13
2011
From Left Field: I Have An Addiction
An article by 
I have an addiction.
Unfortunately, many young men my age have bigger problems than I do. Some have fallen to drug or alcohol addictions, which is always a sad situation. They have their whole lives ahead of them, but they succumb to their addiction.
I have an addiction.
The first part of dealing with an addiction is to admit you have one. Just this past week, I came to the conclusion that I am addicted to New York Mets Baseball.
My story is different than a drug or alcohol addict who may have had a string of incidents that led to their downfall. My addiction stems from the passion I have for my team and their affinity for losing.
I have an addiction.
Monday night’s loss is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. The Mets jumped out to an early lead only to give it up. They regained the lead only to give it up again on a Carlos Gonzalez 10-hopper that squeaked through the Mets infield shift. “WHY WAS THE SHIFT ON WITH TWO STRIKES?” I yelled.
To make matters worse, not only were the bullpen arms (except Izzy) pretty bad, but they also couldn’t make routine plays. Ryota Igarashi got a tailor-made double-play off Gonzalez’s bat in the sixth and botched the throw home. Though this was a tougher play, Bobby Parnell overthrew Josh Thole on a play at the plate by almost five feet.
Speaking of Parnell, just when we needed him to keep the game tied, he gives up a three-run laser to Troy Tulowitski, which normally would crush the chances of a comeback.
Here’s where my addiction kicks. First batter in the bottom of the eighth: David Wright home run. Next batter: Carlos Beltran double (by the way, he’s starting to swing a hot bat) followed by an Ike Davis RBI single.
7-6, no outs, runner on first, bottom of the eighth. “We can do this, boys,” I said with a glint of hope in my eyes.
I have an addiction.
Of course, as most of you already know, the Mets failed to score and then looked like little leaguers against Huston Street in the ninth.
At 4-6, the team is far from eliminated, but it has been the way they have lost games recently that has already driven fans away. But not me.
Despite the drizzle last night at around 5:30 p.m., I hopped in my car and headed to Citi Field, hoping I could bring the Mets some luck.
I waited 20 minutes for a Shake Shack burger and settled into my seat. As soon as I took that last bite, the public address announcer came over the loudspeakers.
“Your attention please. Tonight’s game has been postponed due to rain and will be made up as part of a day-night, single admission double-header on Thursday.”
I have an addicition.
For me, last night’s rainout is a blessing. Now I get to sit through not one, but two games of my beloved Mets.
If this was September and the Mets were already eliminated, I’d be there. If the Mets had just lost 10 straight games, I’d be there. If the Mets brought back Luis Castillo and even Oliver Perez, I’d be there.
Now I’m almost certain that many of you readers share in my addiction to varying degrees. I’m sure some of you have been fans since 1962. I can only imagine what it was like those first few years of the franchise. But then 1969 happened. And awhile later 1986 happened.
I had my chance in 2000, but that didn’t end so well. Somehow though, losing to the Yankees made me an even bigger, more diehard fan.
I have an addiction.
Luckily for me and my fellow fans who share my addiction, there is a remedy. If our team can go out and play ball like we know they can, our addiction can be considered a passion. We enjoy seeing good baseball from our favorite players and hope the team can turn it around.
The Mets got off to such a good start which gave me even more hope than I already had coming into this season. However, the team is looking like the Mets of old: not the ’69 and ’86 Mets, but the ’62-’67 Mets.
Let’s just stick by our team and hope they can get hot. The journey toward recovery begins tonight at 7:10 p.m., with the pregame show at 6:30. True addicts watch the pregame, of course.
Follow me on Twitter @JMMancari.
*Note: This piece was meant to be mostly facetious. I understand that an actual addiction is a serious matter, and my thoughts and prayers go out each day to those fighting to overcome their addictions.
