Sarasota thoughts and observations: ‘Fast Charlie’, decaying Birds, and saltwater baths

A few things that are fit enough to express an opinion.

There’s nothing like taking a saltwater bath while watching pelicans hunt their food and avoiding foot area catastrophe. Half the time spent in the water results in the urge to swim out farther than the previous day, but the history of movie-watching and common sense buildup erases the urge to challenge your ocean swimming abilities. As email subscribers have gathered this week, the urge to post has been harder than expected. Before you get out your internet sharpies, remember I’m composing these things while flying down a road riding shotgun while looking for food.

Let’s talk about a few things before I return to the ocean.

The Final Caan

James Caan made a career out of playing tough guys of all kinds: mafia, law enforcement, corrupt badge, thief, criminal, etc. He’s played them all, so it was fitting that his final screen appearance was a lovable mob boss who has a father-son type relationship with Pierce Brosnan’s stylish hitman in Fast Charlie, a breezy movie that’s streaming on Hulu. It defies a genre, containing enough stakes and quirkiness-a tough Morena Baccarin doesn’t hurt-to help Brosnan carry the 2023 release home.

Caan, who completed the movie before his death in 2022, lights up the screen in a supporting role that is as interesting as anything else happening in the movie. His last words on screen, “I love you, big guy.”

He made everything he had a part in better, including an Arnold film named Eraser or a Will Ferrell comedy classic like Elf. Never forget that a safecracker wore silk shirts.

Cardinals fans send clear message

Each home game is a new chance to set a dubious new record for lowest attendance. The DeWitts haven’t seen these kind of events since taking over the team near 30 years ago. What was once just under 30,000 sunk to just above 27,000 paid attendance, even if the actual amount looked like a single digit audience. The 66-67 team sits seven games back of the third wildcard spot, and there’s six teams ahead of them.

This isn’t a team you can trust, and September racing forward only confirms that this team has no business in the playoffs, much less wasting a month of games gunning for a playoff best of three series. The blow it up idea looks sexier every week this team spends far out of contention. Mounting a comeback only to lose the wildcard series would give Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozeliak something to hang their hat on, so it’s the awful time of e fan’s life when you don’t hate a loss.

It’s for the greater good, as they said in countless war speeches. The fans have spoken, so the time to rebuild is now. All the evidence required has been laid out in front of you by the veteran leadership that was so important last winter. The combined WAR of Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, and Sonny Gray is a measly 3.5 via Baseball Reference. $70 million and not even four wins from the aging trust. It’s not working, so allow the ownership to spend less on a better product.

Mozeliak shouldn’t serve out his contract through the end of 2025, but let’s hope we meet Chaim Bloom and Randy Flores more. Let’s also hope they disregard any advice from Mo, because his baseball brain isn’t charged anymore. We all knew Dylan Carlson was a dump trade, but designating Shawn Armstrong inside a month was comical and easy pickings for fans.

St. Louis had their time and will have their time sooner rather than later if they get started on the rebuild. Do not re-sign old players and try to trade the ones under contract. Let a decrepit era of baseball die.

Needle in a haystack food finds are the best

While other tourists reach for the fanciest seafood they can find because vacation means spending as much money as possible, I like to find tasty food for a less than throat clenching price. A hole in the wall spot with good burgers and a nice view will do the trick. You can suck down fried cod for days or spend more money, or you can fall back on hometown delights and still get full. Coming here to do nothing truly productive outside of staying healthy and coated in sunscreen is the plan, not to see how money I can spend.

It’s one way of doing it. Another way is going all out in different ways, like buying $40 sun hats or renting a jet ski. I’d rather wave to the people on this than risk flying off one into a shaving of rock. Bad luck sticks to Buffas like bug spray generally sticks to me.

The stillness of the ocean is the immortal selling point of Longboat Key, the private and very quiet slice of Sarasota, Florida. You take about a hundred foot walk from the sand tables and resort building into the water. Pure, unbridled saltwater that acts as a healing temple for the entire body. What people pay for an hour in comes free of charge once your feet hit the beach.

Speaking of which, it’s about time I go back in. Before I leave, a few words about Ted Drewes Jr, who died this week at the tender age of 96. He was the guy who would flip the concrete upside down to ensure customers it was made properly. The frozen custard institution goes back to my earliest days growing up in south city St. Louis. It’s a place that you can’t avoid if you’re a Midwest tourist, or if you live in the area. It’s where I found the ultimate naughtiness in the form of a hot fudge sundae. The lemon crumb concrete is worth fighting for.

Thanks Ted Junior, someone who will satisfy generations upon generations of St. Louis residents and travelers.

And thank you all for making it to the end of this latest blog post; not everyone who clicks through does, even if they still comment on what obviously wasn’t read. If I’m doing it on my vacation for what amounts to a few shekels of mad money, you know it’s for the love of the game.