Hope springs eternal on Pirates' Opening Day

It’s important to have priorities.

As big-league baseball returned to Pittsburgh on Monday with the Pirates opening their home schedule at PNC Park, die-hard fans chose going to the sun-drenched yet chilly opener over work, school and other lesser priorities.

“I skipped school for this, but I don’t think I’ll get in trouble,” said Jack Alcorn, a fourth-grader at Deer Lakes School District’s East Union Intermediate Center.

Alcorn was probably right, since his parents were on board with him playing hooky.

“We called him out sick today,” said Jack’s mother Becky, 42, of West Deer. “This is how we make memories. We’ve been coming 11 years in a row to Opening Day, since before Jack was born, and it’s just a family tradition. Hopefully, he’ll be doing this with his kids someday.”

Jack’s father, John Alcorn, a 44-year-old researcher at UPMC Children’s Hospital, said he wasn’t worried about Jack’s teachers giving him a hard time for missing school to watch the Pirates take on the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Absolutely not,” Alcorn said. “Actually, his math teacher is a huge Pirates fan.”

Scenes from outside PNC Park for the Pirates’ Home Opener @TribLIVE pic.twitter.com/SJwU1Rz8Vt

— Nate Smallwood (@nsmallwoodphoto) April 1, 2019

“Normally, I would be working, but I quit my job. I wanted to spend some time with my old man before I shipped overseas, and this is a great way to do it,” Jordan Lyon, 26, said between sips of beer while tailgating in the morning’s below-freezing temperatures.

The Army is deploying Lyon to Poland in about two weeks.

“We wanted to make sure we got to a game before he has to go away,” said Lyon’s father, Tom Lyon, 56, of Washington.

The elder Lyon said the cold temperatures didn’t bother him.

“We’ve been colder. We’ve been standing here with the snow packed into our ears some years,” he said.

At McFadden’s on the North Shore, Beth Reger, a medical assistant from Youngwood, took refuge from the cold with a group of friends. They were enjoying an unusual breakfast of chicken wings, onion rings, fried pickles and baked pretzels with cheese. Dressed in a dark gray Pirates pullover, she was washing it all down with a rum and coke.

“It’s fun being here, the excitement of Opening Day. The start of the season is always fun,” she said.

Outside in Red Lot 7 across from the D. L. Clark Building, spaces were filling up fast by 10 a.m.

As the smell of grilled meat wafted over the lot, Denny Myers, a 38-year-old asphalt worker from Latrobe, seemed to have taken the art of tailgating to a new level as he cooked on a deluxe Pit Boss smoker.

“It’s fresh out of the box; we’ve got some hickory pellets, and we’re cooking our meats on it,” Myers said. “It gives them a nice smoky flavor on the outside. The burgers are made from 100% pure raised, corn-fed beef from Latrobe, Pa.”

By 11 a.m., lots near PNC were a sea of black and gold. Across the main entrance to PNC Park, Pittsburgh music legend Norm Nardini and his band had fans dancing to soulful blues at a bash thrown by Pittsburgh Brewing Co. Spirits were high, even if most of the predictions on how the Pirates would finish this year were less than optimistic.

“I think there still has to be some rebuilding,” said Matt Pforr, 56, of Houston in Washington County. “The team is too young. Doesn’t have enough money.”

Jack Alcorn, the fourth-grader, had a much brighter outlook on things.

“I think they’ll make it to the World Series,” he said.

For some, on Opening Day, hope springs eternal.