Bias alert, we’ve got a Pirate fan here. If you expect me to be unbiased right now click away from this article because I’m a Pirate fan and I’m proud.
I’ll admit it, I’ve been very anxious to see the Pirates officially get a rather large monkey off their backs. Twenty straight losing seasons will do that to a diehard fan. Whether you sit on the side of Tuesday night’s win being the one that ended the streak or the 82nd victory of the season sealing the deal, the bottom line is that the entire Pirate fan base can let out a collective sigh of relief.
Is 82 wins the mark of a great season? No it isn’t, but it’s still an important mark that we haven’t seen in these parts since 1992. It’s step one of a to-do list that has very lofty goals for the rest of the 2013 season.
Enjoy it, Pirate fans, because it’s been a long time coming. Don’t let some of the media trolls out there try and belittle what the Bucs have accomplished to this point in the season. Don’t let them insult your intelligence. We all know that a division title is the next goal for a team on a magical run. We all know that no one in that clubhouse is going to be happy to simply finish .500 at this point.
Regardless of what some of them say, we’re not just stupid Yinzers who don’t understand baseball. Pittsburgh has always understood baseball very well, which is why the fanbase has been very frustrated in the past with the bad baseball product being fed to them.
You have to love some of the themes we see out of the usual suspects in the media.
“They haven’t won anything yet.” No they haven’t and I still see the look of a determined baseball club to see that goal through to the end. Does anyone see this team lying down and collapsing like the last two years? There’s way too much leadership on this team to let that happen. They’ve brought in too many veterans hungry for a championship to just fall back into the mud at this point.
“The Pirates finally did what they were supposed to do and traded for some help.” I love this one because some of these same people have been writing articles for years bashing Bob Nutting (and Kevin McClatchy before him) for not doing the right thing but now they want to mock the Pirates for “finally” doing the right thing? Call it both ways here people.
I also love the sports media who tweet out nonsense to act like nothing big is going on with the Pirates. If you don’t care about the team great, but don’t mock the fans who have stood by this team for over two decades as the ship kept crashing into the rocks.
It’s not just the special breed of sports talk jocks who will say anything to get under our skin, it’s the Pirate haters as well. You know the ones who have whined and cried all season about how cheap the Pirates are and how they’ll never support that team as long as Nutting owns them. You point out the fact the team has improved greatly and has one of the best records in baseball and they point to the “inevitable collapse” that will occur. Like I said above, this is just a different team and they refuse to die.
Here’s the bottom line. If you want to go out and celebrate last night’s milestone then do it! That’s the beauty of being a fan. You get to invest as much of yourself into the sport as you want. Sometimes we go a little too far in our passion but the bottom line is that sports are supposed to be fun.
Why shouldn’t Pirate fans celebrate? This moment has been 20 years in the making. TWENTY YEARS! An entire generation of Bucco boosters is learning how to react to this run now. React how you see fit and don’t let some idiot on Twitter lecture you on what to feel. Make a T-shirt with 82 on it or raise a Jolly Roger flag over your vehicle. Who cares, just have fun!
I guarantee you the Pirates are.
Image courtesy of Getty Images North America
