Kinda boxed myself into a corner here

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

I think the Mets look like a pretty good team this year. I'm thinking 90 wins is a reasonable goal. Last winter, if you'll recall, I maintained that the Mets needed to sign 3 big-ticket FAs to be contenders, a starter (preferably Pedro), an outfielder who could hit (preferably Beltran) and a slugging first baseman (preferably Delgado). I was totally prepared to get with the program if they filled all three holes--in fact, I think I predicted they'd be an 88-90 win team if they did that, which seems reasonable from here.

At one point I felt sure they would pull it off.

But they didn't sign Delgado. They signed Mientkiwicz and, rubbing the salt into the wound, insisted that his offensive production would be adequate. Most of you, not all, bought several servings of this Kool-aid, and most of you, not all, seemed to take serious offense when I announced that I would be rooting for the Mets to lose, since it was just too damned frustrating to root for them to win.

But now they've signed Delgado--at a higher cost than he wanted last year, and minus a very productive 2005 season, but still they've fulfilled my nominal minimal requirements for rooting for them again. A year late and four million dollars short, but still...

Plus which, I'm on leave this entire term, meaning I have no classes to prepare and teach, no academic bureaucracy to oversee, no meetings to attend. All I'm doing for the next few months is writing that I can do on my own schedule. Meaning that a walk through Flushing Meadows Park to take in a game will present itself often.

So I'm conflicted. I'm definitely not over my resentment of these yutzes putting the team they put on the field last season and calling that a baseball team that I'm supposed to root for. I'll be going to Fenway a few times this year with whole-hearted enthusiasm, now that Theo's back in power, but I'm really divided on whether I can enjoy baseball at Shea again. Maybe if I go, I'll get all caught up in the whole rooting thing again, but I really don't want to. I've really grown to resent the Mets management, and really do think they're incompetent weasels mainly out to separate the fans from their money and neither care about nor understand winning baseball, and I feel I'm setting myself up for a lot of unnecessary grief if I allow myself to believe the organization is committed to winning baseball games and pennants again.

I guess I'll try going to games as any other Red Sox fan living a mile from Shea might go, to see baseball but to have little interest in the outcome of the games. It's just a strange feeling to have after four decades of rooting for the Mets.

[seawolf17]

/yawn

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Say it!

L____
G___
M____

SAY IT!!!!

[Guest KC]

Why don't you get the MLB package this year? For about a dollar a day, you
get at least 10-12 games digitally broadcasted to the comfort of your air-conditioned
home (except many Saturdays).

Think of the thrill and joy of being able to see how the real teams of Major League
Baseball play and operate with the grit, determination, and efficiency that the Mets
sorely lack.

[Elster88]

So basically what you're saying is, if the Mets win, you might enjoy yourself, and my find yourself rooting for them again. So by extension this seems to be saying, if the Mets win, you could become a fan again.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

KC wrote: Why don't you get the MLB package this year? For about a dollar a day, you get at least 10-12 games digitally broadcasted to the comfort of your air-conditioned home (except many Saturdays). Think of the thrill and joy of being able to see how the real teams of Major League Baseball play and operate with the grit, determination, and efficiency that the Mets sorely lack.

I often get that just by watching the Mets' opponents.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Elster88 wrote: So basically what you're saying is, if the Mets win, you might enjoy yourself, and my find yourself rooting for them again. So by extension this seems to be saying, if the Mets win, you could become a fan again.

No, basically I'm saying what I'm saying.

Nothing to do with winning or losing. I've rooted for many, many bad Mets teams (or is that being redundant?) I find it impossible to root for an organization that I believe doesn't care a damn about winning. If you gave Wilpon a choice between making a dollar profit and winning 3 games out of 162 or losing a dollar and winning the World Series, I'm not sure how long he'd have to think before answering. Anything over a half second frightens me, and I'm pegging his response time at well over three seconds.

[Zvon]

admit it Bret-
Your a fairweather Met fan.

Not that theres anything wrong with that.
Many fans are fairweather fans in many ways, in all sports, these days.

But see....
with me, its Mets or nothing.
You have some good points about Mets managment and all, but they dont wear the uniform and play on the field.
I can be in discourse as to what they do and still love the team.
I can even not be thrilled about the team they field, and still love the Mets.
I know what I said there doesnt exactly make sense, but to me it makes perfect sense.
They are my team, thru the highs and lows and ups and downs and great times and suck azz times.
I am a real and true Met fan.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Zvon wrote: I am a real and true Met fan.

I'm not.

[Guest KC]

How far back does this go, Sal? I mean, I feel like I've known you a long
time, but public hatred of the Mets is somewhat new by comparison to how
many years ago KC and doc g posted on forums (I refuse to type the word
fora) of old.

Were you a fan of Met Maven, sell the team NOW!!!, reyordonezsucks, etc.
but just kept a low profile? What about chief umpire? Did you and ambler
meet under the Brooklyn Bridge in a van to discuss the lack of "the plan"?
Were you any of the aforementioned posting from a third or fourth ip addy?

Please note, the tone of this message is more peaceful and calm than the
indictment-sounding tone that it has re-reading it before hitting submit.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

KC wrote: How far back does this go, Sal?

This is all from last season, KC. I'm "not a Mets fan" by Zvon's standard, tried and true, thick and thin, right or wrong, drunk or sober. Before last season, I think I was critical of the team at times but I believed that the owners and the management really wanted to win,. 2005 turned me around on that. Now, I honestly think that the Wilpons are paying lip service to winning games and pennants, which I suppose many owners are, but they have no idea HOW to go about it even if they were more passionate and focused towards that end. I'm not a very smart or well-trained basebll analyst but when I can consistently make calls, and foresee looming problems, that the club decides "Oh, hell, go ahead, that won't happen and who's counting anyway," then this is a team with problems far more fundamental and serious than who their LOOGY is.

it just seems futile to me to root for a team more enthusiastically than the team's owners are rooting for it. I feel like a fool hoping for a pennant, or a strategy, or a clue, that the Wilpons are IMO indifferent to. So I don't count myself as a fan any more, just an interested observer.

(Sorry about all this, Seawolf, but the gun I held to your skull throughout this post? Ha ha--it wasn't loaded.)

[seawolf17]

It's not that, BS -- it's just that I'm learning not to bite on the rhetoric any longer. It's all good. I still read it for comic value.

[Zvon]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: ="Zvon"]I am a real and true Met fan. I'm not.

Well, your certainly an interesting fellow, Bret.
Whatever it is you are looking for, searching for in a team and the people who run it, I hope you find it.

As a fan you would be an asset to that team.
Your passionate, and the best fans are.

And I really enjoy your interesting and thought provoking threads.
Hey, I guess that makes me a fan of yours.