Things have been, as expected, relatively quiet in Yankeeland the last few days, other than the completely unsurprising news that Roy Halladay would be open to a trade to the Yanks (Wow Roy, you'd be willing to accept a trade to the defending World Champions? Way to go out on a limb there).There have, however, been a handful of amusing stories about everyone's favorite lovable losers, the crosstown New York Mets. Here's a hilarious tale of bustling activity at the Yankee Store during the holiday shopping weekend and tumbleweeds at the Mets'; another about the Mets introducing supposed throwback uniforms for next season (pretty sure they look exactly like one of the 8,000 versions the team wears on any given day), presumably to distract the fanbase from the sad product attempting to play baseball on the field; and another urging the Mets to trade for both Halladay and albatross Vernon Wells.
I've never fully understood what drives people to root for the Mets over the Yankees -- I mean, I get that Walter O'Malley ripped a huge hole in the heart of Brooklyn by moving the Dodgers out west, and, while you never really hear as much about it, I imagine there were a few folks who were sad that the Giants left town as well.
I for one would've loved to have bore witness to three baseball teams competing in New York City. It's an idea I'm still crazy about today. Though it'll likely never happen as both the Yankees and Mets would be loath to see another team come in and take away from their profits and fanbases, New York is such a baseball-crazy town (honestly, who gives a crap about football?) that I think a third team could really thrive without taking anything away from the other two.
I also get that the good people of Long Island need a baseball team to identify with -- I suppose if I were from the largest island in the United States and only had one major artery with which to get to anywhere that was clogged 24 hours a day, I'd be inclined to root for the Metropolitans too.
But I digress. I also realize that wanting to add a third team while making fun of the already-existing second team seems contradictory, but I just have trouble taking the Mets seriously. If your family were former Brooklyn Dodger or New York Giant fans, then fine, love the Mets. But if you have no particular allegiance one way or another, and you still end up going with the Mets over the Yankees (although it seems not many people do this, given the sheer preponderance of Yankee hats over Met hats you see walking around the City on a daily basis. Shoot, I see more Red Sox hats in New York City than Mets hats on any given day -- that's just sad) you probably have some self-esteem/loathing issues to take care of.
22 comments:
I am SO way ahead of you, Larry. I wrote this post three years ago on some single guy's blog. I admit, though, your pic of Mr. Met beats mine handily.
Classy...
See, Larry, here's the thing. Fans love the Mets for the same reason they loved the Brooklyn Dodgers: authenticity. If you want to understand why millions root for the Mets, you need to understand the true nature of NYC. The heart of the city isn't in the shiniest gloss of the tallest skyscrapers or the biggest portfolio on Wall Street; it's in the grit of the every man/woman. The Yankees are a monolith that represents the corporate fat cats, bullying their peers with their checkbook. The Mets, a team that's lost more than it's won, represents what the average New Yorker can relate to: toughing it out; fighting to get ahead; winning some/losing some; not knowing how, but always believing it'll work out. That's New York and that's the path of a Mets fan. Sure, it may not be as easy as the escapism provided by being a Yankees fan (the 80's aside, of course - a decade I notice Yankees fans conveniently neglect to mention, like the creepy, perverted uncle at family reunions), but it takes a lot more guts to walk than it does to ride the bandwagon.
It's ironic and comical how so many Yankees fans celebrate Derek Jeter for his class on and off the field, yet those same fans couldn't actually be classy if the ghost of Joe D demanded it.
Let's Go Mets!! And as they say in New England Yankees Suck!
Ha ha ha! The Mets couldn't hold my ba!!sack. Go Yanks! Back-to-back Champs in 2010, baby!!
"Who really cares about Football anyway?" Answer: LOTS of people.
As a life long Met fan, first and foremost Congratualtions to the NY Yankees World Series win. I don't hate the Yankees nor do I speak ill of them. I do however hate most of the Yankee fans who are simply oblivious to the obvious, and fail to understand the definition of true sportsmanship. The Yankee fan who posted their comment on November 30th, 2009 12:33 PM illustrates my point. For those Yankee fans who have lost their way... here is the definition of sportsmanship: Behavior, conduct and attitudes that show respect for the rules of a game, other players,and their fans.
Haha. You just won the WORLD SERIES and take to bashing the Mets. Class act you are.
