Why are there still Pirates fans?

I thought I'd share one reporter's exploration of that question.

https://defector.com/why-are-there-still-pirates-fans

 

I know why everybody my age is a fan. We followed them when they were an actual major league baseball team. For years people been telling me to switch to the Phillies since I've lived in their fandom for 50 years.

Born black and gold, die black and gold.

F U Bob Nutting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

A nice, lengthy and accurate portrayal of 30+ years of Pirates futility. Like the Steelers, it's in the blood, not really a choice thing. So I will continue following and rooting for them, aimlessly.

 

Born Black n Gold
Die Black n Gold

 

It was in my blood, too, but I haven't considered myself a fan for over 30 years. I can stomach losing if the team is trying. I will stay with my team forever if they try. The Pirates don't try. I don't mean the players and managers. I mean the owner. As long as they refuse to put in the resources to compete, I cannot bring myself to give a damn if they win or lose.

 

As a kid I was far more into the Pirates than the Steelers. Back in the 60s and 70s you could take a bus dedicated to the Pirates game and get off at the stadium. That bus would wait for you after the game and you took it home. My parents would hand me 10 bucks and I would have a great time at the game. Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, all the great ones. I loved it. So that's why I'm still a fan. I can't get it out of my makeup. It was an event I could go to alone as a young teen and have a night out.

 

I remember attending the first (and very last) "Hootenanny Night" at Forbes Field which was targeting teenagers with probably $1.00 admission for non-box seats anywhere. Some pre and post game folk music but the kids just trashed the place (not me and my friends of course) and were setting seats on fire and throwing stuff on the field. I was totally embarrassed for my age group at the time. This was just before the tune-in, turn-on and drop-out pandemonium hit the streets of America and beyond.

 

I use to take the bus from Shadyside and sit in left field. I think total cost was about 2 dollars. No food or drink money.

 

We used to get GA tickets with town talk bread wrappers!
Those were the days!
Ask me why I am still a Pirate fan?!
If OP asks this about Pirates
Wont be long until he questions being a Steeler fan
Simple answer
Your born into the black n gold

 

We rode the bus from McKeesport to go to watch Pirates!
We were barely teenagers
Memories
We used to go watch WWF Wrestling when Bruno was wrestling
Watched Bruno get heart punched by Stan Stasiak in a steel cage match, not once but twice!
Sammartino still won!

 

Man used to love listening to Bob Prince on the radio
I got tears forming in my eyes
Takes me back to when life was simple and more enjoyable

 

You moan about the Pirates
What about our beloved Steelers and the stupid chit they keep repeating year in and year out?
I guess you haven’t had enough of the mismanagement going on yet?
Keep signing trash players that other teams don’t want
Yeah Steelers are heading on the same path
But, I will tell you this
Pirates will win a playoff game before the Steelers do!

 

Too bad MLB can’t intervene and push Nutting out the league.

 

Try following more closely. I didn't give up on the Pirates because they were bad. I didn't do it because they have been mismanaged for decades, though they have. I gave up on them because they don't try. Their dirtbag of an owner refuses to allow the team to spend at a competitive level. You could argue that this is the best offseason they have had in 10 or 20 years and they are still near the bottom of MLB in payroll. The Steelers have failed to reach their goals for a while now, but at least they try. The Pirates don't. What Nutting is doing is a violation of the public trust.

 

They could, but they won't, and that dooms the franchise.

 

And in all fairness, the Steelers owner is doing sone dumb stuff in the last few years
I understand wanting to win now but signing recycled players every year obviously isn’t working.

 

I think Rooney let Tomlin and Khan do what they wanted to do. I can understand seeing that as a mistake because they have done a lot wrong. I can at least respect honest mistakes as opposed to not trying and gaslighting the fanbase the way Nutting does.

 

Just get him to say something racist. It pushed Marge Schott out!

 

That shouldn’t be to hard to do in today’s society
If you don’t like something you are automatically a racist
Bye bye Nutting

 

Or a misogynist, or a "phobe" of some kind.......