Monday night I was sitting on my couch with my Fiancée watching How I Met Your Mother. For those of you who do not watch How I Met Your Mother, here is a quick synopsis:

How I Met Your Mother is a comedy about Ted and how he will meet his future wife.  Ted (Josh Radnor), Ted's best friend, Marshall (Jason Segel), Lily, Marshall's wife (Alyson Hannigan), Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky), and Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson) come together to form one of the best casts on TV.  So with the help of his friends Ted goes about finding the girl of his dreams. Barney, Ted's close friend (better known as the ultimate womanizer) makes for a lot of laughs on…………wait for it……… Monday nights.

So back to last Monday night.

Season 4 Episode 1 it is revealed that Stella and Ted got engaged. Meanwhile, Barney confesses to Lily that he has had sex with Robin and has feelings for her, and pledges to reform himself into a one-woman-man. Clearly he does this as Aunt Robin is no coincidence - we all know that at some point Barney and Robin are destined to get together.

In episode 2, Marshall sets out to find a burger that he claims is the best in New York. So the crew, along with guest star Regis Philbin, run around looking for the best burger ever. (What they do not know it is that it is in Arlington, VA at Ray's Hell Burger.)

In episode 3, Ted decides after much deliberation to move to North New Jersey. Yes I know this is hard to believe. There is only one place in Jersey I would move and it is no where near North Jersey.

In episode 4, no offense to Bon Jovi or Springsteen, but Ted decides he does not want to move to New Jersey after all.  However, in a flash-forward scene, Lily suggests that they still live in the apartment upstairs from the bar. Possibly with Ted.  Still a little fuzzy on this.  Maybe Barney.

Ok you are caught up. So again,  here is what went down.

Ted and Stella decided it was a great idea to help Stella's sister out because she got dumped and would lose a ton of money because her fiancé dumped her. Brilliant idea. Yea not really.

The smart one that Ted is thought inviting exes to the wedding would be a great idea only to have Stella freak out.  During the conversation Marshall turns to Ted and says, " I kinda get the no exes thing, why ask a failed romance to come and watch a successful one. It's like inviting the Seattle Mariners to the World Series to watch." My fiancée then turns to me and says " Or the Pirates, they're as bad as the Mariners, right?"

I mean damn, way to put the knife in and turn it a little bit. I know my Pirates have not had a .500 record since 1992 but man that still hurts. The part that sucks is that my fiancée was right.  My blind optimism is slowly fading away that post season baseball will ever be back in Pittsburgh.

Got me thinking though. This World Series both teams could easily have been substituted for the Seattle Mariners in Marshall's quote before this year. The Tampa Bay Rays may have been the worst expansion team in history before this year and the Phillies previously held the longest streak for years without a .500 season, a record which is now shared with the Pirates.  Both the Phillies and the Rays have clearly kicked that stigma and are no longer anywhere near being lumped in with the Mariners. Both seem to have very bright futures for the next few years. The Yankees and Red Sox have a good amount of work cut out to hang with the Rays and their stacked minor league system, which is the complete opposite of the Pirates. Sigh.  I guess I have to hold out a tad bit of hope, as the Rays never in their history have had a winning season until this year and look what they are doing now.

To finish up How I Met Your Mother,  Ted and Stella almost got married but broke up the morning of the wedding when Stella decided to get back together with her ex-boyfriend Tony, the father of her daughter. Man, that had to suck for Ted, but he learned a valuable lesson: do not invite exes to your wedding.  Apparently it is like inviting the Pirates to go watch the world series when they aren't playing in it. Feeling the knife turn a little more.

Phillies in 7.

Pirates next winning Season 2020.