Thoughts from a Random Mets Fan
Hello,
First off, great blog and (mostly) sharp, eloquent community here. Really sweet niche of the internet y'all have carved out.
I'm a lifelong and die-hard Mets fan, 25 years old. I started really getting into baseball around the beginning of the 1990s, so my most hated enemy (even before the goddamn Brave started their whole million-year reign) was the Pirates. I don't remember much about the specific players from back then, I just remember hating and being frustrated by everything related to the Pittsburgh Pirates. As they began to fade, I took some joy in it, and they gradually faded from my mind. They were a non-entity. As I said, my Mets-related annoyances shifted mostly to the Mets themselves and to Atlanta.
Over the last 4-5 years, I've developed what started as an interest in the Pirates. I'm personally curious about how teams that are so down go about rebuilding themselves, what the steps they feel are necessary to go from their current place to becoming a World Series quality team. It was a bit nauseating to see the Littlefield era, to see a person who really believed those transactions he made would eventually lead to a title.
I love what Neal Huntington has done. Most agree that rebuilding requires risks on prospects as a first step, but it takes real balls to follow through and tear down the wreckage completely for such a risk. No World Series team will feature any of the Pirates traded away as more than supplements (though I suppose if Gorzo really puts it together, he can be a #2 on a top team). Tremendous respect his way.
The Mets are still my deep love, but I actually find myself actively listening to Pirates games sometimes now too, rooting for them, following them here and on WHYGAVS among other places. The last few days of listening to NY sports radio have pushed me over the edge. I don't know why, but the little asides the hosts toss towards Pittsburgh drive me nuts ("They traded more starters away... boy, they are just lost right now." "MLB should do something about this." "Jesus, the Pirates are just giving players away now.")
It's not like it's my team or anything, but I hope everything pans out for you guys. I hope all the prospects you picked up to develop into solid major leaguers, that Milledge and McCutcheon and Alvarez can become a savage-slugging core, that Alderson and Duke put it together to lead a top-notch rotation. I hope that Huntington can keep getting rid of dead weight as it reveals itself. I hope that Huntington drafts more wisely than certain previous Pirates GMs, and that the farm system grows strong and stable. I hope that once a major league core emerges, Nutting will have the good will to open up the purse strings and supplement that core with appropriate free agents whose names don't rhyme with Yeromy Zermitz or . And if that all happens, then I hope the guys on the field play both well and lucky, and get the hardware that goes with it.
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As long as its not at the expense of my Mets, but still. Sorry for the way-too-long post. Good luck, don't let the haters get you down. Hope our teams meet in an NLCS before too too long.
p.s. I can get from context what a "yinzer" is, but where does that term come from?
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of the managing editor (Charlie) or SB Nation. FanPosts are written by Bucs Dugout readers.
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Thank you
Probably 80% of the Pirates fanbase has no clue what NH is trying to do and I’d say even less of the general MLB fanbase who doesn’t really follow the Pirates knows what is going on.
It’s just great to see a fan of baseball who understands what the Pirates are doing. It gets tremendously frustrating hearing negative things about the recent trades from friends, family, random people on the street, ESPN, etc.
As far as “yinzer,” it’s based off of the term “Yinz” which is the way Pittsburghers would say “you guys” or “y’all” if you were in the south.
A “Yinzer” is a negative term describing a person who yells “shoot” at Penguins games, hates Marc Andre-Fleury and blames ever loss on him, thinks Jack Wilson is better than Jimmy Rollins, thinks the Pirates could have built a WS contender around Xavier Nady and Jason Bay, thinks Neil Huntingon is Dave Littlefield, wants to bench Roethlisberger after one interception, and knows they could call better plays than whatever offensive coordinator is employed by the Steelers at the time.
Basically, a yinzer is all of the bad sides of Pittsburgh fans rolled up into one tidy, little name.
by BlitzburghBlog on Jul 31, 2009 11:56 PM EDT reply actions
This quote made me chuckle quite a bit (along with a couple other lines)
appropriate free agents whose names don’t rhyme with Yeromy Zermitz
Show me a guy whos afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time. -Lou Brock
Thanks
One thing I will say about the Pirates sucking this long: it really seems like everyone wants us to succeed now. It’s a pity thing, I suspect. Almost like seeing the kid that got picked last score with a home run in kickball. Even the other team applauds it.
Even my friend, a Cubs fan, wants the Pirates to be good again. That goes directly against his best interest. If I were in his position, I’d want us to suck as long as possible.
www.sixtyftsixin.com
by Sixty Feet, Six Inches on Aug 1, 2009 1:49 AM EDT reply actions
It's like me wanting the Browns to see some success.
