Man Am I Old

(Note to "JWill": A.F.O.M.G. has responded to your post on the message board at the bottom of yesterday's post.)

20 years. We're not talking Five For Fighting's 100 years*. We talking 20 years.

Man, my brother's 27 years old, but we talking about 20 years.

Yeah, I've been alive for 23 years, but we talking about 20 years.

20 years!

It just sort of hit me on my favorite thinking spot how long it's been since the Mets won a World Series. When AFOMG talked about this being the 1986 Mets' 20th year anniversary, I paused and felt completely weird.

20 fucking years.

As I sat there and listened to Cat Stevens' "Father and Son", in the midst of my further development of New York City real estate brokerage (which will change the way twenty-somethings find apartments in NYC, coming 6/06) my buddy Big Maciej came in and kept on hinting that the song was about me (the son) and as he so eloquently put, Old Chipper** (the father).

As you all may know from this site, I'm a big fan of Sippy Momo Sr. The man is just a good guy and deserves some recognition (especially when I struggle for other stuff to write about. I guess he is one of those bright spots in my mind, same way my mom and brother are, the Mets are, AFOMG is in joining this journey with me).

I bring up my dad because he was there with me 20 years ago when it happened. This is my oldest memory of my father and almost the oldest memory of my entire life. It was at a time when every Mets fan knows where they were, but few my age can truly remember.

I don't remember that much of the '86 World Series. As much as I tried, it was hard for a young, fiery, but sleep-deprived Sip Jr. to make it to the end of each game.

So it was October 25th, 1986. Fresh off a day on the slopes at the Lakeridge Mountain, the Momo's returned to their quaint condo in Lakeridge, Connecticut, about 2 hours north of NYC.

Some of my fondest memories took place in this house. But none fonder than this one.

It was probably 11:00 p.m. and a Young Sip had fallen asleep in the guest bedroom right outside of the living room. He tried endlessly to stay awake but it just couldn't happen. After all, I was working with about 4 years and 6 months under my belt.

The Mets were down 5-3 heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. Gary Carter led the rally with a 2-out single. Kevin Mitchell (he of the greatest single season ever) followed with another single, and then Ray Knight singled.

My brother raced into the room and forced me out of bed. My mother was upset because she knew there was zero chance of me every going back to sleep (despite certain shortcomings, she is usually right on).

So I ran into the living room, sporting those pajamas with the feet sewed on to the bottom. Man did I love those pj's. I dragged my yellow blanket, already devastated by 4 years of abuse by a fiesty Sip.

I curled up in a ball on my couch, all 3 feet of me, next to Sip Sr., again, known on the streets as Old Chipper.

As I've said before and will say again, Chip is a man of few words. But when he speaks he is usually on point.

So with the count 2-2 and Kevin Mitchell (pre-intense steroid abuse) standing on 3rd base, Chipper tapped me on the shoulder and smiled.

"Wild Pitch."

Bob Stanley reached back and fired... a wild pitch. Mitchell came into score to tie the game which was of course followed by Mookie's groundball that "gets by Buckner."

But all I could do was admire my pops. I was 4 years olds and I thought the man was god. He made the greatest call in the history of my 4 year career.

To this day, when the Momo's will talk Mets baseball, that moment comes about. Since that time, Old Chipper has turned into a bit of a jinx, but that's not really important.

He is responsible for maybe the biggest pitch in Mets history, I thoroughly believe that.

And the fact that that that pitch is approaching 20 years old makes me feel REALLY REALLY OLD.

Either way, The 1986 Mets have lived on in my memory since that dream season.

The"1986 Mets: A Year To Remember" tape remains up there with "Major League", "Good Will Hunting" and of course, the Keanu Reeves smash, "Point Break", among my favorite films. I think I've seen it 1000 times.

So to all you Mets fans. The miracle happened 20 years ago. It will happen again. I'll experience a World Series with AFOMG, Nails and the whole crew cause it kind of just has to happen.

No God would let Kobe Bryant get three rings but not allow D. Wright to get one.

Have a great weekend all.

VCD,

SM

*: Editor's note: Did anyone else watch "The Office" last night? For my money it doesn't get much better than for an episode of that incredible show to end with Michael getting a kiss from Jan, the screen going dark, and then lighting up again with that Chase commercial featuring the sweet, textured voice of John Ondrasik as he alternately celebrates and laments the passing of time in the 2004 hit smash, "100 Years". And for those of you who object to Five for Fighting going corporate, lay off. Face it, The Battle for Everything wasn't the hot seller that America Town was, and the guy's gotta eat.

**: Hey, Chip, if you're reading this, did you get the official Yankees2000 business card that I left with the doorman in your building this morning? Please let Sip or me know somehow.