The Tampa Bay Rays obviously have done a lot right so far this year. From the on-field product to fan-friendly promotions, including those after-game concerts. But here’s a suggestion, prompted by a recent visit to the Trop during the Rays-Cubs series. Consider offering a “Baseball Protocol 101″ service. It can be easily done in a [...]
According to a very unscientific, personally conducted poll among regular Rays’ fans at a recent Rays-Cubs game, there is a decided difference between Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cub followers at the Trop. Red Sox fans, I was told, have this entitlement thing going now and are often intolerable. As in, “We’re good; you’re not; [...]
She is an anomaly in her high-profile, fast-lane business. For more than 30 years, Tampa’s Gayle Sierens has been on air with WFLA-TV, Channel 8 – the last 23 as a news co-anchor. Such longevity is uncommon. The Tampa Catholic grad, now 53, is the friendly, “aw shucks” girl next door who made it big [...]
What I really remember most about George Carlin are not the “Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television” (cable excepted), the counter-culture satire, the HBO specials or the Saturday Night Live host appearances. It was that he was a rite-of-passage comic for a lot of us. Sure, he was the hippy dippy weatherman referencing that [...]
I knew Tim Russert – although I never met him. I know you know what I mean. In an era of electronic media as show-business staple, Russert was refreshingly old-school. For openers, he had, as he often acknowledged, “a face for radio.” He was camera comfortable but never mirror mindful. He took the work of [...]
Somebody needs to tell Rich Walz, the Florida Marlins’ play-by-play broadcaster, that Tampa Bay’s team is no longer the “Devil Rays.” Walz’s multiple “Devil Rays” references were beamed into this market via FSN on Father’s Day for the last of the three-game Rays-Marlins’ series. In addition, Walz noted that the Rays’ proposed downtown stadium is [...]
Another sign that Hillary Clinton will not be on the ticket with Barack Obama: The Obama campaign recently hired Patti Solis Doyle as chief of staff to Obama’s yet-to-be-named vice presidential running mate. Solis Doyle had been Clinton’s campaign manager – until she was fired. And while we’re on the subject of Clinton, I never [...]
It’s no secret that newspapers are doing all kinds of things these days to stay relevant in an age where the reading of the traditional daily broadsheet is rapidly becoming a societal atavism — like fox hunting. Frankly, the internet, as well as cable TV and talk radio, have been able to give consumers what [...]
There are questions yet to be answered in that tragic, shooting death of 17-year-old Javon Dawson in St. Petersburg. But this much we do know. There was a graduation party chaotic enough for the cops to be called to disperse it. And there were “celebratory” gun shots fired in the air. A St. Pete police [...]
Now that the Hillary Clinton campaign has put the best possible face on its government-in-exile phase, the Obamanians need to make certain they don’t overcompensate Hillary and the legions for whom she’s the Joan of Arc of American gender politics. Some advice: 1) Do not put this Faustian feminist on the ticket. Obama and his [...]
