Murphy’s Law: Scoreboard Stupidity and Citi Field security silliness

The Mets did this yesterday…. (thx @mets_bro)

murphy's law citi field

Now who can tell me why that is stupid? That’s right – everyone! Everyone except the Mets. So Mets, let me help you by way of Wikipedia.

Murphy’s law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”.

The guy hits a triple and you throw up that things will go wrong?

You aren’t trying to come up some hacky name for an NBC Drama about a guy named Murphy who happens to be a lawyer.  You’re looking for something to put on a scoreboard that is catchy and Murphy-related.  Oh, I don’t know…how about…#imwith28

It already exists and it is catchy. If for some reason you are worried about the proprietorship of the hashtag just contact the guy who started it. I bet he will be happy for you to use it like you did in 2012.

Don’t overthink things. Just go with what works.

Also during the game, Cowgill homered.

What could we possibly put on the scoreboard. What is catchy that is associated with Cowgill?

That’s right: “Holy Cowgill.”

jim halpert facee

Again, don’t overthink it. More Cowgill. Catchy. Works.

I’m told there is also some awful Harvey thing floating around but I can’t remember what it is.

(update…@soozywild79 does…)

7 Nation Harvey

Now on to Security.

Yesterday at Citi Field it was quite quite cold. If you look at the crowd shots you’ll see that people migrated to the sun.

I lasted 4 innings in the shade and was freezing. I headed to the Porch. You know the big giant thing with the standing room?

There was an over-zealous supervisor type who kept coming by to ride herd on the ushers to ride herd on the fans who were JUST TRYING TO WATCH THE GAME IN THE SUN.  Standing.  Not even sneaking into seats. Standing.  On the Porch.

When 17 people are showing up for games why would the Mets allow this dude to hassle everyone?

Blah blah fire codes blah blah don’t block the aisle blah blah.

At one point a man in a wheelchair wanted to get through. Guess what, people moved out of the way and the man got through very easily.

Had a fire started I bet we would have moved.

Completely unnecessary hassling of well behaved fans just trying to stay warm.

The ONLY thing the Mets have going for them is that Citi Field is allegedly a fun place to go. Someone should remind the Porch Supervisor of this theory.

21 Replies to “Murphy’s Law: Scoreboard Stupidity and Citi Field security silliness”

  1. Dude,, the Murphy’s Law? Really? You gotta be critical of everything the team does? It’s a play on words. Who cares what it really means?

    I agree that holy cow is stupid. Not because it doesn’t work. But because of its affiliation with another baseball team. You know what team that is.

    And a lot of the ushers at Citi are dicks. Most are great. But a few of them think they’re real cops and need a reality check.

    1. I actually feel the opposite of you, Tom. Murphy’s Law is inane and makes me think the Mets have an illiterate running the scoreboard. I think Murphy’s Law is what one of the tabloids used as a headline when Murph was having his outfield troubles, or when he had the season ending injury at 2nd, for the 2nd consecutive year.

      Meanwhile, Holy Cowgill doesn’t bother me. Phil Rizzuto didn’t own Holy Cow, at least any more that Harry Carry did… But it is a commonly used phrase by people when they see something amazing, and Holy Cowgill is a decent play on that phrase. Of course I like More Cowgill better, but they don’t have to do that every time.

      Seven Nation Harvey, meanwhile, doesn’t even make ANY sense at all.

    2. The site is called “Mets Police”. To check the Mets on the stupid stuff they do:Tickets, Unis, Banner Day, stupid slogans, etc. This topic is right up their alley. I don’t get when people on here or twitter or wherever complain to Mets Police for being “Mets Police”. THAT’S THE POINT!!

  2. Being the only die heart met fan residing in Lyon (lived all my life until two years ago in Brooklyn) I naturally stay up late to watch all the games. Yesterday, being that it is a day game I watched it with some French people and even they were like “WTF: Murphy’s Law? Are they mocking him?”

  3. I empathize with your reaction to security’s overzealous behavior. Here’s a study in contrasts, which is a true account of a most bizarre devolution of an MLB’s sense of ball park courtesy. Bear with me…

    2010: On May 11, 2011, my 11 year old son is honored on Citi Field during Mets v. Nats game for pitching perfect game in which he struck out every batter. On the last game of the season, my nephew, who had just completed 2 tours of duty in Irag, is presented an American Flag during Mets v. Nats in a Mets-for-Vets celebration. Kevin Burkhardt joins us for half-an-inning. (We had met Kevin at PSL earlier that year). I am most proud to be a Met fan, as a father and as an uncle. What a year!!!

