Thoughts on the ownership

After seeing McClatchy at Piratefest yesterday, I've been doing some thinking about the Pirates ownership. I know I said I was impressed with some of the stuff McClatchy said and I realize that that could be misconstrued to seem like I actually agree with the way the team is being run. That really wasn't my point yesterday, pretty much everything this ownership group DOES, I disagree with. McClatchy's point was just that not every billionaire is George Steinbrenner. Lots of people (McClatchy's example was Huizuenga) think they can pump money into a franchise without the care of losing money, but once they win a championship they get bored with it. It's a good point, I wouldn't trade the team for a championship and I think most fans would agree.

Actually, yesterday made me more certain than ever that McClatchy is nothing more than a public puppet of the Nuttings. They own something like twice as much of the team as he does, but this guy can't be the public face of a baseball team. McClatchy looks good for the camera and for as long as he's been in Pittsburgh he's said all the right things. He's much younger than Ogden Nutting and he has an incredibly idealistic view of the world. That view managed to get him a new stadium in Pittsburgh when he probably shouldn't have been able to. It won't be able to fix a baseball system in which teams like the Yankees and Red Sox make a ton of money. That doesn't matter, because McClatchy saying things like he says keeps fans impressed. I know if he impressed me, he definitely impressed a lot of other fans at Piratefest. As far as the Nuttings go that's Mission:Accomplished at Piratefest.

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