Nobody asked me, but -
. . . Hail to the Gators, repeat NCAA roundball champs. What pride bubbles in this old heart - it was 50 years ago that Bob Woodruff took the football team to play UCLA in the start of a bid for the big time. Now UF reigns as champs of the football and basketball worlds. And there is further pride that African-Americans play a prominent athletic role now; a half century ago, black kids were denied, to the everlasting shame of this country.
. . . In that vein it was 60 years and four days ago that Jackie Robinson took the field for the Dodgers in Brooklyn against the Boston Braves as the first black player in the big leagues. Robinson deserves all the credit for the way he handled himself, but it should never be forgotten that it was Branch Rickey who set it all in motion. Remember, too, that all the other 15 big league clubs voted against the idea. For shame!
. . . There are rumblings that members of the congregation at Indian Rocks Baptist Church are ready to cancel their Big Paper subscriptions and avoid buying advertisers' products. A wretched individual there savaged their minister, the Rev. Charlie Martin in print.
. . . Commissioner Gigi Arntzen in Largo has come up with a great idea. She is sending out postcards asking citizens to grade her performance and soliciting ideas they might have for legislation.
. . . Kudos to George Mariani for his service to his town, Belleair, over the years. He just stepped down as mayor and the last couple of years were turbulent with the hotel controversy and the struggle to make the town the owner of its own electric company.
. . . Newcomers to the elected official ranks in one town are going through the painful pangs of taking a stand. They say one thing off the reservation, but when push comes to shove the enthusiasm fades. Part of the political game is that one holding office has to take stands and suffer the slings and arrows of whatever.
. . . The brouhaha over the Don Imus gaffe is the most overplayed and over-reacted to event since heavens knows when. There were mountains of hypocrisy in the coverage. MSNBC bounced him on TV because sponsors (read: $$$$) were bailing out. What Imus said was not proper, but hardly earth shaking. The language is common fare in the rap music (that's music?) from a certain segment.
. . . One of the great current absurdities is all the hullabaloo about making Pope John Paul 2 a saint. This is the guy who presided over a church where homosexual priests committed literally thousands of rapes of children, which ruined lives and has resulted in financial disaster and bankruptcies for a slew of dioceses.
. . . Some elected folks in one local burg are thinking of
wearing a gas mask to meetings. They are picking up some powerful fumes, they say - they go right to the head.
. . . In another local community, the whiff of corruption grows stronger and when the facts are assembled and certified there could be a major explosion of a dreck bomb.
. . . All of the strife and struggle in the Mideast would never have occurred if that wimp, Jimmy (The Ninny) Carter, had told the Iranians in November, 1979, when they took our embassy in Teheran and held hostages "have those folks at the Cairo airport by noon next Tuesday or I will flatten Teheran."
. . . The Brits should have done the same thing with the Iranians on the kidnaping of British naval personnel - give 'em back NOW, or we drop an A-bomb on you. That's what I'd do.
. . . And whatever became of Eugene Pallette?
. . . Hey, is the NFL the place where the cons outnumber the pros?
. . . Belleair Beach just finished two years of having a careful and prudent mayor in Rudy Davis. And now the city remains in good hands with the steady and experienced Lynn Rives at the helm. Quite a contrast to a few years ago. Yay!
. . . In that vein, right across the street in Belleair
Shore, the residents there are enjoying another term with Mayor John Robertson steering a steady course in his tiny town.
. . . And while we're at it, we can mention the fine job Chris Arbutine has been turning in for years as mayor of Belleair Bluffs. Most of the area is in top shape for leadership (with some problem spots, yes, that the voters will eventually take care of).
. . . Where did the expression, "back in the day," come from? It seems to be new to the language. I suspect it crept in as another corruption from the ebonics that plague our language. True dat.
