There's been a lot of criticism lately by members of the Pittsburgh media regarding attendance at Pirates games. With the Pirates in the thick of the playoff hunt in September for the first time in 20 years, it's easy to see why certain members of the media would be concerned about the somewhat lackluster attendance at PNC Park in recent weeks. TV viewership is up, though, and weekend attendance has been strong.
I experienced the latter this past weekend when I attended the Cubs-Pirates contest Saturday night. The announced attendance exceeded 32,000 and the place was packed with folks of all ages. Here's the catch: it was fireworks night. For those who don't know, Pittsburghers love fireworks. They will go to great lengths to see them. The Pirates have frequently sold out their fireworks nights, even when the team was well out of playoff contention and in the midst of their epic streak of losing seasons.
So, to some degree, it could be considered a mild surprise that the game wasn't totally sold out. Furthermore, the size of the crowd is not the only determining factor when considering fan support. How many of those folks were there to see the fireworks? How many came as part of a bachelor party? How many came because they literally couldn't think of anything else to do? I do understand that those groups comprise parts of many fan bases, but in this case it seemed like they made up the majority of those in attendance. There was a moment late in the game that painfully illustrated this for me.
It was the top of the 8th inning with two on and two outs. The game was tied. Pirates reliever Jason Grilli was on the mound. You may remember that I recently wrote about Grilli being the linchpin in the Pirates bullpen. His season has, in many ways, been historically great. In what was a critical moment, in an important game, in the middle of a playoff race, the fans at PNC Park figured it was an appropriate time to start the wave. Now, I'm not just talking about a few distracted kids. I'm talking about 25,000+ "fans" enthusiastically standing and whooping for about eight straight minutes; meanwhile on the field, their best reliever was trying to concentrate on ending the inning and getting the team to their at-bats with the game still tied. Now, I'm not trying to say people can't do the wave, but there is a time and a place for it and this was not it.
Grilli began fidgeting on the mound and stepped off the rubber several times as he tried to maintain composure. The wave would come around to behind home plate just about every time Grilli was set to pitch. And it kept going. And going. Grilli promptly gave up a single which drove in what turned out to be the game-winning run. Now, the "fans" stopped doing the wave and began booing loudly. Whether they were booing the umpire who called the runner safe on a somewhat close play at home or were booing their erstwhile hero Jason Grilli, I cannot be sure. But it felt wrong. All of it.
Now, Grilli is a professional. He's been in the league a long time and should be able to block out distractions; but in this case, why should he have to? After all, these are his home fans. The batter didn't have to worry so much about it. He had a nice backdrop of the batter's eye in center. But Grilli had it all around him and in front of him. And the fans didn't get it. I actually think some of them were booing not about the ump or about Grilli giving up the hit, but rather booing the fact that their epic wave had died. There was one fan sitting behind me who kept shouting about how exciting the wave was and would yell at his neighbors to join in, castigating those who refused. It was disheartening. The Pirates were 1.5 games out of their first potential playoff spot since I was 12 years old. It was a tie game. A loss would mean handing the series to the lowly Cubs and giving them the chance at an eventual series sweep. And the majority of the 32,000+ at PNC Park were fixated not on the batter, nor the struggling pitcher, nor the potential winning run dancing off of second base. No, they were caught up in the wave. I'm sure they enjoyed the fireworks.
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