Over the weekend I asked Randy from The Apple if he would be kind enough to provide a guest column about Los Mets jerseys with a perspective different than mine.
Here’s Randy:
When Shannon asked me to chime in with my opinion on the whole Los Mets thing I wasn’t sure I even had one. As it turns out I have two, and they completely contradict each other.
First off let me preface anything I say with the fact that as a Puerto Rican, I have sort a weird perspective on most issues facing the Hispanic community. In case you don’t know while Puerto Rico has many different cultural and language differences from the United States, we are still all born citizens of the U.S. So no matter how weird what we do may sometimes seem, keep in mind we are still Americans. I guess in that way we are like Texans. We act differently, a lot of people don’t like us and no one understands a thing we say. Yup, just like Texas.
So it is with that in mind that I approach my whole love/hate stance Los Mets issue.
*Why I Love the Jersey.*
Everyone wants to be included. Whether you’re Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican or from any of the many other Spanish speaking nations, it feels good when an organization run by old White men throws you a bone and gives you a tip of the cap. Is it a shallow gesture? OF COURSE it’s a shallow gesture but it doesn’t do any damage to the community. Also for personal reasons I love seeing how mad some people get when anything Spanish is introduced. You all know the guy. He calls the fan and screams about the Mets playing any Spanish music but is fine with Lou Monti’s Italian 7^th inning anthem.
Another reason I don’t mind the jersey is because, let’s be honest, the Mets don’t have some Yankee-esque devotion to one uniform. Looking back to ’62, the Mets have had no less than 842 different uniforms. The Mets have had so many uniforms that even the Mets museum doesn’t have them all. (Mid 90’s Softball swoosh anyone?) So what’s the big deal if on one or two nights they slap a Los on there?
*Why I Hate the Jersey.*
First and foremost it’s lazy. “Hey Charlie, order 50 patches that say “Los†and slap them on to existing Mets jerseys. That’ll shut those Lah-Tinos up.†We couldn’t do a larger design tweak than “los�
Then there’s the whole grammatical issue. While it is correct that if you walk up to a Spanish speaking Mets fan and ask him his favorite team he will most likely answer “Los Metsâ€, it seems odd to put the Spanish equivalent of “The Mets†on a jersey. While Metropolitanos would be the literal translation, that would be a huge amount of stuff to splash across a jersey which makes me fearful that we would end up becoming the “M-Tanos†and if that happens, we all lose. There’s Nueva York which I think would make an awesome jersey but it’s really more of a road thing. Would have been great if they could have worn Nueva York jerseys when they played the “Los Marlins†last week.
*So Which is It?*
In the end I say keep the “Los Mets jerseys but put a little thought into it. Tweak the design so “Los†doesn’t look like such an afterthought. Why not put various Spanish nations flags as sleeve patches. Have different guys wear their nations flag and have non-Latinos represent unrepresented nations. David Wright could represent Panama for example while Beltran could wear his native PR. Or if that’s too much work, design a sleeve patch with lots of flags incorporated and write Latin heritage night or whatever they are calling it this year. Regardless of what they decide the most important thing is that it remain a once a year thing. Keep it special and make a big deal about it one night and that’s it. Don’t turn it into an even more watered down marketing gimmick.
OK, it felt good to get that off my chest, now I can go back to writing fake news.
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If you haven’t checked out The Apple yet, you really should.  Randy writes fake Mets news every day and is consistently funny.
