Wednesday was the ghost of a creaky 19th-century freighter lost at sea, registering briefly on a Russian submarine's sonar array before disappearing again, likely forever.
Lightning owner and Tampa real estate mogul Jeff Vinik revealed rough plans for his new walkable downtown "world-class, mixed-use" urban hub to a roomful of journos and interested parties at the Marriott Tampa Waterside. One particularly interesting element of the presentation's mock-ups was a large, vaguely defined area bearing the legend "Nothing to see here, especially not a new Rays stadium."
The New York Times published an expose on corruption within the Obama administration, centered on favorable treatment, large campaign donations and rule-bending with regard to an influential Ecuadorian family. When they saw the donation amounts reported, several Republican Congressional leaders reportedly snorted and said, "amateurs."
In other Obama news, ongoing secret talks have resulted in a definite thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba; political prisoners were exchanged, and America will reportedly even open an embassy on the island for the first time in 50 years. The president reportedly brushed aside any qualms about supporting an oppressive regime, saying, "We should not be divided by the different ways in which our nations are corrupt, but rather united by the simple, universal human fact of our corruptness."
St. Pete foodie paradise Locale Market opened at Sundial, attracting tons and tons of reporters, reporters' friends, locally semi-important types and people willing to pay $14 for a burger or $40 per pound for steaks. Get ready for even more of your friends refusing to join you for wings at the local greasebasket unless you can tell them where the chickens came from, and their surnames.
And finally, the Tampa Bay Rays have announced an 11-player, three-team trading deal that will, among other things, see them getting rid of 2013 American League rookie of the year Wil Myers and starting catcher Ryan Hanigan. I don't know what anything in that sentence or the rest of the Times article means, and I refuse to care unless it affects the number of morons getting off at my exit to park for games instead of going downtown like they're directed to.
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2014.