We drove into New Jersey the previous night and caught most of the game on the radio, listening to the Yankees radio team. Now I'm sure the play-by-play announcer is some famous guy who I should know the name of, but to me he just sounded like Bob Uecker, complete with the "Juuuuust a bit outside" call. I was impressed though, with their knowledge of the Pirates, as they knew taking Gorzo out of the game meant instant self-destruction and the color analyst mentioned how talented Castillo was during the Sunday broadcast, only to have him play one of the best defensive games of his life. They did miss the ball though when they called the Pirates "very well managed by Jim Tracy". The YES network TV crew did a good job making up for it though when they went on a 5 minute tirade on Sunday about how the Pirates can't expect to win if they keep making mental errors, and how unbelievable it is considering Tracy "stresses fundamental baseball". Whatever. The best Pirate related story of the weekend was when I went to a bar with my girlfriend's dad, who is a diehard Mets fan by the way. I was still wearing my Freddy Sanchez jersey and the bartender noticed. He immediately came up to me and said "Freddy Sanchez drinks Malibu Bay Breezes", to which I was caught off guard...I was expecting beer on my head or callous remarks about Bay being in a Yankee uniform in 2010, not insults about what the players drink. But he continued, explaining that he used to live in Nashville at the same time Freddy was there while a part of the Red Sox organization and got to hang out with him a few times and that his drink of choice was Malibu bay breezes. To me, that about sums up the state of the Pittsburgh Pirates....our best singles hitter drinks malibu bay breezes, our best natural hitter is Canadian, and the hitter who was supposed to save this ballclub can't actually hit."
-Sam from Penn State
It was really eye opening to watch the Bucs play in the Vatican City of baseball. That's is not a stretch by the way. Baseball is a religion to Yankee fans. If the BOSS pulled the same crap The Mc Nutting Corp. is doing, the fans would riot in the streets and burn cars. They are fanatical. I'd just like to share with you my top 10 list from the Yanks game :
10.) The Bucs maybe have 3 or 4 guys that might be able to cut it on a real MLB roster. Jason Bay would be the Rob Mackowiak of the Yanks roster. (OK maybe thats a stretch) Snell and Capps would could contribute, but Chris Duffy and Jack Wilson probably would be glorified bat boys. The Bucs are outgunned, plain and simple.
8.) They give alway actual bats as a promotion, not mini bats but, 30' Louisville sluggers, and we get bobble headed to death. Mind you the were Jason Giambi bats but personally I'd rather have a Bob Prince Talking Bobble-head.
7.) The Bucs were psyched out. Remember, the last time the Bucs were here Lloyd let the team take a guided tour of the stadium. Only the Pirates get pysched out by a guided tour. This trip, No tour, same results. At least this time there's no next stop in Boston. They were noticeably intimidated.
6.) It was odd seeing Adam Laroche bat without hearing his, "I am a big beer drinking, antler waving, mud tiring driven" hill-billy intro music, and then the ensuing boos after 1-4 night with 3 K,s. Yankee fans don't know what they are missing.
5.) If one more Yankee fan asks me about the Pirates, "Rich History of Latin Players" I'm going to go nuts. it is unbelievable it is 2007 and the most recognizable pirate to yankee fans in Roberto Celemente, and he played decades ago. I would respond back, We do have Freddy Sanchez, you know the NL batting camp from last year. Then everybody stares at me in disbelief. I had no idea the Pirates were this far off the MLB radar to the rest of the county.
4.) Rumor has it Craig Wilson Has a car wash somewhere near the stadium. I searched and searched. Couldn't find it. Maybe next trip.
3} Not one Pirate has the batter's box presence of AROD or Jeter. I don't think I've ever been to a Bucs game when 50,000 fans are hanging on every pitch thrown to Jason Bay or Freddy. I am convinced the only way to achieve this at PNC is if some how, some way Big Ben, or Sid the kid digs in, then maybe we would get as excited as they do. Those are only two players that if possible could get that type of response.
