Sweet Jesus, why would anyone be a Mets fan?
If there’s anything I've learned from Larry it’s that I should link to my site as often as possible. That’d be this, Magic Jewball and I’m Becca. Of Magic Jewball. Oh, and that offending as many people as possible brings great success. Well, I haven’t dared to offend my own readers, but these are Larry’s so who cares! And God knows, we’re used to being insulted for entertainment value.
Now, I know the timing of this seems strange since the Mets are ahead by 46 games, but in point of fact, I think that makes it a swell time. Because I still can’t understand why anyone would choose to be a Mets fan. First off, if the Mets were in the AL East, they’d still be behind the Yankees and Red Sox (as of this writing; your mileage may vary). But that’s not even the point.
In most baseball towns you have no choice. I know because I lived in Baltimore for 5 years. Yes, yes, it was really uniting and togethery to all like the same team. A team which sucked. But this city is too big for one team! Except basketball and let’s not go there. And hockey because I couldn’t possibly claim that Long Island is part of New York. Oh, and both football teams which actually play in New Jersey. But you get me.
It’s OK to hate the Yankees if you’re from someplace else. I’m sure I would too. But if you lived here and had the possibility of watching a team that expects to win every game, year after year? And you instead choose the team that nearly always finds a way to lose if at all possible? Are you on crack?
Here are your other problems, Mr. Met:
1. Shea Stadium. It’s like the house that mediocrity built. Were they going for hideously ugly or did it just happen organically?
2. Colors you are forced to wear. Would you wear orange and royal blue for any other reason? Even separately? What are you, some kind of tourist?
3. Second class status. The other day, an article about the Mets ran on the front page of the Times’ sports section while the Yankee game only got a teaser. This was so unusual that they actually remarked about it on NY1. Do you need that?
Whenever I see Mets fans I can’t help but feel a little sad for them. I cry a little inside, even if it was their choice. As far as I can tell, here are the only justifiable reasons for being a Mets fan.
1. You’re 90 and you remember the Dodgers leaving town. Sure, I get that. If the Yankees departed, I wouldn’t root for the Mets, you can be sure of that.
2. You live in Flushing. Well, OK, you have enough troubles, I don’t really have enough time or space here to get into it.
3. Your parents cursed you with it. And you should be cursing them right back. But I remember going to Yankee games with my Dad as a kid and so if you have the equivalent memory in orange and blue, I’ll still cry for you, but I understand.
If your reason is that Yankee fans are arrogant, well hell yes (and I recognize that this entire post is Exhibit A). But aren’t New Yorkers arrogant? Aren’t Americans? You know it only bothers you now because you chose the wrong team. There’s still time. I’m sure there’s a homeless guy behind your building's garbage cans who’ll accept that Beltrán jersey right off your back. Did you want to just stick it out till the end of this winning season? Sure, go ahead. He’ll still be there in October.
Hey! I can’t believe I wrote that whole thing without saying “for the love of fuck.” Oh great, there we are.
posted by Becca at 9:47 AM
37 Comments:
Rooting for the underdog is the new black. Rooting for the Yankees is soooo 1997.
Actually, one of the reasons you think it makes more sense to be a yankees fan is one of the reasons i prefer the mets:
"But if you lived here and had the possibility of watching a team that expects to win every game, year after year"
the whole "expecting to win" thing seems to make yankees fans really stressed out all the time. because, obviously, no team wins all the time; the yanks lose a lot, and after every loss, it's like the fans are SO distraught and SO angry that they forget they're WATCHING A GAME. when the yanks win, it's like it's not even that great, it's just a relief; whew, thank god we won, it sure would've been bad if we lost. but winning's not that exciting since it's expected (hello, payroll).
meanwhile, the mets don't take themselves so seriously. mr met is a ludicrous mascot, and i prefer it that way. our commercials involve him hiding in the bleachers and shooting t-shirts at groundskeepers; yanks commercials are montages of sepia-toned players set to dramatic music and a serious announcer touting them as "the most renowned franchise in sports history". holy shit, get over yourselves!
i was born a mets fan- my childhood memories are indeed orange and blue, and no, i would never wear those colors otherwise- but i like to think i'd have picked the mets anyway. no matter how many times they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
You know you're going to incur the wrath of TAN, right? And Flushing has some awesome Chinese food!
