Oct 27 2009 11:15 AM
 October 27, 2009 Mets Fans Have Choice of Two Evils in World Series By A. G. SULZBERGER In recent years Mets fans could measure baseball seasons by degrees of suffering. Since a called third strike dashed championship hopes in 2006, the team has been defined by fall flameouts, until this year, when there was an early summer flameout. But the misery of this uninspired season has been unexpectedly heightened by the indignity of watching their most despised division rival face off against their despised crosstown rival in the World Series. Chuck Rose, the owner of the Pine Restaurant and Sports Bar near Citi Field, said he was so disheartened that he could not even choose between the Phillies and the Yankees. “I hope it rains for 40 days and 40 nights,” he said, adding that he might dedicate one television in the bar to a replaying of the 1986 World Series, when the Mets last won the championship. Mets fans have approached the looming showdown, which one blogger nicknamed Satan’s Series, in a variety of ways. Some have sworn off baseball until spring training, while others have tried to sort out which team they dislike less. “This, my friends, is Baseball Armageddon,” wrote John Coppinger on his blog, the Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamus, who falls in the boycott category. “There is no happy ending. Satan has been unleashed.” And, he continued, “The next two weeks are going to be the worst two weeks on earth.” The Mets Clubhouse store, where everything from shot glasses to winter jackets carry the team logo, had an air of desolation Monday afternoon as a trickle of frustrated fans wandered in. (Just blocks away, the Yankees Clubhouse was doing brisk business and was decidedly more upbeat.) “I had to come somewhere and commiserate,” said Dave Rakowski, 48, a lawyer in town on business from Allentown, Pa., which he said had an even mix of Yankees and Phillies fans. “I just needed to be around this stuff,” he said against a backdrop of blue and orange. While Mr. Rakowski swore that he would not watch any of the series, other customers tried to explain their calculus for new allegiances. The Yankees, some suggested, at least represent New York (even if they did buy their way into the World Series). The Phillies, others offered, play baseball the right way as part of the National League (even if they have repeatedly assaulted the Mets with phrases like “choke artists”). “I’m going for the Yankees because I can’t stand Philly,” said Anthony Ciarcia, 25, a Mets fan from Pine Bush, N.Y. “It’s not an ideal situation, but that’s what it comes down to.” Said Ravi Ramcharan, 35, from Valley Stream, N.Y.: “I hate the Phillies, but for this series I am rooting against the Yankees hard. I really don’t like the Yankees.” Jason Tejada crossed his index fingers, as if trying to ward off a vampire, when either team was mentioned by name. As a lifelong Mets fan, he has been miserable throughout the playoffs, which he could not escape because the games were always on at the Knollwood Country Club in Westchester County, where he is a bartender. As the Yankees inched toward victory on Sunday night, he left the bar for 20 minutes to avoid witnessing the celebration. “My stomach couldn’t take it,” he said. At a Modell’s Sporting Goods store in Midtown Manhattan, Eli Vargas was at his station within hours of the Yankees’ victory on Sunday, dishing out celebratory caps, shirts and other pinstriped paraphernalia to ravenous crowds. But amid the bustle, looking both ways and hushing his voice before proceeding, he confessed to being a Mets fan. “But it hurts because I imagine what if this is all Mets stuff, how happy I’d be.” As he described growing up in Flushing, Queens, close enough to see Shea Stadium, he said: “I’m having a real tough time right now. They tell me the longer I wait, the sweeter it’s going to be. But I was 3 years old in 1986, so I don’t really remember. I want to know what it feels like to win.” |
Looks like the Sulzbergers get started in the family biz by writing puff pieces. I do like 'Satan's Series' though.
