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

First thing on our mind:

This week, we baby boomers focus on our fathers and fathers-in-law. They truly were The Greatest Generation.

Leading off: He created our endless summers

One of the hardest things in the world is to name your favorite Beach Boys song or even your five favorite Beach Boys songs. It’s all because of the genius of Brian Wilson, who died last week at 83. Influenced by folks like Chuck Berry, Phil Spector and the harmonies of the Four Freshmen, Brian created endless summers for the boomer generation. An extreme introvert, he stopped touring with the group after a few years, content to stay home in California creating the next bit of magic for his brothers and cousin who made up the Beach Boys. Today, packed houses across the country show their sound endures even into the 21^st century. Okay, here goes, our top five Beach Boy Songs, Don’t Worry Baby, California Girls, Kokomo, Fun, Fun, Fun and the closing song to American Graffiti All Summer Long. Add in a non-Beach Boys song that was given to Jan & Dean by Brian, the 1963 summer anthem, Surf City. Thank you Brian, thank you.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

If only a third of the nations in the world had the backbone of the Israelis.

A weekend of protests labeled “no kings.” These are aimed at the man who runs our country. This is unlike the previous four years when we weren’t quite sure who, if anyone was running our nation.

We mentioned this a time or two before. The Next Up teaser at the bottom sometimes changes over the week between editions – mainly due to timeliness. A promised piece on the troubled EPA will appear a few weeks down the road.

Idle question: why is Newsmax, a top conservative news outlet, buried at channel 1217 on Spectrum?

Number of the Week – 167 million: That’s the number of daily mail destinations in the U.S. as the postal service faces significant changes.

Factoid: the largest industry in Montana is real estate. Who knew?

And our friend TL tells us the largest dollar amount of exports from Florida is aircraft parts, not citrus.

Health news from the 5:05 Newsletter: In the last five years, 114 people died in accidents while at the gym. In the same five years, only one man died while eating a donut. Life is about the choices you make.

This week in 1840 (6/20) Samuel Morse invents the telegraph which remained in general use until the 1990s.

Sports, media and other notes:

For the remainder of the season, our Rays have more away games than any other team in baseball.

Congratulations to Harry Gant who will enter NASCAR’s Hall of Fame next year. Gant still holds the record as the oldest driver (52) to win a race at NASCAR’s top level. Old guys rule!

You have to wonder about the Steelers’ quarterback decisions over the past couple years.

Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was the nation’s top selling single of 1975, Love Will Keep Us Together by the Captain and Tennille. Ten years earlier the top spot was held by The Four Tops with I Can’t Help Myself.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the burger chain that was founded here – Biff Burger. The last Biff Burger closed about five years ago.

One last thing: Delivery overload

We pine for the days when everything was on cable. You paid your $29.95 (remember those days?) and watched your favorite sitcom, drama or sporting events. Now there is, to quote AJC columnist Tyler Estep, FanDuel Sports app. And AppleTV. And Amazon Prime. And Netflix and YouTube TV and Peacock. And that’s just for sports! Estep goes on to say, “I’m tired of remembering usernames and pass codes, man. And tired of solving ancient Sumerian riddles to watch a game. Is it on a local channel? Or nationally, on some weird app? Or maybe nationally for most people, but another app for in-market folks? Sike! It’s on a secret fourth thing you didn’t even know existed. And you’ll need to create an account.” To quote some ancient 60s song, a revolution is coming when cord cutters as well as cable hangers on say “off with their heads” and demand a less frustrating method of watching our favorites.

UP NEXT: Threatening athletes; The Slate; Sports Illustrated

Happy Father’s Day!

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