Master Index of Archived Threads


Why We Love the Mets

cooby Jan 31 2017 05:20 PM

Because my Dad did.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 31 2017 05:28 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

I got it from my grandfather.

TheOldMole Jan 31 2017 06:21 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Brooklyn Dodger fan, lost until the Mets arrived. I was living in the midwest at the time (Iowa City), but immediately loved the Mets.

cooby Jan 31 2017 06:21 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Old Mole is back :D

TheOldMole Jan 31 2017 06:22 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

You brought me back.

Centerfield Jan 31 2017 06:36 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Son of a Yankee fan. Although I make fun of them a lot here, I don't really hate the Yankees (some of their fans are another story). I remember my dad buying me a Dave Winfield shirt when I was 6. During the early '80's I wondered why the Mets were so bad, and I felt bad that they were always the butt of jokes. I remember watching the Jeffersons and hearing George make a crack about them. Then, in second grade, a couple of guys in my class were talking about how the Mets were on the verge of being good. I didn't think that was possible. I had been told my whole life that the Mets were terrible. So I started reading about them out of curiosity. They had a player named Mookie, which I thought was cool, and some new guy named Strawberry. When Dwight Gooden arrived, I was hooked for life. 1985 was the first time I watched baseball avidly. To this day I have not seen a better pitcher.

themetfairy Jan 31 2017 06:39 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

My grandfather and mother were avid Brooklyn Dodgers fans who became Mets fans, and I became a Mets fan because of them.

86-Dreamer Jan 31 2017 06:41 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

born in Brooklyn. Dad, Maternal Grandmother & Maternal Grandfather were all big Dodger turned Mets fans. Dad would have tolerated some dissent but Grandma would never allow it.

Vic Sage Jan 31 2017 07:03 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Brooklyn-born, the child of 2 Dodger fans who adopted Mets. My fandom was amped up by my brother, who perversely chose the Yankmees.

cooby Jan 31 2017 07:08 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

TheOldMole wrote: You brought me back. :)

d'Kong76 Jan 31 2017 07:14 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Because Trump's a Yankee fan! I vaguely remember a few things from '69, I was only seven. The 1973 Mets sucked me in and I've been all-in since. ­­­­­¡Ya gotta believe!

Edgy MD Jan 31 2017 07:46 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

The 1973 World Series (particularly the Rusty Staub injury) whet my appetite, but the operatic tragedy of 1977 hooked me for life. One of the ballgirls went to school with me my freshman year. She was, of course, unapproachable. One day, having to eat and skedaddle to her evening job, she showed up at the cafeteria in her uniform. I was unable to breathe. I knew then the madness was incurable.

Fman99 Jan 31 2017 08:31 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

My dad grew up in Flushing but in the 1950s, as a MFY fan, though I know he attended a lot of games at Shea in the mid 1960's because it was so close to my grandparents' home on 141st and 70th Ave. He really changed allegiances for good when the Steinbrenner era kicked in. So when he wanted to see live baseball, he would take us on family trips to Shea and they were combined with visits to my grandparents' house. So I've been going to Mets games since 1976, when I was 3.

bmfc1 Jan 31 2017 08:55 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Because I hate myself.

G-Fafif Jan 31 2017 09:03 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

1969 for the beginning, intransigent loyalty/force of habit ever since.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 31 2017 09:04 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

no choice but to

Chad Ochoseis Jan 31 2017 09:05 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

My dad was a Yankee fan and my maternal grandfather was a Giants fan turned Mets fan. Until I was about 13, my Met allegiance waxed and waned depending on how well I was getting along with my dad at the time. And in the early 1970s, it was OK to root for both. Roy White, Bobby Murcer, and Mel Stottlemyre? Cool. Wayne Garrett, Cleon Jones, and Tom Seaver? Also cool. But my heart was always with the Mets. My dad drove to Yankee Stadium and left in the bottom of the 7th to beat the traffic home. My grandfather took the 7 to Shea and stayed until the last out. And Yankee imagery, to my seven-year-old self, was dull, stodgy, hidebound. The Mets had Mr. Met in the stands and Bob, Lindsey, and Ralph calling the games. Rooting for the Yankees was great when they were good and utterly joyless when they weren't. The Mets were about fun. And it's a fucking game. Even when I was a kid, I had enough sense to know that the point was to have fun, win or lose. Anyway, Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in the early seventies, and the Reggie-Billy-George soap opera and my growing political awareness and deepening love of the underdog (and equally deepening hatred of the DH) brought me back for good to the side of dignity, light, and truth.

