icedog97

"Penguins Hockeybuzz Blog"

Pittsburgh, PA • United States • 48 Years Old • Male

Take Me Out to the Ballgame?

The Penguins clinched their series with the Ottawa Senators early with a sweep.

There hasn't been a Penguins game in an entire week.

All this "down" time has me watching the other series wrap up (GO CAPS and FLAMES in your game 7's) and waiting anxiously for our Round 2 opponent!

It also gave me a chance to catch up on what the Pittsburgh Pirates doing these days.

Talk about your poor timing (for both me and the Pirates).

With the Pens waiting, this past week would have been the perfect time for the Pirates to gain some local attention by maybe going on a streak!

Well they have all right...a losing streak!

Back on April 14th, the Pirates had just won their 4th game in a row and climbed to 7-6 on the young season. Then, just about the time the Penguins were finishing off the Senators, the Pirates began their current losing streak of 6 games. As it stands today, the Pirates are 7-12 and competing for one of the worst records in baseball.

It's not like we should really be surprised by the Pirates bad timing. This organization has become so GOOD at losing that their bad timing has lasted for the better part of 15 YEARS!!!

I love numbers...here are some for you - What do they mean?
1992 1037 1324 69.13 88.27

1992 - The LAST winning season in Pirates history
1037 - the number of wins in their current 15 season losing streak
1324 - the number of loses in their current 15 season losing streak
69.13* - avg number of wins over the past 15 seasons
88.27* - avg number of loses over the past 15 seasons

* mercifully, because of strikes or games missed and not replayed, we haven't had to see 162 games every year!

Wow...those numbers sure do tell the story.

The interesting side note is that in 2001 the Pirates opened PNC Park. It's a great baseball park - and by all acounts - people outside of the city think that too. The park was built because the owners said it would help turn the Pirates into a winning team.

In the same year the park opened, the Pirates drew their largest attendance ever - 2,435,867. That year they finished with 62 wins and 100 loses, the worst such record over this 15 year span of ineptitude.

Not only that, they have managed to lose at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons in the park "built for winners".

It is unfortunate, but the Pirates have become a joke even in their OWN hometown.

Sure, there are loyal basebal fans in Pittsburgh. What else would you call about 1.5 million people watching them in person each year? "Fair Weather Fans" and the Pirates do not exist in the same space time continuim. So Pirate fans are either diehard, bored stiff or just plain stupid (I opt for diehard).

But even those diehard fans have come to accept that losing is what this team does best. And they are very good at it.

Fox Sports Net (FSN) Pittsbugh is running some billboards that advertise this year's televised games. It reads:
125 Games
75 in HD

It's gotten so bad around here that somebody crossed out the totals and put:
over 90 loses
more than 50 in HD

OK...I can't confirm that someone actually did that. But nobody would be surprised if someone did.

Good luck Pirates...I mean you no harm! You do enough of that on your own!


LET'S DROP THIS PUCK ON ROUND 2 ALREADY!!!!