Sales Thinning Out!

As an example of my previous post today, I wasn't able to sell my tickets for tonight's game.  That's the first time that's happened.  Every other game that I've sold (14 total) I've been able to sell on game day (if not already sold in advance).  Today marks the first time that failed.  It's starting to seem like the Brand New Bucco Experience is becoming defined as 'showing potential in the middle of the season for 1 or 2 great months but stumbling through August and September like it was 2006.'  I would still be interested in going to these games if 30,000 other people were.  I'd still be interested in rooting on the home team, the team that's a couple games out of the wild card with an entire month to play, if there were some other like minded fans out there.  That's not to say I don't get it -- I do.  Losing more than you win and drawing 15,000 fan does not make me want to go to the games either.  But being right there in a potential play off race in September, isn't that all you can ask for?  Isn't that exactly what you'd hope going into a baseball season?  I don't know, it's a week night, it's rainy, it's the Astros... but still... last week against the Cardinals there was no buzz either.  So don't blame the Astros.  The Pirates are the 7th best team in the National League.  The best 5 make the playoffs.  That's really really close, it's within reach.  Is football season already taking over?

Well... It's September

Well... it's September... and the Pirates are in playoff contention.  Somehow there's no buzz, though.  Maybe it's because they've lost 4 in a row.  Maybe because August was awful.  But still, I think many fans are victims of their own heightened expectations.  They've lost 4 in a row, are playing horribly, yet they remain a mere 2.5 games out of the wild card.  That's a good thing.  There's a month of baseball left and the Pirates are within striking distance of making the playoffs.  So why all the empty seats?  Why all the disappointment?

More on this later...

Should've Gone!!!

Wandy was locked in -- goose egg against the National League's best offense.  "El Toro" Pedro Alvarez crushing balls out of the park.  Just killing it.  Garret Jones continues to light up opposing pitchers, as he's done all month.  Damnit, I shouldn't have sold, I should've gone to the last two games!  Here's the thing with baseball.  You could lose 4 games out of every 10 and still be the best team in the league.  There isn't a single team in the American League right now with a better winning percentage than .600.  There isn't a single team in the AL that has won 6 out of every 10 games.  None!  Two teams in the NL have ~.605 winning percentages.  That's it.  That means, and this is no exaggeration, it literally means that if you went 6 wins and 4 losses out of every 10 games, you would be the third best team in all of major league baseball right now.  That's the thing about baseball -- with 162 games, 9 hitters in a lineup, a stable full of arms for pitching -- the best teams just aren't that much better than the worst.

It's not the NFL.  No one is going 13-3 or 12-4 (in baseball terms that would be 131-31 or 121-41, you know, it just doesn't happen).  There are no 11-5 teams.  Right now in all of major league baseball there isn't even the equivalent of a 10-6 team.  None, there are none!  The best records in all of baseball, the absolute best records, are equivalent to a football team winning about nine and a half games.  The absolute best team in baseball right now would not even be equal to a 10-6 record in football.

In baseball you can have 5 mediocre months and 1 great one and have a high seed in the playoffs.  You can go 13 and 12 five times over five months, then go 20-10 and you're in a position to win the division.  The NFL is "all about parity" but that's a parody.  If you want parity, play a 162-game season.

It's all doom and gloom for a month, but if you catch fire again, if you get hot, it can all start coming back together for you.  Now, I'm not saying that's happening yet with the Pirates.  No, I would say they're still smack dab in the middle of the worst stretch this year, but here's what I am saying.  It's not even September yet.  It's not at all in any way about scoreboard watching.  It's not, in the least, about what St. Louis or LA is doing.  Not yet anyway.  It's all about one thing.  It's all about you, getting where you need to be, playing how you need to play, putting up as many wins as possible.  It's not about the Reds, Braves, and Nationals.  It's all about the Pirates, day to day, winning more than they lose.

All you have to do is win more than you lose in baseball and, come September, you're a 5-game winning streak away from playoff contention.  You're right there.

That's why I bought the tickets.  That's why I'm supposed to go to game after game, night after night.  You're not going to see magical moments every evening.  Andrew McCutchen is not going to collect 3 hits, a walk, and 2 RBIs every game.  But if you go every night, if you go to 40 or 50 games over a season, you're going to see some magic.  You're going to see a Drew Sutton walk off homerun, a Clint Barmes grand slam, a James McDonald shut-out.  But that's why you have to go in bulk.  That's a lesson I am still learning.

We need to see the blue line go above the green line (and the yellow to go as high as possible).

Sales Update

After selling all 3 Cardinals games this week the sale scale has tipped well over 50% -- I've made back well over 50% of my initial cost.  I've attended 13 games, sold 13 games, and still have 13 games left. So things are in perfect balance as the Pirates head out on the road after tomorrow's series finale.  I've recovered 60% of that initial cost, having sold only 32% of my games.  

