jtmulc
in
pittsburgh
Baseball rant.
I was reading this article in today's Post Gazette:
Greenfield baseball boosters to protest lawsuit by neighbor who wants to stop games at Hammer Field
and the thought occurred to me, "You know who should really get behind these guys? The Pirates!". WTF do the Buckling Buccos have to do with little league baseball and their irritating neighbor? Absolutely nothing, except a good PR opportunity and free advertising. In the past few weeks, the Pirates have traded off, well just about everybody you've ever heard of for some hefty bags of magic beans. It'll be years to see if any of those beans grows into a mighty stalk capable of lifting this franchise above .500 and in the mean time, the natives are getting restless. Though not yet at the pitchforks and torches armed mob storming PNC Park phase, fans are, at best, disheartened after the club's Nth annual Everything Must Go sale and public opinion is likely at its lowest ever. Simply put, the Pirates are in desperate need of some good press.
Enter the Greenfield Baseball Association, currently embroiled in a legal battle to continue allow them to do what folks in Greenfield have been doing for almost 50 years: play baseball in Hammer Field. A short, public statement released to the press or better yet a Pirates PR representative showing up at the rally Thursday declaring their support for the Greenfield Baseball Association and little league baseball everywhere. Even better would be to file a Friend Of The Court (that's Amicus curiae for you erudite readers) brief in favor of the GBA. The headline in Friday's paper reads, "Big League team comes out swinging for Little League". Bloggers, columnists, and editorialists stop talking about losing seasons and ditching players (for a little while at least) and maybe, just maybe, people go, "You know, maybe that Bob Nutting's not such a bad guy. Maybe I'll take the kids down to the ballpark on a night when they aren't fireworks". Cost to Pirates: very little. Gain in fan support: could only go up from here. Will they do it? Highly unlikely.
But hey, what do I know? I'm not a millionaire newspaper magnate.
Greenfield baseball boosters to protest lawsuit by neighbor who wants to stop games at Hammer Field
and the thought occurred to me, "You know who should really get behind these guys? The Pirates!". WTF do the Buckling Buccos have to do with little league baseball and their irritating neighbor? Absolutely nothing, except a good PR opportunity and free advertising. In the past few weeks, the Pirates have traded off, well just about everybody you've ever heard of for some hefty bags of magic beans. It'll be years to see if any of those beans grows into a mighty stalk capable of lifting this franchise above .500 and in the mean time, the natives are getting restless. Though not yet at the pitchforks and torches armed mob storming PNC Park phase, fans are, at best, disheartened after the club's Nth annual Everything Must Go sale and public opinion is likely at its lowest ever. Simply put, the Pirates are in desperate need of some good press.
Enter the Greenfield Baseball Association, currently embroiled in a legal battle to continue allow them to do what folks in Greenfield have been doing for almost 50 years: play baseball in Hammer Field. A short, public statement released to the press or better yet a Pirates PR representative showing up at the rally Thursday declaring their support for the Greenfield Baseball Association and little league baseball everywhere. Even better would be to file a Friend Of The Court (that's Amicus curiae for you erudite readers) brief in favor of the GBA. The headline in Friday's paper reads, "Big League team comes out swinging for Little League". Bloggers, columnists, and editorialists stop talking about losing seasons and ditching players (for a little while at least) and maybe, just maybe, people go, "You know, maybe that Bob Nutting's not such a bad guy. Maybe I'll take the kids down to the ballpark on a night when they aren't fireworks". Cost to Pirates: very little. Gain in fan support: could only go up from here. Will they do it? Highly unlikely.
But hey, what do I know? I'm not a millionaire newspaper magnate.