Weighing the Pros and Cons of a New Baseball Season

Now that the devastation of that cold February Sunday has just about worn off ((Though the Penguins injury woes have only multiplied at this point.)), I’ve had a few moments to weigh the upcoming Pirates season. In doing so, I’m trying to decide if they’re worth following seriously or not. I’m not a huge baseball fan and have been overwhelmingly apathetic towards the Pirates as their ongoing record setting consecutive losing seasons streak builds over the years decades. And for good reason.

This organization has been one of the most pathetic in all of professional sports over the past twenty years. The Pirates are constantly at the bottom of the spending charts in baseball, not to mention the standings. Unfortunately in this league, those two measures are inextricably linked. As a result, the Pirates have repeatedly reached down in the draft in order to secure players that won’t incur outstanding contracts due to their rockstar agents.

Worst of all, they take what’s left of their fans for granted, repeatedly giving them a poor product both on and off the field. They throw a poor team on the field, trade away any high profile players in return for prospects that never pan out, and then expect fireworks and gimmicks to make it all better. Sure, that new stadium ((Corporate sponsorships hold no weight here.)) they had built for them is one of the nicest in the league. Pittsburgh taxpayers helped fund it in order to keep their team in town, believing that it would generate local jobs and feed revenue back into the surrounding area. Adding insult to injury, the most heard and remembered claim was the a new baseball park was the last piece the Pirates needed to become competitive. That was ten years ago.

Not only ten years of not making the playoffs, but ten years of under .500 baseball. Plus the eight years prior in Three Rivers ((Until 2009, my last baseball game in Pittsburgh occurred sometime in the early ’90s. All I know is they had a better logo back then. How the team fared didn’t matter. But I like to think they won.)).

So then the question becomes, “Why give them another chance? Why not just walk away forever?” And this is complicated. I want to see them succeed after the veritable dark age, but I also don’t want to condone all the penny pinching that has gone on. I’ve been to a few games in the past two years, and somehow the Buccos won a majority of them. They’re starting to get a core of players that they’ll hopefully build around ((If they sell them off again for nothing, I’m done.)). Is this the year they turn the corner? It’s possible, but not probable. But 2011 will be the year I gave them a chance.

 

And if they crash and burn again, I can always hop onto the Red Sox bandwagon.

 


Stairway To Seven Liveblog

7:30am: Wake up, go back to sleep.

9:00am: Wake up for real.

9:05am: Run through Twitter, shower, shave.

9:45am: Read Post-Gazette and RSS feed articles.

10:00am: Flip on tv for various pregame shows

10:30am: Om nom nom breakfast.

11:16am: ESPN begins the debate on Ben and points to the piano bar as evidence he hasn’t changed. Ditka thinks everyone else is being an idiot. I agree with Ditka.

11:18am: Find out Beninati will no longer announce VS. games. Jump for joy.

11:34 am:12:01pm: Switched to Network-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named expecting there to be a pregame show for Penguins-Capitals hockey. Nope, infomercial for King’s Speech. It’s Comcastic.

12:30pm: Infomercial ends, hate begins.

1:23pm: lol Talbot. You are so gone next season. 🙁

2:21pm: Is it superb owl yet?

3:02pm: Fox’s pregame show is horrible. Turned the TV off.

4:55pm: Terrible interview. Interrupting the president that much is a disgrace. This is why Faux News will never be respected.

5:37pm: Terry vs. Ben interview. meh.

6:22 pm: I am so winning the over on the national anthem length.

7:30pm: Xoom ad was terrible.

7:40pm: Super 8 looks good.

7:41pm: That bad feeling I had all weekend just got worse.

7:42pm: Switched to lucky tv. Comeback or bust.

7:50pm: Not that impressed with the Cap ad. Bad sign.

7:57pm: That’s more like it.

8:03pm: I’m going to have to do a blog post on the rise and fall of the History Channel.

8:42pm: Steelers are back in the game, but I think it’s too late for Ben to get himself back into MVP position. It’s probably going to be between Mendenhall, or whoever makes a winning play (TD catch or INT).

8:58pm: Possible momentum shift back towards Green Bay.

9:21pm: Luckily not, thanks to REFBALL™.

10:05pm: Ben lost the game and is now anti-clutch. Everyone has a sad. 🙁

Winter Classic 2011

Quick thoughts before going through photos:

On the atmosphere:

It was definitely worth going despite the loss. Great atmosphere, great vantage point, great seat (for me, as I was not getting rained on).

Even though I was stuck in a Caps section, the one dude next to me was pretty down to earth. Unfortunately the two idiots a row or two back that couldn’t stop their running commentary were not.

Rain and hockey don’t mix. I don’t see how the NHL takes risks on southern cities after this. I hope the DC classic gets completely wrecked.

On the game:

Ticket: $300. Program, Puck, and Food: $35. Ovie toepicking onto his face: priceless.

Also a ref fell on his back due to ice. Then a few seconds later, a single, loud, over the PA F#$% was heard. I hope that was the ref after falling on his mic button. Would just be perfect. Everyone was confused, but I laughed.