What better life could it possibly be to grow up in Brooklyn, root for the Yankees, and then become a sportswriter for the New York Post, beat writing for the New York Mets on occasion?
Joel Sherman has that life. I grew up with Sherman, I even have pictures of him as a pudgy 12-year old kid in 1976. Not much of an athlete, though he used to play with a red ball while playing roller hockey within the library parking lot on Seaview Ave. This is while the rest of us played with your typical 3M electrical tape, and plenty of contact. Okay, that must be why he chose to become a journalist, better to write than play. (I am 43 half-crippled and still play baseball on weekends)
Sherman has relentlessly trounced the Mets even before this year - but tends to give the Yankees a free pass - I wonder why? Sherman, during this year was not as relentless, maybe his inside information was so good that he saw the end coming and stayed away from the feeding frenzy. My point? Just letting Sherman know that Mets fans are watching and reading his columns with an eye-brow raised.
Now on with the titled story.
I spent quite some time on the NY Mets Fan Forum within the NY Mets MLB web site (http://www.NYMets.com), reading more so than posting. I find that there is more raw emotion and less baseball savvy on this site. Probably it is because most of the "posters" that are on that site are 20-Something or less fans that have only heard stories from their parents about the 69, 73, and 86 Mets - they want their own stories with their own Mets championship, and as most of their generation - THEY WANT IT NOW!
I want to see them get it, but they first must seek and look outside the box when discussing baseball. They need to be objective and insightful - use contrasting thoughts and synthesize their summaries.
What I find even more amusing is that the "trolls", fans of other teams stopping by to push the buttons of Mets fans. Granted, there are Mets fans who do the same thing on other teams sites. But as many Mets fans will tell you, the reason we hate the Yankees so much is not because their players or management, but it is because of the arrogance of their fans.
Once Yankees fans realize that it was not "they" who won so many championships, but it was the players who won them. Heck I respect Jeter, A-Rod, I even rooted for Bernie Williams - talent is talent and if you are a fan of the game you have to admit when someone is a solid player or even a great player as Mantle was. However, it is seldom that you would ever hear a Yankees fan tell a Mets fan how great of a player that Wright is, and will continue to become.
Most recently, as of yesterday - a new arrogance has reared it's ugly head. Phillies and Indians fans - I know we could expect that from a Phillies fan, after all when compared to the City of New York the City of Philadelphia is a village. It has always been hard on Phillies fans. Just look at the years since 1993. All of a sudden the Phillies HAVE FANS!!!! Any year that they had a losing record (which has been quite often) all you would hear at a game either in Veterans Stadium, or the new sandbox they play in, were chants of "LET'S GO METS" - now that the Phillies won a bunch of games, and clinched the NL East due to the Mets basically handing it to them - the PHILLIES HAVE FANS! Where were these people during the first two months of the season? Were these the same people yelling for Charlie Manuels head? Are these the same people that now say that Charlie is a genius (when we know the only genius is yours truly)?
Cleveland Indians fans are now on NY Post Blogs telling us to suck it with their 60 Million Dollar team salary, half of ours. This is Cleveland! The Cesspool of the Midwest! This is a team that allowed a Hollywood production company make a mockery of their team in the late 80's (Major League, Major League 2, and the ever popular Major League 3). Yeah they come back at the end and win it all with a bunch of less than semi-pro players - REALISTIC? I think Not!
Given the chance to play in Cleveland, Philadelphia, or New York - a pro will always choose the latter of the three, may it be with the Blue and Orange or the Stankees.
In the end - to cities such as Philly and Cleveland - you may be in the playoffs - you may be enjoying the hell out of it (and you should), just remember - Ours is Bigger Than Yours, and Always Will Be - no matter how the season ends.
Now back to a more important matter - the continuing saga of Mets fans versus Yankees fans - the best and most baseball knowledge savvy rivalry in baseball.
No comments:
Post a Comment