Pirates Striving to Climb Pittsburgh Sports Hierarchy

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

In the meantime, the Bill Cowher-led Steelers took flight, leading to a handful of divisional crowns and eventually a fifth Super Bowl in February 2006. Also during the Pirates' dormancy, the Penguins perennially contended through the '90s, rebuilt and now have arguably the NHL's most exciting team, led by mega-talents Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

On top of all that, improbably, the University of Pittsburgh's men's basketball team has established itself as one of college hoops' premier programs, even though it has yet to make a Final Four appearance after nearly a decade of high-quality play.

But even in spite of the Panthers' tight loss to Villanova in the Elite Eight late last month, I still feel comfortable placing the Pitt cagers above the more-than-100-year tradition of the Pirates, simply because an entire generation of Pittsburghers have grown up without experiencing a pennant race.

So there it is. In a decidedly pro-centric city such as Pittsburgh, the Pirates have fallen below a college team. Dodging the ignominy of 17 consecutive sub-.500 summers would clearly be the first step out of fourth place, but it's only a small step.

New management, anchored by team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington, has started to implement a seemingly-sound plan for improvement, but for the near future it appears the Bucs still have time to serve in the basement of the NL Central, as well as last place in regional relevance.

The one-time and long-time king of 'Burgh sports is dead...at least for now.

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