Oh, I don't mean I expect them to win. I mean they expect to win. You can hear it in some of the comments by guys recently traded to the Yankees. They love that attitude and they didn't experience it over with the Phillies, for example.
I was a hockey fan before I was a baseball fan and I saw it with the Rangers in reverse. When they traded for guys like Messier who had tasted winning it all and were hungry to have it again, the whole attitude changed. Guys who expect to lose make their team a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And wrath'll be cool. I'm not Larry, I only play him on this blog. And temporarily, I might add. I'll be a mild-mannered people-pleaser again tomorrow.
Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the Soviet Union in the Olympics. You guys even have the steriods thing down. And the lack of loyalty to your players. Doou remember Tino Martinez? Hero of the '96 and '98 world series? Dropped by the side of the road in a bag so the Yanks could pay Giambi $120 million over 7 years. Of course, you tried to send Giambi to the minors last year (and void his contract) because he wasn't performing. How about the Great Satan that was Roger Clemens from 1986 through 1997? Forgotten as soon as you dumped former favorite-son David Wells on Toronto in 1998. Didn't that even make Yanks fans gringe a little? I could go on, but instead I'll point out one last thing before I go high-five Mr. Met and put on my Pedro jersey:
Yankee Stadium had all the life and charm sucked out of it during the Steinbrenner renovations of 1976-77. It still looks nice from the outside, but inside it's the House that greed and crappy '70s-style aestetics built. I'll take Shea anyday.
Maybe you lived on Long Island in 1986, the 6 year old you was a total bandwagon fan, and despite a move across country, you stayed on that wagon.
That's my excuse. I would think a lot of kids who grew up in the 80's are Mets fans actually.
Hey, Becca. I ended up responding to this by annointing myself de facto guest blogger on your blog, the always entertaining www.magicjewball.com people should go there now.
So now I'll just say thbbbt, love and loyalty and Mike Piazza will always be a Met to me. And I admit I look like shit in orange but Mets blue is my best color.
I have nothing to add to this debate, but imagined you hoped to get lots of comments during your stint as guest blogger. So here's mine.
I went to Mets games as a kid. The tickets were free on the side of milk cartons. I guess that was before all those kids went missing and they needed space for the pictures.
are you bananas women?!!? THE METS ARE BETTER THAN SEX!
I have to go do some research on your blog to find out how you got so deranged. You must be smoking that old testament shit. I do hope the whole living in Baltimore doesn't mean you're not even from NYC. If that's the case I won't even deign to talk to you. But here's the ben. of the doubt and let's go point by point.
First off if the Mets were in the AL East, both ARod and Randy Johnson would have been tarred, feathered and left to die in centerfield because the Yankees would have NO chance of making the playoffs. It's not 2000 anymore mami, you guys are second rate (but expensive). The Yankees are like paying full price for bootleg Prada.
second - you realize you haven't won a WS since 2000 right? you'd think six years of not winning every game, and losing the ones that matter most would remove that lofty expectation level. but I understand, I'd expect a world series with a 200 million payroll also.
3 - I'm from the bronx.
4 - Jaret Wright
5 - Carl Pavano
6 Yeah Shea Stadium is nothing special. You win. Extra points for originality, and for not mentioning the hot-like-fire new stadium coming soon.
7 - blue and orange. also the color of the New York knicks. it also happens to be the perfect homage to the two NY teams that left, Brooklyn Dodger blue and New York baseball Giant orange. so get deez blue and orange nuts!
8 - Second class status? You sound like Mainstream media talking about blogs/new media. The Mets are baseball 2.0, Reyes, Wright, beltran. You're still kind of hoping Paul O'Neill comes back.
9 - Corey Lidle (an integral part of the Bobby Abreu deal according to Brian Cashman)
10 - Shawn Chacon
11 - I'm not 90. I just like good baseball. Randy Johnson is 90 though.
12 - The magic Jewball is much more likely to get her ass plundered in the bronx, than in flushing. I'd watch where you tread.
13 - No one hates yankee fans because they're arrogant anymore. Again that's Y2k thinking. Now you just look like obstinate idiots.
Now for the love of fuck, have your husband or bf give you some loving. Or take in a mets game. because clearly you are all jammed up inside having not been able to "release" for the past 5+ years.
alternatively, you can e-mail me for help. My johnson is bigger than ARod's contract.
CHALLAH!
excuse me. I meant "are you bananas wom[a]n?!!?"
I'm so stunned I'm seeing multiples
That whole rant was so worth it just for:
CHALLAH!
