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.

Tampa back in the hunt for the Rays?

With all this Montreal talk from the summer, some folks on both sides of the bay took their heads out of the sand and apparently decided maybe we need to do something about 2027 – the year the Rays’ lease at the Trop is over. It appears that St. Pete my yield and give Tampa another shot at finding a home for the Rays. A Tampa venue might help the Rays attendance a smidgen – but not more. If you think Tampa residents wouldn’t cross the bridge to the Trop, wait until you see how few Pinellas residents will head east for a game. One thing about the Trop is the traffic situation is navigable – Tampa not nearly as good no matter where you put a stadium – particularly anywhere near downtown. Pinellas residents avoid Tampa traffic like the plague so the uptick in attendance will be minimal. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. This coming weekend marks Clearwater’s annual signature event – Jazz Holiday at Coachman Park. It has grown into more of a pop event with headliners like Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears, but it remains the year’s premier happening – now in its 40^th year.

2. And you wonder why Hillsborough County schools are such a mess? At a meeting earlier this month, their school board spent a vast amount of time micromanaging the design of a flyer advertising their Superintendent position. Priorities people!

3. Breaking news – ATM rates in Florida are some of the highest in the country. Not so breaking news – millions of Americans somehow manage to get along without these devices and smile all the way to the bank.  

4. In Nevada, that cultural centerpiece of America, they have now replaced wine tastings with marijuana tastings. Look how far our great nation has come.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Hood’s Dairy in Dunedin. The Hood family sold out to Pet Milk in the early 70s.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. Florida 24 Auburn 13 – Gator head coach Dan Mullen’s biggest win to date? Probably.

7. The yawning you hear is over the China-NBA tempest in a teapot.

8. The Cardinals now own one of the most colossal collapses in post season history after laying 13 runs on the Braves in the NLDS Game 5; they proceed to get one run on four hits in the first two games of the NLCS – brutal.

9. Game Four of the Rays-Houston matchup proved yet again the folly of starting a pitcher on short rest in the postseason. Every manager and every star pitcher thinks they can buck the trend but history has proven going with a pitcher on short rest is foolishness – even if it’s Justin Verlander.

10. Other idle thoughts from the first round of playoffs – teams should be allowed to have their own broadcast teams do playoffs in their home market; along that same line, why do Natiional League fans have to endure Ron Darling every year? And why can’t one of Tampa Bay’s four dozen or so radio stations carry the postseason games? At last, the Nationals get a manager who can get them beyond the first round of the playoffs – Davy Martinez. It could have been the Rays.

“The granddaddy of all crime shows”

Sixty years ago this week, a TV classic, The Untouchables aired its first episode. Over four years, it would blaze a trail for future crime shows. Its relatively short run was occasioned by an outcry over the violence (for that time) in the show and protests from Italian groups. The last year of programs was a watered down version of the first three because of the violence complaints. Its cast was eclectic with an Italian, Robert Stack, as Eliot Ness, of Norwegian ancestry; Jewish character actor Bruce Gordon as Italian Frank Nitti, Ness’ chief protagonist. Then there was Mexican actor Abel Fernandez playing a Native American member of Ness’ squad; Italian Paul Picerni as a Boston-raised Untouchable, Lee Hobson; Steve London, who later earned a law degree, as agent Jack Rossman and the only surviving member of the cast, Nick Georgiade, a Greek, playing Italian G-Man Enrico Rossi. Add in the staccato narration by Walter Winchell and Nelson Riddle’s dramatic themes and you had arguably the best cop show in television history.     

UP NEXT: Presidents as BFF; Media finally wakes up; Old is new on 2020 models

101319