swamprat

Debbie appears to be making landfall right now in the Big Bend region as a Cat 1. MSWs are 75 MPH.

I work in Oldsmar, about 19 miles north of home, and we are getting heavy rains this morning. I called Mrs. S and the rain is still heavy there. Weather folks say we have had over 20 inches so far in the Tampa Bay area. At least the pool will be cool. It's been like bath water.

Apparently I have some sealing issues in my work shop / laundry room. The way the rain has been blowing against that side of the place had caused the carpet in there to get really wet. Quite a bit of flooding has been reported along the coast in Sarasota, Manatee, and Pinellas Counties. The Skyway Bridge is closed.

I do not have anemometer anymore but the wind has not been all that bad, looking out at it.

The center of it about 120 miles off the coast of Clearwater. I live in Largo, now and we are getting the back side of the storm. The thing has been moving slow all day and we have gotten a ton of rain. We have had a couple of storm surge alerts. However, although we live 4 miles from Indian Rocks Beach, we are actually at the highest point in Pinellas County and not in a flood zone. 42 feet above sea level. My brother-in-law, who lives a couple of miles from me, has taken water out of his pool twice. He estimates 5 to 6 inches each time.

I quit watching the NBA 30 years ago, the MLB 20 years ago, and the NFL 7 years ago. The only NFL game I've watched in the last 7 years was the Bengal/Ram Super Bowl because family was visiting and they wanted to see it. I really haven't miss any of them. Most of you guys know I used to have season tickets for USF everything. Last season, I did not watch but one or two USF football games on TV and have stopped going to the games unless somebody invites me to to with them. I may never visit the new on-campus stadium. I attended more USF club hockey matches than I have football, basketball, and baseball games combined in the last few years. At least at those events I'm watching non-scholarship players playing for the love of the game and the iconic U on their jersey. My grandson is entering his senior year in high school. With Florida now allowing high schoolers to participate in the NIL, this will probably be my last year of watching high school sports. That may change if my granddaughter makes the varsity soccer team in Apopka in her last 2 years.

The stinkin' Miami Panthers won the Stanley Cup. Sergi is in Utah and Stamkos is a Predator. My life is over. ?

Back in the late 70's the NBA was faltering. Magic and Larry did not like each other either. However, they parleyed that intense rivalry into a life long friendship and basically saved the NBA. Angel and Catlin have a chance to do for the WNBA what Magic and Larry did for the NBA. Maybe I am missing the big picture and that is exactly what is happening. It sure looks like they and the powers that be are missing the boat, though.

I hate everything Miami, but Sergei Bobrovsky has had one heck of a year and a fantastic playoff. The Panthers have also perfected the non-call goal interference defense. (It's been amazing how they get away with that.) They were also there last year and look better this year. I would not be surprised to see them bring the cup back to the land of sand, surf, and sun. You have no idea how much I would hate that. No Canadian club has won the Stanley Cup since 1993. Since then only 5 clubs had even appeared in the Finals (Vancouver (2), Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal). Edmonton is up 1-0 over the Stars. I like watch Connor McDavid play. He's the next best thing to Nikta Kucherov. Both Miami and Edmonton are up 1-0 over there opponents in their respective conference finals on the road. If they both take game 2, things are looking good for a Oiler/Panther finals.

I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger, but last Thursday night St. Petersburg High hosted a Spring Classic Jamboree involving St. Pete, Clearwater, and the defending 1S State Champs, Cardinal Mooney. The results follow ... Clearwater 10 Cardinal Mooney 7 Cardinal Mooney 28 St. Pete 20 Clearwater 13 St. Pete 0 As far as the grandson... London forced and recovered a fumble on the opening play of the Jamboree, then sacked Cardinal Mooney's QB on 4th down with the ball at the Clearwater 6 and 15 seconds left in the half (game). Against St. Pete, last years' state leading rusher, St. Pete QB Jeffery Jones only got out of the backfield very few times. On one such instance London ran Jones down from behind before he could get a 1st. FWIW, Jeffrey Jones had a 70 yard run from scrimmage for a TD against Cardinal Mooney. He can scoot. The Big Red 7 had a good night. G'Pa proud. ?

I know this is early, but spring games are about to happen in Florida and my grandson is entering his senior year. The "Big Red 7" is an OLB and TE. He was called out of class a while back to talk to Mike Locksley, the HC at Maryland. They are interested, but Locksley told him he need to put on at least 15 more lbs. I had the fortune to accompany him and a teammate to an invitation to the Orange and Blue game up in Gainesville. Billy Napier told him the same. I don't know if Florida is specifically interested in him, but it was his first experience with big school recruiting . He had fun. That is all that matters. This summer should be interesting.

If you saw the Boca Bowl last night, that gives you some indication of how the crowd would look in the OCS will be. The new digs will seat about 5000 more than that place and about 5000 less than Nippert. That crowd that would looked sparse in RayJay, just as they always do unless the Bulls play somebody like Bama, FSU, or Florida. I wonder if they will move the Notre Dame game to RayJay in '29.

Florida Finals ... (The teams I follow highlighted.) The Max Preps National top 25 rankings are included highlighted in blue. December 9th Class 2M Berkeley Prep (Tampa) 28 (11) Miami Norland 20 Class 3M (10) St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale) 31 Homestead 28 Class 4S Lakeland 60 Venice 48

Final St. Thomas Aquinus 31 Homestead 28. St. Thomas Aquinus is first school in Florida history to win 5 consecutive championships.

1st down STA. Homestead out of time outs.

Onside recovered by STA.

TD Homestead. Xp good. 2:15 to go, STA 31 Homestead 28.

3 & 11. STA hits a wideout over the middle. TD STA. Xp good. 5:25 to go. STA 31-21.

6:22 to go.

Homestead 4th down on the STA 10 goes for it instead of going for the tie. STA sack, takes over on downs.

STA 3 and out. 10:58 to go.

TD Homestead. Xp good. 11:41 to go. STA 24 Homestead 21.

TD STA. Xp good. 1:33 3rd St. Thomas Aquinus 24 Homestead 14

2:32 3rd. St. Thomas Aquinus 17 Homestead 14.

TD Homestead Xp good.