http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/
Thursday, April 7, 2011
This isn't opinion, it's fact: Something incredible happened to a bunch of dangerously thirsty Pirates fans during the season-opening series in Chicago and St. Louis.
After years of writhing in desert sand under a deadly sun — and losing a lot of fellow baseball lovers along the way — these people finally felt a drop of water on their tongues.
That does not mean they're satisfied, obviously, just because the Pirates arrive at PNC Park with a 4-2 record for today's home opener.
It doesn't mean the Pirates will win the World Series.
It doesn't mean baseball is fixed.
It doesn't mean Bob Nutting suddenly is a multibillionaire.
It won't bring back a lost generation of fans.
It doesn't even guarantee the Pirates will emerge from the weekend with a winning record.
It simply means there was an unmistakable emotional shift among many Pittsburghers who love the sport. I've seen it in conversations with friends and strangers. I've heard it from listeners to my radio show.
Of course, any decent start — like last year's 7-5 mark — is going to generate overreaction and false hope. But the feedback this time has a distinctly different tenor.
It feels more grounded.
Two texts I received:
• "I used to get excited to get home after school to see the Pirates. Finally, I feel the same way sitting at work as a grown man. Awesome feeling."
• "Fans my age (35) are excited because the thought of the Bucs being good again makes us feel young."
See? The mere thought of water can excite a thirsty man.
Maybe the reaction had something to do with the fact that a hometown guy (Neil Walker) barreled home with the go-ahead run Sunday in Chicago. Maybe part of it was how manager Clint Hurdle seemed so different from his predecessor. Which is to say, Hurdle was breathing — and interacting with other humans, including those dressed in umpire suits.
Maybe it was the fact that legitimate young talent has replaced the cardboard cutouts from last year's Opening Day lineup. That alone makes this start monumentally different.
But that's not me talking. That is the thirsty masses.
Take 37-year-old Frank Brown. He is the kind of person the Pirates must salvage. He is a lifelong Pittsburgh sports fan. Grew up in Robinson, graduated from IUP and served five years in the Army. He has children ages 12, 9 and 7 and was working at US Airways until November, when he was laid off shortly after moving his family into a new home. He is taking online courses toward a master's degree. His wife is a nurse.
Brown can barely remember the last time he went to a Pirates game — he figures he has been to four since Barry Bonds left — but he will plunk down his money today, despite the lack of disposable income.
That's what opening weekend did for him.
"It energized me," Brown said. "You know, it's not Aki Iwamura and the knee brace and guys like that. These are legit young players."
Brown desperately wants his kids to join him in his passion for baseball, but he has kept them away from PNC Park the way a father might shield his children from poison.
"I didn't want to expose them to the losing," he said.
Denny Pirring, a 47-year-old cab driver from Mt. Washington, was at a bar in Penn Hills when the Pirates made their comeback Sunday. NASCAR and golf were on the two big televisions. Somebody demanded a switch to the Pirates around the seventh inning.
Everybody watched. That was different.
So was seeing Walker race home.
"The place was packed, and everybody went nuts — high-fiving, screaming," Pirring said. "I've been going there for years, and I'd never seen that for a Pirates game."
It wasn't so different for the Pirates themselves. Even a newcomer recognized as much.
"You saw everybody on that field when we won the last game in Chicago," first baseman Lyle Overbay said after Wednesday's game. "Everybody was fist-pumping, laughing. Hopefully, the fans continue to do that, too, because it is fun. I want them to jump on and enjoy it as much as we do."
Nobody's asking for 95 wins. Or even 82. They just want ... well, let Frank Brown tell you.
"I'm not into fireworks, bobbleheads or washed-up '80's rock bands," Brown said. "I just want to see a good baseball team."
I don't know if the Pirates are any good. It's ridiculously early. I just know something significant happened in the desert last weekend.
And it wasn't a mirage.
Read more: Starkey: Different ballgame for Pirates fans - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/s_731051.html#ixzz1IqFusbIA
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