Pittsburgh sports fanatics went over the top at the Mellon Arena auction, bidding adieu to Three Rivers Stadium. Bye-bye, or is that 'buy-buy'• Today's major think piece was going to ridicule the sports memorabilia nuts who seemed to have more money than brains as they were doing their version of 'going yard' by buying yards of artificial turf. As well as seats, other fixtures and anything else they could get their hands up for, and, thereby, on. (What's a 30-year-old urinal going for on eBay these days?) When you think 'auction,' you probably picture a CNN feature about a fancy-shmancy, tuxedo-wearing Englishman from a prestigious auction house saying 'sold' to someone who made a multimillion-dollar bid on a Picasso painting of deformed people. Those attending typically don't appear the types to paint their faces black and gold and chant, 'Here we go, Steelers, here we go.' High bidders seldom get doused by overpriced beer in plastic cups. News reports suggested most at Saturday's auction were more likely to use 'fetching' when talking about dogs than about bids. Or Elizabeth Hurley. While mocking the bidders is easy, they also must be admired. When it was gut-check time, they risked their money instead of yours. Sadly, the same cannot be said about Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney and Pittsburgh Pirates owner Kevin McClatchy. In spite of the auction's problems, it was still the free market in action. The sports fanatics were risking their hard-earned money, hoping to get the best deals they could. Eventually, time may tell who were the winners. The one sure thing is this: You won't have to subsidize the losers' losses. Can the same be said for the two new stadiums on the North Side riverbank• Or Three Rivers Stadium for that matter• Compare the bidding fans to the two owners who have Grant Street do their bidding. Sure, the cost of turf or a row of blue seats pales in comparison to the cost of new stadiums. However, the formula is the same. The only difference is, for Rooney and McClatchy, the formula has WAY more zeros. Both multimillionaires surely have the means to finance their teams' new housing projects without taxpayers' money. Yet, unlike fans at the auction, Rooney and McClatchy risked other people's money. Like yours. In the real world, it's 'no risk, no reward.' However, when it comes to corporate welfare for the Steelers and Pirates, it's 'no risk, all reward.' The poor bidders should've been so blessed. Why is it so hard for most people to see Rooney and McClatchy for the corporate welfare kings they clearly are• Perhaps another sports figure said it best. Casey Stengel, who managed the New York Yankees and then the New York Mets, said, 'Ability is the art of getting credit for all the home runs somebody else hits.' He probably said that before managing the Mets. (You can look it up.) There probably will be two more auctions in about 30 years, as the next generation of sports fans cannibalizes two functionally obsolete public housing projects. The one sure thing is this: There will be at least two winners who risked nothing. Dimitri Vassilaros is the morning radio talk host on News Radio 1170 WWVA. His e-mail address is dimitriv@stargate.net

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