When it comes to Mets fans, you can basically break them down into three groups. You have the eternal optimists, your garden variety pessimists, and then there are those who just sit and watch and take it all in.
You can always easily identify the latter by looking at their reactions and body language after each win or loss.
To the right is an example of just one of those fans, one that I’m sure you will all remember….
When it comes to losing, or choking, or collapsing, or whatever it is that the Mets consistently put us through, a pessimist will show no shock. He’s the one with the smirk on his face telling all that would listen, “Didn’t I tell you this team was freaking bad?’
The optimist will slightly grimace for just a moment, but immediately shift gears, force a smile and say, “Hey, there’s always next season. Reyes and Wright will be even better, so will Ike and Tejada, plus it’s Beltran’s walk year!”
Truthfully, it’s never as bad or as good as the pessimists and optimists make the situation out to be. But a strong case can be made that the pessimists have been more spot on than the optimists over the last four years.
So let’s break it down…
- 15% Pessimistic Mets Fans
- 70% Typical Mets Fans
- 15% Optimistic Mets Fans
The two extremes represent 30% of our fan base. Everyone else is in that third group I mentioned, the ones who truly feel the pain of what this franchise has put us through in the last half decade.
We are the ones who anguish over every loss and take them all to heart. We are also the ones who rejoice like no other after a dramatic win. We are the “Mets Majority”.
We are objectively steadfast in our loyalty, yet widely ignored by the Mets front office, and frowned upon by pessimists and optimists for being too luke warm.
I’ve been running a Mets blog for over five years now, and I’ve learned that most of the discourse on our comment threads come mostly from the pessimists and optimists. It actually makes for some pretty entertaining reading at times for the “Mets Majority”.
Until this past All Star break, I used to be the eternal optimist when it came to the Mets.
I sucked it all in when Omar Minaya said in November of 2008, that Daniel Murphy would be a great left fielder, and that Mike Pelfrey would be one of the top number two pitchers in the league. Did you go out and buy a Daniel Murphy jersey too?
I got drunk on the Koolaid when we signed Oliver Perez to that three year deal, and I personally championed Minaya’s claims that 2009 was going to be a breakout year for Ollie and that he would be one of the top lefthanded pitchers in the league. I’ve eaten a lot of crow since then, however in my defense I never purchased an Ollie jersey.
When Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya proudly proclaimed, in an October 2009 interview with Mike Francesa, that they were mad as hell, and that they were going to get a number two starter, focus on fundamentals, and replace Delgado’s 30+ homer bat in the lineup, I was literally getting high on their exhaust fumes. Did anyone else project the Mets for 90+ wins this season like I did?
Did anyone else believe that Jerry Manuel deserved a full year at the helm in 2010 because we had to throw away the injury-marred results of 2009, like I did?
You can only take so much…
The Mets broke me. I’m now a full fledged member of the 70% of Mets fans in that middle group. Cut me and I bleed…
I have emptied my pantry of all the Koolaid, and have stocked up on great big jugs full of reality. The great thing about reality is that you don’t have to expend a lot of energy to justify it. It is what it is.
So does this mean I go totally negative from here on out?
Of course not, but in the past when I was so willing to give the Mets every benefit of the doubt, I will instead be more skeptical or require actions and evidence before accepting their claims.
My bond to the Mets is as strong as ever, but my trust in the caretakers of this franchise has been shattered.
To all you eternal optimists still out there, how many more broken promises will it take before you join the Mets Majority?
