Pierogi Race mascot was kicked to the curb over Facebook opinions (flickr via jmd41280)
It’s sad when the only exciting part about going to a ball game is the city skyline and a race between men posing as pierogis. Come on, you know the feeling… a friend had a change in plans so he gave you his Pirates tickets. You go to work and tell everyone at the water cooler: “that’s right, guys, I’m goin’ to the game tonight”.You keep an eye on the weather through the big window across the room from your cubicle. You take off from work a few minutes early, and you get away with it.. because you have “tickets to the game”.
You finally get home, change and get ready to go to head out! And the entire time, you think to yourself “this is it, they are actually going to win tonight, I’m going to see the big win!” or “hey guys, this is my first Pirates game ever, please win, just this once, pleeeease God let them win tonight so I can go back to work tomorrow and talk about how exciting it was to witness the win!”
You take your seat. Order a beer and some nachos. You take a picture of the field and the beautiful city skyline with your iPhone and tweet it with pride to make all your followers jealous. Boy, this sure is a beautiful stadium. Ahhh yes, the life of a sports fan.
Then something happens. The game starts. The sun goes down. It’s the 5th inning and the Pirates still have zero. Disappointment sets in. But wait, what’s that music? Hey wait a minute, those are giant pierogis and they are running around the field.. No, no, no, they are racing, that’s right, RACING! OMG how exciting! Boy oh boy! What a rush! The team ended up losing yet another game, but how about that Great Pirogi Race?
One of those running pierogis was Andrew Kurtz. A 24 year old Pittsburgh Pirates fan who obviously loves his team enough to dress up in a giant pierogi costume for 25 bucks a race to entertain the fans.
Like over 400 million other people, Andrew has a Facebook account. But on Thursday, he posted a status update that got him in hot water…
Coonelly extended the contracts of Russell and Huntington through the 2011 season. That means a 19-straight losing streak. Way to go Pirates.
Those three sentences over-boiled this pierogi and got him fired.
Whatever happened to “three” strikes you’re out? This guy stated his opinions on his personal Facebook account (probably would’ve been worse if it was on Twitter) and not only that, but his opinions are shared by what seems to be a large majority of Pirates fans.
What do you think, Pirates fans? Was he right?
Update:
Andrew Kurtz got his job back on Saturday after the Pirates admitted that he was not fired within their firing procedures. Sounds like a flip-flop after they said he already had one strike.
Should Kurtz accept his Pierogi job back? Or should he take the Racing Hot Dog position offered to him by the Washington Wild Things?
- Excited
- Happy
- Amused
- Bored
- Sad
- Angry
They spend their energy firing a guy in a pierogi suit for saying something that makes sense. Why not fire the people who are responsible for what he (and everyone else) is saying. Fire the coach or the players who continue this pathetic losing streak. Just a thought.
Careful who reads your comment, Chris! You might get fired too (from being a fan that is!)
Guys, it’s a job. Most people would lose their job – especially if you already had one “strike” against you, like this guy did – if you publicly called your boss or owner an idiot. Just because it’s a sports team doesn’t mean it’s not a real company or job.
That said, I’ll be his replacement in a heart beat, especially for $25/game!
Oh no, not Sauerkraut Sal.
At first I agreed with Chris, but I see where you’re coming from, Nate. It is a real company. I tend to think of the Pirates as representatives of the fans of the ‘burgh’. And I thought at $25/game Andrew was just a fan in a suit, but that’s a few thousand a year if you work most of the games, isn’t it?
When I went to the game it was almost exactly like what you wrote except they actually won that time. It was pretty cool. And yes, I did send a pic of the city to my facebook friends, with a view like that how could you not. Best412
LOL! funny story but at the end of the day it is a business. if any of my writers were saying bad stuff about my business on a public forum i’d dump them too!
who cares about that stupid race. it ain’t even a race, it’s staged. that’s the perfect time to go get more beer and nachos.
Yeah you guys saw that the Pierogi got his job back? Thanks to articles like this one, I bet the execs realized that firing that kid made them look far worse than his quick Facebook comment. Now they REALLY look bad since they hired him back. LOL Pirates just can’t get anything right.
Post updated. Thanks PGH Filmer =)
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