took matters into her own hands and busted down an unmanned gate to allow fellow drivers some relief from an unconscionable wait.

5. Sometime in the future in a blog similar to this, there will be a posting: “you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever shopped in an indoor mall”. Tampa’s University Mall is the latest mall to either be torn down or “repurposed.”

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. To no one’s surprise, Pardon the Interruption’s Michael Wilbon whines about three teams from the powerhouse ACC getting #1 seeds in the dance while his beloved Big 10 gets none. Call us when your Big Ten guys play Duke, North Carolina and Virginia two times a piece each year.

7. Trent Thornton, a 25-year-old kid struggling to make the Blue Jays, accidently hits the Phils’ Bryce Harper and begins receiving death threats. Any baseball fan with a brain knows (1) if you want to hit a guy you don’t aim for the foot (2) you don’t hit a guy when you’re struggling to make a ball club. But we’re talking Phillies fans here.

8. Did Blake Snell leave some money on the table? Probably so – surprising since he seemed bitter about the Rays’ puny raise before the sudden extension.

9. As baseball season begins, five of our favorite baseball nicknames: Elijah “Pumpsie” Green, Harry “Suitcase” Simpson, Tony “Push ‘em up” Lazzeri, Bill “Spaceman” Lee and Mark “Dirt” Lemke aka “The Lemmer”.

10. This week, we examine the greatest baseball players to wear #2 (back story in 3/10/19 TBRR) - Despite two solid second basemen, Nellie Fox and Red Schoendienst, the competition narrows to Tiger great Charlie Gehringer and Yankee icon Derek Jeter. These were two outstanding players. Jeter was a rookie of the year, 14-time All Star and had a lifetime .310 batting average. Gehringer hit .320 lifetime, was an MVP and a 6-time All Star – the hitch here is that there were no All Star selections during the first nine years of his career. When established in 1933, Gehringer was a selection for six straight years. And for what it’s worth, there was no rookie of the year award in Gehringer’s era. The Tiger second baseman gets the nod over Jeter.

Just in time for Opening Day, Achmed’s surefire picks:

He hit 8 for 10 in predicting playoff teams last year and our baseball expert and former valet to wrestling legend Pedro Godoy, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) looks to improve on that .800 winning percentage. Teams in the NL that should not book vacations in October include the Nats in the East, Brewers in the Central and the Dodgers in the West. Best bets for wild cards are the Cardinals and Rockies. But keep an eye on the Mets if they can remain injury free. Biggest disappointment in the NL will be the division champ Braves’ fourth place finish after their front office fiddled while Atlanta burned during the offseason. In the junior circuit, despite their 2-0 start, Achmed has finally given up on the Mariners who have spoiled what could have been a perfect record three years in a row. This year, he goes for the well-armed Yankees in East. In the Win by Default (Central) Division, he’s got the Injuns. Out west, it’s hard for our mysterious prognosticator to pick against the Astros. For the wild cards, Achmed likes Oakland and, hold on to your hats, the artists formally known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He ignores an obvious post season pick in the Red Sox because he doesn’t like their bullpen – or anything else about Boston – and he never has. On to October!

Next up: Mr. Baseball; another Harborview? Circularity

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