Born of the Pittsburgh area in the glorious sporting year of 1978, I came into this world an omen of good fortune for the Pirates and Steelers. The Steelers were just starting their drive to a third Super Bowl ring and in less than a year, the Pirates would win their second World Series title of the decade. However, my childhood and adolescence would see my teams fall upon hard times. The 1980's weren't particularly kind to my beloved Pirates, but at the end of a trying decade, a glimmer of hope emerged. The Young Buccos, led by the fatherly Jim Leyland, were on their way to the top of the National League. Those early 1990's Pirates teams produced some of my fondest sports memories - but it came at a steep and terrible price. As history now tells, the Pirates lost three straight NLCS series and Francisco Cabrera's game-winning single in the 1992 NLCS sent the Pirates into a downward spiral from which they have yet to recover. So here I stand, a diehard Pirates fan of 29, and I realize that for over half my life, my baseball team has been mired in a funk of epic proportions. With this blog I hope to bring some insight, a bit of humor, and most important, a true fan's perspective as the Pirates end this miserable losing streak.

Baseball, hockey, football, and hoops. I play in a hardball league in NYC, a fast-pitch softball league on Long Island, and I watch more Pirates games than any human not being paid for the torture should ever endure. But every one-run loss is somehow worth it to me...