Mets Merized Online - A New York Mets Blog With Attitude!

(I am watching the Tuesday 4/17, Mets vs. Phillies game during the creation of this article and noting my in-game thoughts in parenthesis throughout)

If you are perusing Metsmerizedonline.com then it is safe to assume that you are a dedicated and passionate Mets fan. You probably race out of work just so you can crawl through traffic or squish in between two fat guys on the 7 train on the way to the rickety old ballpark. You may even be that fat guy for all I know.  (Alou dinger! Gary coincidently just mentioned that the middle of the order hasn’t hit a homer all year). Either way, I would like to give a theory on why people, sports fans, and more specifically Mets fans live vicariously through their sports team. (We are going to set the MLB record for double plays this year.)

I am going to try to write this without getting too theoretical, but admit it—when the orange and blue are playing well you are in a better mood, emit more confidence, smile 27% more, and have something to look forward to every night. Does that mean you are a big fan, or does that mean that you actually are a living and breathing New York Metropolitan? I’m not implying that you are literally on the team and that there is a Fred Wilpon signature followed by a lot of numbers and commas on your paycheck. I mean that when you look in the mirror it is like you are going out there with the purpose of trying to beat another team. In a certain, very philosophical sort of way, aren’t you doing that? (Keith has a man-crush on Belran “look at his long graceful strides…sigh” he utters. LOL)

Many of us identify with sports very well—the competitive nature is what attracts many of us. We live and die with how the team performs. We strive to be good at what we do. No, we all aren’t famous ballplayers. Most of us don’t make tons of moolah or have jobs of great importance. Some of us may just deliver bread for a living, drive a bus, or even sell interactive ad server, operation, and workflow management software…holla! (Utley is such a pest) We all have our own way of winning a 3-game set or the “World Series”. Each day you have tasks to complete or goals to accomplish. Maybe you don’t. Maybe you just wake up trying to get a decent bacon, egg, and cheese with a proportionate amount of salt, pepper, and ketchup. (Ryan Howard? Bases loaded? No fastballs for him!)

Whatever you do each day you behave and “play” life like it’s a baseball game. Perhaps you’re like Willie Randolph in the dugout, hoping that you don’t leave the pitcher in too long. (Ah hem) Perhaps you’re a facilities manager at a wholesale paper manufacturer hoping that you don’t hire the wrong vendor to control your distribution routes. Maybe you’re like David Wright and you’re riding a 24 game hitting streak. Maybe you’re a deli owner and your riding 24 straight years in business. It could be that you are like Mike Pelfry, a young rookie trying to show the team that you can produce instantly. It could also be that you are a new-hire at an advertising company and you need to start closing deals right away. (Glavine really lulls hitter’s asleep with that changeup).

(If Endy is playing in left, he prevents that double, but we would be tied instead of three runs up from Moises two dingers) We go out there and compete every day. We have our own versions of the Braves, Phillies, Nationals, and of course the Yankees in our lives. Sometimes they win, sometimes we do. You probably have friends like Jose Reyes that will steal a couple of bases for you so you can knock in some runs. You certainly have enemies like Jimmy Rollins or Larry Jones that either talk a little too much or just seem to always show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. (I love when Jose leads off then sprays a single that inevitably lands him on second base.) Maybe you have a Julio Franco in your corner that gives you sound advice when you need it before a clutch at-bat.  Have you ever had a relationship that you wished was different? Was there ever a time when you dumped a good “long term prospect” (Scott Kazmir) for that hot girl next door that you thought could bring you to the Promised Land, but it turned out that she was just a bitch (Victor Zambrano)?  Okay that may be a little bit too much, but I hope you get the point. Just remember that the next time you are on a crowded train or subway between two fat dudes, it’s not much different than sitting between Beltran and Wright in the batting order. (Thanks for reading)