Feb 15 2012 09:50 PM
Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and Greg Prince all mentioned in the same New Yorker article.
February 15, 2012 Laughing at the Mets Posted by Seth Berkman “I don’t think there’s anything more fun than being a Mets fan,” Jerry Seinfeld once said. “The team always has personality.” Seinfeld was not joking, though to say his words currently lack punch would be an understatement. The Mets, who are coming off a 77-85 record and fourth-place finish in the National League East, lost their best player to free agency, cut their payroll by more than $50 million, and have owners hanging onto the team by a thread after suffering devastating financial losses during the Bernie Madoff saga. In the afterglow of the Giants Super Bowl victory, and with Linsanity at its apex, the Mets currently stand somewhere between the Islanders and L.I.U. basketball on the city’s sports totem pole. The Mets have long been a comedic foil, and their fans have always been able to laugh at themselves. In addition to Seinfeld—who, along with “pretty boy” Keith Hernandez, is responsible for the best Mets-related moment in comedy—the team counts Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Kevin James, and Jon Stewart among its fan base. The franchise was terrible right out of the gate, losing a hundred and twenty games during its first season in 1962 and prompting manager Casey Stengel to note that he’d “been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose ’em I never knew existed before.” With the Braves, Phillies, Marlins, and even Nationals fielding better teams in the offseason, the jokes were likely to be plentiful this year. But no one expected the opening salvo to come from Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, a man usually characterized as a no-nonsense numbers cruncher. Yet last Thursday, tweeting for the first time as @MetsGM, he wrote: Getting ready for Spring Training-Driving to FL but haven’t left yet. Big fundraiser tonight for gas money. Also exploring PAC contribution. The potshots continued: Will have to drive carefully on trip; Mets only reimburse for gas at a downhill rate. Will try to coast all the way to FL. Alderson has continued his shtick this week. He mocked his stinginess by joking that he bought his wife an IHOP gift card for Valentine’s Day. And he tweeted: Prepping for trip. Bought 4 like-new tires at chop shop across from Citi. He threw in free wiper fluid. Better than the Wheeler deal! These may not be as good as some of Chris Rock’s jabs, but Alderson has shown a penchant for making light of the team’s dire straits. Just a few weeks into last season, Alderson said that watching the team was “a nightly crucible, really.” A few weeks later, as people gathered in Times Square to welcome the end of the world on May 21st, Alderson joked, “I was thinking, if the world had ended on Saturday the way it was supposed to, we wouldn’t have to deal with these things.” You’d think the Wilpons, who own the Mets, would take issue with such quips, but they obviously have more pressing issues at hand. Mets fans seem to enjoy the banter, perhaps as a distraction from Johan Santana’s balky shoulder or the David Wright trade rumors. Greg Prince of the blog Faith and Fear in Flushing wrote in an e-mail: “If you can’t handle a few self-deprecating laughs, then you should probably find a new baseball team or other diversionary enterprise with which to align your allegiances. Sandy’s gentle gibes show a reassuring self-awareness on the part of the organization’s public face that—like R. A. Dickey—we’ve got a mountain to climb, but we’re gonna climb it with good humor.” Of course, there will be Mets fans bitter from now until September, when rivals like the Yankees and Phillies will likely be in the midst of pennant races. Earlier this month, Brad Pitt was on the “The Daily Show” promoting his movie “Moneyball.” Jon Stewart, never bashful about his Mets fandom, asked him, “Do you think they’ll ever make a movie about a big-market team that has the money to spend, but still sucks? We could call it something fictitious, like, ‘The Mets.’” While there will be plenty of inning-ending double plays and ninth-inning blown saves at Citi Field this season, at least “Jerry from Queens,” the famous late-night caller to the local sports station WFAN, offers some hope. “If the grass is green, the gloves are leather, and the bats are wood, I’m good.” |
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