In the tradition of former sports writer Blackie Sherrod (well, almost), your favorite blogger is back again as we go hither and yon with some Scattershooting. We just came off of Friday the 13th, and I thought I had a good day yesterday. So, now, I get to write to you..................on the 14th ............and I'll begin by sharing with you an interesting experience that you just don't get every day. As per the every now and then, I'll also give you a few connections...

Sure, Texas' Rangers might have more wins than Tampa Bay's Rays, but that's just right now. We've got a little more baseball left, and like any other year, anything can happen.

Here's what I'll be picking for the last few weeks of the regular season:

Texas will collapse and miss the Wild Card. Oakland will win the American League West division at 93 wins. Tampa Bay will get one of the Wild Cards in the AL, but you won't believe who I'm picking to...

It's inevitable. Again. That's the pain you get when you rebuild a baseball club with young talent. Team efforts win ballgames, not just talent alone. The Houston Astros are just in the process of seeing who can deliver and who can't. For the present tense, we're looking at 100 losses again, and for the third time in franchise history and third year in a row.

Look at the players that came into play during the course of the 2013 regular season. Brad Peacock,...

Note that the following statistical report is for Single Family Homes only and excludes condos and mobile homes. For Sarasota data, this includes all zip codes and addresses in Sarasota, not just the small Sarasota City limits. Same is true for Venice, which has small city limits which do not include areas such as South Venice, Venice Gardens, or the newer areas of the city closer to I-75.



SARASOTA COUNTY PRICES RISE 30% YEAR OVER YEAR AND INVENTORY REMAINS TIGHT AT JUST...

One of my agents is a real estate investor. He owns 20 homes and rents them here in Chattanooga. He always lends an interesting perspective on what is going on.

He is noticing that the HUD foreclosures are not lasting as long and selling for more than what he was willing to pay.

He has raised about $500,000 in cash to spend for houses but is having a difficult time finding "slam dunk" flips, etc.

I am more old school broker and one thing that...