Zambrano: What's Wrong & What Happens Next

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

="metsmarathon"]just so long as we're all aware that we all have biases and prejudices.

Well, I'm aware that people in general do. The real issue here is "Do you nurture your prejudices or try to identify them and eliminate them?"

As JD says, he's got nothing to be ashamed about for rooting for the Mets, and trying to find ways to justify even their dumbest moves. But IRL, when you do that openly (say, in political matters) you're deemed a party hack, a partisan, and your opinion is less valued in general., When you hang out with other party hacks, you're treated pretty well. When you hang out with people who have no special party affiliation, not so much.

Since I stopped rooting for the Mets, I find I'm better able to see where they've clearly screwed the pooch, and to say so with fewer qualifications than I could when I was a Mets fan. I think fighting off my biases has helped me to evaluate baseball, and to enjoy the game. Rooting interest is very much over-rated--it makes for a certain visceral excitment, I admit, but generally it's far better to be able to think clearly and assess correctly. This isn't the place to say so, of course, and I don't expect much agreement wth my current view, but here it is: Bias is pretty destructive to thought.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

That wouldn't work for me. If I had no rooting interest in the outcome of a game, I wouldn't watch. It wouldn't interest me. I agree that bias is destructive to thought, but rooting for the Mets isn't an intellectual exercise. It's a part of my childhood that I haven't let go of. If I were to give it too much thought, I'd end up walking away from baseball, and I'd lose something I enjoy. I did something similar with religion: I thought about it, analyzed it, found that it didn't ring true, and I walked away. The thing is, I never really enjoyed being religious, so it was no loss.

[soupcan]

Really? You don't think you could just like baseball for baseball?

Don't you just appreciate 'the game'? The strategies? The fact that you know this game probably better than 85% of the people who watch it?

I can certainly understand why having no specific team to root for would take away from the enjoyment, you really think if the Mets were contracted for example that you could really just walk away?

I don't think I would. Or could.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: That wouldn't work for me. If I had no rooting interest in the outcome of a game, I wouldn't watch. It wouldn't interest me. I agree that bias is destructive to thought, but rooting for the Mets isn't an intellectual exercise. It's a part of my childhood that I haven't let go of. If I were to give it too much thought, I'd end up walking away from baseball, and I'd lose something I enjoy. I did something similar with religion: I thought about it, analyzed it, found that it didn't ring true, and I walked away. The thing is, I never really enjoyed being religious, so it was no loss.

I was going to use religion as another example of reinforced bias (here called "dogma"), designed to prevent you from using your brain fully. This is why I think my comments about "drinking the kool-aid" aren't particularly abusive.When you're a fan, you agree to drink the swill, to a greater or lesser degree. (Thanks, JD, for using "blue-and-orange PJs" in the neutral, non-offensive sense that I usually intend it.) Maybe it's having a less highly evolved braiin than you people, but I couldn't handle the work involved in turning off a portion of my brain where the Mets were concerned, as you all can (and as I could for decades). I would be asking "Wait---would this be true if I were talking about anything other than the Mets?" all the time, and it got to be less fun facing the fact that I was deliberately not exploring certain possiblities because they felt unpleasant to me, even if I knew what that would do to my personal popularity and credibility around these parts. It's a trade-off..

You don't make friends as easily being a baseball fan in general. I walk around sometime in a Red Sox cap and a Mets t-shirt, and people on the subway just look at me funny. "Mommy, why is that man dressed that way?"

"Shhh, angel. He's just sick."

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Whatever works for you. Caring if a team of strangers wins or not is not at all rational. If it ever becomes an effort to root for the Mets, or, in other words, if it ever ceases to be fun or entertaining, I'll stop.

And soupcan, if the Mets ever disappeared, I'd walk away from baseball. I do appreciate the game, and I'd probably check the standings every once in a while, and might watch a handful of World Series or playoff games, but I'm too old to pick a new team, and I'd have too many other demands on my time to watch a game where I didn't care about the outcome. Maybe I'd feel different if my kids were grown and I was retired, but probably not.

I'm not the kind of fan I used to be, say about 25 years ago. I used to watch every post season game that I could, and I knew the players on every team. I read the weekly accounts in the Sporting News for all 26 teams. But my focus is much more narrow now, and I devote a lot less time to baseball. (Don't let the UMDB fool you; it only requires minutes a day on my part.) Now I'm a Mets fan, and not a generic baseball fan. And I don't know where I'll be 25 years from now.

[Elster88]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I think I know what you're saying, but have to add there ought be absolutely zero shame in getting a fan to "admit" they, for example, interpret something about the team they support from the perspective that they want them to be right, or hope it's accurate, or whatever. That's pretty much the definition of a fan. That doesn't mean they can't disagree, or be cynical, or think Omar's blowing smoke, or are unwitting swallowers of whatever information comes down the pike. For example, I admit I wear blue-and-orange jammies with the worst of them, but still thought the team bungled the whole value equation with Mike Cameron. But I sure hope Omar turns out to be right, and you bet yer ass I'll cheer for the success of that deal. That's what a fan does. There's no shame in that. None at all.

does not equal this:

="Bret Sabermetric"] As JD says, he's got nothing to be ashamed about for rooting for the Mets, and trying to find ways to justify even their dumbest moves.

[Elster88]

Nah.

[Guest KC]

I like being biased and stupid, Let's Go Mets.

[soupcan]

I literally do wear Mets pajamas.

Picked up a pair of lightweight blue drawstring pants with the orange interlocking 'NY' all over them at Modell's a coupla weeks ago..

They are my sleepwear.

I don't have Mets Kool-Aid though.

Yet.

[metirish]

I can only sleep nude.......

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

That's too bad. There are other things that can be done naked as well.

[metsmarathon]

teh day they start making blue-and-orange kool aid that doesn't just turn brown when you mix it will be the happiest day of my life.

(as i type this i must admit that it is possible to make blue and orange kool aid. one must only take blue kool aid, and orange kool aid, maintain them at distinctly different temperatures, and very slowly and carefully introduce one to the other, with a minimum of agitation. the less dense, therefore hotter kool aid mixture would stay at the top of your glass while the colder kool aid would stay at the bottom. its a fun science class trick. i'm not sure if the kool aid would make this easier or harder to do, but surely would make it worth while. i am such a nerd.)

[Guest KC]

Orange kool-aid, blue ice cubes, drink fast.