Mets Fans: The Awful Truth
(Note: This piece was written the morning of Wednesday, April 16, when the Mets were 6-6. Technical issues delayed its release but I wanted to get it out there. Needless to say, things have changed a bit since last Wednesday; the Mets beat the Phillies two of three, for one.
This post might piss the hell out of some of you but I'd like to preserve it for posterity. Check out Nails' piece below, also written last week.)
It was the bottom of the 8th during Tuesday's game. Me and the Hound were watching as David Wright hammered that double into the gap in left-center, discussing the state of the fan base.
There's been a lot of talk about fans booing lately. Fans booing too much. Fans booing unjustly. Fans booing justly.
"You know what it reminds me of," he asked. "Remember when you were young when we used to go to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park?"
"Of course," I answered. There were a series of trips when I was between the ages of 12 and 16.
"I remember thinking then -- this was before the Red Sox finally won again -- you know, you'd go to Wrigley, where the team hadn't won in ages, and everyone was happy. They'd go to watch the Cubbies and they'd have a few beers and if they won, great!
"And then you'd go to Fenway. And more than anything else, what struck me back then was that the fans were angry. Like they were just always waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"And you know, maybe it's not quite that bad at Shea yet, but maybe it's getting there."
* * * * *
As he said the words Gary and Keith were updating us on the Phillies' latest comeback. Down 3-0, the Phillies came charging back, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat Houston and send the fans home happy.
And that's when it hit me, a thought so upsetting I hate to vocalize it even now.
Deep down, I'll bet a lot of those booing Mets fans (and even some of the non-booing Mets fans) wish they were Phillies fans.
Give me a moment to explain. You all still love the Mets, no one's doubting that. But if you could wake up tomorrow and the team in Philly was wearing Mets jerseys and the team in Flushing was wearing Phillies jerseys, you'd secretly be happy. Because underneath it all, you wish your team played like the Phillies do.
You wish your team had the cocky, showy shortstop with the big mouth and the bigger game.
You wish your team had the young ace pitcher, the one management was smart enough (or not dumb enough, characterize it as you will) to trade away for a junkballer who could be fixed in 15 minutes.
You wish your team had scored 4 runs in the 9th last night to win it 4-3.
You wish your team had overcome a 7-game deficit with 17 to go. You wish your team played with that kind of passion.
* * * * *
At the end of the day, it was one game in April. But as Gary and Keith updated you, and as they said the words with that knowing sigh, it just twisted the knife even more.
Say what you want about them, believe if you want that the Mets are the better team (and I, for one, think they are and that they were last year), but that team in Philly doesn't quit. Gary knows it, Keith knows it, and somewhere, you know it.
And when we boo, whether we're right or wrong, it's not that we wish we were Phillie fans, it's that we wish we rooted for a team that competed like Philly's does.
And I don't know about you, but I'm desperate for this Mets team to make everyone stop feeling that way.
The good news is we know they have it in them. Most of these guys were here in 2006, that magical year when everything just came together (before, of course, it all came crashing down).
They had so much passion then; they played like they wanted it so much. Was it lost somewhere in the devastating arc of that 0-2 curveball? Was it lost in the return of Guillermo Mota?
More importantly, What will it take to bring it back?
- A.F.O.M.G.
This post might piss the hell out of some of you but I'd like to preserve it for posterity. Check out Nails' piece below, also written last week.)
It was the bottom of the 8th during Tuesday's game. Me and the Hound were watching as David Wright hammered that double into the gap in left-center, discussing the state of the fan base.
There's been a lot of talk about fans booing lately. Fans booing too much. Fans booing unjustly. Fans booing justly.
"You know what it reminds me of," he asked. "Remember when you were young when we used to go to Wrigley Field and Fenway Park?"
"Of course," I answered. There were a series of trips when I was between the ages of 12 and 16.
"I remember thinking then -- this was before the Red Sox finally won again -- you know, you'd go to Wrigley, where the team hadn't won in ages, and everyone was happy. They'd go to watch the Cubbies and they'd have a few beers and if they won, great!
"And then you'd go to Fenway. And more than anything else, what struck me back then was that the fans were angry. Like they were just always waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"And you know, maybe it's not quite that bad at Shea yet, but maybe it's getting there."
* * * * *
As he said the words Gary and Keith were updating us on the Phillies' latest comeback. Down 3-0, the Phillies came charging back, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat Houston and send the fans home happy.
And that's when it hit me, a thought so upsetting I hate to vocalize it even now.
Deep down, I'll bet a lot of those booing Mets fans (and even some of the non-booing Mets fans) wish they were Phillies fans.
Give me a moment to explain. You all still love the Mets, no one's doubting that. But if you could wake up tomorrow and the team in Philly was wearing Mets jerseys and the team in Flushing was wearing Phillies jerseys, you'd secretly be happy. Because underneath it all, you wish your team played like the Phillies do.
You wish your team had the cocky, showy shortstop with the big mouth and the bigger game.
You wish your team had the young ace pitcher, the one management was smart enough (or not dumb enough, characterize it as you will) to trade away for a junkballer who could be fixed in 15 minutes.
