Celebrations Like They Oughta Be
Word of the "controversy" reached me yesterday afternoon via the MetsGeek message boards. It was there that I first learned that Mike & the Mad Dog were stirring up trouble. It was like "Enter Sandman" all over again.
From there the debate spread across town, onto the message boards of MetsGeek and through yesterday's broadcast of Daily News Live on SNY.
Was the Mets' post-clinch celebration Tuesday night too raucous? For Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, the answer was an emphatic yes.
Now I didn't hear Mike & the Mad Dog's broadcast yesterday, but based on what I've read and what I know of their style, I think I can divine the key points.
1. The Mets haven't accomplished anything of significance yet.
2. Partying that hard after winning a division title only underscores the team's lack of success in comparison with the Yankees.
Heaven forbid the Mets actually enjoy themselves after winning a division title!
I was saying it to a friend of mine last night. The fact that there was controversy over how hard the Mets celebrated last night, whether in terms of Champagne sprayed, cigars smoked or hands of fans slapped, underscores everything wrong with baseball, and everything wrong with the Yankees, thank you very much.
Winning a division title is a great accomplishment, particularly when you do so in the fashion of the Mets.
I mean, this isn't like the Padres winning the NL West last year. The Mets have the best record in baseball, and sorry, no apologies for the weak National League. We won a division title for the first time in 18 years, and for the first time since 1993, a team not named the Atlanta Braves has won the National League East.
Those are all feats worth celebrating, and when you're a team that has a good clubhouse, that has people who actually like one another, that has players and fans who don't take the postseason for granted, the good feelings are going to spill over into the celebrations.
For my money, that's what's right about baseball.
What's wrong about baseball are the pathetic post-clinch celebrations that we see from the Yankees every year. Hand shakes all around! Whoops! Try not to get any Champagne on Mr. Steinbrenner's carpet!
(Oh, and if we see something different from the Yankees tonight or tomorrow or whenever they clinch, I'm convinced it will only be because they saw the Mets throw a real celebration.)
It's been said many times before on this site. Winning every year isn't what baseball is all about.
Baseball is about nights like Tuesday. It's about seeing something you've never seen before, and feeling something you've never felt before. Or if you have seen/felt it before, it's a sensation you can hardly remember.
Me, I had never seen the Mets clinch a playoff spot before. I'd never had that feeling of happiness or accomplishment, which was decidedly different from when they won the Wild Card those two times.
Paul Lo Duca had never had that feeling either. Ditto Carlos Delgado. Ditto David Wright and Mr. Glass.
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To them, for me, it was something you could only dream about. For 18 years it was a dream that went unfulfilled, and then Tuesday night, it was realized, and I'm sure it was all the sweeter for the delay.
It's a truth Yankee fans should be familiar with. To a man, I doubt there's a Yankee fan who's gonna tell you that winning in, say, 1999 was sweeter than winning in 1996. It had been a long time for the Yanks in 1996, 18 years. In 1999 it had been 365 days.
Dyanasties are fun. They're worth admiring on some level. As much as we all hate the Yankees and the Braves, I doubt anyone would mind if the Mets were World Series contenders every year.
But the fact is that a large part of why Tuesday was so sweet was that there was no dynasty, only a dynasty of failure from 2002-2004 that we have now officially shook off.
So Tuesday night the Mets felt like celebrating. Players like Reyes and Wright, who arrived during the darkest depths of the Art Howe era, felt like slapping hands with the fans. Paul Lo Duca, who's been in this game a long time and has never been to the postseason, felt like spraying fans with a hose.
I'll be the first to tell you that we have larger, more important goals left to accomplish this year, that this is a team that needs to make (win?) the World Series to be considered a success in every sense of the word.
But the 11 wins between then and now are bridges still to cross. In the meantime, Yankee fans, you can keep the muted celebrations to yourselves.
- A.F.O.M.G.
From there the debate spread across town, onto the message boards of MetsGeek and through yesterday's broadcast of Daily News Live on SNY.
Was the Mets' post-clinch celebration Tuesday night too raucous? For Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, the answer was an emphatic yes.
Now I didn't hear Mike & the Mad Dog's broadcast yesterday, but based on what I've read and what I know of their style, I think I can divine the key points.1. The Mets haven't accomplished anything of significance yet.
