Pirates Ship of Baseball Fools: [View All]

As someone from a family with a long line of Buc fans, this is upsetting, but true.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2009/08/22/2009-08-22_pirates_ship_of_baseball_fools.html

In a city that bleeds black and gold for the champion Steelers and Penguins, the local baseball outfit represents only black eyes and fool's gold. At Primanti's, the iconic sandwich depot in the Strip District, a mural depicts the city's heroes, from Mario Lemieux and Franco Harris to Gene Kelly and Mister Rogers. The only living Pirate on the wall is three-time NLCS-losing manager Jim Leyland, a tear running down his cheek alongside a mustachioed frown.

Outside, on Penn Ave., sidewalk hawkers sell dozens of varieties of T-shirts - "On Ice or Grass, We'll Kick Your Ass!" - celebrating the title teams. But good luck finding any Pirates garb, or even any evidence that they exist.
"It's tough to be a Pirate," says Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay, who was traded last summer. "It's a Steeler town, and now the Penguins, too, which makes it even more frustrating because baseball's really the only thing going on in the summer, and people are dying to get behind something and haven't been able to."

And now that the NFL preseason is underway, about the only thing that keeps Pittsburgh from being able to live in complete denial about its baseball team is PNC Park, the brilliant facility on the north bank of the Allegheny River that is on its way to being home to a losing team for the ninth straight year - after eight seasons of sub-.500 ball at old Three Rivers Stadium before that.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/2009/08/22/2009-08-22_pirates_ship_of_baseball_fools.html#ixzz0P0qVglQL