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Kids Today

soupcan Jul 23 2007 07:24 AM

I have very succesfully indoctrinated my 10 year old son into Mets fandom. Loves the team nearly as much as his dad. He's away at summer camp right now and each morning I email him the scores and pertinent info from the games the night before. The few letters I've gotten back (he's not allowed to send emails, only receive) he let's me know he appreciates my keeping him up to speed on our Mets. I sent him copies of the All-Star roster with the Mets typed out out in boldface, I sent him a copy of a the picture of his sister at the game, I even sent him a copy of the backpage of the Post when it had a particularly Metsian photo on it. So yadda yadda yadda, this weekend we are up in Maine for visiting day at his camp. I'm there all day walking around with him, doing activities - swimming, baseball, tennis, etc. So I'm walking around the camp and I see this older dude throwing a baseball with, I assume, his grandson. I do a double-take. The old dude is Fred Wilpon. I say to my son 'Hey, hey you know who that is? That's Fred Wilpon!'. My son says 'Oh yeah, I know, that's his grandson, Bradley. Nice kid. His dad Jeff was here yesterday.' WTF?! You think maybe my son might have mentioned that little tidbit in a letter or something? 'Dear Dad, guess what, etc., etc.,...' Maybe his dad might have been the slightest bit interested in that little nugget? Friggin Kids. You think you raise them right.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 07:34 AM

You can afford the same camp as a Wilpon? You just volunteered to pay our 2008 domain fees.

metirish Jul 23 2007 07:37 AM

Great story,see if your kid and get any info from Jeff's kid about trades..

soupcan Jul 23 2007 07:38 AM

As far as summer camps go its pretty much on par with the rest of them. Your average 8 week camp is anywhere from $6,000 - $10,000. This one tops out at $5,450 for 4 weeks and $8,950 for 8 weeks. My boy did 4 weeks this year (he came home with us this weekend).

DocTee Jul 23 2007 07:46 AM

]As far as summer camps go its pretty much on par with the rest of them. Your average 8 week camp is anywhere from $6,000 - $10,000. This one tops out at $5,450 for 4 weeks and $8,950 for 8 weeks. Now I know why my parents never sent me to summer camp.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 07:46 AM

Just bustin'. But what makes it interesting is that, when Wilpon met Doubleday (and wouldn't that make a great movie), they were in the pickup line at the tony school that both their kids attended, back when Fred was merely rich and not megarich like Nelson. So, the sequel should be When Soupy Met Jeff.

sharpie Jul 23 2007 07:48 AM

My daughter last went to an 8-week summer camp about 4 years ago. If I remember correctly it cost us about $4,000. I think she still considers it one of the highlights of her life and she still keeps in touch with some of the kids she knew from there.

soupcan Jul 23 2007 08:38 AM

Edgy DC wrote: So, the sequel should be When Soupy Met Jeff. Yeah, you know I was thinking about chattin' up Fred but then what was I going to say to him? "Um, hi, Fred, I'm a Mets fan" or 'Hey, got any idea of the score of the game today?" By the way, Fred's got a nice looking arm and it looked like he was wearing his own glove. How many 70-somethings do you know have their own glove (and travel with it)? ="sharpie"]My daughter last went to an 8-week summer camp about 4 years ago. If I remember correctly it cost us about $4,000. I think she still considers it one of the highlights of her life and she still keeps in touch with some of the kids she knew from there. I'm a former camper/counselor and I swear by it. If you can swing sleepaway camp for your kids you have to do it. You remember it fondly for your whole life.

Johnny Dickshot Jul 23 2007 08:43 AM

Does Boy Scout camp count?

Benjamin Grimm Jul 23 2007 08:47 AM

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think of sleepaway camp as fertile ground for child molesters.

soupcan Jul 23 2007 08:55 AM

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think of sleepaway camp as fertile ground for child molesters. Just because you are paranoid doesn't necessarily mean its not true. When I was 18 I worked at a camp and one of the counselors was fired for 'inappropriate contact' with a 9 year-old. Why this particular guy was hired in the first place I have no idea - he fit the profile of a pedophile so perfectly that it was absolutely no surprise to anybody when it happened.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 09:28 AM

It's pretty easy. "Hey, Mr. Wilpon, congratulations, your guys are looking good this season." That way, you're a detached but supportive professional citizen of the metropolis that his team proudly represents, and not a scary internet poster whose life hangs on the each decision of Messrs. Minaya and Randloph. You strike up a chat, treat him like a philanthropist whose ownershp has been an act of love for the city that spawned him, ratther than a callous exploitative industrialist. Don't mention 2002, and then next thing you know, you're trading business cards, promising to meet to talk about business synergy, how proud you'd be to sponsor Soup Day at Shea, and you're in like Pete Flynn. "By the way, that Bradly is a terrific kid. My son writes and just tells me, 'Bradley, Bradley, Bradley!'" Have you seen the size of the Mets Board of Directors recently? One more would hardly be noticed.

