A weekly airing of national and local politics, sports and lifestyle items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

(Editor’s Note I: Other than a casual reference below, this is not your source for coronavirus news. We are a weekly blog and, as we all know, this situation is changing hourly. The around the clock media has done a decent job in keeping us informed without, for the most part, politicizing this pandemic. Be well!)

Memo to newly elected Clearwater officials:

First congratulations, although in time you will probably realize, as one very recognizable council member once said: “the job is not all it’s cracked up to be.” Once you’ve learned where your seats and offices are, get on with the most important thing you can do for your city – stop trying to save downtown Clearwater! A couple of decades of your predecessors have tried and have been met with mixed results at best at the cost of many, many tax dollars. Just like the ill-fated Harborview Center, a 4000-seat amphitheater won’t turn around downtown Clearwater.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Good luck to newly-elected Mayor Frank Hibbard. He’s been saddled with a one-trick pony (anti-Scientology) council member along with another new member with some extremely radical and potentially very costly ideas. Neither new member received a majority of votes in their contest - unlike Hibbard. The Mayor does have a solid returning crew in David Allbritton and Hoyt Hamilton, but Hibbard could be presiding over the most dysfunctional city body since the mid-1990s.

2. Funny, we did not hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from “Florida’s Best Newspaper” when a Democratic-backed group tried to derail the election campaign of Clearwater Council member Hoyt Hamilton a couple years ago.

3. No refunds for the cancelled St. Pete Grand Prix? That’s going to play really, really well. It’s probably time for this event and its promotors to shuffle off to Sebring or some other destination.

4. Looking back on the Presidential race four years ago this week, Rev. Al Sharpton declared he would leave the country if Donald Trump were elected President. So where’s your country of residence Al?

5. Idle thought with thanks to a Facebook friend – One moment you’re 20 in the 70s, now you’re 70 in the 20s.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. We guess the Bucs agreement with Tom Brady would have created more excitement but for the world pandemic and the fact that other big name quarterbacks like Bridgewater, Newton, Rivers and, of course, Winston are also on the move.

7. Back when the 6:00 anchorman was like part of the family, Channel 8’s Arch Deal was a welcome guest in the living room each evening. The veteran anchor died tragically last week at age 88.

8. It reads well that “Rays pledge $1M to help Trop staff.” Truth is they had little choice with pressure being applied by MLB.

9. From a recent special edition of the 5:05 Newsletter - NFL News: The Buffalo Bills announced that they will allow Senorise Perry to be the first player in 42 years to wear OJ Simpson's old number. That number is 1027820.

10. Born 100 years ago this week was character actor Werner Klemperer best known as the bumbling Colonel Klink on Hogan’s Heroes, but his acting career included Broadway roles, opera and even a cameo on The Simpsons. Although a native of Germany, Klemperer served in the U.S. Army in World War II’s Pacific Theater.

Another set of six, yes they’ve won but….

(Editor’s Note II: we’re holding off on this week’s scheduled Achmed Walled’s (pronounced wall-ED) predictions until MLB gears up to start their season – optimistically sometime in late May. My, that seems like a long time!)

Three weeks ago, we profiled the six teams including our boys in the Trop who have never won a World Series. This week, we feature the half dozen teams that have won a World Series but have since suffered a drought of decades. The Indians have the longest dry spell – 72 years although they came oh so close in ’97. Others who haven’t seen a championship for a while – the Pirates (1979’s We Are Family team); the Orioles (1983); the Tigers (1984); the Mets in 1986 and, most surprising, the Dodgers who last won the big one 32 years ago although they are the co-favorites with the Yankees to win the 2020 World Series.

NEXT UP: The team that put Clearwater on the map; Stones; Virus Rant

032220/68