FLORIAN TELEVISION SIGHTING!

How much of a following has Pirate SuperFan/Anti-Dentite Ronnie Florian acquired over the past year? His story has been well-chronicled on this site, which has become his unofficial internet fan club.

So you can imagine the variety of "Did you just see that?" emails I received after Florian was apparently spotted last night on the Pirate telecast chasing a ground-rule double ball that Mark Loretta hit into the PNC Park stands.

Mike T. from Pittsburgh had perhaps the best summary:

"I swear to God, I'm watching the Pirates game, there's 1 out in the top of the 7th and Loretta just hit a ground rule double.... A guy seems to have possession of the ball, bounces around, and like a bat out of hell, Florian dives into the screen in a futile attempt to get the souvenir.. I wish I had video proof to send you, but keep your eye out."

So tell me, does anyone out there happen to have any video proof of this moment? The inbox at mondesishouse@gmail.com is begging for it.

By the way, the Pirates won the game, 4-3, and Joggin' Ronny Paulino was sent down to AAA. Coupled with the Pedro Alvarez draft pick and a Ronnie Florian sighting, yesterday was about as great a day as a Pirate fan could ever hope for outside of finishing the season at 81-81.

THIS IS WHAT RONNIE FLORIAN'S BEEN UP TO

Last year, a series of TV spots for the Pirates identified some local die-hards telling their stories of why they love the Pirates so. Some of these were on the boring side, but then we were introduced to one Ronnie Florian. The rest, as they say, was history. My recap from last year:

At long last, my Holy Grail has been delivered. I present to you the much-anticipated, much-hyped, RONNIE FLORIAN, Pirate Fan [video]. The accent, the mustache, the Pirates sweatshirt...it's the perfect storm of everything that Pittsburgh is all about. The only way they make this more Pittsburgh is if he would be wearing a Steelers sweatshirt and was holding an Iron City in the Heinz Field parking lot. But this is a Pirate ad, so I'm sure they made him change outfits before they started taping.

He became an internet phenomenon, easily the biggest non-celebrity in Mondesi's House history next to the famous GwenJen.

Readers were tracking him down at Pirate games, and he graciously posed for pictures, beer in hand. What we thought might be a fictional character made up by the Pirates' PR department was all too real. It was like getting a picture of Bigfoot. Readers even found him at the Pirates-Yankees series in New York.

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago (May 12, to be exact). I got an interesting email from a longtime reader. This was shortly after that huge local story about the wedding night brawl in Pittsburgh that left groom/dentist David Wielechowski looking like this:

So the email drops what I would call a bombshell on me:

Anyways, my dad heard a rumor that the person who tried to help that married couple who fought each other on mcknight road... was RON FLORIAN HIMSELF....tell me that wouldnt be the craziest bit of news you heard in months if its true...

While I certainly believed it could be possible, I decided to wait and see if I could find out more details. You know I'm not big on rumor-mongering. And today, the emails started coming in, from the PG and the Trib. An excerpt:

"I got him in a headlock and I was lumping him and lumping him," the elder Florian said, demonstrating the headlock and his punches to the dentist's head while glaring at Dr. Wielechowski across a courtroom table that separated them.

So what was the most bizarre story of the year in Pittsburgh now gets a million times crazier. Ronnie Florian, I never thought you could get any cooler, but somehow you've managed to pull it off.

RELATED:

Recapping a Busy Day (Florian at the Yankee game) [Mondesishouse.com]

Ronnie Florian is Real...Again [Mondesishouse.com]

At Long Last, Ronnie Florian [Mondesishouse.com]

STORY OF THE DAY (Wedding brawl) [Mondesishouse.com]

Brawling newlyweds to stand trial [PG]

Shaler newlyweds held for trial in brawl with other wedding party [Trib]

At Long Last, Ronnie Florian

At long last, my Holy Grail has been delivered. I present to you the much-anticipated, much-hyped, RONNIE FLORIAN, Pirate Fan. The accent, the mustache, the Pirates sweatshirt...it's the perfect storm of everything that Pittsburgh is all about. The only way they make this more Pittsburgh is if he would be wearing a Steelers sweatshirt and was holding an Iron City in the Heinz Field parking lot. But this is a Pirate ad, so I'm sure they made him change outfits before they started taping.

This is part of a PG story about the 2007 Pirates TV spots, so there are a total of three ads on this video reel. The second one is a normal-looking family, the third is a Salomon Torres montage to the soundtrack of U2. These are both boring and not worth your time. The highlight here is Ronnie. And since my current setup does not include the equipment to bring this to YouTube myself, I can only offer this small appetizer for now. This is part of a whole series, each ad more exquisite than the next. The sad part is that this isn't even the best Ronnie Florian ad. Maybe with some luck I'll be able to post some of the others in the near future.

If you caught Ronnie's mention on Bugs and Cranks the other day, you know I'm not the only one fascinated by this man. Check out their take:

In case I ever want to write a memoir about growing up in Pittsburgh, I’m taking a screen shot and saving the .jpg of “Ronny Florian.” The bushy mustache, the transition lenses, the sweatshirt as fashion statement (by the way, it’s too bad his legs are off camera because I’m sure you’re missing out on his track pants), this guy takes every stereotype about the middle aged Pittsburgh male and mashes them into one. In fact, his local accent is so spot-on perfect (”comin dahn to the bullpurk, the fillin comes over yuh…once yer in yer sits and you see ‘ose boys playun the way thir tryyyin”), that I’m convinced he’s not real. I think the Pirates manufactured him in some robot factory in Dormont specifically for this commercial. He’s Ron Florian, the Stepford Yinzer.

Also, I love the choice of A New Pirates Generation as the background music for this ad. The song is like the Bring It On of music at Pirates games. Every time you think the tune has disappeared, it pops up again, morphed into some completely new form.

With that as a lead-in, I present to you the one and only Ronnie Florian:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07088/773379-28.stm