A boycott is in order folks.

Edog, you either don't know about history of Pittsburgh as a baseball town, or you just dont care.

That statement would make older Pittsburgh citizens puke or roll over in their graves.  I am certainly doubting that YOU know what "this city needs."

 To CharlestonCharlies,

What will it prove???  Not, that I'm unhappy, but that I am furious that Mr Nutting continues to fleece good fans like myself and you into believing that he wants to put a great baseball team on the field at PNC Park.  Nonsense.  17 YEARS--count 'em--17 YEARS of this nonsense and you still see hope.  Wow.  Hey, they almost got no-hit yesterday by a pitcher with almost a 7 ERA.  A 7 ERA!!!!!!!!!  And you still believe. 

What you wrote makes no sense.  The Pirates might go to another city???  What city in their right mind would bring a baseball team with Bobbo as the owner??  NONE.  Read that NONE.  Why??  He'll steal from their taxpayers for a new stadium and put a sub standard product on the field just to fleece thier fans and steal their money.  NOT ONE CITY!!!  No one will take the Pirate organization as it currently stands.  Boobbo knows it too.  Hey, why move when the fans of "The Burg" still enjoy getting fleeced??  Another city might take them with new ownership--AS WE HERE IN THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH SHOULD DEMAND.

Huntington has a good plan?? I sure hope you're kidding.  The smallest payroll in baseball.  Almost no-hit by some nobody who was on his way to the minors and you still go.  My friend, we SHOULD all be going to PNC Park and bragging about being the City of Champions once again.  But, the only way to do that is to get Nutting out as an owner of the PBC.  Only then can we be proud of our baseball program--hell, I don't care if it's not a great team by all standards, just competitive and one that justifies $6.00 hot dogs and $8 beers.

Oh, and here's the response from our fearless leader now:

Dear Charleston,

Thank you for driving 1.5 hours to see "your" Pirates play.  I hope you brought the whole family and got the $150 seats as my payment for Seven Springs Resort is coming due.  Without fans like yourself my family and I might have to give up the team as it may not be profitable.  We will continue to cash the fans of Pittsburgh's baseball club checks for the forseeable future and try to provide you with enough peroggie races as to make SOMETHING competitive while you are at the park that you, and other Pirates taxpaying fans, have paid for!!! 

Thanks again and continue to come in droves,

Bobbo Nutting

PS  We would avise you to place your bet on Mr Onionhead at the next Perroggie races--Mr Potatohead is on the DL.

 Buccos,

I didn't say stop "rooting for" The Pittsburgh Pirates, I simply stated to "stop GOING to the games" and giving Mr Nutting more reasons to fleece the fans of the people of Pittsburgh.

And NO, I haven't GONE TO a game recently, NOR WILL I.  And I do live in Pittsburgh!!  Waitin' for the city to do the right thing and attempt to get Nutting out of baseball.  He's an accountant, not a baseball owner.

I could care less about baseball as a sport or the Succos as an entity, however when my tax dollars are being wasted to support a lousy organization that brings scorn to the city, then I speak my mind. 

You live in NYC & yet you question me on my knowledge of my hometown.....gotcha skippy....

allow me to spell it out to you:  the Succos haven't been relevant here for almost 20 years, the Steelers passed them in popularity over 30 years ago & the Pens are solidly #2 in this town.  You honestly believe that another ballpark will be built here with public dollars.....this city doesn't need the Sucs or baseball for that matter....

"Edog" ... I grew up in Export, Skippy.

I know YOU could(n't) care less about baseball as a sport, but there are many many people who do care in Pittsburgh.  The fact that a pretty good handful of faithful show up to PNC every night, even though they've had 17 losing seasons, is telling to it's devotion to baseball.  Those fans certainly dont care about whether or not you like baseball, because it doesn't matter.  Be assured that hundreds of thousands of Pittsburgh baseball fans are certainly glad that you aren't making the big decisions. 