soupcan Jul 23 2007 09:49 AM

I need you on my speed dial.

attgig Jul 23 2007 09:58 AM

i hope your kid is best friends with Bradley after 4 weeks. get invited to birthday parties at the mets' corporate box. give you time to rub elbows with the wilpons. teach your kid early the art of business schmoozing. it'll get him far in the future. even if it ain't with the mets.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 10:06 AM

If the Sox owner can chat with a fan board, so can the Mets owner.

Centerfield Jul 23 2007 10:09 AM

-It says here in the program that Wilpon will be announcing the new second baseman from the owner's box in the 7th inning stretch. -Who could it be? -I dunno. Says here he went to Syracuse...

duan Jul 23 2007 10:58 AM

soupcan wrote: As far as summer camps go its pretty much on par with the rest of them. Your average 8 week camp is anywhere from $6,000 - $10,000. This one tops out at $5,450 for 4 weeks and $8,950 for 8 weeks. My boy did 4 weeks this year (he came home with us this weekend). FWIW's in Ireland you can a 3 week version for €700 for kids from 10-18; only catch is that your offspring has to caint as gaeilge (talk in Irish). The state's desire to maintain a semblance of understanding of Irish among it's young means they're well subsidised. So, there's an upside for the parents in both fiscal and educational aspects. To make up for having to talk Irish it should be pointed out that if you were from 13-15 it was absolutely the best way to get 'quality time' with chicks on a beach.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 11:06 AM

Conas ta tu, Baby?

duan Jul 23 2007 11:09 AM

Conas atá tú? to be accurate. I also seem to remember something called a 'summer' happening in those days. Not this "rained every day since the start of june" nonsense that we've got goin' on now.

iramets Jul 23 2007 11:13 AM

In my neighborhood in Brooklyn growing up, "to talk Irish" was a euphemism for 'to lie"--not that we were bigoted, ethnocentric racist mooks or anything.

duan Jul 23 2007 11:13 AM

crazy, totally off topic fact that i just found out, on the met office's website. We've as much rain in June & July then in January, February, March, April & May put together.

Edgy DC Jul 23 2007 11:39 AM

duan wrote: Conas atá tú? to be accurate. I also seem to remember something called a 'summer' happening in those days. Not this "rained every day since the start of june" nonsense that we've got goin' on now. Wow, my second caught typo in two posts, in three languages. Maybe I should just get this English thing figured out.

metsguyinmichigan Jul 23 2007 11:50 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jul 23 2007 11:53 AM

I ran into both Doubleday and Wilpon at a spring training game in Vero Beach in 1997. It was a prety wild day overall. When you buy a single ticket, you can sometimes get a really good seat, and I was about two rows behind the Mets dugout, which at Vero is two benches and a short chain link fence. I learned a lot. Ordonez was far more intersted in a young Latina in the second row than the game, constantly looking back and trying to talk to her -- and she wanted no part of him. But I noticed Wilpon sitting a couple rows over, and Doubleday not far away (but not together) Both of them nicely signed my Mets history book, and were polite enough.

metirish Jul 23 2007 11:50 AM

duan wrote: Conas atá tú? to be accurate. I also seem to remember something called a 'summer' happening in those days. Not this "rained every day since the start of june" nonsense that we've got goin' on now. No matter who I call at home it's the same thing,it's been raining since the start of June,a fella on Newstalk 106 the other day was complaining that he bought a BBQ Grill in April but hasn't taken it out of the box yet. I never knew anyone that had a BBQ growing up.

Willets Point Jul 23 2007 11:56 AM

These two quotes are in sequence in this thread and are particularly funny if you read Edgy's comment as an answer to Soupy's question. Soupcan wrote: Why this particular guy was hired in the first place I have no idea - he fit the profile of a pedophile so perfectly that it was absolutely no surprise to anybody when it happened. ="Edgy DC"]It's pretty easy. "Hey, Mr. Wilpon, congratulations, your guys are looking good this season."

Benjamin Grimm Jul 23 2007 12:07 PM

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Ordonez was far more intersted in a young Latina in the second row than the game, constantly looking back and trying to talk to her -- and she wanted no part of him. So Rey would even strike out from the dugout, huh?