NEW YORK, NY – Instead of getting cute and/or creative this week, I felt it was high time I got back to my angry roots. Something’s been gnawing at me since the start of the playoffs and it’s high time I got it off my chest. If The Matts want to add the usual video and photographic bells and whistles to what follows, they can be my guest(s). But, for now, this rant needs to move forward without distraction.
(Just one photographic bell, A-Dubya. No whistles.)
How in the hell can any Met fan be rooting for the Yankees in the World Series??? It’s really beyond my comprehension. Mike in the Mezz (or Excelsior, if you prefer) touched upon this subject briefly, yet eloquently, last week. I just can’t figure out how any Metropolitan supporters can find it in their hearts to cheer on the New York Yankees. Is it a New York thing, as in “I’m a New Yorker, so I am going to pull for the New York team?†If it is, believe me, I consider myself as rabid a New Yorker as anyone and this kind of logic is so anti-New York it sickens me. Denizens of the Big Apple don’t put their emotions aside and let bygones be bygones. No f***ing way! We despise our rivals and carry grudges to our graves! That’s what makes us so f***ing colorful. What I am saying is, you are doing a disservice to both yourself and the city to not stay true to those things you hate. In this instance that’s the New York Yankees. It’s every bit as important (if not more so) as honoring the things that you love.
Now, if your excuse is that you just can’t stand the Philadelphia Phillies and despise them even more than the Yankees, I guess my question would be this: Why? It’s not like the Mets and Phillies have been blood rivals for decades. Even though they play in the same division, any true animosity between these clubs is only a recent development and a mild one at that. Meanwhile, the Mets and their fans have been putting up with the Bombers and their insufferable (with a few exceptions) followers for years.
That’s the problem with the Mets. They’re constantly treated with kid gloves. The issue isn’t that Cole Hamels called them chokers, it’s that not a single Met has been willing to stand up and say some version of the same thing. God forbid the Mets hear a little constructive criticism. Let’s not forget, this was a team that banned newspapers in the clubhouse for fear that players and coaches would read negative things about themselves. It’s these kind of moves, treating grown men like toddlers, that will always keep this ball club from getting the strong swift kick in the a** that it so richly deserves.
Look, I’ll stop here before you guys get the wrong idea about my allegiances. I’m by no means a Phils supporter and also happen to agree with what Grote wrote last week about their sub-humanoid fan base. But I just can’t stand by while fellow Mets fans start talking about how these Yankees aren’t so bad and how they’d rather see the Bombers win the World Series than the Phillies. I’m begging you people, please step back from the brink of insanity. The Yankees are the clear enemy of every other team in baseball, and this holds especially true for the Mets. When the fans start going soft on the Yanks, it sends the wrong message to every single underachiever playing in Flushing. With that in mind, I’ll close with this: GO PHILLIES! CRUSH THE YANKEES! I look forward to the Mets kicking the crap out of your World Champion butts in 2010.
