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

Political over-correctness: here we go again

Watch out Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City and San Francisco, your team’s nickname, some of which go back more than a century, are next on the chopping block. The Cleveland Indians recently bowed to political correctness and will be changing their name some time in 2021. As we’ve pointed out before, Cleveland has always been one of the more progressive franchises in any sport – hiring the first Black manager, employing the American League’s first Black player and being the leader in first bringing Latin American players to the majors. Their 106-year-old name in no way reflects any racism of this model franchise. The Braves of Atlanta have a partnership with the Cherokee nation that aids schools and literacy. But facts be damned, the Braves, the Blackhawks, Chiefs and Warriors will be feeling the pressure to “fall in line”. Somewhere among those four franchises is an ownership that will properly say “no, this is ridiculous”. That ownership will gain the admiration of sports fans across the nation. These entities play games and entertain us – lighten up!

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Biden manages to buy two Senate seats in Georgia with his offer of another $1400 if Democrats are elected. Now, a test of his historically shaky integrity; will he deliver on his promise?

2. The 5:05 Newsletter strikes early in 2021 with this: Biden News - President-Elect Biden got his Covid19 vaccine shot. Not to be outdone, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got rabies and distemper shots. In other "Biden News" the president elect traveled to Philadelphia this week where he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Voter.

3. Yes, we qualify for an early coronavirus vaccine shot, but get back to us when our nursing home patients, first responders and school teachers have gotten theirs.

4. A not too wild a guess that the five most disliked people in America, in no particular order, are Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell.

5. A week of loses: we bought our first new car from Dwayne Hawkins’ Crown Pontiac 49 years ago because his employees said such great things about him and his dealership was much more customer friendly than the other Pinellas County Pontiac dealership. Mr. Hawkins, who was the patriarch of the Crown dealerships, died last week at age 85. Bernie McCabe was a no-nonsense prosecutor who served our area well for nearly thirty years, but he also had a wicked sense of humor as we witnessed years ago at a roast for one of his key staff members. McCabe died last week at age 73. Both will be missed by our community. Finally, the man who bled Dodger Blue, Tommy Lasorda passed away last week at age 93. The former skipper had been part of the Dodger organization for 71 years.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Wanting to get away from the news and hysteria of last week, we dialed up a sports commentary show we watch very occasionally. Lead story – not the NFL playoffs, not that day’s blockbuster baseball trade or the pending hockey season, but a commentary of the events at the Capitol by two people, frankly unqualified to comment. Guys, if you want to be political commentators, forward your resumes to CNBC.

7. When incoming college athletes accept a scholarship, that scholarship should specifically state the athlete will play all team games and not skip bowl games to prep for their anticipated NFL career.

8. Answer: Pabst. Question: who was the first beer company to sell six-packs of beer? The first Pabst six-pack appeared in 1949 – 105 years after the company was founded. But the first company to introduce the six-pack concept was Coca Cola in 1923.

9. Number of the week - $7000. The price this year for the seven swans a swimming in The Twelve Days of Christmas.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you still refer to the intersection of Cleveland and MLK as “Five Points.”

Our early All Star ballot

Major league baseball will announce the new Hall of Fame class soon. We thought we would help them out with our four picks – all holdovers although we think in future years, some of the new candidates, particularly five-time All Star Mark Buerhrle or four-time All Star Tim Hudson may have a shot. We give you a clutch starting pitcher (Curt Schilling) who should already be there; an 11-time Gold Glover shortstop (Omar Vizquel) whose fielding numbers are right there with Ozzie Smith and with a batting average ten points higher over his career; a wipe out closer (Billy Wagner) who may be the best left handed relief pitcher in history; and a man with one of the sweetest swings in the last fifty years (Todd Helton). Much is made about half his games being played in hitter friendly Coors Field, but compare his away numbers to Hall of Famers like Chipper Jones or Edgar Martinez and you will find a marked similarity.

NEXT UP: Energy needs; Pardon me; Government run amok

In conclusion, we’d like to cancel our subscription to 2021.We’ve experienced the free 7-day trial and we’re not interested.

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