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.

First thing on our mind:

We begin the baseball season very nervous, as the village sports idiot has picked our favorite team to win it all.

Leading off: Extremely bad optics

Last week, President Donald Trump was invited to the wake for slain New York City Police Officer Jonathon Diller, making a brief statement afterward, saying that the disrespect for law enforcement has got to stop. Across town, Joe Biden hosts Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and a bunch of woke Hollywood types at a 25 million dollar fund raiser. This encapsulates where the priorities of the two presidential candidates lie.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

We covered Clearwater’s election results last week (TBRR 3/24/24), but the result of the vote is a stronger and, we hope, more unified city council moving forward.

Back in January (TBRR 1/28/24) he highlighted the book Going Infinite. Last week, the centerpiece of that book, a Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for misdeeds as the head of crypto company FTX. Many observers consider the sentence to be light.

Breaking Russian election news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Russian President Vladimir Putin won a 6^th term as president of Russia. Results show 88% voted for Putin, 10% voted for Putin twice, and 2% fell out of windows.

Answer: Toyota Corolla. The question: what is the largest selling auto of all time with over 60 million units sold?

Parts of the country are getting ready for next week’s solar eclipse. While Florida is not really affected, northern and southwestern states are shutting down schools and bracing for a spring break on steroids as folks flock to their communities to experience the full effect.

Stew Turley who led Eckerd Drugs for over thirty years passed away last month at age 89. Eckerd Drug, under Stew’s leadership, was a company that truly cared for its employees and its community.

This week in 1955 (April 1) WTVT, Channel 13 signs on and takes the CBS network from Channel 38. In 1994, it affiliated with the FOX network. It remains the most viewed news outlet in the bay area.

Sports, media and other notes:

Factoid: At least 17 teams opted out of the NIT including FSU. The NIT preceded the NCAA tournament by a year and, until the mid-fifties, was considered the more prestigious tourney.

Idle NCAA thought: DJ Burns, the 6-9, 275 pound behemoth from NC State reminds us of Gene, Gene, the dancing machine from the old Gong Show.

Number of the week: 54 years – that’s the number of years the beloved Bob Uecker has been behind the mike for Milwaukee Brewers. The 90-year-old legend limits himself to home radio duties nowadays.

Which team sport has the greatest diversity of winners over the past twenty years? It’s baseball with 16 different championship winners compared to 13 each in the NFL and NHL and 11 in the NBA.

Born 100 years ago this week (April 3) was Marlon Brando who received eight Academy Award nominations, winning for On the Waterfront and The Godfather.

Related to this week’s historical note, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember Channel 13 stalwarts, Roy Leep, Andy Hardy, John Wilson, Kelly Ring and the unforgettable Salty Sol Fleischman.

It’s Easter weekend and we fondly recall the Easter service final blessing of our long time pastor, Father Jacob Monteleone, to a packed house several Easters back, “Let’s do this again next weekend!”

…one last thing:Mount Rushmore II

Our Spring challenge to our TBRR Focus Group is to construct Mount Rushmore II – populating it with some of the 42 Presidents who don’t grace the original South Dakota landmark. Their replies follow:

One of our original Focus Group members opts for Presidents of their lifetime – save one, choosing FDR, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower and George W. Bush.

Our lone Dunedin member followed suit, naming three Presidents from her lifetime, JFK, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama along with FDR.

Another charter member split his ballot with two Presidents before his lifetime in Andrew Jackson and FDR along with contemporary Presidents Harry S. Truman and Ronald Reagan.

The one constant in our Focus Group’s replies is FDR, also mentioned by our northern most member, along with Ulysses S. Grant, another retired general, Dwight Eisenhower, and a popular choice among our contributors, Ronald Reagan.

Another long time member of our focus group also cast a ballot for FDR, along with our second president, John Adams, Ronald Reagan and a tie vote between Ike and JFK.

Our westernmost member gently sidesteps our revisionist activity and says she is plenty happy with the founding fathers we have already enshrined. Plus, she was busy being the center of attention in a New Orleans wedding this month!

Significantly, none of our Focus Group members mentioned either of our two most recent Presidents.

UP NEXT: Hammerin’ Hank; Changes at UT; Remembering NPR

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Happy Easter!