Mascot Abuse?

Speaking of hometown sports, the Pirates got an image upgrade last week when first baseman hit a woman in a large foam italian sausage costume over the head with his baseball bat at a game against Milwaukee. There is a link to video of the interrupted “Sausage Race” at that link, and it looks a lot worse than it sounds like it really was. Of course, this caused a huge amount of ongoing commentary, particularly in the Pittsburgh press. The large foam representative of the Allegheny County Health Department, Browny the Burger is fired up by mascot abuse, with one woman saying she is glad that she is no longer spreading Browny’s anti-E.coli message from inside a large foam target. On the other hand, a retired Pittsburgh Pierogi (foam participant in the traditional “Pierogi Race” at each Pirates game), has come out with a statement in the Sacramento Bee saying that he thinks the sausage took a dive.