I appreciate your opinion, but I still think your idea of getting rid of the Pirates is not best for the people of Pittsburgh.  Might be best for YOU, but I would bet that you are outnumbered.

"You honestly believe that another ballpark will be built here with public dollars."   huh?

LJ,

How many baseball owners are former players?  Just be glad somebody like Lenny Dykstra isn't the owner. 

I definitely understand the frustration that brings upon calls to boycott the team.  But personally, how long can sustain that?  Your vendetta against NutNut will not allow you to go to a game until he is out of baseball?  Is that really worth it?  How about a comprimise... go to a game in the next few years and take along with you a sign expressing your discontent with Bobbo the bean-counting baseball owner.  Hey that's a start. 

I bet you're too big of a bucco fan to boycott.  You can't resist PNC!!!!!!!

 I agree with LJ.  I imposed my own personal boycott a few years ago, but when the new ownership took over, I ended the boycot, in good faith that the new owners were going to change the "dump our players for prospects" philosophy.

My good faith decision has been betrayed.  The last straw was a few weeks ago when I was leaving for vacation, and sitting in an airport waiting for my plane, I read the ESPN news that Nyger Morgan and Sean Burnett, our left-handed drop-dead reliever had been traded to the Nationals. Nyger brought excitement back to the Burgh, and I envisioned building a great team around Morgan & McCutcheon. I have been furious ever since. Then, two weeks later, I return home to find out that I was watching the last episode of "Sportsbeat".  Love the show! What the heck is happening in the Burgh?

I had tickets to attend the Sunday, August 2nd game.....I stayed home.

Is there any reason to believe that if and when any of our prospects blossom and are productive, Pirates management won't dump them as soon as they are worthy of a major leaguer's salary?

We don't need a drop-dead left-handed reliever? Every championship team has one. And that is indicative of upper management's thinking, and why we are watching our 17th straight losing season. The "Laughing Stock" of baseball is right.

If Pirates management can't put a major league team on the field, then move it. And it hurts me to write those words

Baseball died here in Pittsburgh a long time ago.  You keep mentioning about all the people showing up at the park, but how many of those are comp tickets vs paying customers.  Even when they were winning, they couldn't sell out TRS during the playoffs & now they are at the bottom of MLB in attendance.  The younger crowds have no interest in baseball.  Basing your fan support on the older crowd isn't a blueprint for success.

You might recall that when tax dollars for a new ball park was first floated, it was overwhelmingly rejected by the public.  Given the declining attendance & interest in the sport, getting rid of the Pirates would not be the nightmare scenario you seem to hold.  Bottom line, Pittsburgh has moved beyond the Pirates. 

Cool it with the "drop-dead" stuff... Burnett is having a good year, he's not a cornerstone of an organization. 

"Every championship team has one"?  I can't figure out why so many people are delusional about the team with which we started the year.  I can't figure out why people are so nastalgic about teams who lose 90+ every year (for the past 4 years, it's been pretty much the same players).  Let's stop acting like the team we had in place would be a contender.  Let's also stop acting like if that same team added a "drop-dead" bat to lineup, we would still most likely have finished in 5th place. 

At least LJ isn't saying "move" the team.  You guys all seem like great fans to me because you obviously care.  But how in the world having no team at all would be better than having a team who loses 90+ every year does not make sense.  And guess what, with Burnett, Morgan, McClouth, LaRoche, Grabow, Gorzelanny, Snell, Wilson and Sanchez.... THEY WERE GOING TO LOSE 90 GAMES ANYWAYS.  Far away from being that "championship" team that only needed a few pieces to be a contender.  Anybody who thinks that we were a few pieces away from being a contender, or even a .500 ball-club, is simply delusional.  We sucked at baseball in April, we suck at baseball now.  If you want to stop going to the games, then do so.  Just stop acting like we were ever even a decent club with the guys we had 90 days ago.

I never said it's a blueprint for success.  You said that just now.

