Screw the general baseball thread, this deserves its own for history...Pirates!

Good thing they don't play those teams any more.

 

You would have a point if anybody here had ever said that, but nobody did.

Nobody ever claimed that the Pirates couldn't compete for half a season, which is all they have done here, or even for a full one. The argument is that they are at a significant disadvantage compared to the teams with higher revenues, which is just about everybody in baseball, and taking over first place for a couple of days in July after nearly 20 years of embarrassing themselves doesn't counter the real argument one bit.

No, the baseball apologists can talk about a nice story or we an have the salary cap/revenue sharing argument again. Which do you choose? I'm happy either way.

 

You're a sad case. This is a great story.

 

It is a great story. It just doesn't mean what micro and the other apologists think it means.

 

That remains to be seen. What if the Pirates stay in first place, and the core of the roster stays together and they win several more titles?

And I believe it was made quite clear in those other threads about the supposed competitive imbalance in baseball - which has sent more different teams to the World Series than any other sport has to its finals in the past decade - that the Pirates did not have a ghost of a chance to complete for a playoff berth. This season, so far, proves that statement false.

But thanks for letting us know your's is the only right opinion.

 

That part in bold is a complete fabrication on your part. Nobody said that. Ever. That is you misrepresenting my position in a failed attempt to make yours.

Supposed imbalance? Hell, even most of the baseball apologists are willing to admit that the big-revenue teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have an advantage over the little guys like the Pirates and Royals. If you can't even admit that, you are beyond help.

Actually, the Pirates are not in first place. The Brewers are. They are actually hanging around in mid-July for the first time in G-d only knows how long and you already want to assume that they will win multiple titles? Yet another ridiculous bit of fiction to support your point.

 

I did not say the Pirates are in first place. I said they are competitive, as you allege.

I did not say they would win a title this year, or in any subsequent year, as you allege.

I did not say that YOU said the Pirates did not have a ghost of a chance.

The bits of fiction are yours.

No one disputes the Yankees have an edge over the Pirates because of their revenue stream. What is in debatable is how large that edge is, and how much it is manifested in actual results.

 

Does that part in bold not suggest that they are in first place? How can they stay there if they aren't there now?

You made a hypothetical argument about what would happen if the Pirates won a bunch of titles. That argument assumes something. So yes, you did suggest it as part of your argument.

You suggested that I and others here said that the Pirates did not have a ghost of a chance to compete. Another reference to past arguments about the finances of baseball. Again, nobody said they couldn't compete for a year, or half a year, just that they are at a huge advantage.

No fiction at all on my part. I leave that to you.

 

Yep, and when the 10th different team in the last 11 years wins the World Series this year I'll remember how the competitive imbalance is hurting baseball.

 

U2 R s.

 

And how many of them were not in the top half of the league in revenue?

Oh, and how many times have the Yankees missed the playoffs since 1994? (Not to mention the fact that they bought a championship, something you don't see in the far superior system the NFL has).

Yeah, no imbalance at all. :

At least you had the sense to back off on the fiction thing since you know you were wrong on that one.

 

What do you think it means? Does it have to have some grand meaning?

You are politicizing this, as usual, and a true and honest debate again gets mired in your complex tactics. You occasionally assume in these tired discussions that people are too retarded to understand the sophistication of what you're arguing. And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I am sorry the '90s and aught Pirates gave you your personal Vietnam, OoP, and sad for you that you've disowned them. But it's over. The future is bright for this team.