The best part is Friday night games – a 7:30pm start means 9:30am Saturday morning which isn’t bad if I can get the kids out of my hair.

Get them to softball and soccer practice then hide behind a tree with the Ipad.

“I just think that it’s a shame when if you have the means and you actually enjoy going to a game that you allow ownership the Front Office or other individuals stop you from watching the team that takes the field.”

Mate – well put and I couldn’t agree more. If a person wants to spend their money going to Citi Field they have as much right as someone who feels that the Mets are putting out a substandard team and won’t shell out $300+ for a family of four.

Personally, I wouldn’t have a problem if someone wanted to see the games – it’s a great experience regardless how bad the team currently is.

I also support those on this forum who say they don’t want to spend a penny. I feel their pain.

I would very much love to go to a game this season – but that’s probably not going to happen.

If I did go I would buy my ticket on stubhub with the hope of getting a huge discount.

Of course, living in Sydney Australia means that instead I’ll pay $135 to MLB and watch the Mets on my computer.

Knocking the Mets does not mean you are not a Mets fan. Whether you can praise what’s happening to the Mets through rose colored glasses or feel that the FO has let you down is what’s great about being a fan.

You and many others have an advantage over us much older guys because we have vivid memories of what things used to be like that are no longer so today. I’ll explain why.

As you know, many have been turned off by this organization because we have no trust in its motivations and the manner in which the front office deals with us, makng many feel as if we are being manipulated for the sake of purchasing tickets rather than being treated with respect.

Will give an example. If after their initial shock about being swindled the Wilpons then came clean – in a general sense – many of us would have felt different. All they really needed to say was say something like ” yes, we were indeed victimized by Madoff and that has suddenly affected our ability to operate on the financial level we want to at this time – and on the level that the fans deserve as well – and we will make every effort to get ourselves out of this mess that was thrown upon us as quickly as is possible. But it is going to take time”.

What they think they might have lost in box office by leveling with the fan base would have been more than offset by the goodwill and trust it could have instead generated – despite our disagreements about 2011, Reyes, Dickey and the need for a total rebuilding.

Because we have the advantage of our years, we remember the time when the fans were treated much differently, thank you Mrs. Payson and that the business aspect did not trickle down in the form of a corporate way as to how they interacted with the fan base. And that is what puts us at a disadvanate that you and others do not have to contend with We were brought up in a less cynical time and after the Dodgers and Giants leaving New York opened up a bitter taste of reality to many. Perhaps had that not been the case we would be more apt to shrug the realities of today and better accept what we see happening as a part of life and learn how to deal and accept it better as you and others do by not letting it interfer with the pleasures that going to a ball game still brings which you describe so beautifully.

Too bad many of us can’t. We weren’t conditioned to deal with things at least as they are now with the Mets as well as the generations that came after us.

What we are saying however is that if they give you what you want and make a move, sign a player you think is the right thing to do you kind of have to stick with them and help pay for it for the duration of the move you liked at the time.

If you thought Beltran was a great signing you can’t expect them to do that again if your going to abandon your support halfway through the length of the contract.

And if they DO spend again on someone you like you need to go (comesurate to how much you liked) to help pay for them doing the right thing as far as your concerned.

They would have every right to state what the team could do to get thier money back, but if your boycotting you really can’t complain about what they spent/did since they aren’t spending your money and your not giving them the money to do whatever it is you want them to do.

That said by the same token if you never go to a game (logistics of attending aside) and only watch on TV, Your not supporting the team enough to actually influence what they do. The Budget is largely based on Stadium attendance. It is the single biggest money train in the game.

So if your not attending in person you have a slightly less firm ground to stand on than someone who does in regards to what they do with money.

I have pressed this point since 2010 when most of this Boycott talk first started.

Think of attendance like shares of stock…
If you only own a couple of shares your vote/desires of the direction of the company carries less weight than those who own much more stock in the team finances.

Bottomline is if you like what they are doing and want it to continue you had best GO see them and see them for the duration of that thing they did you liked…

That didn’t happen with the spending Omar made that everyone liked at the time…
And thats why the finances went south…Not the spending of the team (cause it made a profit even at it’s highest payroll) but the lack of spending of the fans to continue to pay for that spending they liked….

