(With Angry Met Fan out of the country, this is the second post in series of guest posts, posted by Salty Met Fan)
K-Rod. I really do not want to get into it right now. It deserves it’s own discussion. But it just adds credence to that topic I want to discuss. I have thought about this for years and it is now more clear than it has ever been. Here it is, The Mets Do Not Get It. There is something missing in the baseball DNA of the Mets that makes them dysfunctional. The worst part is, I STILL cannot narrow it down to one cause. Is it Fred, Jeff, Omar, Saul Katz?!?! I have no idea. What I do know, something is genetically wrong.
Here is the thing, like my colleague Angry Met Fan, I love the Mets. I really do. People that know me cannot understand how I can I claim to love something that makes me so salty and bitter. The reason, I care. I care about the Mets. I care about baseball. I get upset when pitchers do not throw inside. I despise when players do not run out groundballs. I get irate when an opposing player gets to 3rd base and David Wright is smiling and chatting him up. I played the game for 15 years, been going to Shea/Citi for 30 years and it is the greatest game in the world. And it’s not just what happens on the field that gets me salty, it’s what happens at the game. Which brings me to my story.
Back in 2007, I was at some non-descript Met game in the early part of the season. I was coming off attending Game 6 and Game 7 from the 2006 NLCS but I believed the Met nonsense that they ‘were not ready yet’ and NOW it was there time. 8th inning rolls around, Diamond Vision begins to flux and then to my absolutely horror the PA announcer comes on and says:
“Ok Met fans, it’s now time for the 8th inning sing-a-long to Sweet Caroline”
YOU HAVE TO BE EFFING KIDDING ME? This is not real. Booing ensues immediately. Anyone who remotely follows baseball knows this is a Red Sox tradition. Now not everyone has been to Fenway and witnessed it like I have but they just released a god awful movie with no talent Jimmy Fallon where there is an ENTIRE montage with this song. IT IS IN THE MOVIE!! Fat Drew Barrymore and all. Why cant we have our own ‘thing’? Why are we ripping off the Red Sox now? It’s bad enough there is another closer with ‘Enter Sandman’ and now we have this. The bigger question is, HOW DO THE METS NOT KNOW THIS!?!! I do not work for the Mets. I do not even work in sports. How can something that is so evidently clear to me not even cross the mind of ANYONE that WORKS for the METS!?!
It festers for a couple of months. I go to more games, song plays, people BOO, I get more salty. I hit my breaking point. I call the Mets. After several calls I finally get through to their PR department. I ask the gentleman on the phone, “What is the deal with Sweet Caroline in the 8th?”. The guy on the phone immediately goes into Met mode. Denies that it is Red Sox thing and tries to explain to me it’s more of a ‘fraternity thing”. I ask him if he’s seen awful Jimmy Fallon movie and he says no. I ask him if he’s ever been to Fenway or even watched a Red Sox game on TV and he says no. We finally just hit an impasse where we agree to disagree. It does not matter. I am right. Sweet Caroline is a terrible, terrible idea.
Fast forward a couple of months, the Mets drop Sweet Caroline in the 8th. They run some promotional thing where fans can vote on what should be played in the 8th and the fans actually write in some awful Rick Ashley song which is actually hilarious but the Mets decide to go with something else. A part of me feels I had a part in getting this thing killed. But I cannot understand how the idea got the greenlight in the first place. Something is missing. They are flawed but I cannot stop rooting for them.
K-Rod. I really do not want to get into it right now. It deserves it’s own discussion. But it just adds credence to that topic I want to discuss. I have thought about this for years and it is now more clear than it has ever been. Here it is, The Mets Do Not Get It. There is something missing in the baseball DNA of the Mets that makes them dysfunctional. The worst part is, I STILL cannot narrow it down to one cause. Is it Fred, Jeff, Omar, Saul Katz?!?! I have no idea. What I do know, something is genetically wrong.
Here is the thing, like my colleague Angry Met Fan, I love the Mets. I really do. People that know me cannot understand how I can I claim to love something that makes me so salty and bitter. The reason, I care. I care about the Mets. I care about baseball. I get upset when pitchers do not throw inside. I despise when players do not run out groundballs. I get irate when an opposing player gets to 3rd base and David Wright is smiling and chatting him up. I played the game for 15 years, been going to Shea/Citi for 30 years and it is the greatest game in the world. And it’s not just what happens on the field that gets me salty, it’s what happens at the game. Which brings me to my story.
Back in 2007, I was at some non-descript Met game in the early part of the season. I was coming off attending Game 6 and Game 7 from the 2006 NLCS but I believed the Met nonsense that they ‘were not ready yet’ and NOW it was there time. 8th inning rolls around, Diamond Vision begins to flux and then to my absolutely horror the PA announcer comes on and says:
“Ok Met fans, it’s now time for the 8th inning sing-a-long to Sweet Caroline”
YOU HAVE TO BE EFFING KIDDING ME? This is not real. Booing ensues immediately. Anyone who remotely follows baseball knows this is a Red Sox tradition. Now not everyone has been to Fenway and witnessed it like I have but they just released a god awful movie with no talent Jimmy Fallon where there is an ENTIRE montage with this song. IT IS IN THE MOVIE!! Fat Drew Barrymore and all. Why cant we have our own ‘thing’? Why are we ripping off the Red Sox now? It’s bad enough there is another closer with ‘Enter Sandman’ and now we have this. The bigger question is, HOW DO THE METS NOT KNOW THIS!?!! I do not work for the Mets. I do not even work in sports. How can something that is so evidently clear to me not even cross the mind of ANYONE that WORKS for the METS!?!
It festers for a couple of months. I go to more games, song plays, people BOO, I get more salty. I hit my breaking point. I call the Mets. After several calls I finally get through to their PR department. I ask the gentleman on the phone, “What is the deal with Sweet Caroline in the 8th?”. The guy on the phone immediately goes into Met mode. Denies that it is Red Sox thing and tries to explain to me it’s more of a ‘fraternity thing”. I ask him if he’s seen awful Jimmy Fallon movie and he says no. I ask him if he’s ever been to Fenway or even watched a Red Sox game on TV and he says no. We finally just hit an impasse where we agree to disagree. It does not matter. I am right. Sweet Caroline is a terrible, terrible idea.
Fast forward a couple of months, the Mets drop Sweet Caroline in the 8th. They run some promotional thing where fans can vote on what should be played in the 8th and the fans actually write in some awful Rick Ashley song which is actually hilarious but the Mets decide to go with something else. A part of me feels I had a part in getting this thing killed. But I cannot understand how the idea got the greenlight in the first place. Something is missing. They are flawed but I cannot stop rooting for them.
I actually emailed them recommending "We Built This City" by Starship for the new stadium. Perfect song, embarassingly cheasy, catchy, awful. Perfect for the mets/citi field. No response back as of yet.
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