Big Lead Sports Bar

2/24/2010

COONELLY MANAGES TO MAKE A BAD SITUATION WORSE



“Don’t let people tell you that the Pirates have a great future, but it’s not today. Today is our future. 2010 is the beginning of the next dynasty of the Pirates, for me."

This was the latest bit of lunacy recently uttered by Pirate president Frank Coonelly, a statement that had no less than Bob Smizik asking what Coonelly was smoking.

With fresh Pirate blood in the water, anxious talk show callers were ready to vent, and vent they did to the new 93.7 The Fan team of Ron Cook and Vinnie Richichi on Wednesday morning. The ensuing events would become one of the most important segments in the history of the young sports talk station, because Coonelly called in to clarify his statement. And that's where things started to go further south for the Bucco honcho.

After initially denying that he used the word "dynasty", Coonelly was confronted by Cook, who read back the quote verbatim and added that Bob Pompeani ran it on Channel 2. For every Pirate fan that's accused this team of being less-than-genuine over the past 17 years, it was a moment to stand up and cheer. But for the Pirate franchise, it was the latest in an ongoing comedy of errors that is certainly not funny to their ever-dwindling fan base.

Coonelly would go on to say that the use of the term was not a good choice of words, but in my opinion, the team president has to do better than that.

Owner Bob Nutting famously said "We're not going to accept an inferior performance" before the team's 99-loss campaign in 2009, and also called his front office "the single best management team in all of baseball, maybe in all of sports", a laughable statement he does not back down from as recently as this January.

Pirate fans have heard it all since 1993, from the voices of Kevin McClatchy, Cam Bonifay, Neal Huntington and a host of others. It's time for the mouthpieces of this organization to get in touch with reality and think before they speak, because people are always listening. They already have squat in terms of fan credibility, and calling a sports talk show to deny a statement they actually made is not going to help in that department. You'd think the best management team in all of sports might realize that by now.

Frank Coonelly Responds w/ Vinnie and Cook (with audio) [93.7 The Fan]

Coonelly predicts Pirates dynasty! [Bob Smizik Blog]

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9 comments:

SantoGold said...

I'm as big a Pirate apologist as there is, but this is getting out of hand. How hard is it to simply spout off a few well used cliches like: "This is a young team that is going to improve", "the worst is behind us", or "I like our starting pitching" or something like that. Dynasty???? Even the Yankees aren't a dynasty anymore.

Unknown said...

um....i got nothing - who am i kidding...maybe Chip can tell us how they're really trying to build a "dynasty"...

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

Let this be a lesson to everyone that the Pirates do not respect the intelligence of their fan base.

Enjoy the Zambelli displays and the Clarks concerts

P.O. said...

who are the Pirates???

BURGH08 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BURGH08 said...

I heard Adam sent him a thank you note for defending him.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

I love the Pirates; I hate their management and ownership group.

This is yet another drop in the bucket of bull we have been fed and some of us graciously have drank from it.

I am not one of them. I have been criticized for being overly skeptical of the moves made by the FO as salary dumps and told that they are just good baseball moves made by good baseball people. Well, here is the thing: They continue to prove otherwise.

If anybody on here who isn't a plant thinks winning baseball is the #1 priority over there at Nutting Central, well I have a bridge I can sell 'yinz'.

Unknown said...

I'm surprised people still care about the pirates. They have been long dead to me. I truly want to love them. They were my team growing up. However, I don't suffer fools and that is all this organization has been for over a decade.

Chad said...

I soured on the Bucs long ago. These latest moves do not have me excited at all. More of the same, dumping players for mid-level prospects that will then be dumped in 3-4 years. MLB needs to get the Nuttings out. Not only have I quit watching the Succos I have quit watching MLB baseball. I haven't watched the World Series the past 5 or 6 years. And I used to love the Bucs. I cried in front of my girlfriend in 1992 after that game 7 loss. I seriously broke down in tears. Now I could care less.