Around HereBy Leo CoughlinNobody asked me, but - …They might as well move the baseball team to Tampa. All references to the Rays on radio and TV on the national level always refer to the team as being in Tampa, not Tampa Bay - Tampa. Of course, there is no major league baseball team in Tampa. ...Did you catch the big news in Largo, according to Pinellas County's only daily newspaper? It's a city vegetable garden and who was tending to things? Why none other than a member of the Largo City Commission, Woody Brown, all decked out in his gardening outfit - suit, white shirt and tie. A real GQ special. …The British Open - it just wound up - was played at hallowed St. Andrews. In reality, the place is a dump. In fact, all the British Opens are played on the worst golf courses in the world. …Speaking of golf, players from all over the Western Hemisphere are streaming to Largo to play a round at the bankrupt golf course here. So far, with the year just a little more than half gone, there have been (at latest count, there are numerous ones every week) 1,315 holes in one in 2010. This is the goal of all golfers, something they can brag about no matter what kind of a humpty-dumpty course it is made on. …Okay; just kidding, but how about this, from the we-get-letters-dept. - One correspondent fulminated at length as to how Socrates, the philosopher, was held in high esteem. No doubt; but here's the rest of the story - his fellow Athenians sentenced him to death. That might have local application, come to think of it; in the political sense, of course. …Bob Hunsicker a strong candidate in Largo for Seat 5 on the City Commission, a spot now held by Harriet Crozier who will try to keep her string, begun in 2000, going. Many think it is time for Crozier to go, she has remained silent over the years, apparently oblivious to all the discrepancies being unearthed by the newest member of the commission. …The Hunsicker name should be familiar to those who follow Largo affairs. He has been on various boards and is a Citizens Academy graduate, a de rigueur qualification for those seeking office in Largo. …It is very difficult to watch the "Cops" program on television and not get disgusted and angry with the consistent exhibition of police brutality and violation of peoples' rights. We were taught that policemen were our friends; too bad, it is no longer true. …Whatever became of Dave Coyner? …Rodney Woods appointed to Largo's Community Development Advisory Board. Some suggest this is payoff for his role as a "team player" (which means question nothing; go along with everything and collect the pay check) during his stint on the City Commission. He is otherwise unqualified. …The real reason they hold hearings for Supreme Court nominees is so that a lot of mediocre people (senators) who have no other talent than an ability to get elected can showboat. Is there a bigger blowhard than Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)? Or a bigger racist than Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a Selma boy who was once denied a federal judgeship because of his racism. …Years of observing the scene have left one distinct lesson - people just will not vote for someone they believe needs anger management or appears to be a sore head. …Here's at least one reason maybe why people want to work for municipal governments - 3,700 retirees in New York who averaged $72,000 in their yearly paychecks while working, are collecting pensions of more than $100,000 a year in their rocking chair years and (so I hear) the dough is exempt from state and local taxes. …One reason why public behavior seems to be sinking to all time lows - people no longer have any shame, come what may. …Some people get really turned on by soccer's World Cup (they are, apparently, people who love to watch paint dry). Every time the WC comes around we hear about how soccer grows ever more popular in the U.S. Pure nonsense. It's a playground game for kids in school because all it requires is a ball. …In the latest edition, won by Spain, America was ousted by Ghana. (By Ghana?) If soccer truly had taken root in the U.S. we would be beating all comers. …Up in Baltimore, they need to dig out the old St. Louis Browns uniforms. Orioles are playing like the Browns (the team they used to be until 1954), so why not dress like them?
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