LONG ISLAND, NY – crybaby What am I supposed to do? I’ve been rooting for this wretched team since celebrating the 1969 World Series victory with my big brothers in our apartment in Glen Oaks. My Dad went to the series clinching game 5 at Shea that afternoon. I was home in plenty of time for the start of the game; my half-day Kindergarten allowed for a 12:15 PM dismissal. And yes, you under-40 pishers, World Series games were once played in the daytime.
As a kid you don’t know any better. If your team sucks, they’re still your team and you root for them anyway. The dark days of (GM M. Donald) Grant’s Tomb between 1977 and 1982 were right smack in the middle of my “formative” years. And by formative I’m talking Bar Mitzvah to High School graduation. I formed late I guess.
The point is, you rooted with all of your heart for the Mets – and always most passionately when confronted by Yankee fans and their sense of entitlement. There was something pure about it. No ambiguity whatsoever.
Today, it’s gone.
Sure, I love the Blue & Orange. I can’t totally turn my back on the team of my youth. I look forward to watching games with my own kids now. But I now find myself incapable of just rooting. Incapable of cheering on my Mets. Incapable of enjoying Met games on their own merits. The start of the season is supposed to be a time of optimism, when every team has a shot.
I hate like hell to be – as Short Matt calls it – a Negative Nelly, but I have no optimism, no hope for the Mets. The Baseball Gods will not allow owners like the Wilpons and Saul Katz to experience success with this team that they hold hostage. The Universe will simply not allow it.
HOWEVER! I am confident that we will see Matt Harvey throw a no-hitter against the Phillies. Tonight. Write it down. The Dark Knight will author the franchise’s 2nd No-No.
Did anyone see the type of gun that was pointed at the head of California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno when he was forced to give Josh Hamilton $125M to play baseball for his team? Neither did I. But that hasn’t stopped the crybaby billionaire from throwing Hamilton under the bus since he admitted to a relapse of his addiction. Hamilton sought help. He “turned himself in” to MLB. Hamilton has a disease called addiction, and his battles with it are well-documented and have been judged by all.
Moreno was outraged that his player was not punished for his relapse. Crybaby Moreno wanted an easy way out of paying the rest of Hamilton’s contract. So he did what crybaby billionaires always do. He stomped his feet. Showed his true character and buried a guy when he was down. What happened to standing by your player? Your employee? What happened to helping your brother? Moreno has made some of the stupidest signings in sports over the past few years, from Albert Pujols, to Hamilton, to CJ Wilson to Gary Matthews, Jr. Now the crybaby is throwing a tantrum because no one will save him from himself.
Tune in tomorrow for a man that even crybabies and pishers look up to, Angry Ward.
