...of this here blog. You know, the SUBTITLE, where it says "Yeah, that's right, it's time for a new year, a return to the old name....hopefully, with better results!" I guess I shouldn't have changed the name back, either. What in Sam's hill could I POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN THINKING???!!!!! So I guess, if you want to blame anybody for this year's woes, I suppose you can blame me, because, frankly, I NEVER SHOUD HAVE DONE IT. Change the subtitle, that is. Or the name. Back. What I ALSO never should have done is try to make the proverbial silk purse out of the erstwhile-proverbial sow's ear, a/k/a the 2007-2009 New York Mets. I knew, I simply KNEW, the day Carlos Beltran stood there at the plate, watching the ball whiz by, thereby ending the Mets' 2006 postseason hopes, that it was done, kaput, finis, ended, over, or, as my mom always used to say - fa-toot. Whatever fa-toot actually means. So why, oh why, did I try to deny it???? I guess I fell prey to the false bravado, the cockeyed optimism, the never-say-die, rose-colored optimism of the average, typical New York Mets fan. So I sold my soul, like all Mets fans do, soldiered on, and did what Mets fans always do -- swallow it, and continue on.
Until this year, that is. Now, I know it can be said that injuries have deccimated this team beyond all recognition, and some of that is, of course, true. Obviously, the Mets have suffered grave injury to most of their core; grave and incomprensible injury, in some cases (cough, cough Jose Reyes cough, cough). And that injuries alone are enough to account for the piss poor performances of the past few months, and some of that is also true. But what is more true, and more overwhelming, and more upsetting, is the culture of the Mets -- the culture which seems to value personality and media friendliness over actual intelligence and baseball acumen; the culture which allows the franchise to simply continue rather than to flourish and improve; the culture which apparently doesn't care that 99.99% of its team either doesn't know or doesn't know how to execute the most basic of baseball fundamentals; the culture that doesn't seem to mind that on most days, the team is utterly unwatchable; the culture that seems to believe that simply putting nine men on the field at any given time is enough to insure its own perpetuity; the culture that seems to believe it's ok (nay, indeed, totally proper) to charge exorbitant ticket and concession prices to fans of a team that is barely represented anywhere in its own ballpark.
You know, the Wilpon/Minaya, and later, Wilpon/Minaya/Manuel culture.
And I can't even watch anymore. I can't stand the sight of either Wilpon, or Omar, or Jerry. In fact, if I have to look at Jerry's smiling, laughing, bespectacled puss, or Omar's befuddled, confused expression, once again asking me if I know what he means, or Jeffy's half-witted spewing of Met non sequiturs one more fucking time this year, I'll, I'll, I'll....well, I'll turn it off, which I've been doing for most of this season.
So you can blame me for changing the subtitle, or you can consider the above and put the blame where it really belongs -- on a Met culture which has too long existed, and will probably continue to exist for a lot longer.
2 comments:
Deb, as you know, I don't entirely agree, although I certainly see your point and you may be absolutely right. I didn't think anything was over when Beltran took that pitch. In fact, having watched it a number of times on replays, I think there was something supernatural about that curveball. As for the culture, I really have no idea about any of that. I do think that the Wilpons want to win and that they don't just want to put a team on the field. I don't think that media friendliness is getting in anybody's way. I can't determine how many of the team's decisions have actually not been smart. Knowing how they have turned out does not really prove anything to me, since there are also a number of things they've done that have been smart. The point you make about a lack of knowledge of fundamentals is absolutely right, and I agree with your comment about the stadium not reflecting the team. But I'm not sure the culture you decry exists. And I'm therefore not as angry.
Angry? I'm not so much angry as I am frustrated, and feeling a little used and abused. I remember a certain poster on mets.com and on other Mets message boards, who shall remain nameless *coughcough meanie coughcough* who considered it his unpleasant and unfailing task to educate Mets fans as to the failings of the Wilpons, and who was much chastized, condemned and banned by many, including yrs truly. But over the years, I have come to realize that much of what he said was right, and much of what is wrong with this franchise directly stems from the people owning/running it. While I understand your passion and even admire it, I also have a passion for this team, a team of which I've been a fan for almost 40 years, and it saddens and disgusts me to see the ineptitude of this current version of it. I think the Mets exemplify, in many ways, everything that's wrong with baseball today, and in fact, perhaps that's part of what I'm really sad about; what's happened to the game, in general, manifested in this team.
Post a Comment