I actually kind of pity this blogger.
go f yourself....you'll never be a true journalist....you win a world series and you're still worried about the Mets.....what are you 13 you idiot ?
go kiss jeter's ass homo
larry lies on his bed at night holding jeter's poster with one hand
i will cum here everyday now to slander larry the loser
Calling why people root for the Mets into question has little to no utility, as it essentially posits that everyone should be a Yankee fan -- this is shortsighted, asinine and completely out of touch with reality.
Given the above statement, this post was meant to be taken in jest, but I admit that the premise was rather childish and as a result I understand why people are sensitive about the issue.
More than anything I was mostly curious as to what draws one to the Mets assuming said individual wasn't born into a Dodgers/Giants family, and Anonymous #2 at 12:04pm answered the question very well.
For the record, we lifelong Yankee fans do occasionally reminisce about the dark days of the late '80s/early '90s, and I'm happy to chat about Hensley Meulens, Matt Nokes, Rick Cerrone, Claudell Washington, Alvaro Espinoza, the Perez brothers, Andy Hawkins, Steve Howe, Steve Farr or any number of players from classically bad Yankee teams any time.
I bear no ill will toward the Mets or Mets fans, and my apologies if it was interpreted that way.
Well maybe if you chose to support a real baseball team, that actually means something to a city and its surrounding metropolitan area, instead of a soul-sucking demon team filled by cut-rate mercenaries and steroid-injected cheaters, you would understand something about the Mets.
Its the difference between being a true baseball fan, and a whiny sell-out who cannot bear to lose for even one season because that offends their sense of self-entitlement.
Enjoy shopping with the rest of band-waggoneers at the Yankees Clubhouse store. I'm sure you'll get trampled by a Wall Street broker too busy on his bluetooth headset to notice that he's broken your ribs with his $5000 Italian loafers. Oh and the reason you see so many Red Sox hats? Same reason you see so many Yankees hats, weak people love a winner. How many Red Sox hats did we see before 2004?
PS Derek Jeter smells like lies and Mariah Carey
No mercenaries play or have played on on the Mets and they've never benefited from steroid use. Met fans are clearly superior to Yankee fans and not insecure about it. True fans! The Yankees mean nothing to their fans. Jeter lies 24/7 and these lies actually do make him smell. LetsgoMetsgo, 33 years and counting of meaning something.
Real baseball team (apparently)=inept clusterf that regularly finishes behind teams with lower payrolls.
way to back peddle idiot....there's more Met fans than you thought and you never thought we would be sensitive toward our team......go watch your yankee classics and cross your fingers that you get haladay so you can win every game next year......like i said...you will never be a journalist,just an idiot blogger
I am a reformed Yankee fan. I’ve rooted for the Mets now since ’96 and honestly I’ve never looked back.
A big part of that had to do with my fellow Yankee fans. When the Yankees ‘sucked’ as some people might put it, I was able to go to Yankee stadium and enjoy watching a game. The reason was the only people who would go to Yankee games when they were a bad team were the people who truly loved baseball and deep in their hearts royal blue Yankee fans.
Then, the Yankees started winning and sure enough the vermin started crawling out of the woodwork. By vermin, I mean the loud-mouthed, drunken groups of idiots who are the emblem of the Yankee’s success.
It got hard to go to games at Yankee stadium, I couldn’t bring kids, I couldn’t bring women because quite frankly it was an embarassment. The funny thing was it was over this course of time the Yankees got rid of the old elderly, red capped ushers and replaced them with NYPD for crowd control You’d think the atmosphere in the stadium would be more orderly but the opposite was the case.
It’s sad really, for all that history and supposed pride the Yankees have no one else but their fans to blame when it gets tarnished.
Shea on the other hand always seems to be a lot more family oriented. Why that is, I can’t say but even diehard Yankee fans who’ve attended games at both stadiums have remarked on the difference.
This year’s Yankee’s team deserves every bit of respect and admiration they get. Certainly they looked every bit as professional as the teams of the nineties.
Across town the litany of injuries weighed heavily on the team from the senior circuit but even though ther are still enough things to like about the team to continue to root for them.
Besides as great a player as he may be, I’ll still take David Wright over A-Rod any day of the week. My kind of Yankee was Don Mattingly (and to a large extent Derek Jeter).
So, when you posit the query about how any sane baseball fan might choose another team of the Yankees and there winning ways it might well be because as important as winning is, there are other things of equal value when it comes to enjoying the game.
Of course given the ticket prices now it’s something of a moot point in any event.
Take that, 70-win Mets! Later, I will celebrate the unparalleled 27th Yankee championship by pushing an old lady down the stairs, and then fighting an infant!
hahahaha Dec 1 anon ftw
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