"Abso-BUCCIN-lutely!"

Raise the Jolly Roger

Last night was the first time champagne broke out in the Pirate locker room since Sept. 27, 2002, when Lloyd McClendon uncorked 12 bottles of the bubbly to celebrate avoiding a 90-loss season. 

You read that correctly.

There's so much irony here. The Pirates won their 90th last night in that same Wrigley Field locker room and the same place where the Pirates lost their 100th game in 2001, but on that night eleven Septembers ago, McClendon said, "Certainly, we've had some hard times. But we can start to see light at the end of the tunnel. I just thought they deserved it. I'm proud of them. I told them the next time we pop the champagne, it'll be for real."

Little did McClendon know it would take another 11 years for champagne to appear again in a Pirates' room.  It's their first playoff appearance in 21 years. Arriba!

Congratulations, Clint Hurdle and all Pirate Nation. Hurdle celebrated with wink and a clever "Abso-Buccin-lutely!" as his answer to a question in the post-game press conference. Root Sports bleeped it, but Hurdle has coined a new catch-phrase that go into the Bucco lexicon forever.

It's been a long, hard ride.

Last night was their 90th win -- and few people thought that was possible when Hurdle predicted 95 wins in the off-season. Good for Clint, one of the all-time good people.

To gauge how far the Pirates have come, see the Rum Bunter's excellent recap of a "Decade of Decadence."  And that was only one of the two decades!

Congratulations, Pirates. That's a good first step -- a big one. Now you can relax and play -- go get a championship.

Enjoy more excellent Buccos' Bloggers' coverage by the many terrific and passionate bloggers in our Pirates' section of the blogroll over on the right-side navigation column. There are some good ones there.

Image courtesy of Rum Bunter