May 19, 2018 5 min read

Only 12,000 fans for fireworks?

It might be time to start a GoFundMe campaign for the Nutting family.

The Pirates are off to one of their best starts ever and nobody saw it coming, especially the people who have been buying tickets in advance for the last several years.

Through the Pirates worst times, you could always count on a good crowd for fireworks and bobble heads. That’s what allowed the owners to field mediocre to bad teams and still make money.

The Nuttings had to expect bad preseason sales after another losing season and trading Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole. You can be sure that they weren’t surprised at all by the embarrassing crowd Friday night against the San Diego Padres.

That’s the thing about advance sales. They tell you in advance what kind of year you’re going to have at the gate.

Don’t expect the hot start for the Pirates or better weather to suddenly create respectable crowds. It won’t result in a tsunami of walk-up sales because that’s not how it works.

Good advance sales protect you against a bad team and bad weather. A surprisingly good team doesn’t save you from bad advance sales. The Pirates had a 23 percent drop in attendance last season and their television ratings took a 45 percent dive.

Unless the Pirates stay in contention until late July or August, there will be plenty of good seats available every night at PNC Park.

Having 12,000 and change is exactly what the Pirates deserved Friday night.

• Back in June, when Mark-Andre Fleury was taken in the 2017 National Hockey League Expansion Draft by the Vegas Golden Knights, I had planned to predict that 11 months later he’d be the leading contender for the 2018 Conn Smythe Trophy, but I forgot.

And that’s exactly what he is after stopping 35 of 37 shots Friday night to help the Golden Knights take a 3-1 lead over the Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference Final.

The NHL has an expansion team that is five wins away from skating around with the Stanley Cup, and you can write it down now: Fleury will be the Conn Smythe winner if it happens. His team has been playing well in front of him and may be making it easier for him to stop pucks than the Penguins ever did. He’s also making the spectacular saves at the most important times, and there’s not a guy on his team who doesn’t think he’s its most valuable player.

If Fleury and Vegas pull it off, they will be part of North America’s best sports story in 2018.

• Would Fleury have made the difference against the Washington Capitals in the second round?

Maybe.

Matt Murray was the Penguins’ MVP in a few games during this playoff run but had some chances to make a difference with spectacular saves after some bad defensive breakdowns and didn’t do it enough. As you read here last June, I think Fleury, who’s 33 years old, will be a better goalie than Murray for the next few years.

He’s definitely better right now. And he’s in his prime.

• Want a safe bet? Put your money on the state of Pennsylvania screwing up legalized sports gambling.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of allowing states to determine whether to allow betting on live sporting events and Pennsylvania came right out of the gate with the highest tax rate for the legal bookie – 34 percent.

This is the same state that passed up billions of dollars by awarding casino licenses for $50 million instead of selling them at auction. This, of course, allowed the politicians to choose who would be getting the license to print money, which is never a good idea.

The Penguins put in a request for a license with the promise of using the profits to pay for a new arena. The idiots in Harrisburg said no thanks and awarded it to a guy who went bankrupt about 20 minutes later and then forced the taxpayers to pay over $300 million for what became the Consol Energy Center.

Pittsburgh native Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA, says legalized betting will double the value of the franchises in the four major sports. I’m sure the owners of those teams will show their gratitude by kicking back some of the billions of dollars confiscated from taxpayers to build their stadiums and arenas.

If true, this comes at a convenient time for the owners of the local baseball team, who will be feeling even better about not listening to its fans begging them to sell.

• Did you know the pro football season started today?

Yep, Canadian Football League teams started training camp. Johnny Manziel reported to the Hamilton Tiger Cats and, unless he’s totally lost it while partying, he should be a star quarterback in the CFL. I know I’ll be watching this summer. He’s a perfect fit for that league, and I’ll be shocked if his games aren’t entertaining.

• Speaking of must-see television, what a great choice by HBO and the NFL to make the Browns the stars of this coming season’s “Hard Knocks.” I can’t remember the last time I watched an episode of the series, but I’ll have the DVR set for it this time. One way or another, the Browns are going to be a great story this season.