Breaking News: Pirates Third Most Popular Professional Team In Pittsburgh

Obviously, there isn't too much going on in the world of PNC Park today. Dejan has a couple of interesting reports in his weekly Hot Stove article. Andy LaRoche needs to work on building up morale, the Pirates will field trade offers for Adam LaRoche later in the season, more scouts have been added around the world, Neil Walker talks about pressure from the top and bottom at third, John Grabow has elbow chips, the Pirates have changed the way they set up conditioning programs, and yes...more on Eric Hinske.

Steelers...DO IT!
I'll be sure to post more on the headline at some point today.
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photo credit: Hines Ward leaps his way into the end zone and is well on his way to Super Bowl XL MVP - Dan Powers, The Post-Cresscent

The First...The Last???

Let me start by saying that I feel as if I am a horrible writer. Let me also say, that aside from physical comedy and the occasional one liners, I'm horrible at keeping people's attention and making things exciting.

Now that I've shared all of that information, thus discrediting anything I say on here and scaring off just about everyone from reading this blog, let me share some of my hopes and dreams for this thing.

I'm hoping to update this on a regular basis, starting tonight, on the woeful Pittsburgh Pirates. Inspired by Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke and Dejan Kovacevic's posts on the Post-Gazette web site, I want to be able to share with the world the views of a season ticket holder who isn't obsessed with the Pirates or baseball in general, but into them enough, and loyal enough to drop $1600 a year for the past 4 years to be considered a die-hard fan by most people I know.

I'm looking forward to what, without doubt, will be another long season on this journey to the number 17. No doubt, there will be nights where I feel like sticking a screwdriver into my temple, or Sunday afternoons in July and August where I am asking myself, "Why the hell am I sitting on these hot metal bleachers sweating my balls off", as the Pirates will more than likely be losing yet another Sunday afternoon game.

We will see how long this lasts. Does anyone want to place an over/under on the number of games I'll make it through? Will I even make it to Spring Training? Time will tell.

The annual PiratesFest convention will be going on this weekend at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. For the second time in about 3 years, the Pirates will be announcing a new alternate jersey, ending the reign of terror of the red jersey. A lot of people, players included, HATED, these things. Initially, I wasn't a fan of the red jersey, however, over the past year or so, they started to grow on me. Not to worry though...these red jerseys will forever be immortalized on an Adam LaRoche bobble head. I am sure that many fans will be dancing in the streets knowing that by the end of the 2009 campaign, Adam LaRoche and the red jerseys will be gone from the organization.

I am going to try to update this blog over the next few days to share my opinions about some of the things that have happened with the team recently, including my outlook for the '09 season. I may even post pictures from my trip to PiratesFest on Sunday.

Let's Go Bucs!

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photo credit: Romulo Sanchez flanked by David Davidson walking to the bullpen. Me.