Edgy MD Jan 31 2017 09:12 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Chad Ochoseis wrote: And Yankee imagery, to my seven-year-old self, was dull, stodgy, hidebound. This was a big difference to me. The seventies may not have been much of a Mets decade, but the seventies—at least a childhood in the seventies—was the colors and tones and and zip of the Mets.

G-Fafif Jan 31 2017 09:14 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Chad Ochoseis wrote: And in the early 1970s, it was OK to root for both. As blasphemous as this sounds today, it rings true. It was never something I could abide (by 1970, at age seven, I just hated the idea that there was another New York team getting any attention), but I remember "I like both teams" being not altogether uncommon among my elementary school peers. At QBC this past weekend, one of those who appeared on a panel I moderated self-identified as a Met/MFY fan way back, though he eventually drifted to the dark side. By junior high and the onset of Full Steinbrenner, there was no common ground to be had. Fuck them, fuck all of them. Yet I never felt any true enmity for your Stottlemyres and Whites.

cooby Jan 31 2017 09:17 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

1973 was my first full year too. I felt I was their lucky charm :D And I may have mentioned here once or twice, I was in love with their batboy, Greg Cox. Disappointed that he was gone in 1974 though

themetfairy Jan 31 2017 09:18 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

G-Fafif wrote: Chad Ochoseis wrote: And in the early 1970s, it was OK to root for both. As blasphemous as this sounds today, it rings true. It was never something I could abide (by 1970, at age seven, I just hated the idea that there was another New York team getting any attention), but I remember "I like both teams" being not altogether uncommon among my elementary school peers. At QBC this past weekend, one of those who appeared on a panel I moderated self-identified as a Met/MFY fan way back, though he eventually drifted to the dark side. By junior high and the onset of Full Steinbrenner, there was no common ground to be had. Fuck them, fuck all of them. Yet I never felt any true enmity for your Stottlemyres and Whites. I actually have a very good friend who is primarily a Yankees fan but she maintains that she roots for both teams because that's how her father brought her up. I don't get it, but I will say wholeheartedly that she's one of the few MFY fans I know who isn't an asshole about the Mets.

batmagadanleadoff Jan 31 2017 09:30 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 31 2017 10:07 PM

I'm the ultimate bandwagon jumper on. I became a Mets fan the day after they won the 1969 World Series. A day or two before that, I had no idea what baseball even was.

Ashie62 Jan 31 2017 09:43 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Tom Seaver and the bevy of MFY fans about me.

Ceetar Jan 31 2017 09:44 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

why not?

dinosaur jesus Jan 31 2017 09:54 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Another '69 bandwagoner. I'm pretty sure, anyway. I have no memory of that season at all, but I know I was on board in 1970. I remember my father pointing to a story in the paper, with mug shots of a couple of Pirates (ugly bastards), and asking me if I was worried about the Pirates catching the Mets. I said "Nah."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jan 31 2017 10:09 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

I can't remember a time when I wasn't a fan, owing to older brother some and dad who were fans. The 1973 WS was the first "event" for me. Really got into it with pack-a-day baseball card habit in that 74-79 area

MFS62 Jan 31 2017 11:26 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

TheOldMole wrote: Brooklyn Dodger fan, lost until the Mets arrived. I was living in the midwest at the time (Iowa City), but immediately loved the Mets. Same here. And I couldn't bring myself to root for the MFYs. I tried to root for the Pirates and Reds, because there were rumors that they might move to New York. But it wasn't the same. And suddenly, there were the Mets. And the sun was shining. Later

TheOldMole Jan 31 2017 11:33 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Mole's rules of New York fandom. You can root for the Giants and the Jets. Joe Namath made it OK. You can root for the Rangers and the Islanders, but you'd probably better not admit it. (Who are the Devils?) You can root for the Knicks and the Nets, I suppose, but who would want to? You can not, ever, root for the Mets and the Yankees. Ever.

