Bad to the skull and cross bones.

I was cruising around online a few days ago when a discussion came up of the worst franchises in sports and the name of the Pittsburgh Pirates quickly came up and that person just might be right. Well yesterday the Pirates secured their 17th consecutive losing season when they lost their 82nd game of the season. Now it takes some real special non-talent in the general manager's chair to come up with 17 straight losing campaigns. The streak started in 1993 when Cam Bonifay started his nine year tenure, which was followed by a stellar seven years under Dave Littlefield. Current GM Neal Huntington has been on the job less than two years so for now he gets a pass. Lets start with Bonifay who drafted minor league washouts like Chad Hermansen, J.J. Davis, and Bobby Bradley and left the minors barren of talent. Littlefield liked making bad trades like shipping out Jason Schmidt for Ryan Vogelsong, John Vader Wal, and Armando Rios, none of the three made an impact for the Pirates. Some will cry that the Pirates are a small market team just can't compete against the big spenders like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers and I say phooey. Minnesota seems to be in the race almost every year while Oakland has had several decent teams in that span, they are both small market teams. The Pirates main flaw is that they can't seem to stick to a plan. They seem to bail on their five years plan about three years in. This once proud franchise that used to field Willie Stargell, Dave Parker, and Roberto Clemente now has a roster littered with names like Ronny Cedeno, Ramon Vazquez, and Andy LaRoche, not even household names in their own homes. Maybe Huntington can right the Pirates ship, but I but I wouldn't bet any booty on it.

You can read the first few chapters of my newly published novel, 33 Summers, at http://www.darrenpare.com/ Just click on the announcements tab on the homepage.