But only because I’m sick of seeing our second string score at will against their starters.
No
No, no and no.
The browns must always suck. period. end of story. no.
by McCutchenIsTheTruth on Aug 1, 2009 2:37 AM EDT up reply actions
The Browns
haaaaahaha
why would any fan from Pittsburgh want them to be good
Personally, I’m getting sick of crushing them. I’d prefer a good game that isn’t caused by crazy weather. :)
Nope, we can have 14 other good games a year.
Give me my two blowouts every year.
by McCutchenIsTheTruth on Aug 2, 2009 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah.
My sister and her boyfriend are Cardinals fan. She just moved to St. Louis a year ago and she jumped on the Cardinals bandwagon when she arrived. They met at a game or something and so since I met him, he’s always asking me “What the hell is a matter with the Pirates, they traded away….” or “Why can’t the Pirates just go out and buy a bunch of free agents and just get one winning season under their belt.” He gets most Pirates info from ESPN. In fact, he called me while I was watching the PTI guys rip Neal Huntington and asked me if I was watching it. He clearly wants the Pirates to win, but he’s just as badly misinformed as most yinzer fans.
Also, it’s funny because when I was in high school, there were kids who still hated the Pirates because of 90-92, most of them Cubs fans. Always the same thing too, Bonds and Bonilla were jerks and therefore, it’s reasonable to still hate the team they were on 5 years after they both left. I still dislike the Braves for 91 and 92, so I guess it wasn’t too unreasonable. Go back for the 10 year reunion last summer and most guys who hated the Pirates in high school were wondering if the Pirates would get good and they were letting me know that even though they’re still Cubs fans, they’re rooting for the Pirates to get good. I suppose if the Braves went through 17 straight losing seasons, I’d cheer for them a little bit too.
NO
I would take joy in the Braves being lousy for 17 straight years, and I would root for them to continue to stay that way for eternity
What is wrong with you people
And to think
I was thinking ill of Mets fans just earlier today … well, yesterday now … and here’s one who single-handedly redeems all the asshole Mets fans.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words, nick. Hope you stick around.
A good friend of mine from work is a big Mets fan. He doesn’t understand baseball entirely (he still relies on surface stats like BA and wins for pitchers to define good and bad players), but he follows all the transactions, knows who they’re playing on a given night and the pitching matchup, and watches every game. I root for the Mets because of him. Go Mets.
To answer your question
The term “y’inz” is commonly used around Pittsburgh to mean “you guys”, in an almost identical manner to the southern “ya’ll”, of course just much more obnoxious and much less eloquent. This is the most commonly recognized dialect of “Pittsburghese”. A typical Pittsburghese phrase may sound something like this:
“Hey, yinz guy goin dahntahn n’ at to see the Stillers and drink pop?”
Translation:
“Hey, are you guys going downtown to see the Steelers play and enjoy sodas?”
Yinzers are the people who know very little about the Pirates, but claim to know very much. They often times have a similar opinions to the commentators you have described in your post. One experience I had with a yinzer at PNC Park was when I heard this yelled during pre-game warmups:
“Hey Garrett Jones, you better stop hittin’ all ’em homeruns n ’at or yinz guys gonna get traded too!”.
The internet really cannot do this quote justice. I don’t believe this person used a complete word in their sentence. But the yinzer believes that if Nutting would just sign a few huge name free agents to go along with all the “hall of famers” we have traded away, we’d have about 4 or 5 WS titles by now.
My personal opinion is that the term yinz (and all other Pittsburghese really with the exception of maybe a few words) in general sounds very uneducated, and thus yinzers are uneducated baseball fans who are very loud and vocal about their opinions.
The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.
I was playing GTA: Vice CIty yesterday
and heard a quote on the talk radio station:
“I’m VERY opinionated, and VERY moronic!”
Man
I knew they were running out of cities to use in GTA, but I didn’t realize they were so desperate for cities to use they made one with Pittsburgh. What’s next, Grand Theft Auto, Juno Alaska? Do I have to beat up Sarah Palin in that one?
The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.
I'm Sorry
I do not speak Pittsburghese. It reeks of ignorance.
HOWEVER…
There are some terms that any Pittsburgher should be proud to identify him or herself with.
+Pop-I’m sorry. That’s what it’s called. I grew up in a well spoken family, and that is what I grew up calling carbonated beverages. So did all my friends. it’s pop.
+Hoagie-Anyone idiot can draw parallels between a long sandwich and a submarine.
God Created the World Out Of Nothing, Paterno Built A National Superpower On Cow Fields...
I'm also a Mets fan from NY
You can be a fan of a team, go to games, wear team gear, etc, but you can still root for teams before they become stories.