And have no fears, Celia, I pretty much knew this would get a few comments from the home crowd.
Go Cubs!!!
eh.
Nevermind. I can't even be bothered anymore.
What's baseball? Is that one of those "sport" things people keep talking about? I know they made ice skating outfits on Project Runway, and I think that might be a sport, but otherwise I'm not quite sure...
Oh, and I really have to clear my name here. I AM from NY and I have been smoking that Old Testament shit.
But come on, eliciting these comments is the best tribute I could give to TIWWDN, isn't it?
"Smoking that Old Testament shit"
Priceless.
Some people prefer National League baseball.
sweetheart, I think it's sweet that you haven't recognized the "A-Rod curse" yet. as long as that man-cancer is on the Yanks, they will win ZERO championships. book it.
Firstly, the Mets' colors are derived from both the Yankees (blue) and the former NY Giants (orange), so you really can't hate on their colors, cuz you'd indirectly be hating on half of the Yankees.
Secondly, my father grew up about four blocks from Ebbitt's(?) Field and was a die hard Dodgers fan. Being that the Yankees owned the Dodgers back then in every sense of the word "own," my father raised me to hate the Yankees and I rather enjoy hating the Yankees.
Lastly - baseball pretty much sucks anyway. In my opinion the only reason baseball is "America's Past Time" is because it's played in the summer when nothing else is on TV - no new programming and no sports (whoever even considers car racing can go kill themselves).
- Brett
the detroit tigers will win the world series this year. yes i said it, and that OT joint hasn't even made its way around to me yet. puff puff pass mothafckas
The other day, John Sterling actually said the phrase "a Jeterian swing" and I'm pretty sure I heard Susie Walman orgasm in the background.
This exchange exemplifies the sadness that is the Yankee organization since 2000.
Copyranter speaks like a true, true bitter Mairners fan.
that being said, you highly discount the Florida Marlins' ability to come back. Seirously.
And rootign for the underdog is fun. Who wants to root for a team that wins all the time? I went to UM and despise the hurricane football team. I rooted against the Heat. Rooting for good teams is a loser way out. if for some reason I was ever forced to live in that cold cesspool of filth and crime up there, you bet your ass I would be a Mets fan. Except when they were playing the Marlins.
Whoever that anon is that said the Mets colors are taken from the Yanks must be colorblind...or had parents that thought it would be funny to raise a child who did not know colors. Have you seen Dodger Blue? Way different than Yankee blue. TAN got it right, but that's the only thing.
Shea is a fucking dump. And if you think Steiny will allow "New Shea" to be better than The House That Jeter Built you must be on some pre-recorded period of time-shit.
And I love how the topic of payroll comes up. Hey the Yanks just do it better. A-Rod's contract is technically high, but those bitch-ass Rangers are footing about $6mil a year.
Remember when they spanked that ass in 2000? Oh, I guess that never happened.
The NL is AAAA. They will always be inferior.
I knew I couldn't be the only Yankee fan who reads this blog.
Christ, now I'm going to giggle like mad everytime someone uses the word "Challah", especially if there are exclaimation points involved.
I agree 100% about why anyone would be a Mutts fan. As a child I would change the channels on the TV and if I passed ch. 9 and the Mutts were on I wouldn't even consider it baseball and just keep moving. I grew up in Manhattan and that pretty much assured that I would be a Yankees fan-but I had the opportunity to go over to the dumb side many times but just couldn't even imagine it. I laugh when someone says "I'm a New York fan" meaning that they just love baseball in general and could watch either the Yankees or the Mets. That just tells me you know nothing about being a fan. That's like saying "I listen to all kinds of music". Sure so do I but I don't like it all-take a goddamn stand. In 1986 my hatred of the Mets went to a new level because they made me actually have to root for the only team worse than them-Boston. I actually did an Elvis and kicked in my TV at the Buckner error. And I too feel sorry for Mutts fans-when I'm not making fun of them.
You forgot bandwagoning. I first got exposed to baseball in the late 70s. I'm a Yankees fan. If your first exposure to baseball was around 1969 or 1986, you probably would be a Mets fan. I know lots of late baby boomer (born in the late 50s) Mets fans.
Also, if you moved to New York, and not from upstate and New Jersey, or from the Dominican Republic, you probably grew up hating the Yankees. Most of the people in Manhattan south of 96th Street are in this category.