I said that there is a fan-base in Pittsburgh, albeit latent.  If (key word) they ever start winning, (and I am willing to wait isntead of being in favor of NOT HAVING A TEAM WHATSOEVER), those fans will all be out once-again. 

If you guys hate the Pirates so much and want them out of the city, it boggles my mind that you would even come to a Pirates forum and waste your time.  I think that most of the disgruntled, including you guys, are just extremely P.O.ed right now.  I also think that you will be watching Pirates games in the next few years and will still be fans for years to come.

Again, YOU have moved beyong the Pirates edog.   It would be a nightmare to a lot of Pittsburgh people to lose the franchise, just as it was when it almost happened.  Must be easy to just up and quit.  See ya.

 Dear Dog,

You could care less about baseball???  Then what the hell are you doing on a baseball site???  The Pens were irrelevant here for years on years--as by the way were the Steelers--WHEN THEY WERE LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hell, I remember going to a Steelers game back in the day and couldn't wait for them to get bombed with snow balls going into the locker room at half time and at the end of the game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  All the while the few fans that showed were laughing and booing them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

So, what makes the Pirates relevant again--or ANY team for that matter???  WINNING!!!!! 

My bet--you'd be in the front of the ticker tape parade for the Pirates if they won the Series again bragging about how you ALWAYS loved the Buccos!!!!!!!

You don't like baseballl??  Good for you!!!!!  Now, just go away, some of us still hope for the day "The Battlin' Buccos" come back.  I love the sport, always will.

edog37:

Baseball died here in Pittsburgh a long time ago.  You keep mentioning about all the people showing up at the park, but how many of those are comp tickets vs paying customers.  Even when they were winning, they couldn't sell out TRS during the playoffs & now they are at the bottom of MLB in attendance.  The younger crowds have no interest in baseball.  Basing your fan support on the older crowd isn't a blueprint for success.

You might recall that when tax dollars for a new ball park was first floated, it was overwhelmingly rejected by the public.  Given the declining attendance & interest in the sport, getting rid of the Pirates would not be the nightmare scenario you seem to hold.  Bottom line, Pittsburgh has moved beyond the Pirates. 

 

" The younger crowds have no interest in baseball.  Basing your fan support on the older crowd isn't a blueprint for success."

 What the hell are you talking about????   The last game I did go to, I was *** because so many young people were standing up, moving around in front of me, that I couldn't watch the damn game!!!!!!!!!  Hey, they're young, with good knees and legs!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That's all I saw were young people!!!!  You obviously haven't been to PNC much, obviously as you are not much of a baseball fan.  I had gone to a ton of games until my own boycott with this lousy ownership. 

Bottom line:  Give the City of Pittsburgh a winner and you'll see how quickly the City has moved beyond the Pirates when they (AND YOU) can't get a ticket to a game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Let's bring this conversation back to square one. For those of you who don't like baseball and just want to see your words on the internet, please move on. This discussion is for those of who love the sport. You add nothing.

Regarding the money put into the stadium, it's too late to change that decision. Pittsburgh ended up with what is generally agreed to be the best baseball park in the world, and  it will be even more appreciated when the day comes that it is used by a winning Pittsburgh club. That issue is water over the dam, so nothing comes of carrying on about it now.

The current issue is how people who care about the game should react. Bottom line: sports are a form of entertainment. A losing team has trouble attracting paying fans over time. So what brings them (and their cash) to the ballpark? Players they care about and can root for. Those players are largely now gone, and so the entertainment value goes way down. The frustration level goes way up. The Pirates are competing with many other things for the entertainment dollar, and every decision is individual. I doubt a boycott is necessary, as the football season is ramping up and a casino is about to open. The free market will deal an even more painful blow to the Pirates leadership than ranting, whining, or boycotting.

this isn't a baseball site, it is a post gazette site....

you wouldn't even catch me within 20 miles of any parade for the Sucs, of course it is a moot point since they will never win anything anyhow...

Why do Neal Huntington and Frank Coonelly still have jobs?

Bob Nutting, please sell to an owner that will put a winner on the field.