From The Editor's Desk

Idiots and Maniacs
By Tony DeFazio

The Pirates still have fans. The 90,000 people that poured into PNC Park late last month to watch a team with 12- straight losses play a bad Cleveland Indians club proves as much.

Many of those fans are of the typical "hope-they-win-but-laugh-off-a-loss" variety. The rest are divided into two distinct camps: Idiots and Maniacs.

Look at these Idiots: I feel bad for this group. Most are good-hearted souls who are simply naïve. They are so starved for a winner that they've created a deluded reality. In their world, the four Pirates rookies who have just taken on major roles—Pedro Alvarez, Brad Lincoln, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker—will take this team under their respective wings and lead the organization to the promised land. The se Idiots point to any positive and grasp desperately for signs of promise. Once said promise is found, this group turns every minor plus into a definitive sign of All-Star potential. Because of their pitiful exaggerations of reality, they won't remain in this group forever. Their hearts will soon be broken so viciously and so completely that they will inevitably rapidly transition into the second group. Who are these Maniacs? These are the ones who call radio talk shows and populate internet message boards, ridiculing their mortal enemies: fans stupid enough to actually attend games at PNC Park. Yet, despite the anger of the Maniacs, they can often be found at the park themselves – booing Pedro Alvarez when he strikes out in just his second major league game.

We all know a Maniac. Many are good, productive members of society –until Pirates season. Then they watch every game, just waiting for the chance to foam at the mouth and rip into the organization for anything and everything. They belittle every batter's swing and miss; they throw their hands in the air every time a pitcher misses the plate. "Why do you even CARE about these losers?!" they scream in a frenzy – ironically seeming to care just a little too much themselves.

Sadly, these two groups also represent America's voters – taking their positions on the extreme wings and lashing out at everyone who disagrees with their points of view. But that's another column for another publication.

The reality, of course, is that the Pirates are bad. And they will continue to be bad. But for the first time in almost two decades—when the core group of Orlando Merced, Al Martin, Carlos Garcia and Kevin Young all broke into the majors at roughly the same time—the organization has put a clear plan together and seen it through to the major league level. And unlike that era, there is a clear second phase to this plan that is currently making the move from high-A to AA.

But for now, we sit and wait. It's going to take time for this crew to develop, and that development will mean plenty of losses.

And if (when?) they lose 100 games this season, the Maniacs will preach fire and brimstone about how they've been lied to, cheated and ripped off.

They'll be wrong, of course, but no more wrong than the Idiots who tell you about all the legitimate protection the rookies are already giving to Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones. Legitimate? We have no idea if these guys are legit or not. They had a combined 166 at bats when this column went to print. Protection? They are hitting a combined .241. They haven't protected anyone.

That's the reality.

But the Idiots and Maniacs don't live in reality.