Every season I begin with trepidation. Not because of something happening in my life, i.e. a new purchase, a baby coming etc. Nope, it's because the Pirates are about to embark on their historic 18th losing season in a row. You will ask, "are you even a fan?" Why, yes, I am...I'm a huge fan of the Buccos. Since I was a little tike in fact. Sure, I had a fascination with the Braves of Atlanta during the Dale Murphy years, but that was due to them always being on TBS. But, I will die with the Pirates. Then, you'll ask, "but, don't you have an obligation to go into a new season with some optimism in tact?" Why, yes...I did, but that was the previous 17 seasons. It all comes down to this:

I'm done kidding myself. Will the Pirates make the playoffs? Hell no. Will they finish in last? Probably yes. Will the Pirates finish above .500? Probably not. I've told myself that every friggin' year and they haven't in 17 tries....17!!!! Will a player, or 2 emerge as better than average players only to be traded before the deadline? Of course...here's looking at you McCutchen!

Will I still cheer for the Pirates this year? Yeah, I guess so. Go Buccos!!!

I like your dedication to your team regardless of their recent history.

as a former member of the knothole gang i grew up an avid pirate fan. my first jersey was a bonds jersey. only thing i can say is at least the tickets will be cheap......someday we'll get an owner who cares about winning and not just making money.

I felt the same way about the Tigers pretty much my entire life until 2006 when things turned around. If the Tigers can go from 119 losses to a World Series team, the Pirates can do it too. Good for you to continue the hope.

Hell, I am still hoping the Lions turn it around some time during my life.

They're my NL team. Yeah, it's literally a joke how they've been this bad for this long.

Yeah. One of those jokes that started out funny and then got sad, but now that they own the record for most consecutive losing seasons, it's gone full-circle to being funny again.

This year, they'll probably be bad at or around the level they have been in recent years. But, if they stay their current course, they could be pretty good in the near future. They have a very young nucleus with guys who actually have talent (as opposed to in the past under Littlefield where their young "nucleus" primarily consisted of 4-A players). If they pan out, we can at least dream of a season better than .500!

Then again, take that guarded kinda-optimism with a grain of salt. I REALLY like psychedelics, so my brain does dive into a fantasy world quite often.

Baseball is a broken system for the small to mid market teams.

Problem is: the big market (spenders) control the game and don't give a crap if 80 percent of the teams basically serve as minor league suppliers of talent for them and have almost no chance to win a World Series.

It's why I stopped following the sport some years ago.

If they ever bring parity to the game by putting in a salary cap system similar to the NFL, I'll consider coming back.

Writerbuckeye wrote: Baseball is a broken system for the small to mid market teams.

Problem is: the big market (spenders) control the game and don't give a crap if 80 percent of the teams basically serve as minor league suppliers of talent for them and have almost no chance to win a World Series.

It's why I stopped following the sport some years ago.

If they ever bring parity to the game by putting in a salary cap system similar to the NFL, I'll consider coming back.

I agree to a point, however the marlins and rays have done it....and with the new stadium you would think at least we could sign a few of these players...its not like they are signing with other teams for max deals.

Great point Writerbuckeye. I think the system is broken as well. It's an obvious bone of contention for any Pirates fan. But, I root for the Pirates out of habit more than anything. I do still love baseball...but, following MLB is getting tiring over the last 17 years of losing. You can simply glance at rosters and pick who is going to be in the playoffs. It's sad. Heretic makes the point that the future looks bright.....you know how many times as a Pirates fan we've heard that? We hear it every 3 years and it's almost always the same...."they've got the pieces in place to make a run soon!" Yay!!! And we always hear about "prospects". We're always trading guys for "prospects". When the hell do these "prospects" pan out? And, when the hell does someone step in and change the way baseball organizations operate? I fear that TV ratings play a large part of this as well. I guess I'm just nearing my wits end.

Within 5 years, the Pirates are going to be monsters. And it will suck, because Pittsburgh bandwagoners will be out even more.