Established in 2014, Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of local and national politics, sports, lifestyles and Tampa Bay memories from a politically incorrect viewpoint.

Leading off: We never thought it would last

Ten years ago this month (3/9/14) we scribbled out ten thoughts along with some longer opening and closing remarks and called it Tampa Bay Rants & Raves. Incredibly, some 2500 people have read that initial drivel inspired by a growing displeasure with the lack of a conservative voice in our local media – kind of a very poor man’s Fox News or Daily Signal. The real impetus was the chutzpah of Hillsborough resident Alex Sink thinking she needed to ride in on her horse with carpetbags attached to save little Pinellas from itself by running for the District 13 congressional seat. Fortunately, Pinellas voters said something to the effect about the horse she rode in on. One thing led to another and here we are ten years later, still having fun doing this. So, thanks for playing along and, for many, contributing thoughts. Hope we’re here in another ten years – you too!

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Next week (March 19), the city of Clearwater elects a majority of its city council. We re-emphasize our recommendations of Bruce Rector for mayor and Ryan Cotton and Mike Mannino for the council seats. We also recommend a NO vote on moving the dates of future elections along with rejecting expensive runoff elections.

Jena Griswold is not a name that will go down in history – or maybe it will. It’s not often that a government functionary’s decision is swatted down by a 9-0 SCOTUS decision like that of the Colorado Secretary of State.

Using the great Jack Harris’ scrambled syntax; two don’t fail to miss events from last week – Biden’s State of the Union and the Oscars. Well, we did watch a bit of Biden until we became dizzy watching the pop up toy over his right shoulder jumping up every thirty seconds or so.

But we did learn, with apologies to Woodrow Wilson’s Vice-President Thomas Marshall, that what our country really needs is a fuller bag of chips.

From the 5:05 Newsletter: Apparently Hollywood has decided to combat online piracy by making movies so bad that nobody wants to watch them, even for free.

Debit cards, apps, smart phones and twitter – four things we’ve been able to do without while navigating almost eight decades.

To help out with shopping cart clutter, let’s post tall polls with blinking red lights in parking lots so confused shoppers can find the cart return aisles.

This week in 2013 (March 13): Argentinean Jorge Mario Bergoglio is installed as Pope Francis, the 266^th pope of the Catholic Church. 

Sports, media and other notes:

Some people just define their area of endeavor. Such was the case of NFL analyst Chris Mortensen, who died last week at age 72. There were few, if any, better.

Footsteps, Walking Proud and Go Away Little Girl were just a few of the hits of Steve Lawrence’s career. Lawrence, who partnered with the equally talented Eydie Gorme, died last week at age 88.

Forty years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, congratulations to Mark Bradley, who, along with the great Tom McEwen, has made sports fun and thought provoking over the years.

The Russell Wilson era is over in Denver, but the legacy of possibly the worst trade and signing in NFL history will haunt the Broncos for years.

Whatever happened to Kinko’s? The name went away in 2008 shortly after Federal Express absorbed all their stores.

…one last thing: MLB predictions – the NL

There’s nothing like the National Pastime beginning its season with a two-game set in Seoul, South Korea instead of Cincinnati as was the custom for decades. That being said, we move to our 2024 MLB predictions starting in the National League and the most fascinating division for 2024 – the Central where, truly, any one of four teams could win. We apologize to our home of birth for not including the Pirates. The other four teams all could win despite obvious flaws in each. We pick the Cubs in a tight race with the Brewers and Cards. Cincy has better bats than any of them, but no pitching, which still wins. You would be foolish to pick anybody but the Dodgers in the West – the best team money can buy. In the East, despite their early exits in the last two postseasons, the Braves are probably still the best overall team in baseball. For wild cards, the top of the list is Philadelphia followed by the Diamondbacks and, in a photo finish, the Cards. And the dark horse team to keep an eye on – the Reds, if they get some pitching.

NEXT WEEK: Olde Schoolhouse; AL predictions; Miss Me Yet?

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