Finally, there are alot of people who are just National League fans.
I actually like the Mets, and they may even be a better team than the Yankees right now, however, I think major league baseball screwed up with this team. The New York City area can support two or three teams. MLB let two New York teams move to California, then put an expansion team in New York. Now thats thinking. Why not put the expansion team in San Francisco and get the Giants to stay? (the Dodgers move seems to have been a done deal, unfortunately). And combining the Dodgers and the Giants colors, and putting the team in Queens, was too clever. The team should have been a clear successor to one or the other. As it is, it kind of has a blah identity.
Oh, and everyone goes on about how 1969 was such a great series. The Orioles of that year were one of the greatest teams in baseball history. The Mets got lucky in just getting to that series. The Orioles not winning was an injustice. But you would expect a Yankees fan to think that way.
But 1986 was completely different, they beat the Red Sox in an especially painful manner for Red Sox fans. You got to respect that.
Just went to my first mets game last night. I had heard it was kind of low class to like the mets when i moved to NYC some years ago and I have to say, it aint true. Low class is following the crowd all the time. The new stadium they are building there, Jose Reyes, Beltran, David Wright, what more could you ever want in a game? What's low class is Jeter hawking cologne and credit cards to make even more money! I'm a met fan! We had so much fun there!
So...CHALLAH is the new SHALOM?
That OT shit has to be stale by now; which seems appropriate for this little diatribe as baseball has been stale for how long now??? The Yankees only serve to exemplify this. Who the fuck still cares about baseball anyway? Any "sport" that idolizes overweight, old, white men, that score at a snails pace should be tarred, feathered, and sent on vacation (permanent) with that baseball savvy prez of ours!?!?! Puff, Puff, Give, muhfukas!!
Nice digs over here, Becca. But what's that smell?
I'm impressed by baseball fans because I don't really have it in me. I can commit myself to rooting for a team 10 or 12 times per year - max. Beyond that, they'll need to put me on the payroll because I don't have the attention span for it.
Later, I think I see a shiny object.
Oh, peace out, and CHALLAH!
Amy
I prefer, "L'Chaim, bitches!" but that's just me.
And I don't follow baseball, so I could give a tiny rat's ass. I'm just here to support the J-Ball.
Ah, who cares. Sports is supposed to be fun. I like the Mets...just because. It's so insignificant that I feel no need to offer any other explanation.
Now, one thing about sports fandom that does annoy me are the "we" idiots. "We won last night!" This is usually (but not always) "they" after a loss. You didn't do crap either way pal.
It is kinda funny to see all the beef-brains that take this stuff waaay too seriously show up. Shouldn't you all be out shopping for "FEAR THIS" and "BAD BOYS CLUB" windsheild stickers?
CHALLAH! to you too, Amy. And to you, Culotte.
What? I was 100%, possibly 150% serious. I don't even speak to Mets fans, particularly those related to me. I cross to the other side of the street when I see them coming. I don't even make exceptions for Mets fans offering me their gargantuan johnsons. I'm petitioning for a whole other city for Mets fans, hopefully a whole other planet. I'm tired of seeing that stadium when I go to the US open, and I hope it becomes Andre Agassi's retirement castle. I pray that Willie Randolph comes back as the Yankees' batboy and that Mr. Met's head is hoisted on a pike. I won't rest until I see this come to fruition.
Yes, I am fully, 400% serious. Indeed. Five hundred percent.
Strange, this sort of thing never appeared when the Yankees were winning 100+ games and the Mets were in last place.
I wonder why it's appearing now.
Worry about your own team, fucksticks.
Hi this is itsmetsforme from the blogger blog, www.itsmetsforme.blogspot.com. i won't even dignify this blog with a comment. But i will shill my own top quality mets blog, now available in "jive"!
Take that biatches!
yours,
itsmetsforme
Basically your post is a bitter Yankee fan who cannot take it because they know A) the Mets are becoming Fashionable...Yes I do wear Blue and Orange when I do not sports Mets stuff because well every color looks good on me.
B)We have the better 3rd Baseman. Anyone starting to think A-Rod has a case of steriodless season?
C)So what is the difference in payroll between mets and yankees? about 100 million.
D)How bad is it going to be when we kick your asses in the WS. How many Yankee fans will magically front run to become Met fans as they did in 1996 when the Yanks won the WS.
E)You really moved to Baltimore from NY Wow need some acceptance.
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