Pittsburgh Sports Philosophy

[sluggermatt15]

Originally Posted by Quackjack

Sorry, but I could give less of a damn about the Pens or Pirates.

Be happy those who do, 2/3 of your teams are great franchises.

Not saying you are, but that reminds me of what typical fair weather Pittsburgh fans say. These people only like the Steelers and the Penguins, but not the Pirates. And gee, I wonder what the reason is.... it's because the Pirates lose far more than the other two franchises. If you're a REAL Pittsburgh fan, IMO you support ALL THREE franchises, whether they win or lose.

Sorry, had to express my feelings there. Again, not accusing you of being fair weather.

[aa14]

Originally Posted by sluggermatt15

Not saying you are, but that reminds me of what typical fair weather Pittsburgh fans say. These people only like the Steelers and the Penguins, but not the Pirates. And gee, I wonder what the reason is.... it's because the Pirates lose far more than the other two franchises. If you're a REAL Pittsburgh fan, IMO you support ALL THREE franchises, whether they win or lose.

Sorry, had to express my feelings there. Again, not accusing you of being fair weather.

Baseball sucks. If someone doesn't support the team because they realize it's a lame sport, don't blame them. Just a cherry on the poop sundae that the pirates suck as well.

[teegre]

Originally Posted by sluggermatt15

Not saying you are, but that reminds me of what typical fair weather Pittsburgh fans say. These people only like the Steelers and the Penguins, but not the Pirates. And gee, I wonder what the reason is.... it's because the Pirates lose far more than the other two franchises. If you're a REAL Pittsburgh fan, IMO you support ALL THREE franchises, whether they win or lose.

Sorry, had to express my feelings there. Again, not accusing you of being fair weather.

I always follow the Pirates until they are out of contention... and then, switch over to rooting for the Padres (I loved Tony Gwynn).

My brother says that that is akin to rooting for a chihuahua... and then a dachshund in a dog fight... (against pit bulls & mastiffs).

Anyway, after those two teams are out, I stop watching baseball... which, alas, is usually by mid-May.

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by teegre

I always follow the Pirates until they are out of contention... and then, switch over to rooting for the Padres (I loved Tony Gwynn).

My brother says that that is akin to rooting for a chihuahua... and then a dachshund in a dog fight... (against pit bulls & mastiffs).

Anyway, after those two teams are out, I stop watching baseball... which, alas, is usually by mid-May.

Don't worry. One of these days that Chihuahua is going to be mad as hell, rise up and show that Pitbull who the boss is!

[YOUTUBE]Rjba0DeTUpo[/YOUTUBE]

[wwhickok]

Originally Posted by steelfury02

sprinkle in a little:

"That's me taking the bull by the horns. It's how I like to run my business. It's a metaphor. But that actually happened though"

Someone has been watching some quality television lately.

[wwhickok]

Im proud to say Im a Penguins and Steelers fan...for the last 20 years, I cant say Im proud to be a Pirates fan...but...it is what it is..I guess I am one of those fans who will just keep saying "This year is the year!"Corporate and hoping by some miracle Im not wrong....again.

[VaDave]

Originally Posted by sluggermatt15

I a youngin, in my mid-20s, Dave! haha I've been following the Pirates closely since PNC Park opened, but have been attending games since the mid-90s when my parents would take me to games at Three Rivers. I love the Buccos, win or lose, and it just kills me to see them lose every year. I anxiously await, and maybe foolishly believe they will finally have that winning season. But hey that's part of being a fan. Teams go through stretches of winning, the Pirates have definitely had their stretches and moments of success, but losing is part of the game too. IMO the real fans stick with a team regardless if they win or lose.

I agree about the spending, it's not like the Pirates are losing $. They make a decent profit every year. Problem is the owners don't spend it. And we all wonder why they don't do anything every year. Sad aspect if you ask me.

You're not a fan of the announcers, eh? They're OKAY. I miss Lanny Frattere, I thought he had a pretty good voice. Pretty knowledgeable about the game, had his phrases and cliches, and very informative during broadcasts.

Lanny Frattere came to the Pirates as the second banana behind Milo Hamilton, the man that replace Prince. Frattere replaced Hamilton after a few season later,

If you can ever get your hands on some old radio broadcasts of the Pirates, just listen to the difference, Also, I think you still can get your hands on the network broadcast of game seven of the '71 series. Prince did the first half.

Speaking of the 70's Pirates... Everybody talks about the "Big Red Machine" as the difinitive baseball club of that era. I'm here to tell you, our 70's Pirates were just as good, AND we about completely reworked the team and coaches between '71 and '79. I'm not sure who the GM was during that time, but he was plenty good.



