'Satan's Series'

[soupcan]

October 27, 2009 Mets Fans Have Choice of Two Evils in World Series By A. G. SULZBERGER In recent years Mets fans could measure baseball seasons by degrees of suffering. Since a called third strike dashed championship hopes in 2006, the team has been defined by fall flameouts, until this year, when there was an early summer flameout. But the misery of this uninspired season has been unexpectedly heightened by the indignity of watching their most despised division rival face off against their despised crosstown rival in the World Series. Chuck Rose, the owner of the Pine Restaurant and Sports Bar near Citi Field, said he was so disheartened that he could not even choose between the Phillies and the Yankees. �I hope it rains for 40 days and 40 nights,� he said, adding that he might dedicate one television in the bar to a replaying of the 1986 World Series, when the Mets last won the championship. Mets fans have approached the looming showdown, which one blogger nicknamed Satan�s Series, in a variety of ways. Some have sworn off baseball until spring training, while others have tried to sort out which team they dislike less. �This, my friends, is Baseball Armageddon,� wrote John Coppinger on his blog, the Musings and Prophecies of Metstradamus, who falls in the boycott category. �There is no happy ending. Satan has been unleashed.� And, he continued, �The next two weeks are going to be the worst two weeks on earth.� The Mets Clubhouse store, where everything from shot glasses to winter jackets carry the team logo, had an air of desolation Monday afternoon as a trickle of frustrated fans wandered in. (Just blocks away, the Yankees Clubhouse was doing brisk business and was decidedly more upbeat.) �I had to come somewhere and commiserate,� said Dave Rakowski, 48, a lawyer in town on business from Allentown, Pa., which he said had an even mix of Yankees and Phillies fans. �I just needed to be around this stuff,� he said against a backdrop of blue and orange. While Mr. Rakowski swore that he would not watch any of the series, other customers tried to explain their calculus for new allegiances. The Yankees, some suggested, at least represent New York (even if they did buy their way into the World Series). The Phillies, others offered, play baseball the right way as part of the National League (even if they have repeatedly assaulted the Mets with phrases like �choke artists�). �I�m going for the Yankees because I can�t stand Philly,� said Anthony Ciarcia, 25, a Mets fan from Pine Bush, N.Y. �It�s not an ideal situation, but that�s what it comes down to.� Said Ravi Ramcharan, 35, from Valley Stream, N.Y.: �I hate the Phillies, but for this series I am rooting against the Yankees hard. I really don�t like the Yankees.� Jason Tejada crossed his index fingers, as if trying to ward off a vampire, when either team was mentioned by name. As a lifelong Mets fan, he has been miserable throughout the playoffs, which he could not escape because the games were always on at the Knollwood Country Club in Westchester County, where he is a bartender. As the Yankees inched toward victory on Sunday night, he left the bar for 20 minutes to avoid witnessing the celebration. �My stomach couldn�t take it,� he said. At a Modell�s Sporting Goods store in Midtown Manhattan, Eli Vargas was at his station within hours of the Yankees� victory on Sunday, dishing out celebratory caps, shirts and other pinstriped paraphernalia to ravenous crowds. But amid the bustle, looking both ways and hushing his voice before proceeding, he confessed to being a Mets fan. �But it hurts because I imagine what if this is all Mets stuff, how happy I�d be.� As he described growing up in Flushing, Queens, close enough to see Shea Stadium, he said: �I�m having a real tough time right now. They tell me the longer I wait, the sweeter it�s going to be. But I was 3 years old in 1986, so I don�t really remember. I want to know what it feels like to win.�

Looks like the Sulzbergers get started in the family biz by writing puff pieces. I do like 'Satan's Series' though.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

This is exactly the stuff I was complaining about in the other thread.

Come on, Met fans. Stand up for yourselves and stop being pathetic whiny bitches. You especially, Patterson. This is an easy choice to make, and don't feed the perception that the rest of us are losers too.

[soupcan]

Patterson?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Oh see, I'd confused this Met Fans Are Weak and Pathetic article with a similar one this morning in the Snooze. In that one, Gov. Patterson remarks: "Just the sight of a Phillies uniform makes me a Yankees fan."


Let's leave out the issue of whether that "sight" bit is really applicable in this case, and let me say that's really disappointing to hear from a MLBS I considered really got it.

[metirish]

This is the one that Greg linked last night on FB.....I do like that Dave Rakowski felt compelled to go to the Mets Store ,it does seem rather convenient for the article though to find a guy from Allentown PA.

