G-Fafif

Wearing No. 33.

Vinny up, Chris down.

The ESPN story put a different face on the background than I'd read before. Good reporting -- and unlazy writing avoiding the tired "How dumb are the Mets? (They're so dumb that they're paying...)" angle. Were we ever a big-revenue club in the last 15 or so years? Or was it all just a mirage? Bonilla's plan is looking pretty good these days. His daughter is finishing up at the Sorbonne. Somehow I'm reminded of Alex Reiger telling Latka he'd overextended himself on the luxury penthouse apartment he'd rented: Places like this aren't for people like us. They're for the Rockefellers...the Vanderbilts...the Bee Gees.

Schwinden Mets visiting Atlanta to open premature, hypothetical postseason today.

Jon Rauch 1972 (not to be confused with Bob Rauch 1972...who reliable sources inform me never got a card) looks he folds out. Dickey's wearing the 2012 uni. Wright, as ever unwilling to leave anybody out, dons the old drop shadows. Cards, as ever, are pure joy, BG.

If A.L. playoffs began today, MFYs out of the picture completely, even with the extra Wild Card. Not that I notice stuff like that or anything.

A little Hofstra video... Richie and Paula, those who carried on as co-directors: [youtube:1hbu756v]3ZQPZkhWdvY[/youtube:1hbu756v] Dana's incredibly, ridiculously impressive daughter, Sonia: [youtube:1hbu756v]LYoFS6p7O1w[/youtube:1hbu756v] Who doesn't want to meet the Mets? [youtube:1hbu756v]kEg_jpUs8Bs[/youtube:1hbu756v] Or have his lunchtime session interrupted by Mr. Met? [youtube:1hbu756v]fs7Wytvuadw[/youtube:1hbu756v]

Tejada 2.0 Torres 0.5 Wright 0.5 Thole 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 5/2/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT [crossout]1,278[/crossout] 1,279

Paper here.

Turner 1.5 Wright 1.0 Batista 1.0 Hairston 1.0

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 5/1/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,277

Always love MGIM's Metcentric view of everything.

The Astros' use of a Schafer seems almost diabolical in retrospect.

Dickey 4.0 Nieuwenhuis 2.0 Davis 1.0 Torres 1.0 Wright 1.0

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 4/30/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT [crossout]1,275[/crossout] 1,276

Also bumped into, at the Friday night cocktail reception: Mr. & Mrs. Swan Swan H. (Unless I'm confusing his real name with his screen name, but I don't think I am.)

Santana 2.0 Davis 1.0 Nieuwenhuis 1.0 Tejada 1.0 Wright 1.0 Ramirez 1.0 Parnell 1.0 Thole 0.5 Batista 0.5 Baxter 0.5 Duda 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 4/29/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,274 [...] T-115. Ron Gardenhire 165 T-115. Vance Wilson 165 T-115. RUBEN TEJADA 165 Current No. 100 is Joe Torre, with 193 hits. Ike has 190, Thole up to 183.

Jesus, Moyer looks as old as me out there.

Ashie62 wrote: Was the conference more academic or anecdotal? I think a lot of the presentations were intended with academic aspirations (and some stuck to them) but the tone in general shifted to the anecdotal by Saturday. Which was fine...it was Saturday, and it was the Mets. I gave my talk a slightly hifalutin title -- "The Shared Mets Fan Language: How Mets Fans Speak to One Another" -- and tried to keep it in a fairly academic context, citing the following: � Recurring Precedent � Proprietary Nostalgia � Unbroken Family Tradition � Media Griots � Positive Self-Image But when you're talking about Casey Stengel shouting "Viva La France!" for Danny Napoleon and reciting the lyrics to the Rheingold jingle, it's hard to be too terribly tweedy about the whole thing. Academic or anecdotal, I had the hell impressed out of me by just about every presenter.

Third day so good that I was sorry to realize the whole thing was ending, which is saying something because the planning portion made me long for the moment it would be over. I guess Hofstra spinning off a Mets College would be too much to ask for. Meeting Seawolf a definite highlight though I cursed the fates that kept me from sitting in on his presentation as well as Ceetar's (though I was glad to have Cee among the bloggers who graciously made each lunchtime an event with our bullpen sessions). Batmags was a joy to touch base with time and again throughout the proceedings. Can't believe it took me like 20 guesses to figure out the 1992 road uniform he was wearing under his jacket revealed the name on the back as...MAGADAN. It was a long three days. On one hand I wish most every Mets fan in creation could have partaken of this...and in my head I was editing every slight historical inaccuracy I heard from the podium...and I was figuring out how the logistics could have been improved (for what -- the 51st anniversary conference?)...and I wondered what more I could have done to attract attention to it...but honestly (save for terribly missing Dana Brand about every ten minutes), I wouldn't change a thing about it now.

Duda 4.0 Gee 2.5 Wright 1.0 Tejada 1.0 Murphy 1.0 Byrdak 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 4/28/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT [crossout]1,272[/crossout] 1,273

Cripes...I mean box. Hairston 5.0 Tejada 4.5