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Feb 28 – Mar 6, 2007

Feb 28 - Mar 6, 2007 / Vol. 19 / No. 50

I Pitched for the Tigers

"A View from the Cheap Seats," Scott Butherus' Spring Training Tour, Mar. 6:“Number 131, you’re up!” yelled a grizzled coach in a Tigers hat. It was my turn to try and achieve my childhood dream of being a big league ballplayer. Although the chances of that happening were approximately the same as a snowstorm blowing…

by David Warner

Rudy Can’t Fail

With all apologies to Joe Strummer and the Clash, Rudy Giuliani may have a large lead in the polls, but he certainly doesn't have the nomination wrapped up yet. This week, his victory train has been derailed as he had to answer for his estrangement from his idiot son, Andrew. You can catch a few…

by Wayne Garcia

Morning Roundup

Election Day in Tampa; Pinellas County, you get your turn next week: Another newspaper writer suspended for plagiarism. What's most interesting about this is buried deeper in the story, the fact that there is a subscription service for NFL beat writers to share notes and ideas among themselves. How cozy. Reminds me of the scene…

by Wayne Garcia

Tampa City Council: The 11th Hour, Part 2

As promised, Mary Mulhern vs. Shawn Harrison. Here's how it break downs: Message — Mulhern hammered at Harrison for his vote against a new fee for stormwater improvements, which will win her votes in South Tampa, where flooding is worst. But her pro-fee stance will hurt her elsewhere in the city, where turnout is lower.…

by Wayne Garcia

Tampa City Council: The 11th Hour

Time to take stock in who-spent-how-much-on-what in a few of the high profile Tampa City Council elections. Starting with District 4: Challenger Julie Brown sent at least eight direct mail pieces to Tampa households, the last with a picture of her newborn son, Emerson. She touted her many endorsements (including police, firefighters and any group…

by Wayne Garcia

Morning Roundup

I sure hope those rumors about Britney attempting suicide aren't true: "The Missing Links in the Sales Tax Proposal." Please, for the love of God, stop blogging the Couey trial. Deggans deciphers TV ratings. Bartlett Park ain't down with the Penny for Pinellas. The start of the Legislative Session, viewed from the left. Scary. Just…

by Wayne Garcia

Ryan Howard at the tiki bar

Scott Butherus' "View from the Cheap Seats," Mar. 2: Spring training home opener for the Grapefruit League at the league's newest ballpark, Brighthouse Networks Field in Clearwater. The Phillies have been training in Clearwater for the past 61 years, the second longest tenure of any Florida team. Brighthouse Field’s most unique feature? The thatched-roof tiki…

by David Warner

Home Games

Scott Butherus' View from the Cheap Seats, Day 2:(Left: Butherus and Pirate Ian Snell)Today was a baseball day. First stop: the IMG Baseball Academy in Bradenton, where I visited with Tom Pluto. Coach Pluto has been in baseball for the past 41 years, serving in a variety of roles: All-American player in college; coach of…

by David Warner

Questions for Largo

If you were present at Tuesday’s public flogging of transgender Largo City Manager Steve Stanton, or if you saw it on Bay News 9, maybe the same question occurred to you: How did the City of Largo manage to elect two women as diametrically opposite from one another as Mayor Pat Gerard and Commissioner Mary…

by David Warner

The View from the Cheap Seats

Scott Butherus, a graduate student in multimedia journalism at USF, has embarked upon every baseball fan’s dream vacation: “an 18-day, beer-and-oversize-pretzel-fueled journey into the heart of Florida’s baseball culture,” with a stop at every spring training stadium on the Gulf Coast. But he’s not on vacation; he’s doing his graduate thesis. Titled “A View from…

by David Warner

Shadow Group Whacks Dingfelder

The shadow political attacks that have come to characterize the presidential and statewide races have now penetrated all the way down into the Tampa City Council races, in District 4 where incumbent John Dingfelder is in a dogfight with challenger Julie Brown. (Not to be confused with this Julie Brown. Or Downtown Julie Brown.) "Election…

by Wayne Garcia

The Encircling

Name of Kama Sutra Position: The Encircling Getting into the position: To accomplish the Encircling, the man stands leaning against a stationary object while the woman puts one foot onto his heart (chest) and the man lends his hand in support. The woman is then prescribed to guide his manhood into her yoni and circle…

by Eric J. Leech

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