Thu 24 Jul 2008
It hard to explain to people what it’s like to root for the New York Mets. Any time I’m asked either by a friend, acquaintance or co-worker or in an interview . I pause for a while as I try to collect my thoughts and I still have a hard time explaining what it’s like to root for the Orange and Blue. I mean ask a Highlander fan why they root for their team and you will get bulldozed with 26 World Championships and the “we are better than anyone else in the whole wide world” rant that is just disgustingly self-serving and boorish. Ask a Red Sox fan why he aligned with the Old Town Team and he will tell you of Teddy Ballgame, Yaz, Lynn, Rice, Fisk, Bill Lee all players with a great history with their team and of course Fenway Park . Cubs fans, Cardinals fans, Indians fans all baseball fans root root root for their home team but no group of fans are more scrutinized than Mets fans.
Just look at the last two games the Mets have played. In Tuesday’s game the atmosphere at Shea was a combination block party/ post season. Our top starter was mowing down our new hated rival; our newly resurrected first baseman has become a middle aged hitting machine. We were anticipating looking at the standings at the end of the game to see METS atop the standings of the NL East and joining hands and skipping all the way home, TRA-LA-LA, TRA-LA-LA but then…………………you know what happened.
Folks on the outside reacted to our outrage, our anger, our venom toward our team. What is wrong with those Mets fans they say? One minute we are giving out contract extensions the next we are releasing the whole fucking team and starting over again. That Jose Reyes is the greatest player in baseball. That Jose Reyes is a jive ass baby. We got Johan Santana HURRRRRAAAAYYYYY!!!!!!. Goddamn Santana can’t you pitch a complete game. Delgado you piece of shit get lost. I knew Delgado would bounce back. Fucking Beltran why are you bunting. Boy I tell ya, Beltran is the best centerfielder in baseball. Oh shit Billy Wagner. Thank God for Billy Wagner. Ryan Church and Brain Schneider for Lastings Milledge are you kidding? Ryan Church please get well soon. We need your potent bat.
So as you see it is very hard to pinpoint what it’s like to be a Mets fan. If you want to have your emotions go from sky high (1969 World Champs, Game 6 1986 World Series, the Piazza trade, winning the 2000 NL Pennant, first game after 9/11, the 2006 season) to deep depression (Death of Gil Hodges, Tom Seaver traded, Terry Pendleton, Mike Soccica, 2006 NLCS, The Collapse of 2007) then the Mets are the team for you but be careful the feeling you have today will be quite different from the feeling you have tomorrow.
Condolences to Petey and his family on the passing of his father.
If juking and jiving make Jose Reyes play like he did last night then juke and jive away Jose
Freddy Skill Sets was in True Confession mode yesterday as he agreed the Mets botched up the Randolph execution and that he has sleepless nights (which I think is more because the franchise is in Jeffy’s hands than the team play of late) and that he is sensitive to the negative press he, Jeffy and Omar have gotten (I guess I shouldn’t be checking the mail for my press pass eh Freddy?)
The Cheesesteakers will start 76 year old lefty Jamie Moyer today at high noon at Shea. That Ramon Castro will start behind the plate. Hopefully some told him that is 12 PM EDT
July 24th, 2008 at 10:22 am
You got it Steve. I think this team allows us the range of emotion necessary to human life. Love, happiness, sadness, anger, etc. People always ask me how I stay so calm at work and so even keel as a parent. I spend my emotions on the blue and orange, and have nothing left!
The Highlanders have the highest percentage of phony fans, unlike the other teams you mention. My profile of a Highlander fan:
Mid 20’s
Scruffy goatee
Wears the multi-colored Highlander caps that they have NEVER worn of the field.
Wears the team jersey
Talks about the championships and the “pride”
If asked what position Munson, Whitson, Smalley, and Wynegar played, would stare at you and swear those guys never played for the Highlanders and it was some kind of trick question.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Came here from ShysterBall. Good stuff, and I think that your sentiments can be shared by fans of any terminally disappointing team.
And for the record, as a Philadelphian, I reject the cliched sobiquet of “Cheesesteakers”. Oh, sure, ESPN might love talking about the sandwich whenever a Philly team makes the playoffs, but those of us who live in the city know the true king: the hot roast pork (with provolone and broccoli rabe, if you’re curious). As such, I humbly submit this request to been known by the funnier name of “Roast Porker”.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I’m 45 and have rooted for the Amazins all my life (mom’s a Dodger fan, dad’s a NY Giants fan). My earliest memory is the ‘73 World Series and seeing Rose fight with Buddy and Rusty
Anybody can root for a winner. But it takes special fortitude (and lots of Mylanta) to root for a perennial underdog like the Mets.
