Publice Enemy #1 and The Happy Mets Fan Speaks

Reminder, blog is up every day at 2 p.m.

I'm gonna be honest here. After throwing back a few too many steveweisers last night, blogging about the Mets -- which, according to one asshole from Wash U, is not COOL -- was not at the top of my priorities this morning. But, heck, we love you guys too much to leave you hanging, so somebody had to do it, and I thought, "hell, I'm unemployed, what else have I got to do?"

Turns out, the answer to that question is nothing, so I saddled up and was all set to write still another piece comparing some aspect of the Mets or Yankees to "90210" or "Laguna Beach", but then I got to thinking again. The thing that makes this site worth it to me and A.F.O.M.G. is the fans who check us out every day, so I thought, "hell, I remember what it's like to have things to do, why not turn the site over to some of our readers for the day?"

So today we unlock the doors, and who better to let into the factory first than Yankees2000's Public Enemy #1, Eric K.

Eric is a close friend of a good friend of mine, JD and of the greatest soccer player ever to walk the fields of Washington University, J Farb. Eric, a redhead from Scarsdale is sooooo cool and such a huuuuge Yankees fan that he loves to talk about how uncool this blog is.

So here he is, Public Enemy #1, Eric K. For those of you who know him and for those who don't, stop by the site next week to learn more about him in 5 potentially mind-blowing blogs. Due to my lack of coolness, (Note: I blog, am unemployed and live w/ my parents - Whoops) all I have is this blog to throw back at him. Well take that Eric K, CYBER BEEF. So here are the five topics.

1. Red hair -- What it does to a kid's self esteem
2. New York transplants from Scarsdale -- Can we trust them?
3. Redheaded Scarsdale kids who become Yankee fans to help them feel better about their red hair induced low-self esteem
4. Yankee fans w/ red hair... Sexy
5. If I wear all black will people not notice my red hair?

Good thing for me, the big bad Kuehne is too cool to read this site, otherwise beef might go down.

Good thing for him it doesn't. I know people.

So now that all this negativity is out of the way, I wanted to reflect on Yankee2000's most positive friend and today's guest blogger, Will B. (Note: how uncool is blogging?)

Will B always sees the glass half full.

See, with the Mets, Giants and all of Will's sports teams, good things are always to come.

Are the Mets going to win the World Series next year, Will? Of course they are!

Is the Pedro signing the greatest of all time, Will? Definitely!

On yesterday's comment board Will, complained about the negativity on this site, specifically, in regards to the Mike Cameron deal.

People refuse to acknowledge that [the] Mets might, possibly, be doing something right. If Billy Beane (as much as I love him) pulled a move like this to free about $6 million dollars to sign Wagner and get to keep Nady by trading a superfluous player--as much as everyone loved him, the sequel to Moneyball would already have hit the presses. Mets fans are the worst. Their negativity is a blight on the franchise.

God do I love Willie. See, I kind of agree with him on this trade, I don't mind it. Nady may not have had the numbers to back it up, but the kid has a bat. Granted, he is already 27, but let's see what this guy can do as a regular player (provided that's what he was brought in to be).

But what I love about Will is the analogy to "Moneyball".

I mean COME ON, Will. Billy Beane has to put together a team with a $50-60 mil payroll. The Mets do not. Sure, if Billy Beane could move Jason Kendall's contract, that would be a miracle. But the Mets moving Mike Cameron did not make or break the team's finances. And yes, the Mets shed a $6 million risk, which I am happy with. But the Mets could still have gotten Manny or Billy Wagner without shedding it to begin with.

But that's Will. The consumate good guy. So today, with my lack of anything to say other than about Eric K, I'm going to pass the mic over to Willie B who talks about someone who deserves some attention here at Yankees2000:

Greetings to Sippy and his crew. Sippy and I go way back to the days when I was his Robin Ventura of New York Ivy League basketball. Interestingly to note, my career very poetically culminated by winning the MVP at the tournament held at Sip's high school, but I digress.

Anyway, in all this talk of comebacks, the hot stove and "Laguna Beach", something has been lost on this Mets-loving audience. I love LB (and Talan and Jason) and Killa Cam as much as the next guy, but I wanted to bring a different story to your attention today. Somehow lost amidst the insanity of the picturesque milieu of Sippy Momo Jr. and Sr. embracing after Mike Piazza's game winning home runs is the lighter side of the Mets, a side that is no less a part of the team than Bobby V. wearing a Groucho Marx mask, Mr. Met being the team mascot, and the litany of embarrassingly bad free agent signings.

There is no greater example of Mets tomfoolery these days than Rick Peterson. Never mind the psycho-sexual death grip Rick Peterson holds on Jeff Wilpon. Never mind the total lack of statistical evidence that Rick Peterson makes a positive impact on a team's pitching staff. Never mind Rick Peterson's infamous boast after watching a tape of Vic Zambrano before the Zambrano-Kazmir trade of "give me 30 minutes with this guy and I'll turn him into Cy Young."

No, what really drives me batty about Rick Peterson and harkens back to the insanity of the Roger McDowell days is his obsession with titanium accessories. In addition to wearing his pants higher than Steve Urkel and always wearing that Mets jacket no matter the temperature, last season, Peterson convinced the entire Mets roster to hitch their fortunes on an increasing number of titanium fashion products.

Making some dubious claim about improving the electrical flow in the body, Peterson has stocked the Mets clubhouse and forced the Mets players to drape themselves in titanium, all of which culminated in a New York Times article over the summer where Peterson revealed that he himself wears titanium underwear.

Why do I bring this up today? Well, as part of my Mets e-mail newsletter (the "Flushing Flash" for those not in the cognoscenti), things have reached an all-time low. The e-mail hawked two products, the Mets kids club -- which is a great way to get your favorite young Mets fan hooked on the team and team-licensed titanium necklaces.

Wait, what was that second part? Team-licensed titanium necklaces? It's one thing if Peterson wants to get his ballplayers in whatever mindset he feels is appropriate, but when the team starts hawking merchandise that on the scale of veracity is on par with used cars, pyramid schemes and Sippy Momo's claims to young co-eds that he'll treat them right, the "Class-o-meter" at Shea is a wee bit low.

Come on, Mets, we're on the verge of turning it around. If we start trusting Peterson to be our marketing guru, the results are going to be a lot more disastrous than trading Scott Kazmir. Sure, we seem to under the spell of Rick Peterson, but let's stop the insanity before there's a scandal about Peterson, some Buddhist life coaches, some young high school pitchers and EAS sales reps meeting under the bleachers for a "tutorial."

More than trading for Manny, salting Season 2 Stephen or imagining throwing back some brews with Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook circa July 1999, I humbly request that the No. 1 priority of Yankees2000 becomes stopping the runaway train of Rick Peterson before it's too late.

Truth from Willie,

SM