There have been a ton of articles in the New York newspapers the last few days about the Mets' stunning collapse over the past three weeks. Many of them are justified, as the Mets really have no one to blame but themselves for what happened. But I read an article this morning in the Daily News that was to say the least outrageous, and garnered a response from me.
It's about a copy editor/writer for the Daily News named Adam Sommers, who claims to be a lifelong Mets fan, who now says because of what happened, will now abandon the Mets for, you guessed it, the crosstown Yankees.
Talk about a turncoat. Talk about a front-runner. Talk about the worst kind of baseball fan.
Read this article, even if you aren't a Mets fan.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2007/10/02/2007-10-02_heres_one_fan_ready_to_just_shea_goodbye.html
If you are a Mets fan right now, the best thing to do is to get away from baseball right now. (Or do what my dad, a dedicated Mets fan since 1962 always says, root for "anybody but the Yankees.") You have to let the dust settle on this disaster before doing anything rash. I know legions of Mets fans right now, dedicated fans of the team who are simply devastated and trying to come to grips with what happened. But the best of those fans I know all have one thing in common.
They will be back with the Mets when the players begin reporting for spring training at Port St. Lucie in February.
Except for this idiot Summers. When the Red Sox lost in heartbreaking fashion in years like 1978, 1986 and 2003, I didn't know a single Sox fan who said, "I'm through with the Red Sox. I'm going to root for someone else." Most couldn't wait for what the Sox were going to do to bounce back from the loss, and were back with bells on the next spring. Of course, there are those fans whose knee-jerk reaction was to not let this happen again by not rooting for them. But as time goes along, they knew they were with the team, win or lose, and no matter how painful the loss. Being a Red Sox fan gets into your blood. You can't get a "transfusion" and get rid of it.
(When the Red Sox lost Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS to New York, I had a long subway ride home that night. I was totally devastated, and I asked myself if I still wanted to support the Red Sox. Even before I got home, the answer could only be a resounding yes. I simply could never abandon them, no matter what happened. Sommers could take a lesson from Red Sox fans.)
This Sommers guy is clearly a front-runner. Now he wants to jump over to the Yankees, who he calls "winners." He talks up the Evil Empire, "They have character and class, not to mention 26 championships!" Boy, some Mets fan this guy was. I'm not saying that being a Mets fan means automatically hating the Yankees, but anyone who would abandon a club for their direct rival doesn't impress me as being a passionate fan of the team he's abandoning. (And I don't know any Yankee fans who gave up on the Yankees after their historic fold against the Red Sox in 2004. And I bet no Yankee fan became a member of Red Sox Nation because of it.)
New York has a lot of fans like Sommers, those who will root for one New York team or another depending on which team is currently on top as far as the city goes. (Spike Lee comes to mind.) That is why those polls about which team has more support are just worthless, because if you took one today, the Yankees would win overwhelmingly.
Sommers talks about his conversion will be "painful" because he's "hated the Yankees a long time." This makes this jackass' conversion that much more idiotic. And it makes him look even more like a wimpy front-runner. He sums it up by saying, "I want to be with the winners for a change." I would bet as a Mets fan he was probably ripping the Yankees excess, and their obnoxious boasts about their championships.
Hey pal, you do know that the Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000, and pulled off the greatest postseason choke in baseball history three years ago, right? I bet this guy was one who supposedly got great joy out of watching their collapse in 2004. But now he's talking them up in this column like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread. Truly pathetic.
So, Sommers, if the Yankees go belly up in this postseason again, what's next, a conversion over to Red Sox Nation?
Stay with "the winners" as we wouldn't want assholes like you.
So once again, Mets fans, let the all this sink in. Turn your attention elsewhere for awhile. Then early next year, get back with the team as they start a new season. They'll be back.
As for Sommers, good riddance. You're the worst type of baseball fan. (He also better be prepared for a mountain of hate mail from Mets fans, as he left an email address at the end of his column.) Go root for the Evil Empire. They deserve turncoat, hypocrite, fair-weather fans like you.
