Memories of Uncle Cliff Pink Floyd the Barber

[Guest Edgy DC]

They go here.

[metirish]

The 2005 season in general and this special moment against the Angels will live long in the memory.

[metsmarathon]

busting up his ankle walking in to third base. that kind of thing could only happen to cliff floyd. and ken griffey. and probably me.

i'll always feel a strange kind of kinship with cliff for all his myriad injuries.

[Guest Edgy DC]

All this stuff about "great clubhouse" should be taken with a dash of salt, but I wonder how much of that flowed from the locker of Cliffie.

Who is going to be break in Milledge now? Alou? Franco? Valentin?

Would it be Lo Duca? Would he take shit from a white guy?

[metirish]

Edgy DC wrote: Would it be Lo Duca? Would he take shit from a white guy?

Well Paul is Italian so he's kinda black....

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

metirish wrote: Well Paul is Italian so he's kinda black....

Huh? If he's black, maybe he can become president if something happens to Bush.

---

As for Cliff, I think I'll remember the friendship that sprung up between him and David Wright.

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: Well Paul is Italian so he's kinda black....

If you believe Dennis Hopper that is...




Its a scene from 'True Romance' but it is quite offensive. I mean no disrespect to anyone by posting it. Irish's comment reminded me of it and it's just an incredibly well-played out scene by two great actors.

[Willets Point]

metirish wrote: ="Edgy DC"]Would it be Lo Duca? Would he take shit from a white guy? Well Paul is Italian so he's kinda black....

I thought the Irish are the blacks of Europe, at least according to The Commitments. "Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud!"

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Floyd to me really became a True Met, and wouldn't have been a good bet to do so.

What strikes me about him is how the fans' perception of him was always changing.

When he bowed out of the last month of the 03 season with a bad foot, fans called him a warrior for playing through pain as bravely as he did all year.

In 04, when even more injuries depressed his output, and when he made that "no light at the end of the tunnel," comment, he was seen as a symbol of the malaise of the franchise and the guy every columnist and caller and message board geek was convinced would be traded, and traded on the cheap (paid at a fraction of his salary; getting nothing in return), and it was a woinder he'd lasted until 2005....

...When everyone suddenly remembered what a terrific guy Cliff was, and by the way he stayed healthy, hit 34 homers, taught David Wright everything he knew...

06 was like a combo of the previous 3 years: Injured but brave, considered tradeable, but respected vet.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Cliff Floyd first became part of the Mets story in 2001, with his All-Star Game roster dispute with Bobby Valentine.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Keep in mind that good-guy Cliff started off on the bad foot, listing Bobby Valentine's firing as one of the factors in him coming here.

Classic Dickshot line from the era: "Would Cliff have signed with the Mets if Bobby Valentine was still here? I can think of 26 million reasons why he might."

I think he was worthy of a three-year deal and the fourth year was the sort of thing you have to offer in order to sign a free agent when your team is floundering.

[Guest KC]

One more time *sniffle* ....

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I think of David Wright having to schlep Cliff's bags during his rookie year, and how Cliff helped to mold Wright into the player that he is today.

I also loved how attached Cliff was to his protege, as demonstrated in his 2006 Playoff Blog (scroll down to October 10) -

] So yeah, I know I may be out of there. But I�ll be there rooting. These are my boys. D. Wright, I have to be there for him, help him get through all this. I know he wants to say he�s outgrown me, that he doesn�t need Cliffie. I don�t make him carry my bags anymore, but he�s still my little guy. Bad leg or not, I gotta look after my little guy. So I�ll be there one way or the other.

[seawolf17]

="KC"] more time *sniffle* ....

Sigh. I know he's bordering on completely worthless offensively, and I argued that they should have dealt him last offseason, but I love that graphic. Can we bring him back? Will they take Lastings Milledge for him?

[G-Fafif]

Those periods when he was dangerous -- he was dangerous as few others can be. He only had a couple of truly blistering such stretches, but they were a joy.

A little-celebrated but should-be homer from '06, the extra-inning job with which he tied up the Braves at 7 in that wacky Friday night game in early May, the 14-inning affair. It was yet another in a series of signal moments that 2006 would not be 1994-2005 where the N.L. East was concerned.

He and Cammy introducing OutKast's "I Love The Way You Move" to the clubhouse and then to the PA and the way it echoed after the Saturday 10-9 win of the '04 Subway Series.

Of course the Angel game. And the series he had against the Dodgers until he had to leave in October.

Overall, a Met mensch.