My favorite year was 2004. We endured years of Pete Falcone, Bruce Boisclair, and “The Magic is Back” while the Crankees were whoopin’ it up. Suddenly we come out of nowhere with Mex, Mookie and a bunch of young kids no one ever heard of like Gooden, Backman and Strawberry, and we would have taken the division if not for the Cubbies. It’s so much more fun winning when no one expects it. If you’re a Crankee fan, you expect it every year.
Steve — thanks for the blog! And how ’bout them Metsies beating the Cheesesteaks again today!!!!
July 24th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Whoops — I meant 1984. Senior moments come early for me.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Its harder to root for a loser.When they win
its the greatest feeling,you can get used to losing but those moments when they do it all there are no words.Mets fans dont have that entitlement mentally that yankees fan ooze.
I know a few yankee fans pre 1990’s (not many)
there not as obnixous as some.
Mets fans can embrace an mediocre player and make him better.Mets fans can cheer an opposing
player for a good play or an outstanding career.
I think Mets fans understand the game more than
the average fan.Were definitly more passionate
July 24th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I don’t think Yankee fans understand the highs and lows the way Met fans do.
The other day I wrote that I was pessimistic heading into Santana’s start, but funny enough I was pretty relaxed after the loss on Tuesday night. As Santana walked off the mound after the 8th I wanted him back out for the 9th, but part of me was saying, “it doesn’t matter”. If Wagner were healthy it would matter, but without Wagner even losing it at this stage would only be one game. In fact, I’d almost welcome that to see how the Mets responded”.
I know that sounds odd, but it’s how I felt. I really was half wondering how the Mets would respond to losing Tuesday’s game as they came up to hit in the bottom of the 8th. And what a response. They won both games and, I think, did more damage to the Phils and their attitude (& their belief that the Mets are soft) than if they’d swept Philly. I’m now pretty confident heading into the last 60, although I just can’t imagine Delgado keeping this up the rest of the way.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Another thing about Yankee fans is that most of them were Mets fans in the 80s, jumped ship when they were horrible, and was deemed a “lifelong Yankee fan…” after 1996…Plus as Eagle says, none of them understand the ups-and-downs or even fans who stick around like cubbies or sox fans all those years. I remember reading on a Sox forum once that in a way, they think Yankee fans are jealous of us…they’d have given up a long time ago (hence my first theory)
July 25th, 2008 at 3:34 am
I looked at the 2008 batting average (and slugging percentage) performance of Carlos Delgado compared to Chase Utley:
Utley Delgado
April .352 (.741) .204 (.333)
May .259 .258
June .266 .229
July .243 .397
Post A.S. break
.217 (.304) .458 (.792)
Overall .287 (.566) .261 (.447)
So Utley overall has better numbers, and 6 more HRs, but amazingly their performances to date are fairly comparable, and Delgado is catching up. Even so, until a few weeks ago Delgado was hounded and humiliated by boos and venom from his home town fans, bloggers, even some of the Mets own sportscasters (Howie Rose and Wayne Hagin, especially). Small wonder that he is hitting only .229 at home, but fully 60 points higher on the road (.289) for 2008.
Utley, after the fast start, had millions of All Star votes and is widely considered one of the best players in the game. Fine. He is, and he is having a good year, especially since offense around the league has settled a bit in the post-steroid era, and he did deserve to start for the NL in the all star game. But Delgado has been badly treated all around, and there may be a lesson here for the obnoxious boo-birds at Shea. I hope people are noticing and adjusting.
July 25th, 2008 at 3:47 am
Sorry about the poor presentation… hopefully my little chart will be a bit more readable like this:
BA (Slugging) — 2008 thru July 24
——–Chase Utley—Carlos Delgado
April –.352 (.741)–.204 (.333)
May —-.259 ——–.258
June —.266 ——–.229
July —.243 ——–.397
Post All Star break
——–.217 (.304)–.458 (.792)
Overall .287 (.566)–.261 (.447)
July 25th, 2008 at 4:44 am
David,
I’ve admitted that I thought Delgado was done. He was terrible in April, hitting .204. He’s 36 and with all the talk of the steroids era being over I think a lot of fans put things together (wrongly, it seems) and just thought he was ‘done’.
