Stand-up Ownership

One can always find something that could be done better when an organization is fading away amongst 14-year losing streak. Should have signed Bonds in '92. Should have traded for an impact player in '97... Shawn Dunston does not count. Should have gotten more for Jason Schmidt. Should have kept a better 40 man roster than expose it to rule 5 draft. All of these "should haves" have made being a Pirates fan entertaining over the last 14 years, as the product on the field has been less than entertaining.

Should have pulled the plug on the Pirates long ago

Nothing can make the 14 years of pain go away, but the one thing the Pirates Organization could have easily done to minimize the damage was to stand in front of fans and be upfront and honest. It takes us months, if not years to find out through the media the real reason some of these moves were made, even though, at the time they were made we are fed some PR line about "making the club better" and the move being "exactly what we wanted". The most bitter part of the recent drafting of Moskos is that management had the stones to tell us he was the player they wanted and finances did not play a factor in the choice.

DL wore a Jim Carrey mask when he was in this movie

Today the local papers demonstrate the correct and incorrect way to handle these situations. The Associated Press ran an article, that was picked up in both the PG and TR, detailing how the ownership and GM of the Buffalo Sabres called a press conference to face questions about losing their two best players to other teams in free agency. The Sabres were coming off of 3 straight seasons where they failed to make the playoffs when these two players sparked a 2-year run that made the Sabres one of, if not the best team in the league. The press conference was not to address another topic and reporters forced the topic of losing key team players. The conference was called specifically to state what the team did to try and retain the players and what they could have done better. They did not mince words. They admitted mistakes made in the past and outlined how they tried to correct them. They owned their actions.

You can also find on the PG's site a column by Bozo the Columnist where he actually claims Littlefield is standing up and answering fans questions. Bozo comments that Littlefield does not get confrontational when accused of being a bad GM, and really, he shouldn't, but is still feeding the masses his line about young pitching. Be honest, Dave, admit where you went wrong. When you do, don't follow it with a "but". A famous phrased used in deciphering what a politician meant during a debate is, "He doesn't believe a single word he said before the word 'but'". The PR coming out of the Pirates offices have been nothing but the same spin that comes out of a debate... "in the past we might have... BUT..." They don't want to say anything negative, they want to put a positive spin on everything, and they are quick to toot their own horn. None of which likens them to a city that still has a blue collar mentality, even if most of the blue collar jobs are gone.

The fans showed with their actions last Saturday that they do not believe in walking out on the team, but they are fed up with the ownership group. All hope and trust may be gone because the front office never built neither with their fans. Add this to the long list of "should haves"... they should have stood up and owned their actions.

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