Every 4th of July weekend Pittsburgh hosts Anthrocon, which is the international convention for furries, which are people that like to dress like animals. They have a parade to honor the city, and that consists of over 5,000 furries, in their costumes which are super expensive and actually nicer than mascot costumes, marching outside of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in the sweltering heat doing their antics. Over 5,000 of them. So there is a job, and a lifestyle, for everyone.

In 1985 Major League Baseball was under pressure to do something about allegations that a lot of its players were using cocaine, so they decided to do an investigation in a backwater city where that couldn't possibly be going on, namely Pittsburgh. Boy, were they wrong. Charges were filed, and many elite players including Dave Parker, Vida Blue, and Keith Hernadez were implicated and some recieved brief suspensions, but the only person in the Pirates organization that was actually fired was the guy that was the Pirate Parrot mascot.