2.) Yankee stadium is a dump. There I said it. But the fans come to Yankee Stadium for the GAME, not ambiance and bobble-heads, so it doesn't need to be state of the art.
1.) As Pittsburgh fan I can relate to the Yankees. Simply because we have the Steelers. Yankee fans are Steeler fans. Pittsburgh is football Town. New York is the baseball equivalent. Face it, I compare being a Bucs fan to dating the chubby younger sister of a really hot chick. You are dating her because you are hoping she will develop into the knock out her older sister (The Steelers) is. As long as we root for the Bucs we are dating the Chubby sister of The Pittsburgh trifecta.
Lauren:
Something I wanted to mention:
One interesting thing Rege forgot to include as part of his NY experience - How his girlfriend (read: me) got threatened by a drunk and extremely obnoxious Yankee fan (you know, there's always THAT guy sitting a few rows in front of you). His form of threat? A frozen lemonade being thrown at me. I swear to you, he had his wallet out to give the money to the vendor patrolling the upper decks of Yankee Stadium.
Chris from Brooklyn, a guy who didn't go to the game, but had some interesting points:
Just thought I'd chime in with the Pirates in town. I didn't go to any of the games cause I hate baseball, Yankee tickets are way overpriced, and I helped my girlfriend move-in. I did, however, catch the Friday and Saturday games.
What I saw was unbelievable. Again, I don't have an intimate knowledge of baseball, but it was clear that the Buccos had no focus. The Yankee color analysts had no choice but to diss their fundamentals. And I can't buy into the idea that playing in Yankee stadium gave them stage-fright. If anything, that should elevate their game.
What's so messed up is that every negative thing I read about them is true. I thought for sure that the criticism the Buccos receive from Madden, Starkey, and Smizik was overblown. Those three guys are pretty pessimistic. But little did I know they were actually telling it how it is.
Nothing short of a trip to the playoffs could get my attention back to baseball. In other words; who cares.
And to comment on Yankee fans: tons of your letters have been praising the Yankee following for caring so much about baseball. Dude, these are the same clowns that booed the 2005 AL MVP for suffering a mid season slump last year. It just so happen that the Yankees(ESPECIALLY their golden boy Jeter) were beating the snot out of someone on the first beautiful summer weekend, hence the barrage of cheers. And the Red Sox are a better team, so Yankee fans are reeling for their team to catch up.
Peace out. I'll chime in again when the Stillers season starts.
Adam the Penn State Fan:
1. I stayed in Jersey,and it took us 2-3 hours each way to go to the game. I talked to a guy from Manhattan who left at 11:30 for the game at 1:05, and he got there later than me. I left at 10 that day. If the Bucco fan base had to travel 2-3 hours each way to see them, even the bobbleheads wouldn't cut it. There would be no fan base.
2. Despite the fact I was madder than a baby whose candy was taken from him, the experience Friday night was incredible. As a baseball fan, getting to see 50,000 Yankee fans on their feet in one of the most legendary stadiums ever gave me chills. The Yanks had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, with Jeter providing the walk off hit. The stadium erupted into a giant sing along of "New York, New York". Even though the Bucs lost, it was one of my top 5 in person sports experiences.
3. Also on Fri. nite, the only night the Bucs were in it, this pack of Yankee fans goes "Wow, what a great game", trying to egg me on. I looked over a cooly remarked "I agree, It was Pirates baseball at its finest. They didn't say another word.
4. Another drunk asked me "Hey Pirates fan, why don't you kill yourself", to which I replied, "because then I won't get to see the Yanks choke anymore (crickets).
5. Finally, in perhaps the saddest moment of the Pirate's national appeal, one drunken Yankee fan said "Ooooo, Pirates!!....Pirates of the Carribean? Arggh, I'm Jack Sparrow!!" Yup, the Pirates and now second in the sports world to Pirates who aren't even in the sports world. Great.
