This used to be the best time of year to be a Pirates fan. It's sad I know, but it was one of several unpleasant facts I'd come to accept with being a passionate supporter of a team about to tie the record for professional sports futlity. While former GM Dave Littlefield never had a cohesive plan for building a competitive team, he was a master at tweaking the major league roster just enough every winter to renew optimism. In hindsight, it was kind of like buying some new painting to put inside a house with a leaky roof and crumbling foundation. They didn't do much to help the bigger problems, but man for a couple weeks at least it was pretty to look at them.

Never was this phenomenon more apparent than during the 2006 off-season. It was then that Littlefield bid against himself and brought in Jeromy Burnitz, Joe Randa and Sean Casey for somewhere around $15 million. There was a collective buzz among us Pirates fans leading up to that season, that our team now possessed the talent to challenge for the NL Central. In reality, we were so wrapped up in the fact that our team was finally spending money, that we neglected to realize that Jeromy Burnitz, Sean Casey and Joe Randa weren't any, you know, good.

It didn't take long for the hammer to fall, either. For me it happened while listening to the final innings of a demoralizing opening series sweep in Milwaukee. The game was fading away late as the Pirates managed one final last gasp rally. With two outs and a couple men on base, one of the 'big three' (it's fitting that I can't remember which one) strode to the plate. He did something like ground out to first base on two pitches, not even staying in the batter's box long enough to draw out the tension. The absurdity of my January optimism was never more embarrassing than in that instant.

That said, it didn't stop me from making bizarre pop culture...

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