About the Author: Jim Mancari
Jim Mancari hails from Massapequa, N.Y. He recently earned a Master's degree in Journalism at Hofstra University. He is a devout Mets fan and takes pride in his team, despite their lack of success over the last few years. Like all Mets fans, Jim has plenty of hope. He also writes as the sports reporter for the Brooklyn Tablet newspaper and the senior editor of metroBASEBALL Magazine. Click my name to view my personal website.
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 26 | 18 | .591 | - |
| Nationals | 23 | 22 | .511 | 3.5 |
| Phillies | 21 | 24 | .467 | 5.5 |
| Mets | 17 | 25 | .405 | 8.0 |
| Marlins | 13 | 32 | .289 | 13.5 |
Last updated: 05/21/2013
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You know you are a Mets addict, Jim, when you have work and deadlines, but you cannot help yourself from spending four hours in front of tv watching your most beloved sports team implode again and again and again.
We are Mets fans, we are the ANTI-YANKEES, and we are so happy for that!!!
By the grace of God, I am a Mets fan.
Love it Russell! Absolutely love it!
unfortunaely me too.it’s been a torturous the last few years,who knows if it will ever get better.i’ll still be watchin em, for some reason.the mets fan has to be a bit of a masichist.
Hence the name “Mets addict,” I’m guessing.
yes sir been addicted since i’ve been seven years old, i’m 34 now.seen some good and a lot of bad, but i still love em, thus the masichist part.
My name is Pete, and I’m a Mets fan.
Nice…
Alright this goes beyond Koolaid drinking. Just face the facts and know the Mets will not be good for the next 2-3 years.
i’m a realist,even when i know they don’t have a good team they are and always will be my team.i would rather follow a losing team year after year then be one of those people who jump on band wagons every year,i despise those kind of fans.the mets probably won’t be a good team for a few years but they will always be my team.i’d rather be a mets fan,then be a yankees or phillies fan.
each writter on this site does the same thing, they all kiss the mets feet, i guess they hope the site stays revelvant as citi becomes more and more of a ghost town. how about standing up and demanding a better product? and stop beleiving the front office, every year a different excuse with the same result, a bad team….
We all here root for our team in good times and bad. Sometimes that’s all we can fall back on but this article was an expression of true fandom, one that I can relate to and appreciate reading from the writers point of view.
No apologies here.
Many of us have differing views on how we should go about doing things that will result in more success, or even about what modest success we have had over the course of the last two decades but that’s all over with once the game starts. Then it’s just full out pulling for your team no holds barred.
We have all to varying degrees and in different ways gone all the way from polite recommendations to screaming tirades to attempt to get the Wilpon to field a better and more consistent product. That wasn’t the intent of this article.
I can’t really understand how the Wilpon thinks. I know this, he puts the Commissioner’s precious slotting guidelines above the fans and even above his own business. I’ve railed against that endlessly but that doesn’t mean I’m not off to Citi Field to root on the Boys and have a good time doing so.
Somehow or another I think the Wilpon will come to understand that we cannot continue to rely on the generosity of the Florida Marlins for not only giving us some of their best players, but also taking themselves out of the pennant race in order for us to make the post season.
We’re big boys now. Almost 50 years old and someday we’d like to make the post season on our own. Without any help from the Marlins, or anyone else for that matter. We’d like to be like we were when we were rampaging through the NL in the 80′s. Putting people on notice and kicken’ their asses. But that takes talent. Talent we don’t have and talent we can’t afford to buy anymore because we squandered all the cash on **** and the Marlins didn’t come to our aid like they did 1n 1999, 2000 and 2006 instead they turned on us like rabid dogs and showed us just how dependent we are on them providing our best players by knocking us off in 2007 and 2008.
I’m banking that some day the Wilpon will realize that we need to provide our own Al Leiter’s, Mike Piazza’s and Carlos Delgado’s because we just cannot rely on the Marlins poor finances to provide us with our best players. We have some of those financial issues our selves now.
METSIE! METSIE! METSIE!
LoL