2. Partying that hard after winning a division title only underscores the team's lack of success in comparison with the Yankees.
Heaven forbid the Mets actually enjoy themselves after winning a division title!
I was saying it to a friend of mine last night. The fact that there was controversy over how hard the Mets celebrated last night, whether in terms of Champagne sprayed, cigars smoked or hands of fans slapped, underscores everything wrong with baseball, and everything wrong with the Yankees, thank you very much.
Winning a division title is a great accomplishment, particularly when you do so in the fashion of the Mets.
I mean, this isn't like the Padres winning the NL West last year. The Mets have the best record in baseball, and sorry, no apologies for the weak National League. We won a division title for the first time in 18 years, and for the first time since 1993, a team not named the Atlanta Braves has won the National League East.Those are all feats worth celebrating, and when you're a team that has a good clubhouse, that has people who actually like one another, that has players and fans who don't take the postseason for granted, the good feelings are going to spill over into the celebrations.
For my money, that's what's right about baseball.
What's wrong about baseball are the pathetic post-clinch celebrations that we see from the Yankees every year. Hand shakes all around! Whoops! Try not to get any Champagne on Mr. Steinbrenner's carpet!
(Oh, and if we see something different from the Yankees tonight or tomorrow or whenever they clinch, I'm convinced it will only be because they saw the Mets throw a real celebration.)
It's been said many times before on this site. Winning every year isn't what baseball is all about.
Baseball is about nights like Tuesday. It's about seeing something you've never seen before, and feeling something you've never felt before. Or if you have seen/felt it before, it's a sensation you can hardly remember.
Me, I had never seen the Mets clinch a playoff spot before. I'd never had that feeling of happiness or accomplishment, which was decidedly different from when they won the Wild Card those two times.
Paul Lo Duca had never had that feeling either. Ditto Carlos Delgado. Ditto David Wright and Mr. Glass.
To them, for me, it was something you could only dream about. For 18 years it was a dream that went unfulfilled, and then Tuesday night, it was realized, and I'm sure it was all the sweeter for the delay.It's a truth Yankee fans should be familiar with. To a man, I doubt there's a Yankee fan who's gonna tell you that winning in, say, 1999 was sweeter than winning in 1996. It had been a long time for the Yanks in 1996, 18 years. In 1999 it had been 365 days.
Dyanasties are fun. They're worth admiring on some level. As much as we all hate the Yankees and the Braves, I doubt anyone would mind if the Mets were World Series contenders every year.
But the fact is that a large part of why Tuesday was so sweet was that there was no dynasty, only a dynasty of failure from 2002-2004 that we have now officially shook off.
So Tuesday night the Mets felt like celebrating. Players like Reyes and Wright, who arrived during the darkest depths of the Art Howe era, felt like slapping hands with the fans. Paul Lo Duca, who's been in this game a long time and has never been to the postseason, felt like spraying fans with a hose.
I'll be the first to tell you that we have larger, more important goals left to accomplish this year, that this is a team that needs to make (win?) the World Series to be considered a success in every sense of the word.
But the 11 wins between then and now are bridges still to cross. In the meantime, Yankee fans, you can keep the muted celebrations to yourselves.
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 11:45 AM
1 Comments:
I don't think anyone had a problem with the Mets' celebration except for Mad Dog and Fatso, and their talking points were, as always, paper thin and intended solely to rile up would-be Met callers so they could fill their bloated six-and-a-half hour slot. They are just so ridiculous. Russo was cranky because the ROCKIES dropped 20 on the Giants the night before, and Francess was even crankier because he had argued with himself earlier in line at McDonalds, 'Should I get my usual three Arch Deluxes today or only two?' and he had finally, grudgingly settled on two (and a Butterfinger McFlurry to wash it all down so smoothly on the LIE). Well, needless to say, it was only 2:00 and that Francessa tummy was growling already, so he had to blast Paul Lo Duca for forty minutes straight on account of Walnuts' dropping of a celebratory F-bomb on SNY.
These idiots make Beningo in the Midday look like a recent Williams graduate for Chrissake!
Lastly, for those concerned, SRahl is nonplussed by this Thai coup, but not scared, in fact, NEVER SCARED and happily tucked away in his hotel room above it all. We miss you, SRahl, now bring back some Satay.
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