It is Christmas day, and there are plenty of sports to watch along with soaking in family, friends, and holiday cheer.

 

Since I did not have anything in particular to talk about, and since most folks will be bantering with those closest to them instead of visiting Web sites, I thought about going a little bit off course for a sports blog on Christmas day. Here is what I came up with.

 

On this Christmas day and the holiday season, I not only want you to think about those less fortunate, I want you to think about the individuals who have the most miserable job in all of sports. Even if it pays well, and it just might, it has to be the most thankless of jobs ever and remember them this Christmas and the days ahead – particularly when warm weather arrives.

 

One and all, please think about those poor souls who have to handle social media duties for the Pittsburgh Pirates. As I can firmly attest, any post on social media can go south based on the content, based on bitterness, based on people sometimes not even remotely understanding things, and a long laundry list of items that can turn a post into a cesspool of commentary.

 

Here is the problem for those folks handling the Pirates accounts, particularly Facebook and Twitter, or any others. Just about every post requires the individual behind the keyboard to try and make chicken salad out of chicken poop.

 

The problem is, everyone that reads the post, no matter how creative the spin, knows they are being fed a load of fecal matter. And in all fairness, it is not the fault of those individuals tasked with making posts as it is simply a job requirement.

 

The fault, with everything bad with the Pirates, lies with Bottom Line Bob Nutting, the Pirates billionaire owner whose plan to bring the franchise back to prominence is moving at the same pace as a glacier. Since it is Christmas, I will try to be nice by saying that Bob Nutting is more despised in Pittsburgh than Ray Lewis was at the height of the Steeler-Ravens rivalry.

 

He has sucked the life out of tens of thousands of diehard Pirates fans and tries to peddle the product as a “rebuild.” It was more effectively described by outgoing Boston Red Sox color analyst Dennis Eckersley as a “hodgepodge of nothingness.”

 

Think about trying to promote positively the signing of a guy who batted .164 last year and has a career average of .189. Sure, most who looked a little deeper know the guy is a great defensive catcher, but can you afford to sign a guy hitting .164 when the team hit a collective .222 last year – next to the last in all of Major League Baseball?

 

When you make that post, you know another is coming. Whether it be the late 30s veteran with nothing left or a pitcher with an ERA that is higher than the inflation rate, these poor souls have been tasked with putting a bowtie on the news. Do you think it is remotely enjoyable knowing that you can be the best at what you do in social media and the end reward is to be verbally waterboarded because the person at the top of the totem pole just does not care?

 

We know the answers and the people that respond to the posts do as well. Honestly, it does not matter what the post is – bobblehead night, dollar hot dog night where they’ve ran out of buns in the past, fireworks night, concert series night that have seen older but known bands replaced by groups most outside of Pittsburgh have never heard of – it will get slammed.

 

I am writing this at 1:15 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19. I go to the Pirates Official Facebook page and there is a post on the team’s RBI program (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), which is a very worthy endeavor. Instead of praise, it is comment after comment of the folly that is Pirates baseball and the verbal destruction of an owner who has brought well-deserved wrath on to himself for still having his baptism money.

 

Every single post, for the foreseeable future, will result in an avalanche of insults. It's a certainy. If a social media member who works for the Pirates is reading this, please do not lose any sleep over the reaction to your work on this or any day. It is not your fault.

 

Sadly, I can assure you Bob Nutting woke up this Christmas morning after resting comfortably. His family did as well. Heck, he probably forgot he owns the Pirates, which based on some of the decisions is probably not that farfetched.

 

The social media staff woke up this morning hoping to enjoy the day and that no one is arrested who is involved with the organization or even makes the news in a positive way where they have to address it online. Good or bad, the response will be the same.

 

They will have to sift through a hodgepodge of belittling posts that offer good humor to long-suffering fans, but never allow the author a moment of satisfaction.

 

It is, bar none, the worst job in sports. And those workers can thank Bob Nutting, a real-life Scrooge if there ever was one, for that.

 

Here is wishing those folks, however many they may be, a very Merry Christmas. As for Bob Nutting, I would hope you would find coal in your stocking this morning, but you would smile still believing that one day it will be a diamond.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of the scoreboard of loss 100 this past year as the Pirates blew a four-run lead late. Bottom photo shows the Pirates best player, Bryan Reynolds, who has finally asked to be traded, and their top young player with unlimited potential Oneil Cruz, who likely will be traded in the years ahead watching another loss unfold.