[Guest Edgy DC]

[MFS62]

I try to look at the bright side: we'll get to see Jimmy Rollins or Derek Jeter walk off the field a loser.

Later

[Guest Edgy DC]

Saw them both pull that off in the spring at the WBC. I say go, Jimmy Rollins, go!

[metsmarathon]

I try to look at the bright side: we'll get to see Jimmy Rollins or Derek Jeter walk off the field a loser.

Later[/quote:1qu4e7ib]

i already get to see them walk onto the field a loser each and every single game.

[Frayed Knot]

I remember enough Met fans in 1996 trotting out their reasons as to why a WS in the Bronx was harmless, among them;
"c'mon it's New York" ... "can't root for the Braves" ... "THIS Yanqui team isn't so bad" ... "it's not the same as the old days now that Steinbreener's mellowed" ... "gotta pull for Doc & Darryl" ... "they haven't won in a while, what's it gonna hurt"

I blame those people for not only inviting the subsequent era but causing it as well..

[G-Fafif]

I remember enough Met fans in 1996 trotting out their reasons as to why a WS in the Bronx was harmless, among them;
"c'mon it's New York" ... "can't root for the Braves" ... "THIS Yanqui team isn't so bad" ... "it's not the same as the old days now that Steinbreener's mellowed" ... "gotta pull for Doc & Darryl" ... "they haven't won in a while, what's it gonna hurt"

I blame those people for not only inviting the subsequent era but causing it as well..[/quote:3eotv1ut]

A-fucking-men.

[stevejrogers]

"it's not the same as the old days now that Steinbreener's mellowed" ... [/quote:2x6dmpgo]

Considering the machinations that brought Torre to the Yankees, I find that hilarious!

[ashie62]

"it's not the same as the old days now that Steinbreener's mellowed" ... [/quote:2opb9q86]

Considering the machinations that brought Torre to the Yankees, I find that hilarious![/quote:2opb9q86]


It's always the same

The good news is in 3 months It will be forgotten. We have our own ship to steer..Will the 2010 mets be a team of transition or contention..More important issue..right?

[Guest Edgy DC]

It's not an issue for me. I see a potential juggernaut.

[Fman99]

Or, don't read the papers. Avoid this tripe.

If it weren't for the CPF I'd never be exposed to any of this. It's beneath even me and I'm a raving insane jackass.

[MFS62]

Or, don't read the papers. Avoid this tripe.

If it weren't for the CPF I'd never be exposed to any of this. It's beneath even me and I'm a raving insane jackass.[/quote:nrttlu4y]

Nobody here thinks you're a jackass.

Later

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Hey don't speak for me. Fman exhibits a level of jackassery we should all aspire to.

[metirish]

fman is a complete wanker , makes me laugh everyday...

[MFS62]

I didn't say that nobody here thinks he's not raving and insane.
LOL!

Later

[metsmarathon]

the jackassery is part of the appeal.

[MFS62]

Returning the subject back to the series, howz about the ticket situation:
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/66439002.html?cmpid=15585797

Later

[TransMonk]

Classy.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I read that friends on her Facebook page are calling her a "hero."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

That is nothing compared to what she'll do for Nascar tickets.

[metsmarathon]

i don't think its a fair exchange. if you have to have sex with her, shouldn't you be the one to get the WS tickets?

[metirish]

McCarver during the game made reference to how this series is a nightmare for Mets fans...something along that line anyway.....come on Tim you know better than that.

[Frayed Knot]

McCarver during the game made reference to how this series is a nightmare for Mets fans...something along that line anyway.....come on Tim you know better than that.[/quote:2ls536c0]

Isn't that exactly what many Met fans have been saying? We even have a thread about it on this board.

[ashie62]

McCarver during the game made reference to how this series is a nightmare for Mets fans...something along that line anyway.....come on Tim you know better than that.[/quote:2l17y99g]

Isn't that exactly what many Met fans have been saying? We even have a thread about it on this board.[/quote:2l17y99g]

Correct, everyone's nerves are a bit frayed

[G-Fafif]

Mets fans' nightmare: Almost every Met getting injured and every Met playing horrible fundamental baseball, while Omar Minaya seeks to crucify Adam Rubin amid few signs of the Mets' history in the Mets' ballpark.

This part here is just the coda for when you drop off through the snooze alarm.

[MFS62]

If that woman who offered sex for tix wants to give them back, what does the guy who traded them have to do?

Later