6. While some earlier spoke of heckling, I didn't really get much of that. Most of it, though limited, was just kind hearted joking, and not any real abuse. As far as true baseball goes, the fans seemed indifferent to us. They didn't care that we were rooing for the other team. They just kind of chuckled when we cheered, and that was it
Mike:
Mondesi,
I'm not sure if you are still accepting people's takes on the Yanks/Bucs series, but here's mine:I went up to NYC this weekend to see the Bucs battle the Yanks not expecting much. Honestly, I knew we were gonna get swept. I would have bet the house on it...if I actually owned one. Anyway, my overall experience of the trip wasn't completely bad, the fans surprisingly weren't too loud or mean where I sat, most were actually really nice to us. (there were 4 of us in our group, my parents, my girlfriend and myself). It reminded me of the one year when I went to see the Steelers play the Lions in a late season game (I think it was 2001) and we just absolutely destroyed them. The whole time Steeler fans around me were sort of messing with the Lions fans, but nobody was being outright mean. I felt sorry for them, it felt wrong to pick on people when they are down (the only exception is the Browns or the Ravens...or the Flyers...) almost like picking on the retarded kid in class...
Which brings me back to the Bronx. This time I was the invading fan in a very different world. It was amazing to see people actually watch and really care about the game. Clapping with every 2 out, 2 strike count, cheering loudly for any hit, and just paying attention to the game as a whole. While they do have giveaways at the games in the Bronx (usually to the first 18,000 fans), most nights are "Just-watch-the-damn-game-night." Although they did give away some Derek Jeter figurine on Friday night which I gave mine to a nice Latino guy on my left. The last thing I wanted was a reminder of Derek Jeter hitting a dinky single in the 10th to give those jagoffs the win. (the next night they gave out Yankee caps and I told the person politely that I don't want one, nor would I ever place it on my head even if you paid me...)
The thing I was shocked most about was the sheer number of Pirate fans who were there, I guess we're all gluttons for punishment (my guess was about 5,000-6,000 Pirate fans for each game I went to). The games were about as entertaining as a root canal...other than a few bright spots on Friday night (the Duffy inside the park homer and Jack's crazy bare-handed pick and throw to get Damon were what really stuck with me) Saturday was much worse since "the Rocket" was launching. Was it me, or did he look terrible? He was lucky to be playing against the Pirates because they made him look like the Clemens of about 20 years ago. I honestly hope he throws hit fat fucking arm out and the Yankees are well and buried come late July. If anything, this weekend strengthened my hatred towards the Yankees more than ever (and strengthened my love of Mazeroski and the 1960 Pirates!). I hate everything that they stand for. They are the epitome of what's wrong with baseball today, but on the other hand, so are the Pirates.
As I was leaving the game on Friday night one witty Yankee's fan yelled at me: "Hey, the Pirates suck!" My response: I shrug my shoulders and said "Yeaaaah, not much else to it is there?" and to that he was sort of confused. He didn't know how to respond to absolute apathy. I'm so desensitized to the Pirates sucking that I don't even care when someone yells at me. I guess because it's true. We suck. We have the worst run organization in pro sports.
As we were making our way further down the ramp to the street I got into a few conversations about sports and most of the Yankee fans were like "Well, at least you have the Steelers", "The Pens are good", "You got Crosby, Staal and Malkin" and to be honest it was really surprising to me, like as if they were trying to cheer me up. I told them my biggest curse was that I would rather see the Pirates just finish above .500 than see the Pens or Steelers win their respective championship. Most of them thought I was nuts as I assume all of my fellow Burghers would too. But I'm a baseball fan and Pirate fan first and foremost. And I will always be. I blame my dad. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Sorry this was so long, I just needed to rant about this. Thanks for the awesome blog.
Counting down the days 'til training camp,
Mike
South Side Slopes
1 comment:
WE WILL....waste your time.
WE WILL....take your money.
WE WILL....embarrass the city.
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