Bicycles – one set of laws should fit all

Recently there was quite a stir about persons of color being targeted for bicycle violations. That is as wrong as wrong can be. And it brings up another facet of bicycle law – if bikes are going to share the road with automobiles, they need to share the same responsibility as motorists i.e. stopping at stop signs, respecting yield signs and obeying red lights. Conversely to the targeting in low income areas, it seems the more expensive the bike, the more entitled bikers seem to be in regards to completely ignoring rules that others who share the road must obey. It’s long overdue for a task force throughout the bay area to crack down on bicyclists of all economic strata who consistently disobey the rules of the road.

Around the bay:

1. As you might imagine, the major league team that is the biggest draw on the road is the New York Yankees, yet the May 12^th Rays game against the Bronx Bombers drew just over 10,000 fans – 9,000 less than the next lowest attended game of that night in Cincinnati. Not good.

2. Does anything define sleaze better than the circus involving the lawyers who worked both sides of the Bubba – Todd Schnitt lawsuit?

3. The deal for Charter Communications to buy local cable provider Bright House Networks is apparently dead. Most cable experts say that is not necessarily bad news for bay area viewers.

4. Seems so long ago that the 1100 building was home to several law firms, the executive offices of a radio station and numerous social service agencies. Now, the kindest thing that could be done is to tear it down.

5. You’ve lived in the Tampa Bay area for quite a while if you remember when Gayle Sierens was a rookie sportscaster on Channel 8. Gayle concludes her distinguished career this week.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Mark Fydrich, Doc Gooden and Herb Score - there are three pitchers you would have loved to see have a full career to see just how good they would have been.

7. A lot of shuffling in the athletic department in Gainesville. Both of AD Jeremy Foley’s hires for the schools two biggest sports seem to be good ones. They better be or Foley will be the next guy with a ticket out of town.

8. In a related note, much was made out of new UF basketball coach Michael White’s Dunedin roots. Very little was said about his wife Kira who was an outstanding volleyball player here in Pinellas.

9. Item: The U.S. Postal Service reported a first quarter loss of $1.5 billion. They are asking Congress to allow them to stop Saturday deliveries to help stop the hemorrhaging. There are a lot of things we can do without and Saturday mail delivery is certainly one of them.

10. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of three old, cranky people) recently gave sabermetrics a try. It made their head ache and their vision blur. (Margin of error – 50 percent or so).

Speeding up and strengthening the game of baseball Part III

(Editor’s note: In this continuing series authored by one of our valued readers, the latest suggestion was extra innings become a home run derby – at last a valid reason for an otherwise wasted shot at the All-Star game)

Hit by Pitch Three Bases

Unwritten rule or not, throwing 90 mph retaliation pitches at hitters is ridiculous. There's nothing like a team losing their star player for a few weeks because he took one to the wrist or breaks a rib because some other player looked at him wrong. And then the hit player is given a free base, no different than a base on balls! Just like fouls and flagrant fouls in basketball, if an umpire deems that a batter was hit intentionally after being warned, the umpire can give two or three bases based on the level of harm it inflicted on the player.

Goodbye, Gayle and thanks!