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.

Leading off: St. Pete exposed

You need to get away from the local spin doctors to get a real grip on the folly that is relocating the Rays’ new stadium across the street from the Trop. The attendance at the recent wild card playoffs was a national embarrassment. The national sports platform, The Athletic, perhaps put it best, “Their quixotic effort to turn St. Petersburg into a baseball town was exposed on national television as cameras panned over the half-empty stadium. Part of the vision for a new Rays’ stadium is a Battery-like experience that has been incredibly successful for the Atlanta Braves. The only problem (and a very large one) is south St. Pete is not Cobb County, Georgia.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Peel away all the fancy rhetoric and Israel is a nation that simply wants to be left alone. But, as many have learned, if you don’t, you pay the price.

Meanwhile, it is sickening to see the examples of anti-Semitism on campuses like George Washington, Harvard and, even more revolting by members of the U.S. House.

An AP poll says over two-thirds of Americans believe that Joe Biden did something either unethical or illegal in his involvement with his son’s business dealings. Shocking, absolutely shocking.

By month’s end, Target will close nine stores in California, New York, Oregon and Washington State. The reason for the closures: unsustainable shrinkage (as in thefts). Losses from theft are nearing two percent of sales.

Speaking of California, based on her opening remarks, “Senator Laphonza” should add a great deal of decorum to our Senate.

Okay, here’s our assignment for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, John Kerry, Chuck Schumer and Jerome Powell. Move to a town of 100,000 or less; operate a small business in that community for at least six months; then return to D.C. and report to the American public on your experience.

Politics 101 from the 5:05 Newsletter: The White House claims “80 is the new 40.” I don’t know about running for president, but that certainly explains Bidenomics.

This week in 1931 (Oct. 18), cue the Nelson Riddle theme music. Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison. He would serve seven.

Sports, media and other notes:

Fred Fisher, the driving force behind the Long Center and other local philanthropic endeavors passed away last month at the age of 92.

Our prayers are with Mary Lou Retton, the 16-year-old who captured our hearts at the Los Angeles Olympics. Retton, now 55, is battling a rare form of pneumonia.

Factoid: Nevada and Sam Houston are the only winless Division I football teams going into this weekend’s action.

It normally would be a month or two before we started paying attention to Duke. But, have you seen their football team?

Barry Melrose, who is stepping away from ESPN for health reasons, did the most to help know-nothings like us understand the game of hockey. He tried, he really tried.

Idle thought: Shouldn’t the World Series be over before we crank up the NHL and the never-ending NBA seasons?

We know that part of the 2023 World Series will be played in Texas and probably will continue so now that arguably the best manager in baseball (no, not Dusty Baker) resides there. Bruce Bochy wins wherever he goes.

Speaking of managers, now that he’s retired, reserve some wall space for a Terry Francona plaque at Cooperstown.

Flat out fact: the best green beans in the free world are served up at Cracker Barrel. We don’t think they’re all that healthy, but they sure are good.

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if one of your stops on the way home Friday nights was at Blockbusters.

…and another thing: Local music history

A few weeks back (TBR&R 9/23/23), we mentioned discovering The Impacs’ local hit Lost Love on iTunes. Another recent discovery is the Rockers’ terrific bay area hit Would I Still Be Loving You. On iTunes, they are identified as The Tides because when the record was released by nation-wide label Warrick Records, there was already a group known as the Rockers performing in another part of the country, so “The Tides” went on the label. The song went to number one on the local stations’ charts but mysteriously did not crack the Billboard Hot 100.

NEXT WEEK: Polaroid; The Airpark; Halloween Fifteen

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