    2011 – Last game of the season with my family in tow – lovely wife & 3 sons. We watch Miguel Batista pitch a shutout & Mike Baxter hit his first MLB home run. During the game, we move our seats on the same level to get more sun and, admittedly, a marginally better vantage point. The section is EMPTY. After 2 innings or so, a female security guard with radio in hand, runs to our section and tells us it “it’s for the players’ families only” and insists that we leave, checking our tickets, etc… We relocate, but it was humiliating – last game of the season, losing ball club we support and we get treated like trash.

    We haven’t been back since. Sometimes, you just have to vote with your wallet and your feet.

  4. They show in the box score a crowd of 28, 474. Are there that many no shows or are the Mets flat out fudging the numbers?

    It seems that for every one thing they do right, they do two stupid things…..it was a Mets vs. Marlin game!….the ushers will be wishing they had someone to hassle when August comes around and they are chasing the crickets.

  5. As a post-script, of course we remain Met fans, as I’ve been one since 1968. At Shea, I recall Fred Wilpon gleefully tossing bags of peanuts to the crowd from the press box, and inviting fans to move their seats on the last game of the season so that they’d get a better view. For all of its concrete vacancy, we called Shea Stadium our home. When you settled into your seat, it felt like being home.

    At Citi Field, under the neon-bright lights, you get the sense that at every turn, some commercial entity is reaching for your wallet. Security is everywhere. And you, the Met fan – born and raised at Shea Stadium – feel somewhat unwelcome at a wealthy friend’s home, where you don’t know all the rules, but get the sense that you’re going to leave the place with less than when you arrived.

    One thing is for certain, the experience of grabbing a couple of hot dogs and a soda and sitting to watch a baseball game unmolested is over.

  6. I agree that Murphy’s Law is a perfect gotcha post. However, if you have heard of the term post-modernism, you know it is perfectly okay to “rebrand” terms in the subjective view of the user. In other words, Murphy’s Law is now something good, because we have rebranded it as such.

    As to tommy2cat — not going to games any more because of one overzealous usher. I would suggest you are looking for reasons to be unhappy. If I had a half hour with burkhardt etc, I would be more forgiving. As a 40 year met fan, I have a list of grievances, real and imagined, going from here to the end of time (chief among them being let Seaver go a second time after 1983 partly due to the stupid assumption that he would not be picked up on waivers – huh). so get a life, and look to judge people and teams based on a larger record. As for the Mets, once Cleon caught that ball in LF in 1969, I forgave everything prior and everything going forward, despite the constant pain and frustration of being a Met fan. Let’s all get a life and have fun with baseball and stop taking life so seriously. I am glad for your son and I hope he continues / continued to do well athletically.,, Just some advice, I am sure you don’t need it so please forgive me.

    1. James – I understand where you are coming from perfectly. If it was one errant usher, I could easily forgive that. Had a rare conflict with an usher in 1988 Championship Series, which resulted in my brother and I being seated with Met/Dodger wives. Funny story for another time.

      In this instance, it wasn’t just the usher. She walkie-talkied her supervisor, he then came over and checked our tickets, and with each passing moment, the scene became increasingly surreal. Reminiscent of “Meet The Parents”, when Focher is at the airport and asked to wait to board the plane by the unyielding attendant, despite the presence of no other passengers.

      The problem was systemic, not just with one usher.

      Of course I appreciate the effort the Mets put forth for my son and nephew. By sheer coincidence, the three of us met Kevin Burkhardt down at PSL and he patted my son on the head and said, “I’m sure I’ll see you at Citi Field some day.” We just didn’t realize it would be a couple of months later. We saw Kevin on the field, & Mike Pelfrey in the dugout.

      The reason I related the events of the previous year was to create a stark contrast in how my family was treated in 2010, like royalty, and 2011, like trespassers. So, if you’ve achieved some notoriety, they’ll roll out the red carpet. If you’re the average Joe, on the other hand, they’ll give you a nice, swift kick in the ass.

      That’s very uncool, in my book. I hope they fix it.

