The Pittsburgh Pirates are well on their way to finishing the season below .500 for the 16th straight year.

They are 293 games below .500 since the 1993 season.

Roberto and Willie must be spinning in their graves.

Although I sympathize with their financial situation compared with big market teams, the success of the Twins and Marlins, as well as other small-market teams, leads me to believe that there is some serious mis-management at the helm.

Too bad, too, because before that 15 year dip, they had a great team assembled: Bonds, Van Slyke, Bonilla, Drabek, Neagle, Wakefield, Jay Bell, et al.

Don't feel too sorry for the management.

They still manage to turn a profit.

That's part of the problem. The team sucks, but people still because the park is awesome.

They also have promotions all the time. They ran out of people to make bobble heads of a while ago and are now going through the list a second time.

I guess it's cheaper to give away 40,000 bobble heads than to pay for legitimate big league players.

They are 293 games below .500 since the 1993 season.

Either the Pirates have the most faithful fans on earth, or they're all deaf dumb and blind.