The Pirates are going to be a nice story and I honestly believe its going to start as soon as next season.
by GobbleforCyoung on Aug 1, 2009 12:26 PM EDT reply actions
I hope that happens
just to see what ESPN and the yinzers say. It will probably be something along the lines of “knew it all along” and “they did things the right way”. Sickening.
Show me a guy whos afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time. -Lou Brock
they sure aren't professionals
Does Morton have an ERA of 7.00 or half that?
Alderson, Milledge and Clement are good players.
by GobbleforCyoung on Aug 1, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh, of course
I just hope Neal’s as bad ass as I hope, and calls out ESPN during a phone call to baseball tonight.
yeah there comes a point where the criticism becomes ridiculous
And the running joke isn’t funny and doesn’t really make sense.
Has Morton not been borderline terrific?
Does Milledge not look like he’s about to take off?
Would Alderson not be a top pitching prospect on any team besides the one he used to be on?
If Tabata isn’t the youngest player in AAA who is then?
Was that Clement or someone else with a .455 OBP last year in AAA?
Does Brad Lincoln not look poised to become the next great pitcher from the 2006 draft?
Is Alvarez not the best 3B prospect in baseball?
Enough already – get ready for the show
by GobbleforCyoung on Aug 1, 2009 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions
You cannot make incremental changes to a team that is over 100 games below .500 total over the last 4 seasons. The Bay/Nady/Wilson/Sanchez/Snell/Gorzelanny core was not a piece or two away from contention. I don’t care if the pieces were Albert Pujols and Hanley Ramirez.
Maybe.
If they got Hanley Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Mark Teixiera, CC Sabathia, Matt Halladay and Francisco Rodriquez, then they might be a World Series team. Of course the Pirates couldn’t afford that team if they sold out every game of the season…
which then
caused a giant chasm in the middle of PNC park to open up and reveal the mythical city of gold..
Then we could come close to getting all those players.
by McCutchenIsTheTruth on Aug 2, 2009 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I guess I ought to buy you a virtual beer for that post Met fan.
So here’s to you and I wouldn’t mind seeing us meet in the NLCS in, say, 2013.
As a Braves fan, I feel the same way as the OP
Mostly, it’s because of all the idiotic things that get said about the Pirates by dumb commentators. And let’s be completely honest here, the analysts on BBTN don’t have a full box of crayons between them, but they manage to take that lack of inspiration to a new level when discussing the Pirates. The Freddy Sanchez deal was described as “Freddy Sanchez to the Giants for a minor league pitcher.” Which, put that way, does sound like a complete rip-off. Obviously, not all pitching prospects are created equal.
There’s just a complete lack of recognition among prominent sports personalities for what’s going on in Pittsburgh. You’ll hear someone recite that great litany of players who have been traded away over the past two seasons, without looking at the 2007 Pirates and saying, “Hey, that team that HAD Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Adam LaRoche, and Nyjer Morgan won only 68 games-perhaps they weren’t very close to winning a championship.” And look, the current incarnation of this team is in total rebuilding mode and on a pace to win about 70 games, the most in five years.
Many of these same airheads will be talking about the “surprising” Pirates who in 2012 “came out of nowhere.” There will also be a ton of revisionist history taking place as analysts ripping these trades will be talking about how they were “building a solid foundation” two or three years from now.
my Royals will contend soon
they just need to fire that idiot Moore
by GobbleforCyoung on Aug 2, 2009 7:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for coming on here
and not being a dick.
We appreciate it. Really. No sarcasm.
And, as you’ve become an ancillary Pirate fan, so much the better.
Now, if we can wean you from you high-payroll fixation…
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
the accent
Oh mah Gawd! Whah’re yinz askin’ abaht the accent, ya nebby jagoff? :)
As a transplanted Pittsburgher, I honestly miss the accent. As far as whether it sounds uneducated: trust me folks, nobody likes the accent of the city they’re from. I live in Boston, and “Fack you! Go Sawx!” doesn’t sound any more refined than what comes out of Pittsburgh.
And I feel your pain re: trying to explain what an actual rebuilding process looks like to Boston fans. I like the way NH is handling this, and I think there’s a good chance we’ll have a pretty excited team in a couple years.
More casual than the average fan.
by baseball conspiracy theories on Aug 4, 2009 1:43 PM EDT reply actions
Agree with the lead Post
Rockies fan here. Pittsburg has been fun and intriguing to watch, rooting for you guys to go back the other way. (so long as they aren’t playing the Rox). The only other up-and-comer like that I think is the Orioles. I don’t get the other reclamation projects; Washington might be a .500 team someday, the rest are pretenders.

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