>Detailing the harmful, long-term effects of early exposure to the ball club's dismal on-field product, parents and child safety organizations denounced the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday for directly marketing the team to children. "It is deeply irresponsible to lure kids into becoming Pirates fans before they're emotionally equipped to handle the kind of disappointment and chronic underperformance this franchise will almost certainly inflict on them,” said National Child Safety Council spokesperson Rebecca Amoroso, adding that targeted giveaways, cartoon mascots, and Pirates-branded youth merchandise effectively glamorized futility, setting up kids for a lifetime of frustration and terrible baseball.