I say I want to root for the Mets. It feels right. They are from New York and so many of my friends and family root for them. Then I watch them play and part of me, constitutionally, just can’t do it. It’s like kissing your sister. It’s just not natural. And so part of me was rooting for them to fail last night, I’ll admit it. Then, during the last 3 innings of the game I texted with 5 different Met fans and that was the difference–I rooted for the Mets because I was rooting for them, my friends.
And, as I’ve mentioned before, this is a particularly agreeable Mets team.
So, congrats to them and their fans.
[Photo Credit: AP/Lenny Ignelz]
[0] There ya go, Alex. I think you just helped me realize why I root for the Mets when the Yanks are out of it. All my Met fan friends have been so gracious to me for so long, it's the least I can do in return.
In 86 walking through Manhattan after seeing the Mets clinch at a bar was electrifying. Everyone was smiling for the same reason. It was weird because I hated the Mets back then, except that night they beat the Red Sox.
As a family we started out in San Francisco and my Dad who worked for American Air, had met Willie Mays many times. When my sister got sick he got her a ball signed by Mays, McCovey, Jim Ray Hart, Marichal, and the whole crew.
Then we moved to Long Island. Dad worked at JFK and we were a National League family so it was Giants or Mets. We moved to Jersey in 72. I was 7 and a Met fan. Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Felix Milan, Rusty, etc. But I was also reading a lot of baseball books and Dad took us to the original Stadium for an NFL Giants game 71 (maybe their last year there) and a few Yankee games in 72, and the last game at the original stadium (with the posts in the way) in 1973. I straddled the fence from 71-73, but the Yankees history grabbed me and also the AL style of play. I liked he DH rule and thought it was cool that Ron Bloomberg was the first (73). In 1974 I became a Yankee fan for life.
But when the Yankees are out of it, I will pull for the Mets. Sometimes the Giants.
I like my Mets fan friends to keep suffering, I feel no sympathy for any of them. Although, I wanted them to win last night so they can suffer through a loss in the NLCS.
Sadistic? Yes, absolutely.
Even though the Mets and Yankees were both on tv as a kid in the 80's I loved the Yankees. Donnie Baseball, Winfield, and the gang were my heroes even though they were not all that good and the Mets won that 86 series. I am glad I didn't go that route. Go Cubs.
1) Ha.
It's like the old joke between the masochist and the sadist.
Masochist: Beat me, beat me.
Sadist:....No.
[2] I grew up mainly in an area where it was expected to root for a New York team regardless, but I favored the Yanks. The 86 series was unique because they had such a volatile collection of talent and ego (and drugs) that made them really intriguing regardless of their affiliation; I know that team better than I recall the Yankees roster that year. It was frustrating watching the Yanks basically squander so much talent throughout the 80s because of George. Of course the Mets did the same thing after they won, but in more peculiar and spectacular fashion.
But really, I'm with Dim; we're pretty much rooting against the fan base. Players are much more transient these days so unless there happens to be a collection of infected needlepricks gelling in one season *coughcoughcowboyupcough* I don't dislike the team as much as the empty beer bottles rooting for them.