I have a confession to make.
I didn’t vote for David Wright as the Face of MLB.
There.
I said it. Wow, that feels good to get off my chest.
I will be honest, when I first caught light of this “contest” it was when one of our own writers Tom Watson, posted his displeasure with the effort the Mets PR team was putting forth in support of Wright.
Now to me, I totally disagreed with Watson, because it’s just a silly little contest and I think putting that much stock into some intern who probably is getting paid in college credits to post on twitter is a little over the top for me.
But, I did get Watson’s view. He’s frustrated with his team, and when you see the pomp & circumstance over something so insignificant, you wonder where the effort is in things that matter, like I don’t know, the roster?
So, when Wright was up against Kershaw, I didn’t think much of it to be honest. Again, a silly little Twitter contest to me.
But, I began to notice my twitter feed was blowing up with support for Wright. Wright needed a comeback, perhaps even a CLUTCH performance by Mets fans to come from behind and defeat Clayton Kershaw. The fans came through.
Then, when Wright was up against King Felix, I thought – “well the fan base will probably be too (internet) exhausted to get him through to the finals.”
But, they weren’t.
Then it was Wright versus Eric Sogard in the finals – which at this point, anybody who thinks this contest isn’t about how much time a team’s fan base spends on Twitter is confirmed. Still, that’s okay. The point of the contest is really to measure which team’s fan base is the most active and supportive on Twitter.
The idea that Eric Sogard could be the “Face” of Major League Baseball is laughable.
So, the contest while probably labeled wrong, does still mean something.
The media shouldn’t take note of the results, Terry Collins shouldn’t take note of the results, and David Wright shouldn’t really take note of the results, except to thank his fans.
But the Wilpon’s should take note.
What this contest means is that this fan base is still very much alive, and eager to have something to cheer for. It means that in spite of the last few years, the fan base in many ways is ready to believe again.
The Wilpon’s need to take note of this contest, and understand that while Mets fans do love their team unconditionally, people who are still in love, still get divorced.
So if you voted, and if you voted often – kudos to you for stepping up and showing the baseball world that in spite of recent events, you still support your favorite team, and through that support you have expressed high expectations for the team, in the very near future.