And the end result was a team who spent according to the support the fans gave them!

Can’t argue with that at all….
And I was not suggesting that if we went more they would spend more….

What I was suggesting is if you WANT them to spend more you can’t expect them to do it when we are not there to pay for it.
OR
are not making our purchasing decisions based on what they are doing at the time and instead making it based on who owns the team and what they may have done in the past.

I agree with those who have a spending phobia when it comes to the fact that
Fans are/can be fickle….Unfortunatly MLB contracts are not!

I contend it wasn’t Omars spending that killed us because every player signed at the time was considered a good signing when it happened….

What REALLY killed the team finances is we stopped liking/attending/paying the bills on that spending before the contracts ran out!

What has happened here is that the fans who DID THE RIGHT THING and kept paying/going to see the team they bought for them from 2006 on have stopped going because the team got rid of the players that inspired them to support the team. They didn’t like the direction and stopped going…PERFECTLY within thier rights.

But if your boycotting and refuse to go you really don’t have a right to ask them to spend money your not willing to spend. And I’m not suggesting you have to go BEFORE they spend but if and when they do if you don’t commit and go to help pay for it they certainly won’t do what you like AGAIN knowing it won’t get them your money….

SO if and when they go get us another Beltran anyone who thinks a Boycott is in order due to what they have done (spending) will either have to end the Boycott and vote for what they like or they really have no right to complain about them not spending because you didn’t put your money where you mouth said they should put it.

Thats all I’m trying to get accross there…

so when Cliff Floyd was leaving…what did they do?

instead of paying for the rest of Manny Ramirez’s contract…they went cheap and signed Alou to a 1 year 7 mil deal with a 1 year team option.

then they nickle and dimed bradford and oliver….weakening our bullpen that suffered from the sanchez injury…

o and in that same time period, the mets were almost dead to last in IFA spending, 3rd to last in overall draft spending

Sorry …but with the wilpons attendance does not equal SOUND reciprocal financial investment

this is why i feel the wilpons and therefore the league NEED our revenue stream.

boycotts absolutely work. I love the Mets. Not the Wilpons

No one saying people don’t have a right to choose….
Just that if they think denying th team from thier money is actually going to do anything , your wrong…

You want to know HOW you get thier attentaion and get them to hear what you have to say?

BUY a FULL SEASON PLAN….And when they invite you to Citifield for the dog and pony show they give all season ticket holders RAIL on them in front of all the other Season Ticket holders!

THEN you got thier attention!

And as for me having “an ego the size of the planet Jupiter”, that is simply your opinion, but not one I agree with and by no means “the only opinion that counts” either.

I agree wholeheartedly with your statement, knowing how important it is to go to a Mets game just to watch the game be played. The Mets are how my dad and I bond, they’re the way my brother and I bond as well. In fact, my dad got my brother and I 8 games for Christmas, just to bond with each other when he moves back to New York. Besides that, i’ll probably jump into a couple of games with friends, or go watch Brooklyn’s youth movement play out and scout out a bit.

Love the Mets no matter what team is on the field, and I will for as long as I possibly can.
By the way, let them boycott, that way you won’t hear any awful and baseless comments that many fans own.

Thanks I hope it was interpreted as such. I have seen it advertised as boycotting the Mets, so I entitled my post as such.

And I will be sure to have a follow up post. I’ve never been to an Opening Day before and this one I won’t soon forget.

I might debate if what they are doing is actually a boycott or not…

And I might also disagree in respect to that Boycott lasting for whatever reason they started it in the first place once the team starts winning baseball games again.

I know the most often used excuse for boycotting is hatred of the Wilpons…
It sure helps that the team isn’t playing all that well to keep the boycott going…

But if they were winning and getting to the playoffs I can guarantee 99% of those who said they are boycotting because of the WIlpons would end the boycott and go see that team…

Boycotts are kind of like Diets in that respect…
They are only as strong in changing whatever it is you want changed as you are strong in sticking to it…

As for prices the only way they come down is everyone boycotts….

But thats not going to happen….Cause most people will just go less not take a stance until prices are reduced and even if they reduced them to the point you want to go once the boycott was over they jack the prices back up on you anyway….