  7. Tommy2cat by the way I also long for the days of Shea when the “average un-rich Met fan” was also treated with dignity. In some respects the new citifield is an unforgiving place for the average fan, with few seats under $100 that are good, an overly low capacity to create things like the seats around the Delta club. Like MSG and many other things NYC it is now a haven for the rich. I long for my old mezza-box seats behind first which were affordable and provided a nice view of the field and I was left alone by security. I’m just saying, it’s not a reason not to go to Citifield at all, IMHO.

  8. I went yestrday as well…there is no special buzz get at CF as compared to YS or Citizens bank or camden Yards etc..the place is a horror over priced tickets horrible sighy lines even when you stand on lower deck you are miles from action compared to Dhea Field and Loge levels which had great views right on top of action. Then as all the posters here say they are all correct! The over zealous people in guest services are clueless as to how to operate a fan friendly place and they are worse at YS! It used to be that these organizations hired people who loved baseball and had an apptitude for working in the game. Most of these people are clueless as well as many in front office…this yields the ethos at the ballpark that creates a negative fan friendly feeling and peoplle like Tommycat were so offput that they d/n go anymore and I know severla like that! There were several tousand upper freebies yesterday ..those upper deck OF seats should be $9 all day everyday and forget these inane pricing schemes.OF lowers down the line and over the walls should be $20 to $25…Boxes and rederved should be $35 to $50 except for the most priemier of locations! Do this and you will get good crowds and more fun at the park.

  9. Vincent, and they got to start this from scratch.

    Shannon, why does this surprise anyone who is a real Mets’ fan? This organization is the dumbest on the face of the planet. And I would be willing to bet that if there were organizations on other planets, that they would not be run as asinine as this one. It would be virtually impossible. Between the poorly conceived stadium, the lack of fan “friendly-ness” and the like, how the heck did they make money in the real estate business?

    And by the way, other than the three guys in the booth for games, the saving grace of this family (SNY) hires the worst on air talent, but is clearly a printing press, because if not for it, the Wilpons would have had to sell..oh well.

  10. Another great report. Thanks Shannon. The Murphy’s Law nonsense is cringe-worthy. Just stupid. Everyone knows when Murph does something great, it’s #imwith28. The Murphy’s Law in this case is just the people running the show are clueless.

    Security is even more of a problem. They are NOT helpful, friendly or even efficient. There’s no common sense. There’s hardly anyone going to games but they mistreat the people who bother to show up. I’m taking a lawyer with me next time.

    Fleecing the public has gotten worse than ever. I haven’t seen as many people with shopping bags or see anyone going into the shop by my section.

    They’ve lost the plot.

  11. Another ridiculous thing about citi field security is that they don’t even let you onto the second level without a ticket for that level. I’ve.only been able to go to that level I think twice ever. Field and promenade you can go to regardless of where your tickets are located why keep fans off this level? It’s absurd

    1. That one I can answer. That level’s largely covered, with a little bar inside, and it’s also the level that houses Caesar’s Club — a bar and lounge that also has some pretty unique food offerings too. What they *could* do is make you show your ticket to get into Caesar’s Club, and not the whole Excelsior level, but still. I think that’s why they do that.

      Personally, I’m thrilled you can get onto the field level regardless of where your ticket is. I was a proud plan holder at Shea for 10 seasons, but my seat was in the loge, and I remember if you wanted to get onto the field level (i.e., where the best eats were) during the game, well, good luck.

  12. It’s a vicious cycle: Team stinks, no one goes, team loses money, team doesn’t spend, team stinks. Eventually this cycle needs to be broken or the Mets – or at least their fandom will be extinct.

  13. When Murph hit the HR today they ou up “Dan the Man”… A little better

  14. While the ushers are predominantly pleasant, I’ll never understand how, after 6 or 7 innings, when it’s obvious the empty seats are going to remain empty (who shows up for a ballgame after the 6th inning anyway?!?), fans who attempt to move their seats — for whatever reason — are forbidden to do so. Instead of becoming a more fan-friendly atmosphere, it’s become just the opposite, a we-want-your-money-and-nothing-else attitude. I refuse to spend one nickel more than the ticket price, choosing to bring food from home intstead.

    As far as the Murphy’s Law thing, it’s a play on words. But then again, do you really expect anyone employed by the Mets in the front office to ever get anything right?

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