Lori Falce: In the game of life, we keep swinging and missing when it comes to gun violence

I wanted to write about the Pittsburgh Pirates today.

That was the plan. I was going to take the opportunity to poke the management of the hometown team with a sharp stick as we prepare to embark on what I predict now, at the end of March, will be yet another disappointment of a baseball season. Prove me wrong, guys. I dare you.

But I don’t get to do that.

Nope, I have to write about how we continue to embrace kids being shot at school because we refuse to stop using the same playbook when it comes to getting anything done in government.

So maybe we are talking about the Pirates. The difference is not that great.

The faithful come into the home opener every year believing that there is hope — that maybe this is the year when everything turns around.

The realistic Pittsburgher comes into the start of baseball season with resignation. The pure weight of so many losing seasons has taught them not to expect miracles because baseball in the Steel City isn’t a Disney movie. There are no angels in this outfield.

It is not unlike the cycle that repeats with each horrifying mass shooting: There is hope that there will be change, and there is bitter resignation that it will not happen.

And, in the end, it isn’t because the people don’t want change. They do. No one but the shooter wanted The Covenant School in Nashville to be ripped apart by bullets Monday, with three 9-year-old children and three employees dying.

But you can’t effect change without making change. That seems like an obvious statement. Still, every school shooting leads to thoughts and prayers, with absolutely nothing changing.

Oh, sure, there are small moves. People will change their pictures on social media. Some will have protests at state buildings, as they did in Nashville, or write letters to their elected officials.

However, the people in the big offices are the ones who need to change the game.

They need to bring out the heavy hitters to brainstorm new ideas that will fall somewhere between the bans one side fears and the free-for-all the other side sees. They need seasoned pros to analyze the weaknesses in what’s happening and come up with better plays. They need to rally the crowd to inspire the team to win.

The difference is that, when the Pirates let the fans down, it’s not a tragedy. It’s another day at PNC Park.

When we as a society cannot put aside politics to save our kids’ lives, it is more than a swing and a miss. It is monstrous. It is foul. It is a knife in the heart of everyone who has lost a loved one to gun violence, and God knows there are enough of them in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

I wanted this to be a fun chance to vent at a baseball team. But a school shooting happened. And it absolutely will not be the last.

Prove me wrong. I dare you.