Rockin' Doc Feb 01 2017 03:07 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

My father made a career out of the Air Force and met my mother while stationed at Suffolk County AFB. I was born in Southampton and eventually raised all over the world. Moving so much as a child, I always considered Long Island (Suffolk County) to be home, since I had been born there. As a kid, I was constantly playing or watching sports. I guess it was natural that I would become a fan of the teams from the area I considered home. I have no recollection as to how I chose the "National" teams (Mets and Giants) as my favorites. I am just glad that I didn't choose to follow the "American" teams. I could handle being a Jets fan and I have nothing against them, but if had chosen to be a Yankees fan I feel certain I would surely loathe myself. Growing up, I don't recall ever having a single friend that was a Mets fan. I guess that is why I have liked hanging out here all these years.

Edgy MD Feb 01 2017 03:09 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

I figured it wasn't the canapés.

Fman99 Feb 01 2017 03:13 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Rockin' Doc wrote: Growing up, I don't recall ever having a single friend that was a Mets fan. I guess that is why I have liked hanging out here all these years. This was me, also.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 01 2017 04:06 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

I was a kid in Manhattan in 1984. Some of the Yankees were cool-- I liked Rickey, and Mattingly-- but they were business-pinstripes and office haircuts; they were the team my friends' kinda-jerky dads rooted for. Gooden was literally larger than life (I passed by the Port Authority Nike mural whenever my Mom and I grabbed dinner in Hell's Kitchen, or went to visit cousins in NJ), and the Mets were blue and orange on green fireworks.

Zvon Feb 01 2017 04:56 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I'm the ultimate bandwagon jumper on. I became a Mets fan the day after they won the 1969 World Series. A day or two before that, I had no idea what baseball even was. dinosaur jesus wrote: Another '69 bandwagoner. I'm pretty sure, anyway. I have no memory of that season at all, but I know I was on board in 1970. I remember my father pointing to a story in the paper, with mug shots of a couple of Pirates (ugly bastards), and asking me if I was worried about the Pirates catching the Mets. I said "Nah." Don't think of yourself as bandwagonjumpers. Like me, you are children of '69. If you were bandwagon'rs you'd have jumped off at some point. Even when I "turned my back" on the team in '77 I stayed on board, although from a distance. The bandwagon "type" could never stick with this team from 1970 til now. It wasn't just 1969 that grabbed me. The whole Cinderella story with the teams history was also a big part of it. You just wanted to give the Mets a great big hug. I did that in 1970 and haven't stopped. I do believe that my '73 NLCS experience (gms 3,4,5) really provided the glue that made me stick to this team forevermore. A Metsfanfriend read the game three story on the cardblogthing and sent me some photos that I had never seen before. This was when play was stopped to remove the Reds players families from the make-shift box section along third. That was so bizarre. And I do believe that's me.

cooby Feb 01 2017 03:39 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Fman99 wrote: Rockin' Doc wrote: Growing up, I don't recall ever having a single friend that was a Mets fan. I guess that is why I have liked hanging out here all these years. This was me, also. And me, except my dad and his friend Judy

cooby Feb 01 2017 03:42 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Avon great picture! I don't remember that though I watched those games two feet from the TV set. Why did they move them? Safety? You had a good seat :). Must have paid $$$$ for it lol

MFS62 Feb 01 2017 03:45 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Edgy MD wrote: I figured it wasn't the canapés. But the mead in the CPF Song Parody loser's lounge makes being a Mets fan worthwhile. And we have Ben to thank for it. Later

batmagadanleadoff Feb 01 2017 06:13 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Zvon wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I'm the ultimate bandwagon jumper on. I became a Mets fan the day after they won the 1969 World Series. A day or two before that, I had no idea what baseball even was. dinosaur jesus wrote: Another '69 bandwagoner. I'm pretty sure, anyway. I have no memory of that season at all, but I know I was on board in 1970. I remember my father pointing to a story in the paper, with mug shots of a couple of Pirates (ugly bastards), and asking me if I was worried about the Pirates catching the Mets. I said "Nah." Don't think of yourself as bandwagonjumpers. Like me, you are children of '69. If you were bandwagon'rs you'd have jumped off at some point. Even when I "turned my back" on the team in '77 I stayed on board, although from a distance. The bandwagon "type" could never stick with this team from 1970 til now. It wasn't just 1969 that grabbed me. The whole Cinderella story with the teams history was also a big part of it. You just wanted to give the Mets a great big hug. I did that in 1970 and haven't stopped. I do believe that my '73 NLCS experience (gms 3,4,5) really provided the glue that made me stick to this team forevermore. A Metsfanfriend read the game three story on the cardblogthing and sent me some photos that I had never seen before. This was when play was stopped to remove the Reds players families from the make-shift box section along third. That was so bizarre. And I do believe that's me. Neat pic! Did you go to the game with Gene Shalit?

