Last year it was Orioles fans, this year, Pirates fans. Apparently. Following the third inning of Saturday’s game against the Nationals, Pirates fans are expected to walk out of the stadium to express their displeasure with the organization. Team leaders Jason Bay and Jack Wilson didn’t have much of a comment in response, but the team sure has. They are planning to ignore the walkout as best as possible:
They have asked their television announcing crew not to discuss the walkout with the media. They have removed all comments about the walkout from their message board at pirates.com. They have the support of their television rights holder, FSN Pittsburgh, which does not plan to show the protest as part of its game coverage.
…
Contacted about the protest, Greg Brown, who will do the play-by-play of the telecast along with [Bob] Walk, said, “I have been asked by the Pirates not to comment and refer all calls to Brian Warecki.”Warecki, the team’s senior director of communications, issued this statement via e-mail:
“We greatly appreciate the passion of all of our fans and their freedom to express that passion in any way they choose.”
No surprise that the teams is trying to downplay it as best as possible — they have to worry about putting 15,000 butts in seats on a daily basis! To counter Warecki’s email however, doesn’t sound like they appreciate the fans expressing their passion in this manner. Man, 15 years of losing, that really stinks. And that’s coming from a Bengals fan (sort of).
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More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Ignoring the walkout is the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard. There is nothing like ignorant bliss, man.
[...] One thing you shouldn’t do, though, if you’re a team being protested is pretend the whole thing doesn’t exist. The Pirates, whose fans have a walkout scheduled for the third inning this Saturday, are deliberately deleting all references to the protest from their Web site’s message boards and instructing team employees to avoid all comment. They have asked their television announcing crew not to discuss the walkout with the media. They have removed all comments about the walkout from their message board at pirates.com. They have the support of their television rights holder, FSN Pittsburgh, which does not plan to show the protest as part of its game coverage. [...]
it won’t happen.
Anyone that ‘walks out’ is not a true fan, just a dumbass, walkouts don’t work. Yeah sure you’ll get your 15 minutes. THAT’S IT. You already paid for the ticket they already have the money so wtf is the point.
I was at the Lions “walk out” last year… all of maybe 30-50 people walked out… barely noticeable… unless you have a major media source (newspaper, radio, tv) behind it, forget about it.
By the way – props to the Pirates… I was watching Extra Innings and saw a promo for the July 3rd postgame concert with the 90’s band “Live”… I’d go to the game for that alone…
[...] Sadly there is no solution for these problems. In a sickening turn to the “walkout game†story, the Axis took a Watergate approach and instructed FSN Pittsburgh to not broadcast the walkout in an attempt to cover up their embarrassment. I can see the Axis’ meeting now: “Sure, fourteen years of losing pissed off the fans, but televising a fan walkout in protest of those fourteen losing seasons? Now that would just push them over the edge! Censor it for their protection!†[...]