The Mets have ended this past week taking 2 out of 3 from the World Champion New York Yankees to sweeping the National League Champions, the Philadelphia Phillies, impressively shutting them out in all 3 games.
To call 2010 a rollercoaster year for the Mets is more than an understatement. To go from worst to first, back to worst and once again to being in contention in a few weeks is borderline manic, and we all admittedly love every moment of it.
The exception being that once again the Mets went on the road this weekend and lost 2 out of 3 games against the Milwaukee Brewers. I think some might call the Mets, Major League Baseballs’ bi-polar boys of summer.
It’s a delicate balancing act keeping our cynicism from overtaking our optimism. It’s no easy task with the 2010 New York Mets. As a writer on MMO I try with due diligence to be a voice that offers an unfiltered and honest view of the New York Mets.
As I’ve aged I’ve taken on a deep disdain for spin, spin in all aspects of life. As a fan it isn’t easy to point out our teams’ faults. As a writer trying to be unbiased it becomes much easier, at least for me. It’s a welcome refuge; but sometimes that refuge can get a little too comfortable.
“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh… people will come Ray. People will most definitely come. “ James Earl Jones – Field of Dreams
Amazing isn’t it? So much of what we all feel emotionally about this game and the Mets, is distilled in that quote from the memorable movie, Field of Dreams. It makes you forget the soap opera of New York sports and all of its trappings.
I had to watch it the other day, just to purge myself of the cynicism that occasionally takes up residence in my head. I had to adjust my mind’s pendulum. So much of the joy all of us experience watching the Mets play comes from our love that was formed in our childhood. We had no worries no responsibilities. It was just a game.
Today is Memorial Day and we commemorate those who have died while serving in the military. Today should also be a day to renew ourselves; to swing that pendulum back to the positive.
For me, the love of the Mets was instilled by my father and grandfather. Both of who served in the Army. Grandad served in World War II and dad served right before Vietnam. They taught me the love of the Mets.
None of us want to come across as mind numb lemmings but, and here’s the linchpin, fan is technically short for fanatic. So that said, those of us writers on here are really fans first.
We shared the same unbridled joy as you when Mookie’s grounder went under Buckner’s glove and the same dread when we closed beloved Shea to the second consecutive season ending disaster that was ’08. You can never purge the fan out of me. I can’t either and I don’t think I’d ever want to.
Thinking of dad and grandad and what today means, brings me hope.
God bless America and to all those who have served and have given their lives so we may all be fanatics of the New York Mets.
