Somali Pirate night turns ugly

A promotion designed to capitalize on the publicity Somali pirates have received in recent months turned ugly last week at a baseball game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates play had them recently mired in an 8 game losing streak and facing rapidly falling attendance. This compelled owner Robert Nutting to 'try to inject some life and excitement into the in-game promotions.' Dubbed 'Somali Pirate Night,' last Friday's game against the Colorado Rockies gave every fan in attendance the opportunity to get autographs from 'real Somali pirates,' in addition taking home a bobble-head doll of a Somali pirate recently featured in the news.

"We felt the tie in of the Somali Pirates with the Pittsburgh Pirates was a natural fit. We couldn't have been more wrong," Nutting was quoted as saying.

The night started off well enough, with the Somali pirates signing autographs and posing for photographs with fans. However the night soon soured when the scallywags decided this was a plum opportunity to earn yet another ransom and took the 27,642 fans in attendance hostage. They were held against their will inside the stadium for over 3 hours while Pittsburgh ownership negotiated their release. A five million dollar bounty was eventually paid and the Somali pirates made a dramatic escape in their ship, leading Pittsburgh police on a chase up and down the city's three rivers before eventually elluding them. The start of the Rockies/Pirates game was also delayed while talks took place.

"I'd like to apologize to all of our fans. It now is apparent that this promotion was not a good idea," manager John Russel said after the ordeal was over. Only a handful of the crowd stayed on to watch as the Pirates went on to lose 3-1. "Our heads just weren't in the game," center fielder Nate McClouth said.

The ramifications for the Pirate organization will be profound. Lawsuits will surely mount and the team has said it will have to cut payroll due to the 5 million outlay.