Rooting for the Mets
I'm one of those Yankee fans who
pulls for the Mets. Not during this weekend's Subway Series, of course. Not any
time they play the Yanks. If the two teams are still going at it a thousand
years from now, I hope the Mets lose every head-to-head game.
I also kind of like the Mets to lose
when the Yanks are doing badly overall. It bugs me when Met fans can gloat
about something.
Otherwise, though, may the New York
Metropolitans flourish. I know plenty of
Yankee fans who don't share that sentiment, and I know most Met fans would rather
see the Ax Murderers of America team win a game or series than their cross-town
rivals. Assuming there was such a thing as the Ax Murderers of America.
That's fine. I get it. But when you
spend a lot of time outside
The Yankees are arrogant,
high-and-mighty, pushy, entitled snobs.
The Wife and I hear it repeatedly from baseball fans and non-baseball
fans alike. More often than I can count, these statements lead to rants characterizing
residents of the Big Apple as arrogant, high-and-mighty, pushy, entitled
snobs. Generally, they're sprinkled with
a secondhand dubious story or two about a friend or relative's horrible
experience while visiting the city. It gets annoying having to point out the
odd little inconsistencies in these stories. Like how Ronkonkoma isn't near
midtown, where some crazy drunken cabby almost ran somebody over while he or
she was walking toward the Governor's Mansion down near Washington Square on
the way downtown to Yankee Stadium.
Last night, I was driving in from
Don Sutton is a Hall of Fame pitcher
and longtime Braves broadcaster. I understand that outside
But, when you're a professional,
you're accountable for being professional. For two hours, Sutton could not stop
talking about his dislike of the Yankees. They're like onions and chopped liver
to him, ugh. Johnny Damon at bat is
twitchy as a school kid who needs to go to the bathroom. Derek Jeter does his
glove-adjusting thing at the plate too much. Andy Pettitte shouldn't have swung
his bat at the plate once his team had a sizeable lead -- it was showing up the
opposition. The Yanks are like piranhas when you open the door for them to
score. And by the way, the new Stadium's a joke because of its tendency to
allow home runs, and all batting records won there from now in will
be suspect.
The guy never stopped drumming me
over the head with this stuff. It got so bad I almost turned off the game. But listen to broadcasts from around the
country and it isn't so unusual.
Besides
I like it that
And you've got to hand it to this
year's Mets. It seems like eight percent
of their star players are practically on crutches or in arm casts,
yet somehow they just took three out of four from the Cardinals. They're a
half game out of first place in the NL East behind the Phillies, and you can
say it's a weak division, but so was the AL East for a long time while the
Yanks were winning championships. They can only play the teams on their schedule.
Good for the Mets. I hope they get
clobbered this weekend, but, after that, I hope they rebound and win every game
for the rest of the season, except when I need an emotional scapegoat for a bad
Yankee loss.
I want another real Subway Series one of these days -- a World Series rematch between
the Yanks and Mets. The last one really had the town rocking.
Then
all those out-of-towners who hate the Yanks, and have lousy things
to say about New York and New Yorkers, can either watch us have our fun on television
or turn out their lights and go to bed.
Hey Jerome,
As you are aware prior to moving to Tampa we lived in Atlanta and talk about hitting the nail on the head with Sutton. It was darn near past unbearable. I hated listening to the Braves broadcast and feverishly worked on finding the right combo to get the YES network in Atlanta no matter how many satellite antenna’s it took and combination of packages I had to subscribe to. It worked!
Growing up in NY I tried and failed at doing the dual Yankee -Met thing. Since everyone in my family are Met and Phillies fans (yea, two sides of the family) I along with one cousin were the lone Yankee fans. I guess I fall in the agree to disagree pile, I do not like the Mets, but deep in my heart if they were playing a team that would in any way help the Yankees or it were the World Series against the Red Sox, sure I would go for them...
Too bad about Nady...Will be interested in what the rest of the bloggers think of the loss. Do we stick with what we have? Bring up Duncan or Austin Jackson? Go outside the organization and find a real RF?
Kevin
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I am a Yankee fan who lives in Massachsetts (expatriate Northern New Yorker, yeah it is kind of like being behind enemy lines) and when you mentioned "arrogant, high-and-mighty, pushy, entitled snobs" I thought you meant Red Sox fans, because they have become WAY more obnoxious than we ever were. Thankfully, there is a whole underground of pinstripe supporters here to keep me sane!
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Hey JP, we are on the same wave length, I too want the Mets to win their games other than against us. I would like nothing better than a total NY/NY world series and a repeat not unlike the 2000 one. Like you, I listen to the other mlb broadcasters via my mlb account and many are like what you heard from Don Sutton and others and what disturbs them about our team. These broadcasters away from NY are just "camping out now" (just jealous) and they can't hold a candle to either our radio or TV guys who report the games and thank goodness I can pick our guys up now (via mlb) after leaving the area, right .....i know i'm just "camping out now" too. Go Yanks this weekend!
Don
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Kevin . . . Sutton was truly abysmal. I don't think I've ever heard a worse game broadcast, and I've listened to some horrible ones . . . is he like this with all opposing teams . . . ? Don, I was overjoyed last season when DirecTV began running both home and away team feeds . . . YankeeinMass, I have a surprising number of regular readers in Mass., Maine, etc.
