Oct 13, 2002 By Commentary John Mehno 4 min read

What are the words that make a sports franchise operator cringe? “Good seats are still available.”

They figure to come up often with the Pittsburgh Penguins this season, who are encountering a multi-headed box office whammy. The economy is lousy, tickets are expensive, the Penguins are coming off their first non-playoff season in 12 years and fans are skeptical about how much Mario Lemieux will play.

Tom Rooney, who now runs the business side for the team, was the marketing guy when the Penguins were rapidly becoming a hot ticket. He is a smart, creative guy (what else would you expect from a former sportswriter?) and he learned from other people around the league.

His favorite phrase was, “Nothing sells tickets like selling tickets.”

Under his guidance, the Penguins sold individual game tickets in segments. If you wanted tickets for the big game in March, you couldn’t buy them until February – if then. The emphasis was that season subscribers – even those on a partial plan – got priority.

It was a mild form of manufactured hysteria that created an urgency. People bought a 10-game package and were prodded to do more. Some partnered with friends on a full season ticket and split the games. Tickets sold in advance are the franchise’s hedge against unforeseen problems. If the team underachieves or the star injures his hip, the ticket money has been banked. Lousy weather might crimp business at the concession stands, but the empty seats were sold.

It worked and the Penguins reached a point where good seats were rarely still available.

But any sales curve inevitably has a downward arc and the Penguins are on that slide now. Attendance will be an issue throughout this season. Having emerged from bankruptcy into an NHL that’s spending more recklessly than ever, the oft-troubled franchise is in a precarious financial situation. Imagine how dire the situation might be if the owner/captain weren’t playing at a tremendous discount.

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The Steelers lost in New Orleans last Sunday and some guy called the TV post-game show to seethe.

The team, he declared from the safety of his recliner, has gone soft. One of the areas he cited as soft was the offensive line.

If he’d been paying attention to the game, he would have noticed that guard Alan Faneca was dealt a forehead gash that left the front of his white jersey splattered with blood. The trainers wrapped some gauze around the wound and Faneca pulled his helmet back over the bandage. Then he returned to the field, threw a block that helped Jerome Bettis score a touchdown and head-butted Bettis to celebrate.

Only then did he go to the locker room to have six stitches sewn into his head. Ah, if the caller only could have boosted himself up on a couple of beer cases, looked the 6-foot-5, 305-pound Faneca in the eye and told him how “soft” he thought the line was.

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The best thing the Pirates have done under General Manager Dave Littlefield is eliminate the “Well, maybe…” policy.

Under the previous administration, the Pirates would cling to mediocre players because someone remembered them having a good week or month. It was, “Well, maybe he can do that again.”

Last offseason, Littlefield cut ties with chronic non-achievers Rich Loiselle, Jose Silva and Marc Wilkins and built a better bullpen without them. He traded Chad Hermansen during the season and released Adrian Brown last week. He’ll look for a center field answer elsewhere.

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Forty-two years ago this afternoon, Bill Mazeroski hit a high slider from Ralph Terry over the left field wall at Forbes Field and won the 1960 World Series for the Pirates.

Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth and the count was 1-0 when he hit the ultimate walk-off home run.

Thank goodness there weren’t stat geeks to suggest a leadoff hitter should really take a strike and try to work a walk in that situation.

Sports correspondent John Mehno can be reached at: johnmehno@lycos.com.