So the Pirates finally found a scapegoat for their 18th straight losing season

The sad-sack Bucs fired a pierogi.

Too ridiculous to make up: One of the guys who dresses as a pierogi for the mid-game knockoff of the Brewers' sausage race, making $25 per night as a part-timer, wasn't too impressed with the absurd contract extensions given to comatose manager John Russell and the equally inept GM. So he fired off this (sic) wisecrack on his Facebook page: "Coonelly extended the contracts of Russell and Huntington through the 2011 season. That means a 19-straight losing streak. Way to go Pirates."

A few hours later, the team's mascot coordinator calls and fires him.

http://post-gazette.com/pg/10170/1066854-63.stm

I know Facebook is a minefield when you're dealing with your employer, but give me a freaking break. I know the Russell-Huntington extensions were discussed at length on the running baseball thread. But the manner in they were publicly disclosed -- extended in October, but kept a secret because the Bucs were ashamed to extend them after a 17th straight losing season -- cemented their status as the laughingstock of MLB.

This ... this just makes me genuinely embarrassed to have grown up a Pirate fan.

 

THIS was your breaking point?

 

I just read about this. How ridiculous, however at this point if your Facebook privacy settings are public then shame on you.

Or did he "friend" his boss???

 

So the Pirates are hiring a pierogi??

 

At this point, I really have to question anyone who would plunk down good money to watch this team.

 

Yeah. This.

Not a good idea to bad mouth your employer on Facebook. Even worse idea to have settings that let your boss see it.

Failbook, here this guy comes!

 

Accountability, Pirates style.

 

I can't believe a paper would devote that much space to that story. It's a cute brief, but that's all.

Details on which is his favorite pierogi (sp) to portray? Ugh.

The guy should be embarrassed that his mom is calling papers to bitch that her doofus son lost a $100 a month job.

 

Yeah, except "private" may not be all that private with Facebook.

 

Are the Pirates 0-82 at this point? Seems premature to call it a losing season yet.

 

You put a smiley on it, but you ask a good question. On the list of decisions worthy of scorn by the Pirates over the last 20 years, I'm not sure this makes the top 200.

 

I wasn't clear in my 2 a.m. post. I've been genuinely embarrassed to have grown up a Pirate fan plenty of times. Nothing necessarily new there, I type as I look at my Tom Gorzelanny bobblehead -- the one that has Gorzelanny's middle finger extending out of the back of the glove. Perfectly symbolic.

What the pierogi kid did was stupid. No question, you can't rip your employer (even with a factually-based criticism, saying what everyone is thinking) and expect to keep a job. But the Pirates' management HAD to know how this would play in the papers and on the talk shows. Just stupid, all around.