At Yanks/Mets tonight . . . Sabathia really looking dominant, which I suppose is stating the obvious, but he just threw his 52nd pitch and it clocked at 97mph on the Shea . . . err Citi Field, that is . . . radar gun . . . HOW many errors did the Mets commit in the 2nd? Somebody announced it, but I was too amazed (no put intended) to take proper note.
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Aha . . . I see it was three errors.
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Bottom 5th inning, Sheffield up, hits one out to left . . . I was just about to mention the box score. There goes the no hitter . . . in fact, first and second, CC's now in his first bit of trouble. . . . all of a sudden it sounds like there are conscious Met fans in the joint . . . but now there's his second out on a strikeout, with the runners advancing on a wild pitch that the umps now say wasn't a wild pitch as they send the runners back . . . Mets fans go more or less quiet again. And as PH Argenis Reyes strikes out, the scattered few "Let's Go Mets" chants dissolve . . . . and I go grab a fresh cup of coffee.
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What a game Alex played at 3rd, just outstanding! I love the youth we have now and our furure team is looking better and better. Bret Gardner had a game to remember,
5 hits, a home run, a triple, another sb, WOW!
great win, you have to feel bad for the Mets.
Don
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JP my favorite teams this weekend aside from the Yankees are Atlanta and the Phillies. Selfish reasons I know. And darn if Atlanta and the Phillies didn't win. I rarely notice the Mets but would love a Subway Series for that is how I got turned on to the Yankees in the first place. I had some friends over who wanted to see Benny Agbayani whose from Hawaii play for the Mets. So I went the opposite way and rooted for the Yankees. I was hooked and that was almost 9 years ago. I'd love new memories and another Subway would do just fine. I might not handle a Dodgers/Yankees series very well. Go Yankees..
PS...did you wear your..."You Want A Piece Of Me" tee tonight? I heard Frankie was looking for you. (;
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I take a perverse pleasure seeing the face of a Mets fan the morning after they've been beaten by the Yanks . . . especially if that face belongs to one of my brothers-in-law. Otherwise like you I want the Mets to win. Tough year for them, though.
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Rabidcoyote . . . I know exactly what you mean. I'd love to see my brother-in-law and nephew today for that very same reason. Of course, they'd sense me coming with their wilted litte orange antennae and barricade the doors. And you can be sure they are not reading a word I write here.
Last night, I stood listening to Reggie reflect at length on A-Rod passing his career home run record. Assuming my voice recorder didn't conk out, I'll try to write a bit about that later today.
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Jerome, I am SO glad to hear about you're feeling for the Mets & for NYC! Everytime I hear on Sports radio that, if you're a Yankees fan you "HAVE" to "HATE" the Mets, I get so annoyed. Well, I don't hate the Mets! (Of course, I always want them to lose to the Yankees ~ that goes without question!) Ever since the Mets beat the Red Sox in the World Series, they have held a special place in my heart. I would root for your "ax murderers team" to beat the Red Sox! As for NYC ~ as a New Yorker (transplanted though I may be), I get so tired of NY bashing. NYC is a wonderful place & people are not rude as they are portrayed to be. Of course there are always some rude people everywhere . . . that's part of the human condition. I might add that the 1st time I was ever mugged was NOT in NYC but in CT.
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As much as it pains me to see you also root for the Mets, I just want to personally thank the Yankees and Brett Gardner for so handily taking care of the Mets last night......my dreadful Phillies need all the help they can get haha.
If you ever want to check out my MLBlog you can find me at http://payoffpitch.mlblogs.com/ please stop by! Thanks and I'll be sure to keep checking yours out.
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Judy . . . I don't think the media overall understands the dynamics of Yanks-Mets, Yanks-Sox, which are very different. For example, when the Mets played the Red Sox a few weeks ago, one guy who writes for a major tabloid wondered in a column or blog--I forget--whether Yank fans would be somehow able to make themselves root for the Mets, even being mindful that their winning would help the Yankees. This guy's been around forever, but had to wonder . . . does he pay attention to his readers? I don't know a single Yankee fan who wasn't pulling for the Mets that weekend. And, indeed, their series win, boosted the Yanks in the standings.
Mets fans are different . . . they tend to really, really HATE the Yankees. But, then, that's because they've been kicked around a lot. So let us have pity . . .
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JP, You are exactly right when you say it is very difficult to listen to Yankee games on XM when they are playing out of town and you are forced to listen to the home team announcers. In my mind, the worse ones are the Oriole's announcers. Second, are the Rays TV announcers, especially Kevin Kennedy. UNBELIEVABLE! Instead of XM for the Yankee games, I have now signed up for MLB Gameday Live and can now listen to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman each and every Yankee game on WCBS. Music to my ears.
A Yankee fan south of Tampa. LET'S GO YANKEES!!!!
Gerry
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you're right, there's nothing worse than a biased announcer.
http://eatsleepmlb.mlblogs.com
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Gerry,
If you are still out there I too am in the Tampa area and have found that I also can hear the Sterling/Waldman combo on 620WHEN on the internet. Yes, it is music to my ears too.
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I grew up just outside Chicago as a die hard Cubs fan.
I simply hate the White Sox. Hate 'em.
I find it surprising that a die hard Yanks fan such as yourself can stomach your crosstown rival. I couldn't do it myself.
I just discovered your blog and really enjoy your perspective on things. I will certainly be visiting more often.
Looking forward to the next time we take on the Yanks.
http://raysfanboy.mlblogs.com/
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