Someone asked me why I’m constantly tweeting about rock bands and music lately and not so much about the Mets. It’s a fair question. All my life, whenever I’m feeling things very intensely – happy things or sad things – I’ve turned to music to help me get through those times.
There are certain bands or songs that can provide me with an emotional rescue whenever I need it. It’s like turning to a best friend for comfort or support or just for some fucking grounding.
Some people turn to a bottle or even drugs, but for me it’s always been the haunting voices of Robert Plant and Chris Cornell, or the melodic riffs of David Gilmour and Eric Clapton, or sometimes I just want to scream like Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey and Curt Cobain. Lately I’m doing a lot of screaming…
This whole Coronavirus thing has got me feeling at an all-time low. I can’t ignore it or put it out of my mind because it’s always staring me in the fucking face. I have family members missing in Italy that haven’t been heard from in nearly a month. There are refrigerated trucks outside our hospital storing the rising number of those who succumbed to the disease. Last night, one of my writers lost his grandfather to the virus. The enormity of what’s happening all around us can crush a man’s soul. Its suffocating.
I worry a lot about the kids in my family and try to encourage them and give them hope. I have a dozen or more young writers and I worry for them too because to me they are also family. We have a group chat and I’m inspired at how they pull together and navigate their way through these difficult times.
They may be young but they are so much smarter and stronger than the ones from my generation and I’m so glad that the future belongs to them. I know they’ll do a far better job than we ever could. My generation has made a real mess of things.
For almost 16 years, I’ve written about the Mets nearly every single day and not once have I ever run out of things to say. Whether you agreed or disagreed with me I always strived to speak from the heart and often with brutal honesty – much to the dismay of some of you.
Lately however, despite now having all the time in the world, I find it so difficult to write about the Mets. I open up my laptop, log into our dashboard, press new post, and then stare at a blank space. There are no words, no thoughts, no ideas. Just a whole lot of nothing… of emptiness… The silence is deafening.
I was never really keen on Twitter and social media. To me it was just a tool I used to promote the site and do contests and giveaways. But lately, Twitter has become my addiction and my drug of choice. It’s my heroin.
People are not built for quarantines and social distancing. We have a vital need for togetherness and belonging. We need to be heard and we love to listen. We desperately need to touch. This fucking virus has robbed us of that.
So I find myself fighting the solitude by connecting and interacting with people on Twitter. Its become part of my life-support system while I avoid everything I took for granted when everything used to be normal. I hope to God that when this plague passes, that everything goes back to normal – not a new normal but the same old normal I always loved.
How can I write about the Mets when I’m literally surrounded by death all around me?
It’s not easy, but that’s where music and social media comes into play. That’s where I draw all my inspiration these days. It helps me get through those particularly bad days… you know the ones. That’s how I fill that blank space.
The New York Mets may not always be in the forefront of my writing during this pandemic, but I promise you they are always part of the backdrop.
I want to thank all of you for your tremendous support over the years. It means so much to me and I’m forever grateful. You guys are like a warm blanket on a cold day.
I also want to give a big “emoji” hug to all our writers and contributors. I love you guys. You are the lifeblood of this site and I’m so proud of all of you.
I’ll leave you all with this… The sun always rises. I hope you all have an emotional rescue and that you stay safe while we weather this storm. And believe me, we will weather this storm because there’s no denying and no limit to the human spirit. God bless you all.
https://youtu.be/omplf_lOIK8
