Blog Wars: Best pirate

Who is your favorite pirate?

Luis C. Medina
My favorite Pirate is Roberto Clemente.  As in Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirate right fielder Roberto Clemente.  He is an icon in the Puerto Rican community, not only because he was one of the great outfielders in the history of baseball, but because of what he did in the community.  While most pro athletes just do the lip-service of charity, Clemente walked-the-walk.  He died delivering goods to a hurricane-ravaged country.  If that doesn’t make him the greatest pirate ever, I’m not sure what will.

Diana Soliwon
Shiver me timbers! Swab the deck! My favo-rrrrrr-ite pirate is Captain Hook for the sheer joy that the Peter Pan fantasy brings to my world. Tick-tock, tick-tock. What I love is that the older you get, the more entertaining the story becomes. When I was five, the insult, “slug-slimed, sack-of-rat-guts-in-cat-vomit, cheesy, scab-picked, pimple-squeezing finger bandage,” provoked many a giggle. At 23, the reference to a complex Freudian hallucination surprisingly not induced by a drug binge in the ‘60s is equally charming.  And what pirate has carried me through these titillating times? Captain Hook, that’s who. In his own words, “What would the world be like without Captain Hook?” I’m glad I don’t have to know.

Allison Huber
Although I haven’t watched it in years, I’m going with Tim Curry playing Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island – hands down. He’s got some of the same dark, handsome appeal as Johnny Depp a.k.a. Capt. Jack Sparrow, but he’s far more lucid and he quips are funnier. He didn’t insist in pounding a good movie into the ground with an unnecessary trilogy and Disneyland theme-ride coaster; plus, his co-stars are Muppets.  Muppets!

Sean McGahan
Although old school pirates get all the fast food restaurants and movie deals, today’s pirates have the sophisticated technology to out-earn any of them. Somali pirates allegedly seized a 9,000-ton ship and a 23,000-ton ship on back-to-back days. These pirates are a force to be dealt with and have NATO bringing in massive war ships to fight them. Beat that, Blackbeard.