One of the things that has long frustrated me regarding the Mets has been their failure to meet my expectations in the last few years.
I go into each season with this heightened sense that somehow “this will be the year” when everything goes right, that we’ll have no significant injuries, and that many of our players will have breakout seasons.
It hasn’t happened of course, and instead we’ve all been subjected to a lot of bad baseball, too many injuries and far too many instances of players failing to rise to the occasion at critical points in a game.
I think that my high expectations have been fueled mostly because of the high payroll.
I expect a team with a top five payroll to make the post season every year, but instead it’s been a series of heartbreaks and embarrassing moments with only an occasional highlight sprinkled in.
This year I’m changing things up. I’m going to simply appreciate and enjoy the Mets for what they are, and not for what their payroll says they are.
I might come out of the 2011 season feeling the same way afterward, I really don’t know, but I’m going to try my level best to just enjoy every game, win or lose.
I want to have fun being a Mets fan again, like I did when I was just a kid and first fell in love with the Mets in 1984.
I really miss those days of rooting for Mookie Wilson and Hubie Brooks (my favorite Met), and crossing my fingers every time Strawberry came up hoping he’d hit a bomb instead of striking out.
Nothing was more thrilling than experiencing the electricity of Dwight Gooden’s rookie season, man I was hooked..
In 1984 we finished in second place, but to me it was a joy-ride of a season filled with so many great and unforgettable memories. That team made me fall in love with the game.
So in 2011, I resolve to step back and channel my inner Mets youth.
The only expectations I will take into the new season will be that I will watch each game with all the enthusiasm of an eight-year old kid.
