You know what I am growing tired of lately? It seems the people who cover the New York Mets feel it is their obligation to contribute whatever they can to ensure the fan base feels as lousy as possible with regards to their support of the NY Mets.
I don’t understand why crushing the team you cover rather than just simply reporting on them seems to be the cool thing to do.
I’m really tired of it. It seems that in order for these writers to get any attention at all, they feel the need to join the complaining minority and stir the pot with every single decision the Mets make.
When did covering a baseball team (who by the way is off to their best start since 2007) become a job that is based on poor humor and antagonizing rather than quality information?
This past week I saw three things that drove me to this post.
The first was NY Post writer Mike Puma’s embarrassing attempt at humor with regards to Bartolo Colon’s weight. Here’s a fun fact for you Puma – Colon comes to the Mets as probably the third most accomplished pitcher prior to coming to the Mets in the last 20 years (After Pedro Martinez and Johan Santana). How about you report on that rather than cheap open mic night humor about his weight?
The second was Adam Rubin of ESPN posting his five ways to fix the Mets. I really like Rubin, and to be honest – this “offense” to me is the lesser of the three. But to me, it was a rain out special.
Look, there are a lot of things any team can do to improve the way their fan base views them. We can talk about that later, but the bottom line is – this all could have been a post with one word, “win.”
I think Rubin could have done a much better job here, and gotten more in detail with his views. Instead, I feel like he went the easy way out and appealed to the “little brother” mentality that we are not the Yankees, and we should aim to be just like them.
The third, is likely what drove Rubin to write his piece, but at least he did it with a little more class than Mike Vaccaro of the (you guessed it) NY Post did today.
This letter that the Mets sent out to their fan base, in all honesty – who cares? It’s a little marketing campaign clearly based off the comments that Curtis Granderson made and they are trying to drum up some heat for the Subway Series coming up.
But instead of recognizing it for what it is, we have to invent a story and mock the franchise because the Mets are the only ones out there that try and connect with their fans through e-marketing right?
I wish I could tell you I knew this type of “reporting” was going on with every team, but I am willing to bet it isn’t. It’s as though these reporters are turning covering the Mets into the National Enquirer.
My favorite part in Vaccaro’s piece is this:
“And here’s the best part: Whoever wrote this letter hasn’t a clue about the Mets’ own history. This is how the 1969 and ’86 teams’ successes are described: “a gritty, even stubborn belief in this club against the odds.
Really. 1969? Fine. That qualifies. But ’86? Would you like to know how many teams, in the history of baseball, won more than the 116 games, postseason included, those Mets won? Time’s up: three — the 1906 Cubs, ’98 Yankees and 2001 Mariners. That’s all. That’s it. Those Mets had a vapor-lock grip on the city. Why?
If you’re a Mets fan, you know why. If you’re one of the ham-fisted men who run the Mets? It probably baffles you. Because of course it does.”
Mr. Vaccaro is it POSSIBLE, that perhaps the 1986 Mets were faced with what appeared to be insurmountable odds in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series?
It is POSSIBLE that down 5-3 in the 10th inning, an out away from the season ending, could be viewed as “against the odds”?
Of course it can. But no, instead we’re going to CHOOSE to take that sentence and try and rip the Mets rather than acknowledge the point they were trying to make.
I’m just tired of it – this invented negative news cycle because mocking the team is easier than evaluating and reporting about what is really going on is becoming an annoyance.
You know it’s funny because if you look around the web you’ll notice that the Mets have the most detailed and informative blogosphere out there.
I’m not just talking about MMO, I’m talking all of the incredible sites out there combined as compared to other MLB clubs. The Mets fan site’s are far and away the most in depth, informative and interactive than any other MLB team’s.
I’m starting to understand why that is. It’s likely because the people who are getting paid to cover the team, are appealing to the folks you usually see getting banned from sites like ours for their consistent trolling.