P.S. The News also took a poll on their web site, asking if this was the worst moment in Mets history. So far, 86% said it was. I say it isn't, and I can think of two worse moments that had long-ranging consequences for the team. The two are: the death of Gil Hodges in 1972, and the trade of Tom Seaver in 1977. Both hurt the franchise in many ways for years after. We'll see if this collapse has any after effects in the years to come.
7 comments:
Even on June 15th, 2007, 30 Years Later, I shed a few tears over Seaver Trade #1 & Gil's Death on April 4th, '72:
A lot of The "Shea Stadium Old Guard", frankly, was NOT surprised over The Great Collapse, as I suspected due to the lack of quality deals made by the FO & OG. I had a feeling that this would bite the team in the arse;
My Philosophy & Therapy, is to have some fun with it. Sommers, you see, is a COWARD, with no sense of humor.
There was this "Mets Fan" from the 2000 World Series, who decided to become a Yankees "Fan", so he could spare his son, the Agony of Mets Losses:
7 Years Later, I wonder which team he jumped to?
as the Brits would say, that dude is a wanker!! I bet
Brooklyn and Queens will ignore baseball for about 3-4
months.
I don't mind the Mets. Though as the Nats become
completive, I can see myself disliking them and The
Phillies A LOT more. Philly is only like 2 hours north
of me on I-95.
The hardest thing I had to take in sports was the 89
Orioles. The previous year they were awful 0-21 to
start it. But Oriole fans stayed with them. the first
home game after the seasons first win at (1-23)
Memorial Stadium had 50,000 people. The Colts had
ditched town, but The O's had stayed.
CHB predicted in Spring Training 1989 that Rajah would
pitch a no-hitter against The O's on Opening Day. One
player quipped "only if he has his really good stuff."
The O's lasted until The final weekend. The 1989
Orioles will be my favorite team ever. Sure it was a
glorious failure, but it was fun to show up the
experts. When The O's were eliminated I cried because
my dreams were dashed. I now know it was a glorious
fluke. It will always make me smile.
in 1996, The Ravens were born . I got on the radio
with starting WR Michael Jackson and told him I was a
huge Steelers fans and would tickets to The
Ravens-Steelers game in Baltimore. Mr. Jackson said if
I became I Ravens fan. I paused for a moment and said
no thanks.
It was a bit of my Jewish grandma (father's side)
coming up. What the hell, Chutzpah on display. The
Steelers broke my heart for YEARS!! 1-4 in home AFC
Championship games. Including the 15-1 season where
the Pats killed them. The Super Bowl win was sweet
redemption.
The Colts playoff game is prolly my favorite football
game ever. a Classic with drama everywhere.
My grandma, whom I adored, had died in Pittsburgh
early on the morning of September 11, 2005. She had
fallen two weeks before and never woke up. About 12
hours later, the Steelers started their season.
Grandma was a HUGE Steelers fan and so when Vanderjagt
missed the kick I just lost it. Joy at the win but I
wished she could have seen it so I was crying.
Real fans stick with it-faith is rewarded
1969 & 2004-Great Underdog Moments-Faith Rewarded:
Besides, ANY JERK can become a Yankees Fan. They don't know how to savor the moments. It's all for Instant Gratification. & They Cheer for Roid Boys, which everybody else has disdain for.
Look on the bright side; the Mets divested themselves of someone who was never really a fan. You're better off without the bandwagon prick.
Not to pile on (though as a life-long Sox fan, the Mets collapse does give me the smallest bit of joy. Sorry, but 21 years later it still burns.) but BaseballProspectus.com did an analysis of the worst collapses ever and the odds of them occurring. They had it ranked at 499-to-1 against. On the bright side, the '95 Angels collapse was much worse; 8,332-to-1 against.
I read this, too. You only write & publish an article like that for one reason: to generate hate mail.
He writes a "scandalous" piece that generates hits for the Daily News website, and hoopla in the blogosphere. Next week, the NY Daily News will run a feature about how in their comparison of web traffic over the past 10 days, they had ten times as many hits as the Post.
You shouldn't have dignified this kind of garbage by mentioning it here. You're better than that.
That was an interesting take, Rob. I thought about exactly what you're saying, that Sommers was doing this strictly for publicity, for him and the paper. But I couldn't let that go...
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