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.

Post primary thoughts

Florida’s primary election is in the books with few surprises. Charlie Crist’s margin of victory (60-35%) might be surprising. Frankly, we thought local guy Kevin Hayslett might have done better in the GOP US House District 13 against Anna Luna (if indeed, that is her real last name) who comes to us via California and Utah with a somewhat sketchy background. Hayslett may have jumped into the race a bit too late. Hope we’ll hear from him again. The school board races in Pinellas still leave us with a rather weak board despite one or two upgrades. Statewide, it appears Florida will again have an agriculture commissioner who actually works in agriculture as Nikki Fried goes back to shilling for marijuana interests, her political career pretty much done. We get a brief respite (as will you on these pages) before we are assaulted with nasty DeSantis-Crist and Rubio-Demings ads, not to mention local races.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

We remember a similar drama several years back where BayCare and United Healthcare got into a spitting contest (this time it is Blue Cross). This is where people’s health is being jeopardized by greed; a regulatory agency needs to step in and protect folks who count on their medical insurance plans.

The print media continues to blame their woes on everybody but themselves. Their latest outcry is against “big tech” that is winning the lion’s share of the advertising buck. The truth of the matter is print is a dying medium coupled with the fact that most major dailies lack the public’s trust.

Related note: after reading The Times run up to last Tuesday’s primary, we wonder if anyone on their staff is capable of writing a factual news story without a bunch of innuendo and half-truths. Sadly, no.

Three 20^th Century U.S. Presidents we would have loved to had lunch with: Ronald Reagan, FDR and Harry Truman.

Put a COVID mask on him and a pair of those aviator sunglasses and our friend TL looks amazingly like Joe Biden – just without the cognitive issues.

From the 5:05 Newsletter: The economy is so bad in Los Angeles that parents in Beverly Hills have had to fire their nannies and learn their children's names.

This week in 1905(August 30) Rookie centerfielder Ty Cobb makes his major league debut for the Detroit Tigers. He would be one of the first five players inducted into the Hall of Fame 31 years later.

Sports, media and other stuff:

My fellow Braves fan, Gary, and I are wondering why Marcell Ozuna is still wearing a Braves uniform.

Baseball factoid: Twenty five years ago, seven position players pitched in blowout games. This year, it’s 75 and counting. As retired pitching guru Leo Mazzone says that’s cheating the fan who pays big bucks to see baseball’s best.

Last week, Pittsburgh Pirates rookie shortstop Oneil Cruz hit a ball that traveled a record 122.4 miles per hour. The only other place you’ll find anything that fast is NASCAR.

Public Service Announcement: The New Balance 608 sneaker which may be one of the most popular styles in the world (at least for old people according to our daughter) is suddenly in short supply everywhere. But our son managed to track down a pair for his Mom at Bealls – and on sale to boot!

Idle thought: there are few more enjoyable things in the world than a morning coffee klatch or intimate breakfast group.

Factoid: Nat King Cole, Roy Clark and Burl Ives all were singers, but they also were Freemasons, the secretive group whose membership in the last sixty years has dwindled from over four million to just fewer than 900,000.

MLB’s home stretch

The baseball playoff races are all but decided. Each league now gets six spots. In the National League, there are only seven teams with a realistic chance to qualify, so only one team will be left behind, most likely the second place team in the Central Division or the third place team in the East – either the Brewers or Phils as it stands now. In the American League, there is hope for nine teams with three staying at home. This last month is going to fun with the nine AL teams all within three games of the playoffs. Right now, it’s pretty sure the Yanks and Astros will get first round byes in the new playoff system with the Dodgers and either the Braves or Mets getting the first round off in the National League. Stay tuned.

NEXT UP: Pick six; Midterm talking point; New phone app

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