PITTSBURGH, PA. - Years ago, I took advantage of a deal that allowed me to buy a standing room pass to all 82 Pittsburgh Pirates home games for only $30 a month. I wind up going to about 30-35 games and, living only 25 minutes away, the gorgeous walk over the Allegheny River has become part of my routine.
People ask me how I can go to so many Pirates games each year when they are so terrible. I enjoy the ballpark community, especially the thousands of visiting fans who come to bask in the wonder of PNC Park each year.
PNC Park, with its gorgeous views of downtown Pittsburgh and the riverfront park surrounding it, is routinely rated the best ballpark in the country, but our team is perennially rated the worst. Given this, there are often only 15,000 fans in the ballpark, and tickets behind home plate can be purchased for only $30, which is why many fans from more expensive cities visit PNC Park when their team comes to town.
Often, the unruly fans from East Coast cities are quite a culture shock in a much smaller northern Appalachian town like Pittsburgh, with a population of 300,000.
Philly fans drive in the thousands to Pittsburgh every time, and nearly every one of them likes to talk about how Pittsburgh isn't really a city. Often,15,000 Mets fans will show up from New York, drowning out chants for the home team and even yelling at Pittsburgh fans in the bathrooms (come on, who the hell yells at someone in the bathroom?!?!). The Mets fans are the worst.
The best and nicest fans by far, though, are the Blue Jays fans, who make the four-hour drive down from Toronto. True to stereotypes of Canadians, Blue Jays fans are often very nice. Often, as many as 10,000 Canadians will come to Pittsburgh, and they just lavish praise on Pittsburgh. The Blue Jays fans are so nice.
Many of the fans also come from union strongholds in Ontario, and I often find myself talking with them. A few years ago, I met Rob Page, a Steelworkers union member from Toronto. We wound up getting beers and hanging out all night after the ballgame. When I told Rob what I paid for healthcare, he was astonished, as healthcare is free in Canada.
We exchanged numbers and stayed in touch. He even signed up as a subscriber to Payday Report. Over the years, we've regularly texted back and forth about our teams, and I wound up developing an affinity for the Blue Jays, finding myself looking forward to whenever the Blue Jays came to the Burgh.
This past year, though, Rob didn't come down from Toronto to see the Blue Jays in Pittsburgh due to what's happening between our countries. Less than half the usual number of Blue Jays fans were there, as many weren't interested in traveling to the United States.
For more than 10 years, my friend Rob had visited the Blue Jays during spring training in Dunedin, Florida. This past year, while Rob was dressed in Blue Jays gear and visiting the Blue Jays in Florida, a Trump supporter in a truck pulled up alongside him and yelled, "America was gonna make Canada the 51st state."
After the incident, Rob wasn't so keen on coming to the United States to see the Blue Jays in Pittsburgh and stayed home. We stayed in touch via text about how our teams were doing. With the Buccos starting the season 12-26, I found myself cheering more and more for the Blue Jays.
Given what's happened between countries, many in Canada - on all sides of the political spectrum - are cheering for them to win.
"It's extra special. They can say what they want, 51st state. We are our own country," 28-year-old fan Braeden McNeil told CTV news while holding back tears following the Jays' win in the American League championship series. "We're going to the World Series. It doesn't matter if we're the underdogs. It doesn't matter what Americans say."
During the World Series, the Ontario government has been airing TV ads directed at American audiences that denounce the tariffs that Trump has placed on Canada, quoting Ronald Reagan. The ads have so upset Trump that he canceled scheduled trade talks between the two countries.
"They only did this to interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, and other courts. TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A. "Trump wrote in a social media post denouncing the World Series ads. "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."
However, Canadians have not backed down in using the World Series as an opportunity to denounce the way the Trump Administration is treating their country.
"The whole country is behind this team," said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said that he bet Trump a case of Canadian beer that the Blue Jays would win the World Series, but that Trump wouldn't take the bet because "he doesn't like to lose."
At a time when the Canadian economy is taking a beating due to Trump's trade war, many Canadians are rallying behind the team as a source of national pride.
"They definitely are Canada's team," Winnipeg resident Kirsty Crawford told Reuters. "It's amazing. There are people in my office who have never watched a baseball game in their lives, and they're watching it."
So this year, with the Pirates long out of contention, I will be rooting for the Blue Jays in the World Series to increase solidarity between Canada and the United States. More than ever, we need solidarity between our countries, so let's go, Blue Jays!