*It's not exactly a third, or 33%, as the 13-13-13 would indicate, because I have attended 1 free bonus game.

How Far WILL They Fall?

The Pirates need to finish 14-20 down the stretch to have a winning season.  I can definitely find 14 more wins on the schedule, but still, it's not an absolute lock at this point.  I have about a third of my games still left, and I've made back more than half the money I initially spent, so things are looking good from that perspective.

Sold Tickets to Cardinals Fans!

I am a bad fan.  I just sold my tickets for Wednesday nights game against the Cardinals... to Cardinals fans!  I got the text, and I'm like, 417 what's 417... uh-oh!  The thing is, right after they texted me, a 412 number also responded about the tickets.  I could have easily told the 417 that they were gone -- I hadn't responded yet.  But that's a different ethical problem -- you can't just skip the first person who responds and pick somebody else.  But of course you're not supposed to sell your tickets to fans of the opposing team.  An ethical dilemma....

Worst Stretch of Season Continues

The Pirates August woes continued this weekend at PNC Park against Milwaukee.  I sold Friday for 60$, went Saturday, which was great, including fireworks, and also today (Pirates gym bag give away).  Now they face the Cardinals -- one of the best teams in the National League.  Here's where they could fall completely out of contention -- possibly even before September first.

Worst stretch of the season continues...

Tomahawk Chopping -- Forgive Me for this One

Here's an interesting tidbit.  I would have been 13, 14 years old back when the Pirates lost consecutive National League Championship Series to the tomahawk chopping Atlanta Braves.  But I lived in Baltimore.  I wasn't a Pirates fan at all, I didn't have anything to do with Pittsburgh sports.  I was rooting for guys like Chris Hoiles and Mike Deveraux -- the Baby Birds.  I was living in a city without a football team and waking up at 7am Sunday mornings to watch Dutch League Soccer on ESPN2 -- way, way before watching European Soccer became trendy.   My brother and I would wake up at 7am to watch Feyenoord or Ajax play Einhoven or something like that.  Anyway, I was the same kind of sports fan then that I am now -- I loved the big story, the highest level of competition, who- or what-ever was achieving greatness, that's what I liked. I loved Barry Bonds, I can remember that.  Stay with me now. I also loved the Braves' story, going worst to first, but more on that later.

My little league pitching form = Tim Lincecum

This also happened to be the height of my own baseball career. I played pitcher and shortstop for the Towson Recreation Council Pony League Champion Rockies in the Summer of '92, my last great baseball season.  Josh Beck and I even threw a no hitter.

My Rotisserie League team, the Picklenoses, named after a line in The Humpty Dance, reigned supreme.  It wasn't even called fantasy baseball yet.  It was Rotisserie league.  The newspaper printed all the boxscores.  Every Sunday they printed the season totals, and you had to write your players' stats out on paper and add up their homeruns, RBIs, stolen bases, and batting averages yourself.  Luke Winternitz even did his stats on the back of a pizza box one week.  It was during the '92 season that I convinced my brother to trade me Barry Bonds for Andre Dawson. Make no mistake, I ruled the "Conneri" League -- so named for its founding families, the Connollys and Valeris.

My Dad occasionally traveled to Atlanta for work, and he would bring us souvenirs.  The Braves had just gone from worst to first in '91 and lost the World Series in 7 games to the (also worst-to-first) Minnesota Twins.  One day Dad showed up with foam tomahawks, which, I have to admit, were pretty cool.  We even pulled out the old batting helmet souvenir ice cream bowls for the Braves and Twins series.  So, without having any particular rooting interest, I found it easy to root for the Braves.

Yep, I had one, and used it

Pirates fans, you have to forgive me for this.  I was just a kid rooting for the moment.  I didn't care about either team.  But there we would sit, rhythmically waving the foam tomahawks, doing the chop, ohhhh-oh-ohh-whooaa-ohh-oh-oh-ohhhh-whoooaaa. OHHHH-OH-OHH-WHOOAA-OHH-OH-OH-OHHH-WHOOOAAA!  How could you not root for Francisco Cabrera, a guy who had like 10 total at bats that entire season? Yes I did just say that.  I did just say I did the tomahawk chop and rooted for little Franky Cabrera in my basement.  If that forever taints me in the eyes of Pittsburgh fans, too bad.  Besides, by the time he came up to bat the Pirates were doomed.  Everyone wants to blame Barry Bonds on that last play for not throwing out Sid Bream -- yes it might have been possible to get the runner out at the plate with a sharp and accurate throw.  But let me remind you of a few things.  That was just the last, not the worst, play.

Error!

Jose Lind made an error in that inning.  An actual fielding error. Bonds just failed to throw out a runner from second who was running on the pitch with 2 outs on a 3-2 count. How many guys have you ever seen thrown out at the plate on a 2-out single to left field on a 3-2 pitch?  Also, if Stan Belinda is your closer, you're screwed. He gave up the actual hit.  So I tip my hat to Francisco Cabrera, but now I root for the Pirates.  What can I say...

