Mets Pop Culture Sightings 2015

[G-Fafif]

Warming up for a new year of keeping an eye out for the Mets infiltrating film, theater, television, stage, literature and what have you by passing along a few pre-2015 sightings FAFIF readers have shared since the awarding of Oscar's Caps.

• The Stargate TV followup, Stargate: SG-1 also showed pictures of Jack’s son in a Mets unfiorm.

• Peter Falk as Vince Ricardo in The In-Laws (1979) while on a stakeout: “I can’t believe this trade. What the hell the Mets need another pitcher for? All they got is pitchers!”

• Jeff in Rules of Engagement (ran on CBS between 2007 and 2013) mentioned the Mets frequently and loved to show off his Mets memorabilia collection at any given opportunity.

• The Gift of Life, by Michael Elias (2013), discusses the Mets and features the main character’s connection to them. Specifically, the narratives in the book refer to the dominance over the Mets by the Braves, the exciting 2006 season and ultimately short-circuited postseason (including a dramatic re-telling of the late stages of the final playoff game), the 2007 collapse, and other baseball commentary as observed by the main character. The novel is said by the author to be "about so much more than that, including disability and coming to terms with certain life situations, but there’s the sports aspect of it for fans as well".

[Edgy MD]

That Falk quote. What time of the year might that be?

I like to think it refers to one or both of the June 15 deals to acquire Doc Ellis and Andy Hassler.

[G-Fafif]

I see a release date on IMDB of September 12. Pretty topical for a movie presumably in the can by June 15.

I'd also question the characters' assessment of the Mets' bounty of pitching in 1979.

[G-Fafif]

“Legal or not, if it gets the New York Mets a better shortstop, I am so down with this.” —Bill Maher on opening US-Cuba relations, Real Time, 1/16/2015

[G-Fafif]

Harry Breitner with the 2014 tune, "Faith and Fear in Flushing Meadows," a title that has a nice ring to it. Song has nothing to do with your (perhaps) favorite blog. Stumbled into it. References 1962, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Ray Knight and Mookie Wilson. Not exactly about the Mets, but in no way is not about the Mets, either.

Dude's from Chicago. He has another song that features Roger Maris in the title.

[dgwphotography]

Joe McNally's latest blog post on a shoot he did for SI called baseball's glove men. This features the famous shot of Ozzie standing in different parts of the infield with the aid of mirrors. It's a straight shot, without the aid of photoshop.

This also includes one of the coolest images I've seen of Keith Hernandez digging out one in the dirt...

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Great photos. I always got the SI Baseball Preview back then.

Andy Summers, guitarist for the Police, uses his preparation for that band's August 1983 performance at Shea Stadium as a device for triggering memories of his career in a surprisingly readable and enjoyable memoir, called ONE TRAIN LATER. To hear him tell it the Police by then were long since over touring and working with one another but a Shea appearance? That meant something.

Nobody will ever say such a thing about Citifield.

[Edgy MD]

I bet Austin Mahone did!

[dgwphotography]

David Wright prominently displayed in the bar set of the new Odd Couple.

[G-Fafif]

“You're right, Father. I’m a Mets fan now.”
—Danny Castellano, The Mindy Project, after his priest (guest star Stephen Colbert) tells him the Yankees are “the team of sin,” March 10, 2015, S3, Ep 19, “Confessions of a Catho-holic”.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Danny has a photo of Shea Stadium hanging in his office.

[G-Fafif]

At the beginning of the series, it seemed pretty clear Danny was a Mets fan. Then, without warning, he was partial to the MFYs. The whole show has been like that, dropping all of Mindy's non-office pals as well as various colleagues. Like many workplace comedies, the people who were consumed by their professional responsibilities in the pilot and early episodes eventually spend all their time chatting, getting into high jinks and, in the case of Mindy and Danny, coupling. It's only when you stop and think, hey, how does this practice function, that it gets in the way.

The show is better for the shift it has taken: 90% Mindy & Danny relationship, 10% whatever. But that doesn't excuse whoever forgot Danny's Mets leanings.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah, I sometimes wonder how a practice where all the doctors are idiots is able to retain any clients.

[G-Fafif]

[youtube:3dt22dtl]wBFZaFpGTnU[/youtube:3dt22dtl]

Ray Watts, so tired, tired of waiting..."Til The Mets Win The Pennant".

[Edgy MD]

Wait, that's like a real thing?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Holy shit.

[Edgy MD]

Loy Records. Wow.

