Confluence Soapbox; Hey Bob, open the books....

I just continue to be furious over the sham of a press conference the Pirates pulled on the fans yesterday.

And as I suspected, I'm not alone.

All over the Pirates blogosphere, the same feelings are portrayed, albeit written in bloggers' respective styles.

But it's just the outlandish and completely ridiculous comments that they made that are an insult to me and all other Pirate fans that have put up with this nonsense for so many years.

"I will say this: I am absolutely committed to having the team win,"

"It's a plan that absolutely can work, and I expect it to work,"

Give me a frickin' break.

But here's the one that's got me steamed;

"Ownership is not taking money out of the team and putting it in their pockets. It is going right back into the team."

You want to earn some brownie points with Pirate fans now that you've come out of hibernation with your Daddy, Bob ??

PROVE IT.

Do like your divisional rivals, the Milwaukee Brewers, did when they were pressured to do so by their fans.

If you're so confident that your team is doing the right thing, and not spending that money against the regulations that MLB has set forth, open up the books and PROVE IT.

Kevin McClatchy said as much a couple of years ago in an interview with FSN 'Burgh. He admitted that the money that they received from MLB's revenue sharing was going toward paying off debt, completely against the "spirit" of the rules of revenue sharing.

I would love to see fans continue to pressure Pirate ownership to open up the books, and show us where the hundreds of millions have gone over the past 14 years.

But I'm also realistic enough to realize that that day probably will never come.