I am a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan.  I was born and raised in Pittsburgh.  My earliest memory of seeing a game is being taken by my father to see the Pirates play Tom Seaver and the New York Mets at Forbes Field in 1969.  In 1972, I remember, 11 years old,  sitting in front my television, watching the Pirates take a lead into the 9th inning, thinking we were going to the World Series, only to see Johnny Bench homer in the bottom of the 9th  to tie Game 5 of the playoffs. I bawled  when George Foster scored on a wild pitch to send The Big Red Machine to the World Series instead of the Pirates.

The 1970′s were great years for the Pirates and fans alike.  They were in contention practically every year. They won two World Series Championships in 1971 and 1979.  I loved going to games.  I often went with my two brothers.  Back in those days double headers prevalent.  My older brother would take me and my younger brother to a doubleheader. We would however first stop at the local deli for a corned beef sandwich, not to eat at the game, but to bribe the guard at the entrance to the box field seats to lets us in on our general admission tickets.  We would take the seats of those who had only stayed for the 1st game of the doubleheader.  I miss those days.  The glory days of The Pirates and my love for baseball.

My allegiance did not end with the good times.  I faithfully attended games through the Three Rivers Stadium wasteland of the 80′s.  The Pirates were not a good team but with the exception of a couple years they were never terrible. What was terrible was attendance. Pittsburgh as a city was struggling economically.  I remember attending games were there could not have been more than a few thousand in the stands.  Those days also seem like grand old times as I watch the ownership wasteland that is now the Pittsburgh Pirates.

It is a wasteland. A wasteland of total indifference to winning regardless of profits.  That’s a bold statement when you consider that the Pirates were for quite a few years were owned in part by the financially strapped city of Pittsburgh and some other local businesses.   A pre-revenue sharing ownership group that did not hide that fact that there was not much  money. It’s possible that I am romanticizing a much worse situation but I recall that they did the best they could with what they had. They were the last option in the game to prevent what would amount to a hostile takeover by another city which would have certainly resulted in the team leaving Pittsburgh.  Their job was to be as competitive as possible with what they had until they could find a buyer who would put some money into the team and take it to the level of greatest it achieved in the 70′s.  The irony is that with their limited resources, they almost did it on their own terms with the arrival of Barry Bonds and the Pirates near miss on the World Series in 1992.  That was the high point. It was a different era and different economics.

The low point is an ownership group that actually has money running a scorched earth business model, taking substantial revenue sharing, putting none of it into salaries and doing what with it?  Putting a AAA caliber ball club on the field and have the gall to insult our intelligence as to their major-league worthiness.  They have never really been clear about what is being done with revenue sharing profits other than to state that they are running the team in a fiscally responsible manner.  One theory is that they are using it to pay down team debt.  How is that not the same as putting it in your own pocket?   Whats the excuse for 2011?  We are young?  We will develop?  The line of every GM stuck with a stable of non-producing trades and busted Vegas lottery picks.  It’s akin to saying 110 degrees is not hot in Las Vegas because its a dry heat.  In the end dog-shit stinks regardless of what perfume rhetoric you pour on it…