Dec 19, 2015 4 min read

How about not buying a ticket?

The talk shows and the Twittersphere were buzzing this week with aggravated Pirates fans, who are enraged with the Nutting family for not spending more money.

Neal Walker, Pedro Alvarez and Charlie Morton are gone, all to some degree because of money.

Signing utility man Sean Rodriguez to a one-year deal and picking up 38-year-old mediocre pitcher and former Pirate Ryan Vogelsong just brought back memories of 20 years of losing.

Fans and unfortunately some in the media love to point out that the Nuttings are billionaires, the 10th richest owners in Major League Baseball, and they continue to insist that they owe it to the city to spend more on players.

It’s not going to happen.

Three years of winning and playing in the postseason have given fans, who suffered through 20 years of losing, a taste of what it’s like to have meaningful baseball games to watch all summer long.

And they believe showing up in much bigger numbers at PNC Park has made them deserving of a team that can take the next step.

That costs money and that’s just not going to happen.

How many fans the Pirates draw for the 2016 season is being determined right now. It’s all about the advanced sale and bigger crowds the last three years have made buying tickets in advance more necessary.

How many of the people who are tweeting and calling talk shows and demanding the Nuttings spend more money or sell the team have already reupped for season tickets next year?

Fans made it clear to the Nuttings they could field a garbage team for 20 years and still, with the help of MLB revenue sharing, make tons of money. Where’s their incentive to spend?

So, how’s this for an idea: Send your ticket renewal form back to the Pirates’ ticket office with a note that says, “Thanks for your interest in retaining me as a customer, but I would prefer waiting to see what kind of team you put together in the offseason before I give you another dollar of my money.”

If you love baseball and PNC Park so much that you can’t help yourself and you’ve already sent the Nuttings money for 2016, that’s understandable.

But you need to understand that you’re part of the problem.

• What’s happening with the Penguins just makes no sense. How can a team with three of the most prolific scorers of the last 10 years have so much trouble scoring?

And it’s not just Sidney Crosby, who was ranked 81st in scoring going into Saturday night’s game with Carolina. While the Penguins were losing six of their last seven, Crosby had six points. Which was double what Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessell scored combined.

Remember Patric Hornqvist?

He scored 25 goals last season. He has six points in his last 20 games and he has scored 5 goals, which puts him on pace for about 12.

When the Penguins made the deal to acquire Kessell, the argument among North American hockey experts was about whether he’d score 40 or 50 goals. He has nine.

That puts him on pace for 20 and he’s been on the line with two of the highest scoring centers in the NHL over the last 10 years.

I heard a talk show host ask if it was sacrilegious to suggest that Crosby should be taken off the first line. No. Just stupid.

Crosby had two points in an embarrassing 6-2 loss to the Boston Bruins Friday night. He didn’t play any better than he has all season but two players turned his passes into goals. Neither player, Conor Sheary nor Trevor Daley was on the roster a week ago.

It’s easy to find people who can tell you what’s wrong with the Penguins. Most of them will tell you it’s about Sidney Crosby, but it’s hard to find anybody who knows how to fix them.

Or him.

The new coach Mike Sullivan went into Saturday night’s game with the Hurricanes five points out of the last playoff spot.

He has the toughest turn around job to do since Craig Patrick saved the team in December 1989.

John Steigerwald writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter