The
Post-Gazette headline over the weekend read,
Pirates Notebook: Nutting 'frustrated ... shocked'
Well, this is just too easy.It's
Bob Nutting, of course, playing the role of
Capt. Louis Reynaud (Claude Rains) in the movie classic,
Casablanca ...
Capt. Reynaud: "I am shocked! -- shocked -- to discover gambling in this establishment!"
Croupier: "Your winnings, sir."
Capt. Reynaud: "Ah yes. Thank you."
It's just too easy, even without the obvious parallel background history of whisperings -- fair or not -- that Nutting has been secretively pocketing profits over the years without investing much back into the on-field product.
Pirates management, after all, are open to criticism, as they have displayed
all the candor of BP executives.
No matter. It is what it is (as the kids say these days).
Honestly, they've reached the pinnacle of absurdity with this.
By "this," we mean the entire mess:
In any case ... like
Bob Nutting and
Capt. Louis Reynaud,
Joey Porter's Pit Bulls are "Shocked --
Shocked! -- to discover incompetence in this organization."
Other than that, everything's been great the past 17 years. The ballpark's nice, and the food is good. The team's won two in a row, and the Bucs finally have some good young talent to build upon. In fact, quite a few players on the team (and in the minors) are talented, promising and likeable, gosh darn it -- there is much to feel good about.
We're still fans, and we still care. So, we've got that going for us. And it's the first day of summer.
Things are looking up, with better days ahead.
It's the first day of summer, summer solstice, the sun is shining, the weather is sweet. 
