Those of us who live in the Pittsburgh sports abyss caused by the black hole of all things Pittsburgh - Comcast Harrisburg - were greeted last night to the news that the Pirates had beaten, nay, pummeled baseball's holy of holies, the New York Yankees by a score of 12-5. Of course, out here in Harrisburg, the news reports were more slanted to the fact that the Yankees lost than the fact the Pirates won, but we take what we can get out here in the void.
What impressed me the most (after the fact of course) were the reports that PNC Park bucked a trend for the Yankees faithful, by filling up with more Pirates fans than Yankees fans. All I heard all day out here was how the Yankees fans have such a strong road following, and how they tend to outnumber the home team's fans, yada, yada, yada. Well, just goes to show you, us Pittsburgh fans are no bandwagon, flavor of the month types. We stick with our teams through thick and thin.
Every city claims to have the best fans in the world...with the possible exception of Philly, where even the players don't always like playing there. But you would be hard pressed to find a more faithful, loyal fanbase than those who root for the black and gold.
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4 comments:
What players don't like being in Philly? I'm shocked! - name one. I mean, other than Terrell Owens, Scott Rolen, Eric Lindros, J.D. Drew (who never actually played for the Phillies), Allen Iverson, or Santa Claus.
You know your team is lousy when beating a team that's in the middle of the pack is like "winning the pennant". By the way, how did last night's game go?
So much wrong, so little time.
I'll decide tomorrow if I actually want make the obvious and necessary rebuttals here...
Can't resist, but this is all in good fun...
#1 - Pirates are averaging around 18,000 fans a game (good for 29th of 30 teams) and drew 38,000+ to the game in question. So, most of the people who showed up may have rooted for the Pirates, but the majority apparently came to watch the Yankees.
#2 - Players don't want to play in Philly? How about if we convince a couple Phillies they've been traded to Pittsburgh, and then a couple Pirates that they've been dealt to Philly, and compare facial expressions?
#3 - Jeff's list:
Owens - was loved in Philly till he got into a spat with management and threw his QB under the bust
Rolen - also beloved until he turned down a huge contract to stay and ripped management, and even then he didn't really take the abuse until he was finally gone. And, as a footnote, he found a way to be completely unhappy and wear out his welcome in baseball "heaven". He has rabbit ears and ridiculously thin skin, he'll wear out his welcome in Toronto in short order as well.
Lindros - probably the one unhappy Philly player on the list whose issue (at least at first) was primarily with the fans/media.
JD Drew - Would have taken abuse in any city for his antics that was actually paying attention, and has never been anything resembling a fan favorite anywhere he's gone. The dude who threw the battery at him should have been banned from the park for life.
Allen Iverson - very poor choice for this list, despite his various spats with the team, the fan response to Iverson was always vastly positive, as evidenced by the two way love fest when he came back this season with Denver.
Santa Claus - Okay, you win on this one :-)
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