dinosaur jesus Feb 01 2017 06:31 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Zvon wrote: Don't think of yourself as bandwagonjumpers. Like me, you are children of '69. If you were bandwagon'rs you'd have jumped off at some point. Even when I "turned my back" on the team in '77 I stayed on board, although from a distance. The bandwagon "type" could never stick with this team from 1970 til now. Oh, I know that, Z. And when you're a kid, and it's the first team you ever rooted for, that isn't really jumping on the bandwagon. The other factor is that where I grew up, in central PA, the Mets were simply on TV more than any other team. We got WOR on cable; we also got WPIX, but they didn't show as many Yankee games, besides which they had ugly uniforms and weren't any good. And the stations that carried the Pirates and Phillies usually chose to show Dialing for Dollars or some shit instead.

d'Kong76 Feb 01 2017 06:44 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

The real bandwagoners for me (and my age) are the ones who jumped ship in high school for Mr. October and Billy Martin's run. I remember a lot of friends wandering the halls with sprained-ankle limps they got jumping ship so abruptly. Of course, the other group (and it's a gigantic group) are the 'big baseball fans' sect that bought Yankee hats around 1997 and rode that wagon for seemingly like a freakin' decade.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 01 2017 06:51 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

When I was a kid, early 1970s, Smithtown, Long Island, just about every kid was a Mets fan, and a Tom Seaver baseball card was the Holy Grail. There were a couple of Yankees fans, but they were so rare they were looked upon as anomalies, like Protestants. (Almost everyone was either Catholic or Jewish. I remember being really surprised to learn that the majority of the country was Protestant.)

Lefty Specialist Feb 01 2017 06:53 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

My uncle took me to my first Mets game when I was little. I asked him why there were police on the field; they were the umpires. A bright sunny day that lives on in memory. Everything was fresh and clean and exciting, and there was more grass than I'd ever seen in my entire life. That was 1968, and I was hooked. The next year they won it all, and being seven, just assumed it would continue forever. Foolish boy I was. Hung in through the late 70's/early 80's where they would rope off the upper deck because there were no paying customers. Celebrated 1986 with my girlfriend (now my wife). Survived bleach and cherrybombs in the early 90's. Took my son to Opening Day 1996 as a 7-month old, and he grew to worship Mike Piazza as only little kids can do. Made it through 2003, barely. Died as Beltran left the bat on his shoulder. Skyped with my son at college as we watched the Mets sweep the Cubs together, 200 miles apart. And right now desperately pine for any scrap of baseball news as pitchers and catchers draw closer, but not close enough. It's easy being a Yankee fan. Takes more work to be a Met fan. You've got to really want it, because about once a decade they squeeze your testicles in a drill press. But when it's good, it's really really good. Two of the best memories ever, the Grand Slam Single and Endy's catch, were in series that they ultimately lost. That's something Yankee fans can never, ever relate to.

batmagadanleadoff Feb 01 2017 06:53 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

d'Kong76 wrote: The real bandwagoners for me (and my age) are the ones who jumped ship in high school for Mr. October and Billy Martin's run. I remember a lot of friends wandering the halls with sprained-ankle limps they got jumping ship so abruptly. Of course, the other group (and it's a gigantic group) are the 'big baseball fans' sect that bought Yankee hats around 1997 and rode that wagon for seemingly like a freakin' decade. I have a friend like that. A Mets fan his whole life and then he went MFY around '96. The really disturbing thing about him is that he now denies that he was ever a Mets fan.

Benjamin Grimm Feb 01 2017 06:58 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

You should see if Bruce Boisclair still has any of the fan letters that your friend mailed to him in the late 70s. That will provide undeniable proof!

Frayed Knot Feb 01 2017 07:08 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I have a friend like that. A Mets fan his whole life and then he went MFY around '96. The really disturbing thing about him is that he now denies that he was ever a Mets fan. Very few things in my baseball fandom disturbed me as much as Met fans who decided that it was OK to root for those mid-'90s MFYs, that the fact they had 'Doc & Darryl' made them good guys and that most of the rest of the cast were unobjectionable too, and finally that Steinbrenner had now mellowed to the point of practically being a turtleneck and windbreaker clad Care-Bear. If I actually believed in things like jinxes and karma I'd place all the blame for the decade-plus of MFY success on those supposed NYM-fans.

d'Kong76 Feb 01 2017 07:14 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

One of my bestest friends is one of those cork smokers. He rationalized it that he was tired of not rooting for the Yanks because his father brain- washed him (he was a Tiger fan from Michigan) and he was rooting for the Yanks as some kind of son against father rebellion thing. I still bust his balls about it, some things just stick in my craw.