And it wasn’t just that he wasn’t hitting. His effort seemed lackluster on defense. In fact, I would say that was really where some of the harshest criticism came from.
Add to that his failure to try to mend fences with the fans on the curtain call incident and you have discontented fans.
On top of that, Delgado was one of the primary recipients of the uneasy that hung (hangs?) over the Mets in 2008 thanks to what happened in 2007.
As for Howie & Wayne, I would say that it was mostly Howie who was down on Delgado. I think Hagin was much more forgiving. In fact, I’ve noticed in the past few weeks that during the games it’s usually Hagin and not Rose who’ll say, “I talked to him before the game” when talking about Delgado. I’ve wondered if there was frostiness between Delgado & Rose.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Yeah, those are good comments, Eagle. I always appreciate your views.
I have always admired Delgado for what appears to be good character and bearing, intelligent, forthcoming interviews, and of course a terrific career. I was surprised to see his game fall off so fast in 07 and 08, and watching him now makes me think that The Gangsta has renewed his game, maybe along with Hojo. It is precisely since the manager-change Delgado has been on fire. Remember, the Gangsta sat him down a few games early on, which Willie never did…and since then, wow!
My beef with the radio broadcasters is how condescending and biting they are. And when Wayne Hagin says, “Ï like to see him…” work the count or steal on the first pitch or whatever, as if it is HIS opinion or approval that Mets fans and players seek. Those two just sit there on their soft cushions and kill the players. If a player performs well, it is “he finally managed to get it right” and if he fails, it is “That’s not getting the job done.” The announcer’s job is to tell what is happening, paint the picture, but not pontificate. For the announcer, if a Phillie homers, it was a good hit, not a Met pitcher’s failure. The fans can make their own judgements.
Of course Wayne has his favorites, who can do no wrong, and who happen to all be white…Church, Schneider, Wright, Trot Nixon. From what i have heard, he has been brutal in his treatment of Reyes, Ollie Perez, and Castillo, probably others too.
Howie’s Mets stories are a big plus, but his job during the game does not include second-guessing the manager, telling us what to think about a given play or player, or getting offended when the Mets do not hand him a victory. He has to be more professional.
When the announcers act personally offended at no victory, it feeds the fan and talk radio disenchantment, and takes away from the beauty and essence of the game, which includes knowing how to lose gracefully.
I am a bit embarrassed, as a Met fan, at what “homers” both of them are, saying “He´s GOT to get this guy here,” instead of “The Mets (or the Phillies) want to see him get this batter” or the like. They need to keep more objective, not totally pro-Met. The great Bob Murphy was a Met fan, but he demonstrated a love for the whole game, not just for his team, and knew how to describe the game evenly.
As for Cohen-Hernandez-Darling, I consider them to be really great announcers.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Speaking of annoucers, did you catch the Phillie broadcasters and their comments on the Reyes HR trot? Larry (I sucked when I played) Andersen, and that is the correct spelling, said they should “put one in Reyes’ ear” for the trot. Uh, Larry, were you taking a piss when Victorino pulled his antics on Tuesday? I can’t stand it when people have the righteous attitude and don’t look at their own flaws.
David, I think Hagin stinks, but I don’t think we should assume his opinions on players are race-based. Give the guy the benefit of that doubt.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:35 am
I think that most of us can attest that being a Mets fan is hard hard work. We live and die, mostly die, with this team. What outsiders don’t realize is how often we’ve had the rug pulled out from under us. So we seem a little bitter at times? If you felt our pain you might be able to understand.
What drives me insane about fans of the other New York team is their selective memory. Quick to point out the 26 championships, they forget the years when they flat out sucked like it never happened. I remember though and it makes me smile!
One last pet peeve…that other team has never had names on the back of their uniforms. So if you are such a die hard fan of those other guys…why do you put their names on your back? I know who wears #2 and I hate him!
July 25th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
David,
I’ll have to think about what you’ve said here. There’s a lot.
I will say this about Hagin: he’s growing on me. And I don’t think he’s a racist at all. (In fact I was actually kind of surprised by a conversation that Howie & Wayne had about 6 weeks ago where Howie mentioned Cliff Johnson and said “I know he’s one of your closes friends”.)
Hagin gets frustrated by Reyes, but he sings his praises too. I think what he finds frustrating about Reyes is that he goes to sleep sometimes, but he never stops talking about what an immense talent he is. Also, he’s been gushing about Endy Chavez and says watching him play regularly has been a real treat. He hadn’t realized how great a defensive player he is until this year.