For you anti baseball guys... If you ever played the game much, you'd understand. I'll agree that it is a game from years gone by. I also agree that baseball is not as telegenic as football.

You really need to go to the ballpark to appreciate it. Going once or twice doesn't get it either. You first need to do a little study of the opponents, ball parks, learn the averages, pitching strengths, weaknesses, because if you don't your not going to understand what is going through the managers head. It would be like going to an opera, and without being able to understand Italian, you don't know what the heck is going on.

Football is great sport mainly because you can enjoy it taking it at face value. Results are easily quantified. With baseball, you have to work at it a bit to get the full impact.

[sluggermatt15]

Originally Posted by VaDave

Lanny Frattere came to the Pirates as the second banana behind Milo Hamilton, the man that replace Prince. Frattere replaced Hamilton after a few season later,

If you can ever get your hands on some old radio broadcasts of the Pirates, just listen to the difference, Also, I think you still can get your hands on the network broadcast of game seven of the '71 series. Prince did the first half.

Speaking of the 70's Pirates... Everybody talks about the "Big Red Machine" as the difinitive baseball club of that era. I'm here to tell you, our 70's Pirates were just as good, AND we about completely reworked the team and coaches between '71 and '79. I'm not sure who the GM was during that time, but he was plenty good.



For you anti baseball guys... If you ever played the game much, you'd understand. I'll agree that it is a game from years gone by. I also agree that baseball is not as telegenic as football.

You really need to go to the ballpark to appreciate it. Going once or twice doesn't get it either. You first need to do a little study of the opponents, ball parks, learn the averages, pitching strengths, weaknesses, because if you don't your not going to understand what is going through the managers head. It would be like going to an opera, and without being able to understand Italian, you don't know what the heck is going on.

Football is great sport mainly because you can enjoy it taking it at face value. Results are easily quantified. With baseball, you have to work at it a bit to get the full impact.

Both of those 70s Pirates teams were so great. I agree that the Lumber Company team does not get much respect from the 70s, where everyone points to the Big Red Machine instead. The Pirates could have been in the World Series more frequently, but they couldn't get past Cincy and LA, I believe, in the NLCS a few years in the mid-70s.

I still consider the Reds to be one of our biggest rivals. Other fans may disagree, but if you look at it from a historical perspective it's hard to deny. Same goes for the Phillies rivalry. Historically it was HUGE back in the 70s and 80s. Those two teams used to dominate the NL East during those decades. It was amazing how competitive they were.

[6RingsAndCounting]

As a 19 year old, I have yet to see the Pirates above .500. Fortunately, I've been able to see 2 Lombardi's and a Stanley Cup. I love football and Hockey, along with basketball, but there isn't anything like baseball. My issue with the Huntington/Nutting era thus far has been their free agent signings. Over spending for washed up veterans has really hurt the club in my opinion, Barajas, Barmes, Overbay, Iwamura, Bedard, the list goes on. You can't come up short that many times as a small market team.

When Huntington first arrived everyone knew that the Pirates were going to go into massive rebuilding mode. What hurt the team was all the misses early on with those trades, Joel Hanrahan was the only player out of that early group that I would consider successful.

[sluggermatt15]

Originally Posted by 6RingsAndCounting

As a 19 year old, I have yet to see the Pirates above .500. Fortunately, I've been able to see 2 Lombardi's and a Stanley Cup. I love football and Hockey, along with basketball, but there isn't anything like baseball. My issue with the Huntington/Nutting era thus far has been their free agent signings. Over spending for washed up veterans has really hurt the club in my opinion, Barajas, Barmes, Overbay, Iwamura, Bedard, the list goes on. You can't come up short that many times as a small market team.

When Huntington first arrived everyone knew that the Pirates were going to go into massive rebuilding mode. What hurt the team was all the misses early on with those trades, Joel Hanrahan was the only player out of that early group that I would consider successful.

I hear you, the FA signings have been mostly questionable. Huntingdon also fails to keep these players around. Hanrahan is gone after 2 very good years with the Pirates. Yes he was due $7-8 million for 2013, but with everything he has done for the team and how he is one of the best closers in the game, why let him walk? Pony up and spend the $ to keep him around!!

Management needs to stop being cheap and spend $ to keep a team together. They can't continue to sign FAs for 1-2 years, then let them walk, especially if they have made significant contributions - Hanrahan, Burnett (he's still around), etc. Same goes for young talent. It would be total blasphemy if in a few years if the team lets McCutchen, Alvarez, Walker and players of the like leave.