I'm a Pittsburgh fan in all sports. It's in my blood, I can't help it. From the time I knew what I was doing, I've been rooting for the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates. I was left to my own devices when choosing an NBA team, so I was a Pacer's fan, but hadn't had much allegiance to them since Miller left. Then I moved to Portland, and for the first time in my life I had a hometown professtional team so I adopted the Blazers as my NBA team. Things are looking up for the Blazers, and until a late season slump, they had a chance at even making the playoffs. Thanks to the stellar play of rookies Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and even Sergio "Spanish Chocolate" Rodriguez and a new GM in Kevin Pritchard, the Blazers should gel into a very competitive team over the next few years.
But then we get to baseball. As anyone who has glanced at the box scores over the last 15 years knows, it ain't easy being a Pirates fan. We've had 14 straight losing seasons and for the last few years, have had a team that would probably struggle to compete in AAA. We haven't won an NL Pennant or a World Series since before I was born. The heartbreaking NL Championship Series against the Braves in the early 90's is a distant memory for me and other fans. Every year they have a few guys that really step up, and the Pirates immediately trade them for cheap prospects. You know it can't be good when the second-highest paid player for the Pirates this year doesn't even play for them anymore. Jason Kendall, the All-Star catcher now with the Oakland A's is on the books for $5 million this year. Jack Wilson at $5.4 million, is the only other player cracking the $4 million mark. I don't know what the opposite of "Moneyball" is, but the Pirates have it mastered.
But early happenings left a slight glimmer of black & gold hope flickering in the hearts of Pittsburgh fans. The Pirates recorded a season-opening series sweep for the first time since who knows when with a 3-0 start against the Houston Astros. Since then however, things have slipped a little bit. They've dropped 2 in a row to the Reds, helped in part today, by a Xavier Nady assist as an almost flyout popped out of his glove and over the fence for a Reds 2-run homer and the Bucs lost 7-5. Nontheless, I have hope. I don't expect them to win the NL Central or a Pennant or anything like that, but if we can pull a near-.500 record, we just might slip into the playoffs in the lowly National League. At the very least, I'm taking the over on wins this season with the line set at 70.5.
In other baseball news, A-Rod has silenced his critics for at least the next couple hours after hitting a walk-off grand slam today as the Yankees beat the Orioles.
And finally, Tiger Woods finished bogey, bogey today at Augusta, but then watched as everyone else collapsed down the stretch as well to put him in a tie for second with Justin Rose one back of Stuart Appleby who had a devastating triple bogey on 17. We'll see tomorrow if the Aussie curse at Augusta continues.
And finally, in the last game of the NHL regular season for the Penguins, they need to beat the Rangers and have the Senators to clinch first-round home ice. Good luck boys.
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