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

Cooler heads prevail in Clearwater Gas debate

For the benefit of all Clearwater residents and numerous customers outside the city, the Clearwater Gas Company is going to remain just that – the Clearwater Gas Company – an enterprise fund that spins off over $3 million annually to the city. The company, under the direction of Chuck Warrington for nearly three decades, will survive a new city manager, nitpicks about some of its charity giving and a political energy agenda that has given us $5.00 a gallon gas prices. Warrington is, sadly, leaving the company after an incredibly successful career leaving a leadership vacuum begging to be filled. He deserves our city’s thanks for growing our coffers each year and providing 90 well-paying jobs for city employees that would have been swept away under an ill-conceived plan to sell the utility.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Financial comment from the 5:05 Newsletter: I can't figure out why banks are doing so well when drinking beer and saving the cans gives you a higher yield than certificates of deposit.

After two years, two Tampa restaurants and gathering spots have reopened following their destruction by fire. We doubt the owners of Saigon Bay and Jai Ho Royale Indian Cuisine would agree with the local paper’s description of what robbed them of two years of their livelihood as “unrest.”

It seems with slightly less than two percent of the Tampa Bay population utilizing the Cross Bay Ferry; Pinellas County is on firm footing calling for a renegotiation of the subsidy to the ferry service.

A Rave to The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration for putting forth guidelines that prohibit our tax dollars being used for obvious elective procedures such as hormone therapy for transgenders and counseling for “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity” while real health issues are stretching Medicaid resources to the max.

Former Clearwater Sun sports writer and later a Georgia weekly publisher, Tom Manter passed away in late May. Tom, a CHS graduate with a great sense of humor, was 75.

This week in 1903 (June 16) two iconic American corporations are formed on the same day – Ford and Pepsi Cola.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Week One of the new LIV golf tour is in the books. With all that Saudi money behind it, you have to wonder if the PGA will eventually become its minor league. Stay tuned.

Idle thought: what if the pioneering architects of baseball created a rule that hitters had to bat alphabetically. You’d have lead-off hitters like Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra. Batting at the bottom of the order would have been Carl Yastrzemski, Dave Winfield and Billy and Ted Williams.

Number of the week: 14. That’s the number of baseball teams that have made playoffs after changing managers during the season over the past 50+ years. That’s 14 out of 174 – good luck Phillies.

Lately, it seems that managerial resumes don’t matter so much to teams anymore. First Joe Girardi and then former Rays’ manager Joe Madden whose Angels just endured a 12-game losing streak. Both managers have World Series trophies on their mantles.

A Rave to Channel 8 weather guy Eric Stone who is the reigning pinball champion of the world! Your humble blogger and oldest friend have college degrees that proclaim Mass Communications and Business Administration, but the truth is, we majored in pinball during our college years – just never achieved the level of Mr. Stone.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when every major corner was occupied by at least two gas stations. Nowadays, it seems the service stations on those corners have been replaced by drug stores.

A shout out to Perry Costello

A Large Rave to college baseball umpire Perry Costello, who gently but firmly told East Carolina University player Bryson Worrell to stop admiring his home run at home plate and to get the hell around the bases. We might understand stopping to admire the shot if it were a game winner, but it made a 10-2 game a 13-2 game. A lot of fans, most of us old, have grown tired of watching hitters from T-ball to the majors putting on a drama class whenever they do anything even marginally well on the ballfield. We long for the days of pitchers Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson or Early Wynn (all Hall of Famers) who would have rewarded such a display with a fastball in the ribs next time up. For goodness sakes folks, act like you’ve been there before.

UP NEXT: Summer Playlist; Hillsborough boondoggle; Father’s Day

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