Diversions for an Off Day: Poor Wand'ring One

For the past two years, I have had a bit of a tradition with one of my former college roommates, who lives in Pittsburgh now, to go out there for a weekend to enjoy, among other things, a Pirates game. While last year I visited while the Twins were in town and of course had to cheer for them, the opposite was true this year, as the Buccos took on the Chicago White Sox. While my hatred of all things South Side blinds me to little else, it nonetheless dawned on me this weekend that if I had to pick a National League team to cheer for, the Pirates are pretty close to as perfect a pick as there is. Sure, they haven't had a winning season since Saved By The Bell was on and cell phones looked more like this, but the following factors make the Pirates a team worth the trip every year:

PNC Park



After spending my entire life watching ballgames in a cold concrete cave where the right field wall is named after a trash bag, setting foot in one of baseball's true gems really took my breath away. Can anybody else picture the Minneapolis skyline looming above those cheap bleacher seats?

Bobbleheads for All


Despite not being nuts over the whole bobblehead craze of the last five or so years (which the Twins did quite a bit to propagate in the "Get To Know 'Em" days), I was impressed that, upon walking through the gates at PNC a half hour or less before the first pitch, there was still a great big stack of Logo Guy bobbleheads left. I soon found out that they give out promotions for the whole stadium, so no one in Pittsburgh has to look their spouse in the eye and tell them that they're camping out overnight to receive a nodding ceramic doll shaped like Bill Mazeroski.

I Mean, Just Look At 'Em



Come on, can you really not cheer for this scrappy bunch of young talent? Honestly, at first glance, they remind me of the 1999-2001 Twins just before they started to win. As far as perennially losing NL teams, they've got Chicago beat for likeability and clubhouse chemistry, Washington for upside, San Fransisco for youth, Colorado for name recognition, Milwaukee for being a place you'd actually want to visit, Cincinnati for lack of Wayne Krivsky, and Florida for anybody giving a damn.