I didn’t attend PiratesFest this weekend. I recently finished covering the Pittsburgh Steelers’ disastrous demise and the Penguins’ washout of a homestand.
My Pittsburgh sports masochism knows at least some limitations.
But, via TribLIVE’s Kevin Gorman, I did read about the ire directed toward owner Bob Nutting at the fan Q&A session. Part of the crowd was chanting, “Sell the team!” People were asking, “Where’s Bob?” Attendees referred to recent trade acquisitions as “hot garbage.” Folks were protesting outside wearing derogatory T-shirts.
Come to think of it, maybe I should’ve gone. That actually sounds like I missed a heckuva good time.
Just hearing about it from afar, however, a point was driven home to me.
I turned 50 years old in November. I can’t think of a time when I’ve witnessed such a simultaneous chasm between this fanbase and all three ownership groups.
Pirates fans are literally picketing in the streets and buying billboard ad space to encourage a sale of the baseball team by Nutting.
They also know it won’t happen.
Many Steelers fans are demanding that Art Rooney II fire head coach Mike Tomlin and, at long last, commit to a rebuild instead of tacitly accepting the franchise’s perpetual nine-or-10-win existence.
They also know it won’t happen.
Penguins fans are also frustrated with Fenway Sports Group because of a similar willingness to live in a nebulous netherworld between rebuilding and giving Sidney Crosby one last run at a Stanley Cup.
They also know the latter will never happen.
Plus, they would like to know exactly who the people behind Fenway Sports Group are.
Like, um, they own the Red Sox and a soccer team n’at, right? Aren’t they buddies with LeBron or something?
Eh, maybe I’m making too much of that. At this point, people around here wouldn’t cross the street to spit on Nutting if he were on fire. The same could be said about Tom Werner, but that’s more because no one in the city would recognize him by face.
All Pittsburghers know about Werner and the rest of his Boston-based comrades is that none of them is named Mario Lemieux.
Unless the Pens ever win a playoff series again, that’s probably all they are interested in knowing anyway.
As a collective, Pittsburgh’s three professional sports teams haven’t even sniffed a modicum of playoff success since a Penguins’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal win in 2018.
That’s troublesome.
What’s truly maddening, though, is how all three ownership groups seem perfectly content with that fact.
Nutting is happy just turning a profit. Rooney II is satisfied just being in the wild card race every year. And so long as Sidney Crosby is capable of skating, FSG appears content leeching off the nostalgia of a Stanley Cup era they were never a part of in the first place.
It’s no wonder why the disconnect between these three owners and their customers is so vast. It’s also understandable why none of them is doing anything about it.
We keep buying tickets. We keep watching them on TV. We keep buying merchandise. We keep rationalizing their shortcomings on social media and on sports talk radio.
I’m not suggesting more billboard space be purchased near the stadiums, or calling for boycotts. It’s your money. It’s your free time. Do with those things what you will.
Fandom is an addiction. Especially here. I get that. I’m hooked, just like all of you are. Pittsburgh sports was my life’s passion growing up. Covering it has been my life’s work for 24 years.
I just wish the owners of the teams we all care about so much weren’t just punching the clock.
Right now, it sure feels like they are.
