Some things deserve our respect. The American flag, motherhood, the sales figures for the latest Harry Potter book. And one more thing. Bobble heads.

Bob Walk, former Pirate pitcher and current Pirates announcer, is being given the highest honor an athlete can aspire to tonight in Pittsburgh. His own bobblehead Granted, it has a look of surprise and disappointment on its face, but what the heck. A lot of Pirates pitchers through the years have had looks of surprise and disappointment. And the head way out of proportion to the rest of his body? Walk was a Pirate teammate of Barry Bonds for seven years. Just saying.

Then along comes Andy Chomos to try and ruin Walk's big night. Chomos is a beer distributor from the Pittsburgh area, which is a very nice gig. Selling beer in Pittsburgh is like being a snow shovel distributor in Anckorage. It should make Chomos a happy man, but he isn't. Tonight he's going to express his disappointment with the Bucs by leading a walkout of Pirate fans in the third inning. The third inning of Bob Walk Bobblehead Night.

It's true the Pirates have had fifteen straight losing seasons. True also the team's payroll is something less than what Alex Rodriquez drops in strip clubs each year. And Pittsburgh taxpayers did foot the bill for PNC Park. But you don't walk out on Bob Walk Bobblehead Night. It just isn't done.

Mass walkouts are sometimes called for. If Chomos leads a walkout on "Scratch and Win Monday", no problem. During "Big and Rich In Concert"? Entirely appropriate, as an expression of musical good taste. "Reverseable Floppy Hat Night" is fine, or "Game Show Night", or even "Slovak Day" (although for obvious reasons I think "Polish Night" is off limits). Just not on a bobblehead night.

Lost in the discussion is the effect this will have on Bob Walk. How would you feel if 38,000 people were given tiny cermaic figurines of yourself and then walked away in disgust? You might hope it's an expression of anger toward the Pirates, but there would always be that doubt, always that image of your 38,000 of your little heads bobbing off into the night. And what if there's violence? What if fans begin smashing their Bob Walk bobbleheads or throwing them onto bonfires? And how would a person ever get over seeing his bobblehead's head ripped off?

Walk will be part of the TV crew for tonight's game. As color commentator, it should be his job to explain why thousands of little Bob Walk's are nodding their way to the exits. But FSN, the network broadcasting the game, has announced that it will take no notice of the walkout and not show it on the air. Presumably not even if fans begin hurling their Bob Walk bobbleheads at the broadcast booth.

At the end of the day what does it matter? Chomos is kidding himself if he believes more than a few thousand fans are headed for the exits with him. Probably a third of more of the fans at any Pirate game drove at least 50 miles or more through Western Pennsylvania to get there. You don't haul your wife and kids all the way from Dubois, and pay $68 for outfield reserve seating just to walk out in the third inning.

The Pirates know that. The Nutting family, part owners of the team, repeatedly pledged to bring a championship team to Pittsburgh (they just didn't explain that it would be the visiting St. Louis Cardinals) and then went out and paid an estimated $100 million for a ski resort with a casino license. They also know that any town where 38,000 people show up for Bob Walk Bobblehead Night is starved for entertainment. Pirate fans aren't going anywhere and neither is the team.

Mr. Chomos, if you're reading this here's some free advice. Go to the game, get yourself a nice cold Iron City. Or two. Take your Bob Walk bobblehead out of its box. Ask it if it's having a good time. If it nods its head yes, settle back in your seat. Enjoy the game. The Pirates are playing the Nationals. Who knows, Pittsburgh might win. You're a beer distributor in Pittsburgh. Life is good. Enjoy.