I'm not a native Pittsburgher. A lot of people who come here from out of town for college end up leaving again, but I stayed and continue to work at CMU. I was always a general sports fan, but gradually became a Pittsburgh sports fan. In life, I'm a fan of much more than just sports -- so I don't live and die by any team.  It's entertainment.  But I'm serious about my entertainment, and I have very high standards. There's not much more entertaining than high caliber professional sports.  Pittsburgh teams are as good as it gets.  Each Pittsburgh sports team has won me over in its own way. But let's be honest, they did it with winning -- winning in general and winning championships. The players, the teams, the games, the storylines draw you in, then the championships hook you for life -- just like the Steelers did in the 1970's to gain a national following.  Now I am all Pixburgh, black and gold, french fries on the salad.

I didn't even like football until about 2003. Hockey, please, I thought that was even worse. But I understand how great it is to have excellent franchises to root for.  I've come to learn that having  a great sports tradition and great teams to root for shouldn't be taken for granted. These teams cultivate a culture of winning and pride in their profession. I'm smart enough to understand when someone like Sidney Crosby comes along. If I was in Chicago in the early nineties and didn't like basketball, I would have been smart enough to check out Michael Jordan, you know?  So these great teams, with legitimate super stars and championship runs, with great leadership and great performance, won me over, year by year.  What they provide is the highest quality sports entertainment experience.  There is nothing better. It's totally worth my time, money, and emotional investment.  And it's fun!

I'm the kind of fan that thinks
Roethlisberger is more important
than defense ;-)

Even Pitt football, which sucks, gave me a defining moment in the 100th Backyard Brawl in 2007. The first time I ever watched a college football game, the 28 1/2 point underdog Panthers upset the number 2 ranked Mountaineers 13-9, to cost West Virginia a chance to play in the BCS National Championship Game. That's also a testament to me as a spectator.  I know what to watch, what to follow, what to engage with.  I had never watched a single college football game in my life, but I knew this was going to be good.  Although this is one I didn't watch, even the Pittsburgh Passion won the NWFA Championship in 2007. Yet over at PNC Park, the best stadium in the country, the best thing going on is Oliver Onion vs. Jalapeno Hannah and Nate McLouth bobblehead give-aways.  At least it used to be. At least it was ever since the stadium opened on the North Shore...

So here I am 20 years later, a fully converted Pittsburgh fan, 20 years after I was tomahawk chopping, 20 years since the teenage prime of my playing career. Is this the start of the prime of my spectating career? My fantasy team -- now the Penn Picklenoses -- is still in first place*.  I'm still fielding grounders (on the intramural softball field and PSL kickball diamonds).  And guess who the Pirates play the final series of 2012. Guess who might be the final hurdle along the road to a possible playoff birth, the last team the Pirates face in a season that promises to end the 19 year losing streak. ohhhh-oh-ohh-whooaa-ohh-oh-oh-ohhhh-whoooaaa. The Atlanta Braves. October 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, the last 3 games of the year. As long as Clint Hurdle doesn't call on Stan Belinda to save any of those games, I think the Pirates have a chance.


* Depending on when you read this, the Picklenoses may or may not actually be in first place, as the Greenlake Goons have stepped up the competition.  It's a two team race.

Regression Toward the Mean

You're familiar with the phrase 'regression toward the mean,' a colleague asked me today in the kitchen area on the 4th Floor of Newel Simon Hall.  Yes, I said quizzically, wondering how my clumsy attempt to refill the coffee pot represented a regression toward the mean.  Ah-hah!  He wasn't referring to the coffee. This loyal SeasonTicketsBaby reader was referring to the 2012 Buccos and my lovely graph.  Well, shield your eyes, folks, that's one mean regression!

Pirates have fallen under playoff pace but remain above .500

I have a great article lined up and ready to go -- just waiting for the right time to post it.  It's about me in the prime of my "career" 14 years old playing little league baseball and doing the tomahawk chop with a big foam tomahawk during the 1991 Braves-Twins epic World Series.  Native Pittsburghers, forgive me for it.

I've been waiting for a hot streak by the Bucs before I publish it, but maybe given the off day I will post it tonight.

Dropping Fast

Pirates fall out of a playoff spot for the first time in a while.  On a positive note, I've actually earned back almost exactly 50% of what I initially invested in the season tickets (baby).

Remarkable

The Pirates win in 19 innings over 6 hours (and Antonio Brown scores a TD on a 56-yard screen pass catch-and-run a moment later).  Now will the Pirates go on to win 10 in a row -- the opposite of last year, when they lost 10 in a row after a 19 inning epic loss to the Atlanta Braves? Props to James McDonald for his pinch hit single, and Wandy for his first Pirates win, in relief.

Tabata = Loser

Jose Tabata is just a loser, jeez.