1-25-09 Convention Center : Piratefest ’09

Holly and I decided to go to the final day of Piratefest today since we had such a good time on Friday.  We had already used our early entrance tickets that came free with our account, so we had to pay $20 for two admission tickets.

I would say there was double the amount of people that were there on Friday, which created an annoyance factor that lasted throughout the day.  The three day total was just over 15,000 – the third highest Piratefest attendance of all time.  The number was no doubt inflated by the fact that for the first time ever, the Pirates allowed all children under 14 to attend for free.  More than half of the total attendance, roughly 8,500 attended on Saturday.  I’m glad I decided to stay away that day.

We walked past the MVP Zone and noticed Zach Duke and Nyjer Morgan were signing autographs.  We had yet to get them to sign our team signature balls, so we waited in line.

All of the autographs on my ball are in blue ink.  There are roughly 15 or so signatures on it.  Duke noticed this and signed in blue ink, as any reasonable person would do.  However, Nyjer took the ball and grabbed a black pen and scribbled his name on it.  I was pretty mad about that.

After we got autographs we went to eat something and watch Deal or No Deal.  John Grabow was the banker, while new Pirate announcer Tim Neverett was the host.  I snapped a picture of the prize board.  It was the same prizes that were on the board when I played last Sunday at Seven Springs.

As you recall, I ended up winning 4 tickets + I get to change third base.

We watched about a round and a half of the game.  Grabow picked little kids both times out of the crowd, which rendered the sign up sheet for people wanting to play the game pointless.  The first contestant eliminated both season ticket packages off the bat.  The kid kept eliminating the top prizes, but Grabow’s offers kept getting better and better. 

This was annoying to Holly and I, because it made the game unrealistic.    We ended up leaving during the second round after Grabow kept sweeting the pot after good prizes were eliminated.

At that point, my camera had died after only a week of brand new 8x Lithium Batteries.  I was mad.

Holly and I walked around and noticed that all of the booths were liquidating all of their items.  There was a table set up outside of the grab bag booth.  Piled high were fleece blankets, hats, bobbleheads, Pirates years books, etc.  Everything on the table was $1.  I bought 5 Fleece Blankets. 

Also, every grab bag in the bin was half off.  On Friday the prices were 1 for $20 or 2 for $35.  Sunday they doubled the offer; 2 for $20 or 4 for $35.  Holly and I watched as two hillbillies were being real sneaky and opening up grab bag after grab bag and peeking inside.  They were looking for one of the top prizes, an ipod, airline tickets, Pirate tickets, etc.  The bums searched for at least 10 minutes, and we watched in disgust.  Luckily an employee finally came over and reprimanded them.

Holly bought one grab bag for $10, but there was the same old crap inside.

Later, we ran into Dan, who told us they were getting rid of everything at the chuck-a-luck wheel.  We stood in line for 45 minutes to spin the wheel.  The prizes were bobbleheads, plates, hats, and tickets.  For every prize, they gave us FOUR items!  One dollar x 5 spins (so $5) got me about 12 bobbleheads, 2 fleece blankets, a Stargell plate, 2 LF tickets, 4 hats.  I had so much that I had to go over to a garbage can and take a bag off of the garbage can bag roll.  In case you’re wondering what I will do with the trinkets, they’re all going on ebay.  Ebay is another one of my hobbies beside baseball. 

We walked around a bit more and left soon after.

All together we stayed only 3.5 hours.  The best day by far to go is Friday, but if you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck, go Sunday.

Take a look at the autograph list of players who signed our balls over the two days of Piratefest:

John Russell
Paul Maholm
Matt capps
Sean Burnett
Ryan Doumit
Nate McLouth
Neil Walker
Andrew McCutchen
Tony Beasley
Ross Ohlendorf
Zach Duke
Nyjer Morgan
Andy LaRoche
Jeff Karstens

I’m thinking about going to Beaver Falls on Thursday night to pick up Steve Pearce, John Grabow and Joe Kerrigan.