Almost has the air of Wag the Dog, and how they created an old record and dropped it into the historical record and had everybody believing it was a hit back in the day and we all sort of remembered it.

[Edgy MD]

Loy Records apparently had a catalog of all of three singles.

[Zvon]

That might be the worst song I've ever heard.

[Edgy MD]

Your listening life must be a lot richer than mine ("The Hamster Dance" and "Chinese Food" aren't worse?), as I find it delightful.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Far be it from me to decry anything Metly for its Metliness, but... well... it's just so gratuitous. Like, it's the only specific detail in a ratty weave of doo-wop/garage band cliches.

Like, say...

I think I may have lost my baby
She never even left a letter
If she left me, it sure would kill me
I'd die before I could forget her
I'll climb the highest mountains
I'll swim the deepest seas
I'll walk through fires and fountains
I'd even look in Pignatano's Garden

[Edgy MD]

Yeah and not a lot of Otis Redding lyrics have won Pultizers either.

It's called soul, baby. And the main quality of sixties soul ain't typically in the lyrics sheet. It's in the delivery.

We want a hit!

[Zvon]

Edgy MD wrote: Your listening life must be a lot richer than mine ("The Hamster Dance"? "Chinese Food"?), as I find it delightful.

Should I go hunt down The Hampster Dance & Chinese Food?

I like the backing singers. They stand there, every few minutes blurting out, "PENNANT!".

[Edgy MD]

Zvon wrote: Should I go hunt down The Hampster Dance & Chinese Food?

If you'd like to find a newfound critical context in which to appreciate this song among all you've ever heard, yes.

If you don't want to just be plum annoyed for the rest of the day to the point of anger at everybody you encounter, no.

I would describe the first with being the musical equivalent of stepping on a Lego piece barefoot. In winter.

I would describe the second with being the musical equivalent of jerking your foot up after stepping on the Lego piece and kicking the coffee table.

[Zvon]

Edgy MD wrote: Zvon wrote: Should I go hunt down The Hampster Dance & Chinese Food? If you'd like to find a newfound critical context in which to appreciate this song among all you've ever heard, yes. If you don't want to just be plum annoyed for the rest of the day to the point of anger at everybody you encounter, no. I would describe the first with being the musical equivalent of stepping on a Lego piece barefoot. In winter. I would describe the second with being the musical equivalent of jerking your foot up after stepping on the Lego piece and kicking the coffee table.

youch!

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I couldn't just close the thread and move on. Edgy's descriptions piqued my curiosity. I knew I would regret it, but I just had to look up "Hampster Dance Song" and "Chinese Food." The Hamper Dance Song (at least the opening 20 seconds I managed to listen to) is silly, vapid , fluff, but "Chinese Food" makes it sound like a classic. Whoever Alison Gold is, I recommend she give up music and pursue a career better suited to her talent; like baby sitting based on her appearance.

[Edgy MD]

I apologize. But I would not let Ray Watts & the Questions go so unappreciated for giving what was, and remains, a lost gift for mankind.

[bmfc1]

In the documentary "Going Clear" (on HBO), John Travolta is wearing a classic Mets jacket.

[G-Fafif]

A new TV Mets fan joins the prime time ranks: Eric Lewandoski (Nathan Torrence), 34, toll collector and one of the Weird Loners on Fox. In the pilot episode that aired March 31, we meet Eric as he wears a Mets baseball shirt (skyline logo) and watches a game with his dad (wearing a 2013-14 style alternate cap). In their game, an announcer says it's the bottom of the ninth and Wright is up. Father and son argue over whether a base on balls would be an acceptable outcome. Then the pop drops dead. Eric is concerned until he hears the announcer say the batter swings. He turns toward the television and...SCENE.

Reviews indicate we'll be seeing more Mets stuff in this Queens-set program (the title characters -- two guys, two gals -- live in Ridgewood and blow off steam by wandering over to the Unisphere where they partake of an open bar at a weeknight wedding that just happens to be going on for their bonding needs).

Also, what likely appears to be a one-off character, a dermatologist who is jilted by one of the other Loners. His name (the doctor) is Howard Blatt, who used to cover the Mets for the Daily News. That's probably a coincidence, but who knows?

[dgwphotography]

G-Fafif wrote: Also, what likely appears to be a one-off character, a dermatologist who is jilted by one of the other Loners. His name (the doctor) is Howard Blatt, who used to cover the Mets for the Daily News. That's probably a coincidence, but who knows?

Yeah, I think that's as much of a coincidence as the Koosmans being the neighbors of the Seavers on Growing Pains.