Here we go Steelers, here we go. How bout dem Buccos? Pittsburghers love to root for their favorite teams and players, except when it is time for them to get paid.
Aren’t you tired of hearing the whining about who makes what? Recently, I wrote a column detailing how perverted I thought the lifestyle of LeBron James was. Now I am going to visit the opposite end of the spectrum.
When former Pirates outfielder Dave Parker became a million dollar man in baseball, he wasn’t greeted by congratulations and cheers, he was confronted with foreign objects being hurled at him from almost every direction.
The city of Pittsburgh missed an opportunity to celebrate the success of one of the greatest Pirates of all time, yet many fans from the Steel City chose to accentuate the negative and effectively drive Parker out of town.
Pittsburgh is a great sports town until they economically disagree with you, then its Katy bar the door.
The economics of sports has changed. In the NBA you have to pay to play. Look at the Cleveland Cavaliers. They got paid, they played and they won. However, Golden State didn’t sit down after they blew a 3-1 lead and allowed the Cavaliers to sneak up on them and “take the trophy,” you diggg.
It is all about the dough bro, ain’t nothing shakin’ but the bacon. Pretty darn soon, the Pirates are going to have to share the wealth. They can’t afford to go back to the give all your talent away for future prospect, otherwise known as the Dave Littlefield syndrome.
I have a funny feeling that these next two years are going to be critical in regards to the maintenance of personnel. Can’t you see the buzzards’ sitting on the fence for them to throw relief specialist Mark Melancon or outfielder Andrew McCutchen on the chopping block?
Pirate’s manager Clint Hurdle has become a baseball “alchemist” and Pittsburgh cannot afford to upset the chemistry that he has developed. Not one player from the 2016 Pirates squad can be sacrificed, in fact they need to be adding to the equation, not subtracting from it.
All the Pirates need are a few more pieces and coupled with their youth, they can be on top for a long, long time. But they are going to not have to go with the flow, they are going to have to “go with the dough.”
The times of indentured servitude in the world of professional sports has long past. How many CEO’s make perverted money just to sit there and look cute, but people still run and purchase their products? These small markets had better wake up or they will remain asleep in the “cellars” of professional sports.
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741. Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe.)
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