Edgy MD Feb 01 2017 07:29 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Mets poet Frank Messina wrote a brilliant verse story of finding a ticket stub that's at least a decade old while sifting through a drawer. It draws him back to memories of the friend, Tommy, he had gone to that game with. So he calls Tommy and invites him to join him at that night's game. His friend is all, "Sure!" until he lets Frank know that there must be some kind of mistake, that the Yanks are in Boston. And Frank suddenly realizes that somewhere between marriages, Tommy has not only switched allegiances, but now denies that his Mets fandom ever existed, a fandom that stretches back to early childhood and was part of the glue of their long friendship together. Frank ends up yelling and ranting at Tommy, reciting every piece of Mets clothing the guy wore to school events 30 years prior, Mets fantasies they shared, games they had been to, before cursing his faithless friend out and slamming down the phone. The poem ends: [list:lwohuncz]Well, what can you do? Not everyone can be as normal as me[/list:u:lwohuncz]

Ceetar Feb 01 2017 07:29 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

MFS62 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I figured it wasn't the canapés. But the mead in the CPF Song Parody loser's lounge makes being a Mets fan worthwhile. And we have Ben to thank for it. Later speaking of which.. when do we get to leave? They told me we can leave when the winner is announced..

Zvon Feb 02 2017 12:47 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

Avon great picture! I don't remember that though I watched those games two feet from the TV set. Why did they move them? Safety? You had a good seat :). Must have paid $$$$ for it lol They moved them for their safety. At the time I thought it was an overreaction but looking back that was a very wise thing they did. I had Mezz box, front row, right above left (sneaked down to where I am in that pic in game 5). Got all three tickets as a block (slept over at Shea to be in front of the line) and IIRC they were app. $7.50 each. So less than twenty-five bucks for all three tickets. Benjamin Grimm wrote: When I was a kid, early 1970s, Smithtown, Long Island, just about every kid was a Mets fan, and a Tom Seaver baseball card was the Holy Grail. There were a couple of Yankees fans, but they were so rare they were looked upon as anomalies, like Protestants. (Almost everyone was either Catholic or Jewish. I remember being really surprised to learn that the majority of the country was Protestant.) I lived in Smithtown from 1964 to 68. 32 Carnegie Drive, right off 25a. Dogwood Elementary. And yes, my first exposure to the Mets was from friends there and I went to my first Mets game during that time, '68 IIRC. I guess you could say I was a peripheral fan of the game until 1970 when I became a serious fan of the game.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 02 2017 12:58 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

d'Kong76 wrote: The real bandwagoners for me (and my age) are the ones who jumped ship in high school for Mr. October and Billy Martin's run. I remember a lot of friends wandering the halls with sprained-ankle limps they got jumping ship so abruptly. Of course, the other group (and it's a gigantic group) are the 'big baseball fans' sect that bought Yankee hats around 1997 and rode that wagon for seemingly like a freakin' decade. I have to admit... it was, like, 8 or 9 years after the fact, but I was fascinated. Between the crazy-drunk manager and Reggie vs. RedAsses infighting, the Bronx Zoo MFYs were pretty compelling to a burgeoning baseball-history buff. And-- maybe it was a function of being away from home at college and the fact that it was the fuggin' Braves-- I kinda didn't wish the MFYs ill in that first Series, either. My compass set itself right, though, about half an hour after Boggs-on-the-horse, as the MFY fan on my hall started taunting other baseball fans in mid-celebration. Like, he did an in-your-face victory lap less than an hour after his team won for the first time in a decade and a half.

MFS62 Feb 02 2017 01:31 AM Re: Why We Love the Mets

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: the MFY fan on my hall started taunting other baseball fans in mid-celebration. Like, he did an in-your-face victory lap less than an hour after his team won for the first time in a decade and a half. There's a story about a Texas judge who issued an acquittal in a murder case because the victim "just needed killin' ". That may be the case here. Later

cooby Feb 02 2017 07:22 PM Re: Why We Love the Mets

I love how Zvon got the whole way down to the field from the mezzanine lol