Yesterday's Pirates TV Game

The crummy fortune that has haunted the Pirates for 18 years continued yesterday. On the Bucs first spring training TV telecast of the season, a chance to have the "new" Bucs get the fans' juices flowing, we were treated to a game that was frighteningly reminiscent of the 2010 Pirates....

• A laboring first inning that took starter James McDonald 29 pitches to complete and where the Jays scored twice.
• A second inning that featured LF Matt Diaz turn wrong on a fly ball that allowed the ball to drop for a double, and throwing error by SS Corey Wimberly that led to two more unearned runs.
• (In a side note to SABR and Facebook Friend Dan Bonk, Wimberly's presence at short may have served to make Ronny Cedeno look good!)
• The Pirates fell be hind 5-0 and managed only one hit through seven innings, by which time I switched to the Robert Morris hoops game.

To be fair, it is a spring training game, and the Pirates started players at catcher, first, second, and short who will be long gone by the time camp breaks. Still, it would have been nice to see a crisp performance by the team on their first TV game of the Hurdle Era.

On the other hand, this IS the Pirates we are speaking of here.

A Pop Cultural Passing

I know that eyes will roll and people will say, "he's doing obituaries again", but I couldn't resist this one.

The PG reports today the death of Suze Rotolo at the age of 68. You may not know the name, but there is a real good chance if you are of a certain age that you have seen, and may even own, a copy of her picture. Ms. Rotolo was the one time girl friend of a very young Bob Dylan and that is her pictured on the album cover - dare I say an "iconic" album cover - of Dylan's breakthrough album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan." This is the album that featured Dylan classics Blowin' in the Wind, Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, and A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall.

The Dylan-Rotolo relationship lasted about four years, and if nothing else, it sure produced a neat picture.

More Sunday Congratulations....

....to the RMU Colonials who defeat Quinnipaic 64-62 in the Northeast Conference semi-final game. This is the third year in a row that the Colonials have beaten the Bobcats in NEC tournament, and RMU will be playing in the Champiuonship game for the third year in a row.

I tuned this one in with 11 minutes to play and the largest lead that I saw either team have was four points. There were 18 lead changes in this game. It was a terrific ballgame.

Congrats to first year Coach Andy Toole who remained calm throughout the very hectic final minutes of this tense contest.

The Colonials now play Long Island University on Wednesday night in Brooklyn for the right to go what would be their third NCAA tournament in a row.

Survive and advance!

Let's Go Colonials!!!

Sunday Congratulations

Congratulations go out today to.....

• Loyal Reader Mike J., who on Tuesday will begin his first "real" job after graduating from Marshall University this past summer. Best wishes, Mike!
• The Shaler Girls basketball team for winning the WPIAL Quad-A championship last night. Some may have wondered why I have taken up the cause of the Lady Titans these past few weeks. Let's just say it was through getting to know a couple of extraordinary young ladies this past Fall and Winter who have come through some very tough times.
• The Pitt Panthers for their outright regular season Big East Championship. The sad part is that many over-zealous fans will consider this season a failure if the Panthers do not win the NCAA championship or, God forbid, don't even make it to the Final four.

Colonials Survive and Advance

Robert Morris almost blew a 20 point second half lead, but held on and beat Wagner by four tonight. They now go on the road on Sunday against Quinnipiac, the #2 seed, in the semi-finals.

Sports Shorts for Thursday Afternoon

• March Madness begins tonight at the Sewall Center in Moon Township when the Robert Morris Colonials take on the Seahawks of Wagner in the opening round of the NEC Tournament. Let's Go Colonials!!
• Most interesting/disturbing piece of news out of Bradenton this week was pitcher Scott Olsen bitching about possibly being relegated to bullpen duty if that is how it all shakes out in Spring Training. Not so, says Scott. "I'm a starter" says he. What he didn't say was that "I'm also a pretty crummy starter at that." As Bloggin' Bob Smizik pointed out, Olsen was the rare major league player who had to take a pay cut this year in order to sign with the worst team in the majors. Here's hoping Clint Hurdle puts his foot down on this guy and not get any direction from GM Opie in the process.
• How about the line of B.S. from Pitt AD Steve Pederson in response to the SI report about the criminal records of Pitt football players in 2010? Talk about classic evasion and non-responsiveness. It was classic.
• Dave Wannstadt's response wasn't much better.
• Contrast that to Brigham Young University bouncing one of it's top hoops players for violating the school's honor code. One needn't be a Mormon to applaud the school standing on its principles. Could you see that happening at, say, just to pick a school at random here, Auburn?
• A prior commitment will keep me away from the Palumbo Center on Saturday night, but I will be cheering in absentia for the Shaler girls basketball team as they go against Mt. Lebanon for the WPIAL Quad-A title. As I said earlier, if you don't already have a horse in the race, cheer for the Lady Titans.
• On the NFL front, what is more boring to you? Stories about the Combine in Indianapolis, or breathless reporting on the Player Lockout and CBA negotiations? It's a tough call.
• If there are any readers out there interested in playing in a charity golf outing on May 23 at Shannopin Country Club, please contact me directly. $150 gets you a round of golf, lunch and dinner, and the chance to win some neat prizes while supporting the Youth Ministry programs at St. John Neumann Parish.

The Greatest Generation

A former resident of Stonebrook Village passed away at the age of 89 last week. He had moved from Stonebrook to an assisted living facility before we moved here, so we didn't get the chance to know this gentleman.

When we read his obit in the PG this week, we learned that he was the very embodiment of what Tom Brokaw called the "Greatest Generation." Turns out he landed at Normandy days after D-Day, fought his way across Europe, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and served as an interpreter for liberated Polish and Slav concentration camp survivors at Auschwitz.

When the war ended, he came back to Pittsburgh, raised a family, drove a bus for Pittsburgh Railways and the Port Authority, and then opened his own bakery.

I am sorry that we didn't get to meet Walt, but I have a hunch that even if we did, we would have never known his remarkable story.