You wish your team had scored 4 runs in the 9th last night to win it 4-3.
You wish your team had overcome a 7-game deficit with 17 to go. You wish your team played with that kind of passion.
* * * * *
At the end of the day, it was one game in April. But as Gary and Keith updated you, and as they said the words with that knowing sigh, it just twisted the knife even more.
Say what you want about them, believe if you want that the Mets are the better team (and I, for one, think they are and that they were last year), but that team in Philly doesn't quit. Gary knows it, Keith knows it, and somewhere, you know it.
And when we boo, whether we're right or wrong, it's not that we wish we were Phillie fans, it's that we wish we rooted for a team that competed like Philly's does.
And I don't know about you, but I'm desperate for this Mets team to make everyone stop feeling that way.
The good news is we know they have it in them. Most of these guys were here in 2006, that magical year when everything just came together (before, of course, it all came crashing down).
They had so much passion then; they played like they wanted it so much. Was it lost somewhere in the devastating arc of that 0-2 curveball? Was it lost in the return of Guillermo Mota?
More importantly, What will it take to bring it back?
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 11:42 PM
7 Comments:
I have to disagree, and I'm probably going to have to write a post detailing this more later, but I think the Mets are that team more than the Phillies.
You wouldn't have written this post if just two of those games against Philly last year went the other way, if Marlon wasn't called out at second, if one bounce or one pitch went differently. The Mets would've won the division by a couple of games. Charlie Manual would have gotten fired, or would be facing the wrath that Willie is now.
Jimmy Rollins wouldn't have won the MVP. His statements last march would be ridiculed. Both MVP awards may have gone to New York's third baseman.
Look back at some of those games. You'll see the Mets battled back, time and time again. sometimes multiple times in one game. The Mets problem last year, was the bullpen.
Swap Mota for Sanchez, as we have this year, and the Phillies never get close, the fans never come to shea and get thrown out in record numbers, there is no Phillies-Mets rivalry.
So no, I don't secretly wish I was rooting for guys wearing those red uniforms from that crappy city. I won't even walk into Citizen's bank if I didn't have a dollar on me.
There were many instances where guys looked like they were not trying hard. Last year as well as this year....Reyes is still twirling the bat around as the pitcher releases the ball which leads to a crazy amount of popups & fly balls...Delgado's laid back style does not mesh welll with the fact that he is 35 not hitting well and has no real range at first... Beltran seemingly going 3,4 days without a hit that matters.. sometimes appearances can change opinions almost as much as results
Ceetar -- let me know if/when you've written a counter post, always curious to hear other people's thoughts.
My issue with what you've said here is that it's kind of a big woulda coulda shoulda. I mean, yes, we had injuries, but so did the Phillies. Chutley missed 30 games for one thing -- god knows I love Duaner, and god knows our bullpen shat the bed at the end of last season, but think about what losing a player like Utley does to a team. The point is, the Mets had injuries and caved, and the Phillies had injuries and prevailed.
As I said in the post, I think the Mets are the better team this year and I think they were the better team last year. I also thought the 2006 Tigers were better than the 2006 Cardinals and that the 2000 Mets were better than the 2000 Yankees. Fat load of good it did me or any of those teams I thought superior.
Ultimately, you're right: I wouldn't have written this post if we had eeked out two (actually just one, but who's counting) of those games against Philly last year, but we didn't. We lost. I remember the bad calls and the tough chances, but I'm sure there were bad calls and tough chances that went our way too (fans -- you, me and everyone in between -- tend not to remember the breaks that go their way).
* * * * *
As I think more about what I wrote in the post, I realize that what I'm really driving at is that Mets fans, constitutionally, love an underdog. We have no choice really. We're second class citizens in this city and we know it (spare me the "back in the '80s this was a Mets town" conversation. That's how it was then and how it might be again some day, but god knows it's not that way now). It's why fans of this team have immortalized Rick Reed and Bobby Jones while keeping Carlos Beltran at arms length.
Last year we were the sneering, overconfident bully, and the Phillies were the never-say-die upstarts who toppled us. The best teams aren't doomed to be sneering and overconfident -- the 2006 team had swagger and personality, but also a ton of passion. What I want to know is what happened to that?
Actually, ceetar is right about two games. One would've brought us into a tie and we would've had to win the second game to get to the playoffs.
Math was never my strong suit, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on this one. The Phillies won 89 games, the Mets won 88. If we had beaten them one of those games we played them we would have had 89 wins and they would have had 88. No?
You're right; I am wrong. G-d I hate saying that.
I think what I'm getting at is that it's all really perception, but that perception is created afterwards.
Everyone will agree that pick any two games in a season and they really don't matter much in the long run, but in this case it made all the difference in the world in how we are perceiving both teams.
When it comes down to it, any one of those September games represented the entire season. We kept giving the lead/division back, and they couldn't hang on to it. (Obviously, it works the other way around too) How many times did we get swept or lose 2/3 to Atlanta and Philadelphia only to gain the games we lost right back in the next series against someone else? The division last year was more of a game of hot potato where we just happened to be holding the spud at the end.
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